Loved Xperia X. Very disapointed by the XA2.

asked 2019-12-01 14:27:32 +0200

kibatz
211 ●9 ●10 ●11

updated 2019-12-04 13:27:26 +0200

Greetings,

Little story: i had some hardware problem with my Xperia X, thus i had to buy an other smartphone, thus i told myself lets take the most recent one, the Xperia XA2 for me to have the best. In reality i had the worst... i am very surprised by that because the Xperia X was working perfectly well. Now i think i will rebuy an "Xperia X".

Resumed of the problem i'm faced with the XA2:

1) Android App cant access the data in the SD card. WHY IS THAT??? This was working with the Xperia X. what a surprise when i discovered that... the main problem is that Sailfish X doesn't have a decent video player (end 2019). there is NO "SAILFISH" ALTERNATIVE than the default video player which is just a very basic gallery browser. I've tried to install LLs Video Player without success, and it's somehow useless as it doesn't add new video codecs. Thus it's almost mandatory to use an android one like VLC, but you will be limited by the size of inner memory +/- 16GB as it cant access the SD card.

2) sometimes i have a data connection failure, and cant access the internet and/or make phone call. I've found a "hack" avoiding me to restart the phone" (utility app is useless for that case). i put the phone in "Airplane mode" a couple of times and that data connection became available again. i never had that with the Xperia X.

3) Android App doesn't understand the screen orientation config of sailfish X. really annoying even if you lock the orientation, android app screen will flip. this was working with the Xperia X.

4) GPS take minute to catch position. it was almost instantly with the Xperia X.

5) sometimes the SDcard is not detected at reboot, i have my ringtones on my SD card, thus i have to reassign all the sound when it append. i never had that with the Xperia X.

6) The problem with the default mail client and IMAP protocol is still there. if you write a draft mail with the sailfish X native mail app. it will be saved indefinitely. it saturated my mailbox, with like 25.000 draft mail of the same mail. It was also the case with the Xperia X. thus is use K9 mail instead.

7) camera app is the same than the Xperia X and limited to 16MPX in 16:9. I tough it will be much better, as the XA2 is more advanced technologically.

8) web browser is really slow and basic. It was also the case with the Xperia X. thus is use Opera instead.

9) the native music player of sailfish is very basic, no equalizer. Hopefully we have Quasar MX now as decent music player, very advanced i have to say. but we have to buy it to unlock all the features. it's a sailfish app thus it can access the SDcard content. It was also the case with the Xperia X.

10) also a feature that is REALLY missing. it's an alarm clock that can turn on the phone.

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Thanks for this insight. I owned a Jolla 1 and now an XA2 and did not know the X was so much better working. I just settled with how it was on the XA2 as "the best you could get". Interesting to know, that it isn't.

To be fair point 6 through 9 have been the same on X though.

Yo ( 2019-12-01 16:38:34 +0200 )edit

@kibatz are you aware that with every little edit, people who follow this thread get an E-Mail notification? Maybe it's worth to consider the option minor edit (don't send alerts)

jollajo ( 2019-12-01 17:37:43 +0200 )edit

yes i saw that after, my apologizes.

kibatz ( 2019-12-01 17:55:26 +0200 )edit

I was pretending to be happy with my XA2, but to br honest, this thread kind of made me feel disappointed to. For example, i store my pictures on SD card and i just now realize they are not backed up on my onedrive at all. Why, its android app. I stopped using jolla for its own share of shortcomings about 2 years ago but the support for Android 8 made me reconsider and i got an XA2.

I firmly believe it to be a mistake. Why?

Lack of apps
Jolla doing nothing (possibly) to address this issue
The apps that are available for example in Openrepos are max beta level
Dont see in forseable future what will be done to address this

I firmly believe in the User experience that comes with Jolla but when i have to do so much more than an average android or ios user to get apps, that too with bugs which are very very much a basic necessity to have, it brraks my heart.

