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Sailfish Mobile OS

sailfishos.org

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Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#41

Post by SoftTalker »

fractallyte wrote: post #6

By far the best mobile OS, way better than iOS or Android (simpler and more consistent). The biggest obstacle to greater adoption is the lack of availability outside of the EU; of course, this is easy to work around... It has a 'killer feature': Android App Support ( https://jolla.com/appsupport ), which enables a SFOS device to run Android apps in a sandbox. I would also love to see a carefully engineered photo app.…

Is there any reason it would not work in the USA, assuming an unlocked compatible phone?

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#42

Post by silisili »

FormerBandmate wrote: post #29
silisili wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Today sure, it just needs support from a major player. Not -that- long ago, nearly every mfg had their own OS(Blackberry, Meego/Symbian, Win Mobile, Palm, etc) and each had enough apps. If Samsung or Huawei or probably even Motorola decided to ditch Android and go all in on Sailfish, we'd see support for apps in short order. But as a third party OS you have to install yourself, it's basically dead in the water. What…

BlackBerry was a huge player. They declined, as with Nokia, entirely because they didn’t use a platform

Well, their problems were manifold and I think the movie does a decent job explaining them. Highly recommend, if you haven't seen it yet.

They didn't evolve, took the iPhone as a joke, and when finally playing catch-up, the hardware was awful.

If they'd have seen the writing on the wall and responded in kind, I think we'd have all three players around today.

Nokia...I don't even want to talk about. I'm still half convinced it was a sabotage job.

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#43

Post by numpad0 »

silisili wrote: post #42
FormerBandmate wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BlackBerry was a huge player. They declined, as with Nokia, entirely because they didn’t use a platform

Well, their problems were manifold and I think the movie does a decent job explaining them. Highly recommend, if you haven't seen it yet. They didn't evolve, took the iPhone as a joke, and when finally playing catch-up, the hardware was awful. If they'd have seen the writing on the wall and responded in kind, I think we'd have all three players around today. Nokia...I don't even want to talk about. I'm still half con…

There was nothing awful about hardware. But they did not run Android, and that was enough to bring the whole company down.

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#44

Post by anondane »

fuomag9 wrote: post #26
brunoqc wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> good luck running banking apps without Google SafetyNet. Doesn't most banks have a mobile version of their website. Maybe not the best but it could be a good compromise.

Here in Europe you cannot login to bank websites without the bank app on your phone for 2FA codes

That's simply not factually correct. You can use bank web sites entirely without a smartphone. Banks supply this option as there are really - surprise! - people without smart phones who still has money.

My own bank does not even use 2FA. I log in using the officiel state sponsored digital ID (yes, without having a smartphone). This is in Denmark.

(sorry about the new anon account, it's been so long since I posted I've forgotten my old account. Perhaps I should use a PW mgr...)

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#45

Post by nextos »

SoftTalker wrote: post #40
desdenova wrote: post #3

I wish it was feasible to have alternative mobile systems, but it's not really. You can't simply give up every popular app for a system nobody else uses or develops for. Sailfish has Android emulation, but good luck running banking apps without Google SafetyNet. Even pure Android ROMs, like LineageOS, can't do that. Also good luck with proprietary firmware for mobile networking and cameras. Another thing that usually…

Does it have good messaging and maps? That’s 90% of my phone usage. I don’t do banking on my phone.

It has outstanding offline maps and navigation. One of its strongest points.

Messaging support depends on the protocol. Very good for Telegram, good for Matrix and Signal.

Lots of people use e.g. WhatsApp through the Android emulation layer.

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#46

Post by silisili »

numpad0 wrote: post #43
silisili wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, their problems were manifold and I think the movie does a decent job explaining them. Highly recommend, if you haven't seen it yet. They didn't evolve, took the iPhone as a joke, and when finally playing catch-up, the hardware was awful. If they'd have seen the writing on the wall and responded in kind, I think we'd have all three players around today. Nokia...I don't even want to talk about. I'm still half con…

There was nothing awful about hardware. But they did not run Android, and that was enough to bring the whole company down.

