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Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

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Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#41

Post by raimue »

progval wrote: post #33
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Latest Firefox Mobile LTS release still works on Jolla’s ancient Android version (through the Alien Dalvik compatibility layer). You can install it from F-Droid.

Wow, that's impressive. I wouldn't have guessed an app as complex as Firefox would work on Jolla's compatibility layer.

The Android compatibility layer is actually Alien Dalvik developed by Myriad. It is mostly used on set-top boxes for TVs. Jolla just licensed it for their phones. As far as I know, even on the latest Sailfish X, Alien Dalvik only supports the API level of Android 4.4 (2013).

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#42

Post by craftyguy »

shmerl wrote: post #14

Purism are working on Librem 5, which should apparently run Plasma Mobile. But Sailfish has by far the best UI out there. It's a pity they still didn't open source it yet.

> It's a pity they still didn't open source it yet

Yea. And if/when they go away, that UI will die with them, which is also a shame.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#43

Post by craftyguy »

chrisseaton wrote: post #13

Sailfish OS has the most farcical history of renames, forks and merges I've ever seen. MeeGo, Mer, Maemo, Moblin, Harmattan, LiMo, SLP, Bada, Leste, Tizen, Nemo... It they spent more time on making a finished product rather than coming up with yet another stupid new name, logo and website they might have more traction.

Sailfish OS was not directly responsible for any of those. Some of the employees were involved, but only by virtue of being employees of the companies that started the fork/project.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#44

Post by notatoad »

craftyguy wrote: post #43
chrisseaton wrote: post #13

Sailfish OS has the most farcical history of renames, forks and merges I've ever seen. MeeGo, Mer, Maemo, Moblin, Harmattan, LiMo, SLP, Bada, Leste, Tizen, Nemo... It they spent more time on making a finished product rather than coming up with yet another stupid new name, logo and website they might have more traction.

Sailfish OS was not directly responsible for any of those. Some of the employees were involved, but only by virtue of being employees of the companies that started the fork/project.

Sailfish wasn't responsible because it is yet another one of those. That's kind of the point - nobody is ultimately responsible for what it currently is, because it keeps bouncing around between various companies who take a look at it and say "oh, we're not responsible for that"

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#45

Post by ekianjo »

padraic7a wrote: post #12
zepearl wrote: post #2

I'm using Sailfish OS on an Xperia X since when it became available. My main reason to migrate from Android was "battery life" which was confirmed (battery now lasts ~5 days instead of the usual 2-3), but the OS has a lot of small and bigger bugs (e.g. carrier selection, 2G/3G/4G priority, stuck data comm for Android apps) and missing features (notoriously: tethering/wlan access point, bluetooth) that do not currentl…

Ubports, the community fork of Ubuntu Touch is still going strong. https://ubports.com/

Strong may be exagerrated. Its progressing but its far from providing a good enough experience even when it comes to basic stuff like email and browsing.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#46

Post by shellkr »

zepearl wrote: post #2

I'm using Sailfish OS on an Xperia X since when it became available. My main reason to migrate from Android was "battery life" which was confirmed (battery now lasts ~5 days instead of the usual 2-3), but the OS has a lot of small and bigger bugs (e.g. carrier selection, 2G/3G/4G priority, stuck data comm for Android apps) and missing features (notoriously: tethering/wlan access point, bluetooth) that do not currentl…

Those missing features do exist on the Jolla1 so it should work on the Xperia soon enough.

Only issue I had is some apps not working.. but none important.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#47

Post by cpeterso »

kryptiskt wrote: post #20

FirefoxOS still lives and quietly has some success in the form of KaiOS ( https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/26/kaios-a-feature-phone-plat... ).

KaiOS forked FirefoxOS back in ~2016. I wonder how closely they've tracked security fixes from Mozilla's upstream Gecko over the last two years. Mozilla removed a lot of B2G code from Gecko, so merging fixes will require more work than just applying patches.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#48

Post by jasonkostempski »

raimue wrote: post #39

Half a year ago in September, I left Sailfish OS and Jolla after I had exclusively used "alternative" mobile operating systems. I started with the Nokia N900, after that I had the Nokia N9, and then both the Jolla and Jolla C with Sailfish OS. The UI concepts of Sailfish OS were great, the gestures were simple and intuitive. However, it lacked so many other features. The Android emulator was only compatible with apps…

"parts of the UI stayed closed source"

If anything is closed, except drivers they'd likely be forced to accept binaries for, I wouldn't even consider the OS. Who do they think their target audience is? I imagine most people looking into an alternative mobile OS are well aware of the slippery cliff that is proprietary software. It's the whole point of looking around. I'm looking for full control so I don't get stuck with someone elses bad choices yet again.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#49

Post by shmerl »

raimue wrote: post #41
progval wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that's impressive. I wouldn't have guessed an app as complex as Firefox would work on Jolla's compatibility layer.

The Android compatibility layer is actually Alien Dalvik developed by Myriad. It is mostly used on set-top boxes for TVs. Jolla just licensed it for their phones. As far as I know, even on the latest Sailfish X, Alien Dalvik only supports the API level of Android 4.4 (2013).

It's really weird that supposedly open source Android runtime is so hard to actually run on proper Linux.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#50

Post by cfadvan »

dman wrote: post #24

I backed their tablet and was disappointed when I learned they would never ship it - Jolla's handling of the whole fiasco was very suboptimal. Pinning hopes on the purism now for a hackable mobile device.

Jolla had some profitable months last year and started issuing refunds to people who backed its tablet on Indiegogo. The company won't say how many are left, however. "It's not that many," Pienimäki claims. "Some of them are a bit noisy, but it's not really that many anymore." Jolla has promised to issue more refunds every time it has a profitable month. These, Pienimäki hopes, will happen at a "steady pace" by the end of the year. The company, however, is not profitable on a fiscal year basis, and continues to burn through investor cash.

It all sounds grim, and describing people you failed as “s bit noisy” isn’t great PR. It just sounds like people in way over their heads to me.

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