I believe that Jolla cannot escape fixing these issues just by stating lack of resources. If they want to push sailfish as an alternate to android and ios, they better start to fix these petty issues.

Otherwise, i fear that sailfish will be restricted only to the developer community and a couplenof corporate customers that Jolla has (and those corporate customers actually kind ofbforce their emoloyees to use this phone or its experience).

Makes me sad.

ashakunt ( 2019-12-01 18:02:16 +0200 )edit

do Jolla have corporate customers?

danfin ( 2019-12-01 21:26:42 +0200 )edit

4 Answers

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answered 2019-12-03 13:21:53 +0200

DrYak

9624 ●93 ●134 ●128

http://www.sympato.ch/

updated 2019-12-11 21:14:43 +0200

Regarding 1:

The lack of access, is that Android/AOSP changed architecture in 5.0 Lollipop:

It's not running inside a JVM-like VM
it's a native environment.

And thus Jolla has modified the alien-dalvik environment:

it's not running Myriad's Dalvik VM anymore
it's running a full blown AOSP in a LXC container (same kind of tech as the popular Docker).

Due to container isolation, AOSP can't see the Sailfish mount points. The SD card needs to be mounted inside the LXC container

at some point Sailfish did do it.
Stuff like Coderus' alien-dalvik-control's share to android can do it.
- Your mounted SD card will show up in /home/media inside Android
- You can share picture using the Share to.. feature and aliendalvik-control will automatically remap from Sailfish' /run/media/nemo/ to /home/media/.
- There's currently a small hiccup - you can't upgrade the package, you need to manually un-install/re-install it.
Worse scenario you could mount it yourself:

my solution is to add this line into /var/lib/lxc/aliendalvik/extra_config :

lxc.mount.entry = /run/media/nemo home/nemo/android_storage/sdcard_external none bind 0 0

others have much more Android-friendly solutions
Hopefully the Jolla devs will finally have some time to make a final solution.

Regarding video player:

Sailfish OS is a full blown GNU/Linux and uses multiple package and shared libraries. (unlike windows and android which tend to use single self-contained installers/APKs and don't share much).

LLs Video Player is a GUI.
the codecs themselves are provided by gstreamer
only a few are pre-installed (base and good, I think)
the remaining (good-extra, bad and ugly) can be installed manually
some are available in the official repo, other you need to fetch from openrepos (see lpr_next)

with all the extra codecs LLs (and even Media) should even be able to play patent- and licence- protected media such as AMR (popular on some Voice mail boxes).

Regarding 2:

If your XA2 is Dual-SIM, you can do it faster without switching off all radio:

turn on the other sim tray
turn off your main sim tray
turn on your main sim tray
turn off the other sim tray

works 100% of time for me

Regarding 4

I think the AOSP Sony firmware doesn't feature A-GPS, the GPS chip can't rely on ground station needs to lock all sattelites. Slow is the expected behaviour.

Trun on the Internet assisted mozilla service (High accuracy in location settings) and if you use microG for Android apps, install/configure an UnifiedNLP app that does rely on Wifi AP (cell towers don't work yet). If mozilla knows your neighborhood, the initial position acquisition is much faster.

Regarding 5:

Actually, it's not XA2 -related. Jolla has switched from using a custom script (mount-sd) to the usually udisk daemon as any other GNU/Linux. That solution is more genric and better support BUT might start later.

If you want the card to start as soon as possible, maybe you could add it to your /etc/fstab (i do that for my swap partition). But remember using parameters such as nofail to avoid getting the device hanged with an error during boot if the card is missing or damaged. (I use user,auto,nofail, to make it easy to unmount by non-root users)

or you could try to play around with systemd dependencies and have the relevant service (the lipstick ui?) wait.

regarding 8:

or use Firefox. Which supports the desktop extensions such as uBlock Origin, Privacybadger, etc.

in blogs, Jolla devs did mention they want to upgrade the browser (and already started some updates). But given the amount of dependencies (newer lib c, newer gcc, etc. which in turn breaks other Sailfish components) don't hold your breath, we're going to need to wait a bit until they successfully complete that.