From Wikipedia -

The Blackberry Storm sold 500,000 units in its first month and 1 million units by January 2009.[15] However, Verizon had to replace almost all of the one million Storm smartphones sold in 2008 due to issues with the SurePress touch screen [16] and claimed $500 million in losses.

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#47

Post by kaliqt »

NotPractical wrote: post #34
izacus wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most banks here in Europe require Mobile apps to login into their website.

So the EU attempts to invade your privacy using smartphones [1] and forces duopoly-brand smartphones upon its citizens, yet it fails to compel Apple to allow true sideloading, so you're stuck choosing between "no freedom but some privacy" or "no privacy but some freedom"? Their digital policy initiatives overall seem like a net loss for EU citizens as it stands. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/19/24181214/eu-chat…

The EU as a whole is a net loss for citizens, always has been.

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#48

Post by SanjayMehta »

gbraad wrote: post #38

'world domination' not possible with "Sorry not available in your country". I have worked Sailfish before, so I know what to expect. while a great OS, it is hard to compete with the established market. even the inclusion of libhybris won't change that... as in that case, why not just buy an Android device. unfortunately privacy is a niche to tailor to

I have two Jolla phones left over from when they launched in India, years ago.

I vaguely remember there was an India specific phone running Sailfish as well, but by that time my company was no longer working with mobile applications.

We ported several proprietary telco Linux tools to Jolla but it turned out using a laptop with a 3G dongle was more convenient than a tiny low res screen (big surprise).

I’m not sure why they’ve limited themselves to Europe, probably because of support costs. Pity, Sailfish was ahead of the curve on many aspects, especially the swipe from the side UI pattern which showed up years later in IOS.

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#49

Post by SanjayMehta »

sillystuff wrote: post #36

Apparently Sailfish is using libhybris. I looked at the libhybris page and a few other sources, but am unsure how much of Android is implied when using libhybris. Random person on Internet claimed it is a minimal, but complete, Android user space install, but my reading of the libhybris page doesn't seem to imply that. The libhybris page does imply some of Android user space. A (probably out of date) Android kernel w…

Android apps on Sailfish were rarely usable, if they worked at all. One issue I remember, because it caused us a lot of grief was GPS.

The android app would not get an accurate fix unless a Sailfish app first woke up the GPS and obtained an accurate lock.

Re: Sailfish Mobile OS

#50

Post by vrinsd »

sillystuff wrote: post #36

Apparently Sailfish is using libhybris. I looked at the libhybris page and a few other sources, but am unsure how much of Android is implied when using libhybris. Random person on Internet claimed it is a minimal, but complete, Android user space install, but my reading of the libhybris page doesn't seem to imply that. The libhybris page does imply some of Android user space. A (probably out of date) Android kernel w…

The Sailfish guys are actually the creators of libhybris.

If you run SailfishOS you have to first have Android flashed onto the phone. They use the same kernel, camera drivers, GPU drivers, etc as the original OEM including the prorprietary wireless BLOBs and the Android Radio-Interface-Layer ("RIL").

I've spoken to the Sailfish guys awhile back and I get why they did this -- 10+ years ago there was basically no choice but to use the Android port of drivers + the Linux kernel the vendor shipped because there was no other way to make these hardware pieces work, thanks to the silicon vendors.

The story of not needing BLOBs and things like a libhybris-shim has slowly improved, but not 100% . We can run Debian linux on the Qualcomm Snapdragon laptop devices (Thinkpad X13s, etc) but bits and pieces are still not there (audio, full power management, Bluetooth, etc).

To current Qualcomm's credit there are people inside who are pushing for everything mainline Linux, and minimizing proprietary pieces.

Ubuntu Touch relies on libhybris as well.

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