User reports - Sailfish X

answered 2018-01-01 17:06:42 +0200

Sakke
1933 ●27 ●51 ●52

I am also a one who moved to Sailfish X right after Jolla 1. I can confirm that the change has been massive; no big lags while in normal use, everything is running smoothly and better etc. And of course, I use Sailfish OS on a daily basis so it's my main phone.

Getting Sony Xperia X / Sailfish X

So I bought my Xperia X from Verkkokauppa.com and got the phone posted last Saturday. I was a bit concerned on the flashing process, but in my opinion the instructions were clear and well-written (could've been updated). Finally, when all the OTA updates had been downloaded, bootloader unlocked and img files downloaded, the flashing process itself was a quick one (like 5 minutes or less). I kept my thumbs up for rebooting to Sailfish X and it did :D. Then it was time for downloading apps and a little exploration of Sailfish X.

Overall performance

Firstly, I was amazed how smooth and good the performance of Sailfish X was. There were no major lags and the UI was very responsive. If I compare Sailfish X with JP1 the difference is huge. All the apps are working faster, rebooting is faster and so on. Overall the performance is just so much better than with the original JP1. I'm also very happy with the screen since it's much brighter and sharper. Battery life is of course much better than with JP1 and can't really complain about that either.

Camera and other functionalities

The camera was also pretty amazing since now you could even take pictures in low light. Even though performance of the camera on Sailfish X isn't at the same level as on stock Xperia X, I think Jolla has still made excellent job. The camera opens and takes pictures quite fast. I can't really complain about the camera quality or functions. I haven't tried recording a video yet, but I assume the quality is good.

Here's an example down below

Well as for the other functionalities, NFC and fingerprint aren't working yet but the bluetooth is. I tried basic connect between two gadgets; can't really say how it works with car bluetooth connections etc. I hope Jolla adds the fingerprint support soon since it's a nice function and I'm eager to start using it.

Something to notice

Since last Saturday, I've noticed a little lag on system UI, but this was expected. I haven't faced up any major system lag that would cause the phone to reboot or shut down etc. After flashing there were some issues installing Android Support and predictive text, but after a reboot the installation completed without any problems. Yesterday I also faced up some kind of a memory overflow since my RAM was up to 62% as it'd normally be around 40%. Many of these bugs and issues can easily be solved by just rebooting the phone (and it won't take much of a time). Most of the time the phone is pretty stable and working okay.

Conclusion

Overall, I think there's a lots of potential in Sailfish X. I was actually very surprised by the performance and the smoothness of the UI since I had read that there would be some power loss and lags. Sure we can't say that Sailfish X is ready since it lacks some basic functionalities and it needs some optimizing. I will of course continue my journey with Sailfish X. Keeping thumbs up for good updates. And as always thanks to Jolla for bringing Sailfish to Sony Xperia X.

answered 2017-10-15 22:31:59 +0200

rob_kouw
1358 ●21 ●34 ●42

First impression: great improvement from my Jolla 1. Speed is much, much better. First of all the browser performs so much faster. Bluetooth did couple nicely with my old Nokia headset, did not try music yet. Display has more light, the phone is usable in the sunshine! Some photos I took outdoor are good. A bit sharper, more vivid than Jolla 1.

Re-creation of accounts, calendars, contacts is all good from the backup. It is such a pity it does not take the entire list of installed apps as a wish list, or the settings of the apps. So I had to spend a lot of time getting up to speed again.

Things I noticed on the downside: - Interaction of the camera with CodeReader is not what it should be. I cannot scan a QR with it now, can't get a focus on close range. The same QR with the J1 scans immediately. - My Lenovo Windows 10 pc could always connect with the WLAN Hotspot of the J1, the Hotspot of the X is not even visible. - I could not download some Android apps from Google Play, even if they state Android 4.4 and up. The Alien Dalvik is supposed to be 4.4. - Browser crashes, even on a very simple home page consisting of nothing but a 4 by 10 table filled with plain text. Will load fast on second try.

answered 2017-10-15 22:50:28 +0200

Bruce
46 ●1 ●2 ●5

Some info for those in the UK: the refurbished Xperia X's being sold by Argos on eBay.co.uk work fine with Sailfish X. Plus you get a guarantee and the price is competitive. :-)

The over the air (actually over the wifi -- there is no need to insert a SIM) update brought it up to the latest version of Android and there was no need for downloading nor installing 'Emma' at all.

More generally... as others have said, the flashing instructions are poor - particularly if you are on Windows and don't have Java or Android SDK already installed. It would be simpler to produce a set of instructions for use with a USB-stick Linux image as that would save Windows users from having to install a bunch of SDK stuff they will never use again.

answered 2017-10-17 15:30:53 +0200

Freddo
143 ●4 ●7 ●11

updated 2017-10-17 15:34:30 +0200

Sailfish X is my first experience with Sailfish, and I'm very pleased. The performance is great compared to the N9 I've used until now, which isn't really that surprising since the N9 is 6 years old.

