Sailfish OS 2.0 and why we complain [answered]

asked 2015-09-12 04:53:52 +0200

droll
10097 ●163 ●243 ●257

updated 2015-09-12 09:22:11 +0200

jaacoppi
591 ●5 ●16 ●16

http://fromasailfishosnoo...

my first impressions on 2.0 is WOW! 1. I love the built in ambiences. The just refreshed my tired looking device (I have a few knicks from dropping the phone :)). It's great that they look like high quality images.

1. The way the UI now has nice subtle little transitions - fading in, fading out, the way the icons slide in and bounce, the way the notifications slide in, stay a while then slide out to the left. I just love it!

2. The buttons - now I know some people hate it. But I personally love it. I can now see the space available for me to press on. While I never had that problem with the previous minimalist buttons, I found the lack of a "border" around the buttons a bit odd - disturbing (if I can use that word haha).

3. There is now consistency in the UI. No doubt it takes more swipes and it takes a few more taps to do things but I feel the whole UI has consistency with a framework.

Now I know there are quite a few comments about making things optional - give us the option to opt out of the animations, or the option to change gestures (there are some in there), or the option for pulley menus to be back as they were etc.

I think the problem is

a) we have gotten used to 1.x and we need time to change. Do you remember which phone you used before 1.x? How did you adapt to it? I came from the N900 and my first impression using Sailfish back then was WOW - so smooth, slick, and modern looking. However, it did take a while to change the way I used the UI coming from N900. Please give 2.0 a bit more time and usage and you may actually change your mind about some of what you see.

b) those who complain and ask for the capability to opt-out by having features configurable - it's going to break some of the consistency and framework they have built into 2.0. furthermore, I believe a lot of these comments, from what I have read, are people who want to do things quickly. They don't like the extra transitions, animations, taps, etc. While I understand this, I also think it's important for us as early risk takers to support Jolla in their efforts to make Sailfish big. It's a win-win situation for both parties.

c) I see comments that tend to be contradicting. on the one hand, I see people say Sailfish is not ready for prime time (there are features missing, the UI is not as good as the N9, etc). on the other hand, I also see people say Sailfish is not meant to be prime time - it's an open source Linux based operating system. And we all know the argument that the average joe will not give two hoots about what is under the hood. What sells is what he or she sees and uses. Granted there is still a lot of room for improvement in the feature-set department but I think Jolla has addressed the second half of the equation with 2.0 - to make the UI look S-E-X-Y.

I for one LOVE 2.0. I love to show it off to my friends ever more so! The competition keeps moving ahead (Windows, Android, iOS) and Sailfish is constantly playing catch up. With the release of 2.0, I can say the gap is closing.

I love the smooth sexy feeling of the operating system. I do want to give credit where it is due and the sailors @ Jolla have done a tremendous job. The second half of the journey should now go into full gear - getting the feature set ready for prime-time. Things like proper caldav support ,a better calendar, ironing out bugs that make the experience frustrating for the end-user etc.

Jolla, we have supported you for the last 1.5 years, please do not let us down. Continue this journey and help us to help you.