sailfish for android devices - where and when? [answered]

asked 2015-09-21 00:20:36 +0300

trance
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updated 2015-09-21 08:11:45 +0300

jaacoppi
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" Jolla Sailfish OS Will Soon Be Available For Android Devices" , they said in 2013

"Maybe not wise to exchange your old Samsung to new Lumia, because you may get Sailfish OS to it soonish.", they said in 2014

they released some hadk, and the community made few phones half-working with sailfish

the number of phones that are working is not too big, and the number of phones that supports all the features is even smaller

in short, we can say that there is no fully supported android phones on which we can run sailfish, except for a few exceptions

what jolla offers? hope for the community, or do-it-yourself?

to do it, you must have a powerful computer, be a tech-savvy, with a good Linux knowledge

imagine you was able to do this, followed the instructions, and did all these steps and made the phone working, and several features are not working. calls. camera. and display. what's next? go to the chat, and ask the community, right?

should I continue?

is Jolla itself planning to make a good support for android phones, or whatever they can is to say "do-it-yourself"? or, if I should do it by myself, at least could I expect to run all the features on arbitrary phone?

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The question has been closed for the following reason "the question is answered, an answer was accepted" by JSEHV
close date 2016-02-01 13:42:24.575692

Comments

2

Don't hold your breath, you'll probably see an indian or chinese phone released with sailfish first if the rumor mill is to be believed.

davekelly ( 2015-09-21 00:29:18 +0300 )edit

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I don't think there is much motivation to run SailfishOS on your Android device - since Jolla ships aliendalvik only for the Jolla phones you would, ironically, lose Android support for your Androd device. For most people there's much more value in trying e.g. Cyanogen since they can still run their apps.

t-lo ( 2015-09-21 08:06:32 +0300 )edit

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@t-lo, that is the point actually. By installing your own-baked SFOS image to a Nexus5 device for example you get rid of the need for android applications as well as the ability tol use them ;)

Just admit it, you hate android as much as the next person, just good riddance! (and welcome another fine device rescued from evil android claws...)

juiceme ( 2015-09-23 16:04:56 +0300 )edit

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@juiceme I do not consider a SailfishOS device w/o Android support to be sustainable. It may be good sport to actually do a port, solely for the sake of having it done. But given the state of the Jolla app store (and no indication of this changing in the future) people would end up with almost a dumb phone. Consequently I would consider most people to experience a switch of their device from Android to SFOS w/o Android support less of a "rescue" and more of "making it unusable" for them. Taken into account that a port requires a rather large effort - with almost no user base for the target, where is the motivation of doing it?

t-lo ( 2015-09-24 12:58:35 +0300 )edit

maybe would be fine to work with cyanogenmod for having a good and smart solution for porting saifish on many devices. that at the end jolla could present a similar one as them but for sailfish...

cemoi71 ( 2015-10-07 18:31:09 +0300 )edit

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answered 2015-09-22 13:18:41 +0300

r0kk3rz

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updated 2015-10-07 18:20:38 +0300

Is there a possibility of joining forces with other porting communities to re-use whatever work we can?

Sailfish is not the only system with libHybris based device ports, and a growing community around Ubuntu Touch could also help our cause a little.

EDIT:

Also, the biggest thing hindering the porting effort at the moment is access to devices, perhaps a community effort can be organised to collect and donate unused android phones to be distributed to the porting team.

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4

answered 2015-09-23 12:07:37 +0300

AkiBerlin

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In view of t-lo's statement:

> I don't think there is much motivation to run SailfishOS on your Android device - since Jolla ships aliendalvik only for the Jolla phones you would, ironically, lose Android support for your Androd device. For most people there's much more value in trying e.g. Cyanogen since they can still run their apps.

If that is true, wouldn't it be a good idea for Jolla to adapt an existing Android phone (that is, take the hardware of an existing Android phone and put Sailfish OS on it) and sell it as Jolla (2) phone?

I guess we all lust for a new phone (since the tablet is now shipping ...)

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Comments

1

not really. why do you need a new phone every 2 years? cause your privider offers 2 year contracts? because other phones only get software updates for a short time? one of the major reasons i got a jolla is that i wish for a mobile that just lasts and stays supportet - kind of like linux lts distros.

i dont need the newest,biggest,best.and actually most could live well with the current specs - i see no reason beyondbigger,better shinier that says otherwise.

i d rather have something unlike.

kaktux ( 2015-09-23 15:21:59 +0300 )edit

@kaktux: I fully agree. However, I am afraid that Jolla may not have the capacities to create a further unlike device - which is a pity.

Therefore, having Sailfish on an ordinary (and boring) Android device would be the second best option. But if we cannot use Sailfish on a now-available Android phone because Alien Dalvik is not ported, this is not an attractive alternative (even not for me who almost never uses Andriod. But I am happy to have an (Android) offline map app on the Jolla)

I like my Jolla - but no so much the hardware but rather the software which IHMO exceeds what my N900 or my N9 have offered (maybe just because it is more up to date)

BTW: I never got my phone from a provider

AkiBerlin ( 2015-09-23 15:47:44 +0300 )edit

Well, that's what they do (with both the existing phone and the tablet). There's no such thing as Jolla hardware. There's generic Asian OEM hardware, designed to run Android, that Jolla prints their logo onto. (Else they wouldn't need the whole libhybris compatibility magic... they would simply design the hardware so that it will run under a proper Linux kernel.) You just cannot expect them to take a high end Samsung phone and re-sell it as their own - or more precise: You cannot expect Samsung to allow that.

ossi1967 ( 2015-09-23 16:28:30 +0300 )edit

At least TOH provides some uniqueness - also ist potential is not yet used much, wich is also a pity. For Jolla 1 Jolla has at least done some sort of clever arrangement of standard HW parts. This is much more than just taking an existing device, I suppose. But maybe I am wrong.

Regarding libhybris I thought that this is needed to be able to use all the non-open Android driver for the HW parts.because Jolla cannot expect that they receive custom drivers and program Interfaces. Again, I may be wrong

AkiBerlin ( 2015-09-23 16:45:13 +0300 )edit

@ossi1967: One thing is taking an OEM platform, developing your product based on it and selling it on your own, another thing is taking a third-party Android phone and develop a ROM for it and maybe licensing it for a small fee intended to pay for Alien Dalvik support. You don't need Samsung's or anybody else's approval to do this since you pay for your phone, it is yours and you can do whatever you want with it, including using it as a doorstop or as a cricket ball. The downside is that you will be losing your warranty. The smartest move would be to reach an agreement with a manufacturer to make available an official SailfishOS ROM for one or more models.

Giacomo Di Giacomo ( 2015-09-23 16:46:42 +0300 )edit

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answered 2015-09-22 12:07:41 +0300

mariner
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I have also been looking for this option for a long time, but I would rely on most of the hard work already being done for me by the community. I think I have given up hope that this will ever happen. I am also getting more pessimistic about a new Jolla phone. Any development requires significant numbers to provide the effort. I am beginning to think the unthinkable. The most likely way of developing a secure privacy conscious smart device is to go with the masses and try to encourage another Cyanogen type development based on Android. I don't have the knowledge or time to do it myself, but surely the from the numbers of Android users there must be a reasonable percentage of tech savvy people wanting something more secure and sufficiently independent of control from Google?

Perhaps the magic will come from China, India or Russia after all and they will develop big numbers of Sailfish devices?

We have been waiting 6 months for the tablet. I am not sure I can wait (years??) for another device that gives me the Jolla security with some reasonably uptodate hardware.