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Big thank you for those very interesting answers and to have taken time for writing them.

kibatz ( 2019-12-03 14:19:32 +0200 )edit

Aren't they trying to update gcc and other stuff that will potentially lead to a newer browser (or maybe firefox)??

ApB ( 2019-12-04 00:28:49 +0200 )edit

added the mounting command I use.

DrYak ( 2019-12-04 22:54:35 +0200 )edit

A big thank you to share your knowledge. i'll try it.

kibatz ( 2019-12-04 23:28:50 +0200 )edit

I have become partial to Kiwi Browser on my X. YMMV

DrDweeb ( 2019-12-12 09:59:46 +0200 )edit

answered 2019-12-03 16:01:29 +0200

cemoi71

14264 ●310 ●434 ●439

updated 2019-12-04 01:20:34 +0200

1) Correct => NTBD need to be developed

2) check your sim-card/provider/device mine is perfect (xa2+)

3) Not correct by mine it works perfect (check if your app may support it or a specific setting is checked)

4) Correct but pretty fast for only GPS functionality, i'm satisfied. Did you tried to check the "agps function" in settings (make maybe more cost from your provider)? Don't know if it works (maybe it need to be developed s. DrYak response). Maybe some should create a ticket

5) Known as bug, and tracked by jolla

6) no idea, i don't use it. Is already reported? i don't found it, maybe you may create one if none weren't be done

7) Correct! (correction)now i double checked again in settings and indeed there is just 16mpx and 13mpx possible. If i'm right the 23mpx (or 20mpx) were available at the beginning, and as i remembered i didn't like it because pictures were ugly (too much artefacts). i decided to let it in 16:9 (16mpx) because it was better. I didn't saw the transition. sorry. Sadly we don't get the 12800 iso too and night view as original in android

8) Check your operator, or try determine if you device is not overloaded with other apps. Mine is pretty fast in wlan or 3g/4G. Is something relative, i didn't have an xperia x

9) hmm... make the same process to microsoft i had always the problem that their preinstalled software were too basic (notepad video wordpad etc...). That the magic of a shop! we may have more user-experienced apps by getting one on it. ;-) Quasar mx is my favourit. I don't know why it is a problem...

Thus my question to you. did you make your part by upvoting or made some threads/reports that handle what you told about?

I don't think that you need to buy an other xperia x, otherwise you need to feed your unpatience.
Anyway the xa2 is now really fine, needs some polish, and fixes, and more functions like multi-reminder in calendar and i don't know what.

wish you enjoy the next update! maybe before Christmas?

Cheers

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Thank you for taking the time to comment all the point.

As you say, and after thinking, i will wait for the next updates. Hopefully Jollla is working hard especially on the SD card problem and after the screen orientation and the connection problem.

I wonder how strong the is work power of Jolla, do they have like 20 developer working on the XA2?

kibatz ( 2019-12-03 16:39:29 +0200 )edit

when i go to options i have 16mpx and 13mpx (if 16:9 resp 4:3). i have bought license on my xa2. i'm fine with the device but want to.know how i get more resolution :)

NuklearFart ( 2019-12-03 16:56:09 +0200 )edit

You should open a seperate thread for this question. Try Advanced Camera from the jolla store or from openrepos

dirksche ( 2019-12-04 00:37:32 +0200 )edit

shit! after showing into settings that's indeed only 16 and 13mpx possible... must correct it. i'm pretty sure that i had the possibility to use the 23mpx or 20mpx. but i remembered that it was many artefacts on it... was not so pretty than the 16mpx... seems that jolla has problem with full resolution....

cemoi71 ( 2019-12-04 00:51:16 +0200 )edit

about the mpx of the camera, the driver that Sony use is proprietary, thus Jolla cant use it, and thus Jolla is not able to use the full potential of it.

kibatz ( 2019-12-04 02:17:08 +0200 )edit

answered 2019-12-04 06:44:04 +0200

rubyhorse
751 ●21 ●30 ●31

Don't think the 10 plus is any better! The bright side is that I bought it and another license just to support jolla, I still have my beloved Jolla 1 and X.