No issues with bluetooth, I could connect it to my Streamer Pro just fine (which in turn send audio to my hearing aids).

Flashing the phone took quite a bit longer than I expected. Maybe 3 hours?

I'm very content with the camera, a noticeable step up from the N9!

My only complaint, really, is that the Android version of HERE WeGo won't work on it. Also didn't like any of the music players available for Jolla, so I'm using the Android version of foobar2000 mobile.

Oh yeah, I also had to format my new 128GB microSDXC card to FAT32 to get it to work. Neither the default exFAT or ext3 would work.

answered 2017-10-19 08:49:15 +0200

revers
31 ●3 ●3

How is the performance? I think its good. Everything goes smooth.

How is your experience with bluetooth connection still in beta? Not yet tested!

How much time is needed to flash the phone? For me it took about 10 hours. I had to watch some youtube vids because the explanation provided from Jolla and Sony is rather poor. Unlocking the bootloader was tricky and took me quite some time to understand. The flashing part was rather quick.

Is the camera working fast? Can you post some pictures to let us see the quality ? Not yet tested.

I have still some other problems: I cant make the SD card to be mounted or recognized. I cant even format it with my Experia. The card itself seems ok. I put it into the computer and works fine.

Any ideas?

The other thing bothering me is the hint when i start the phone because of unlocking the bootloader.

answered 2017-10-20 15:32:19 +0200

jabgoe
286 ●6 ●14 ●20

updated 2017-10-20 16:52:42 +0200

i wish i had read the instructions about backing up the dpm keys before unlocking the boot loader ... :(

flashing with linux was a little difficult since updating my xperia's android didn't succeed in reaching the necessary version. as a result the flash script failed to complete. i managed to find a workaround with infos from the previous instruction of the community version (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=1536613#post1536613). so the process of flashing took about 3 hours.

restoring the backup (from my old jolla 1) was a litte disappointing. messages, accounts and such were restored ok but i would have expected a backup-restore procedure also to backup and restore my applications. this didn't happen.

i cursed the bluetooth implementation of sailfishX until i remembered the concept of pairing my headset first ... now it works.

google maps from the android store is a sufficient substitute for the here maps.

i'm missing a (functioning) native telegram client.

after about one week i can say that everything works great. the screen is fast, connectivity (phone, net) is good. i'm missing the double tap. battery life is astonishingly good. didn't test tethering and other bluetooth devices than my headset, though.

for my personal use case everything is very well and a great improvement from my jolla 1.

it would be better, still, with fm-radio ... :)

answered 2017-10-20 16:26:50 +0200

objectifnul
9370 ●150 ●203 ●224

Why did SailfishX drop the BTRFS file system? Technical or legal reasons?

answered 2017-11-04 16:24:35 +0200

micha77
186 ●1 ●4 ●8

updated 2017-11-04 18:10:52 +0200

First: For me Sailfish OS is new, and i like it, it is great and it is worth to be supported. Some thouhgts: I come from the Lumia 950, which btw has a great camera/camera app. The camera performance of the Xperia now can't be the last word. In my experience the front camera is better than the main camera. It is not possible to get a sharp foto with the main camera now, in low light you can forget everything (without camera lightning). Imo Jolla should put the improvement of the camera/camera app on top of the list and invest right here to be competitive.

The provided hardware should function without exception. This is a must. The physical camera button doesn't function, same like the fingerprint sensor.

The native gallery app is a bit difficult to use. I have to scroll through all the fotos to find something, and the scrolling is very stuttering. Please make it possible to show the pictures in folders, so that the user has the choice to show just the content of one folder or the whole collection.

If i draw up the view of the apps, the view appears like cards as a full screen jumping from one card to another. Imo it would be better to scroll through the apps slowly and smoothly and stop the app-drawer at every point i like to choose an app, same as if i choose an ambience for example.

And what about the RAM? It runs full for nothing, so i am forced to restart the device again and again. Here Jolla should implement an automatical clean up into the OS like Sony did.

answered 2017-10-15 23:52:43 +0200

chris_bavaria
1088 ●21 ●37 ●35

I installed it on F5122 DualSim. All ok..... But I wait for upgrad some patches from patchmanager and clear new bugs in 2.1.3.5 version. My Jolla C works with 2.1.2.3, this version I wished for my Xperia. But downgread will breaking the system. Also waiting for some updates .... Xperia and Sailfish X is worth to use and the money is a good investment for me.

answered 2017-10-19 09:51:54 +0200

Hedexed
21 ●4

updated 2017-10-21 11:40:12 +0200

The letter 'æ' is missing from the keyboard; will be an issue for Norwegian users. The other special characters used in Norway are present though ('ø', 'å')

Edit: 'æ' is available if selecting Norsk keyboard layout; thanks silta for the tip

Android-integration: Spotify - 'pause' and 'next song' -buttons are missing on lock screen; only song name and 'previous song' -button is displayed.

The phone is much cooler (as in temperature) than when running with the stock Android OS :)