Sailfish for XA2 and 10+ feels like an alpha. Not bashing Jolla it just is what it is, I'll continue supporting. but from the X to the 10+ you lose. 1) Gorgeous vibrant triluminous display 2) Stereo speakers 3) Front facing speakers 4) Good battery life 5) Fingerprint reader+power combo (I loved that) 6) Big buttons (power, volume now tiny) 7) Dedicated camera shutter

to gain... 1) 21:9 (The reason why I bought it, but not really worth it or well utilized really) 2) Better android support. (I'm trying to avoid anything android so I don't care) 3) Actual 2 sim + SD support 4) crickets....

Keep your Xperia X. I just have one criticism, knowing jolla is tight on budget, clients, users, business and maybe even talent... the one thing I just can't understand is the decision to stop supporting updates on the xperia x in the same level than with the newer devices... very sad.

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with the last Sailfish X update, You confirm that the SDcard and screen orientation is working with Android App on the Xperia X?

kibatz ( 2019-12-04 13:31:24 +0200 )edit

It was for me... screen lock worked for everything including android. As for the SD card I'm not really sure I had all my music on the SD and saved my pictures to the device so dunno... but I tend to recall it was working.

rubyhorse ( 2019-12-04 22:53:38 +0200 )edit

" the decision to stop supporting updates on the xperia x in the same level than with the newer devices"

I don't think this is the case. Android upgrade from 4.4 to 8.1 is a separate issue, but otherwise the X seems to be in the full support loop

DrDweeb ( 2019-12-12 10:20:28 +0200 )edit

answered 2019-12-04 13:04:07 +0200

filtrator

31 ●1 ●2 ●5

updated 2019-12-04 13:19:59 +0200

I also recently switched from a X to a XA2 (single sim with microG), as I depend on android 8 support. But my impressions differ a lot from yours:

ad 1: As DrYak wrote, you have to mount it yourself. It's an android-thing, not sailfish's fault.

ad 2: I'm using my XA2 for over a week now, 24/7, and never encountered a thing like what you mentioned. Might be a problem with your sim? Or I'm just lucky so far...

ad 3: That's a point. It really doesn't work correctly on a XA2 but does so on a X. But I'm not (yet) really annoyed by that thing. What I think to be more annoying is android app-sounds seem to not care about sailfish volume settings. I have set sailfish to mute and vibration only but e.g. Threema is producing a sound when sending a message.

ad 4: I haven't encountered long waiting times for gps-locks so far (using Here). Might be microG's Nlp-services saving me from such experience.

ad 5: Never encountered problems with my sd-card so far. Just took it out of my X and into my XA2 without a hassle.

ad 6: The native mail-app is a real pita (and so is calendar). When switching to my XA2 I didn't bother using this application any longer. I use an android-app from my mail-provider instead. Works like a charm so far.

ad 7: The XA2's camera isn't technically (much) advanced over the one of the X. But the native camera-app isn't the best for both phones. I use 'Advanced Camera' from openrepos. Still not as good as on stock anroid, but the best for sailfish I could find so far. Still trying to find a way to make it the default camera-application though.

ad 8: You're right in this regard. But this is a well and sadly long known issue of SFOS. I'm using Fennec instead.

ad 9: I don't like the stock player too. QuasarMX was far too uncomfotable/unintuitive for me to use. So I went for 'Unplayer' from openrepos and I feel fine with it. Maybe give that one a try?

Over all, I think battery-life is way better on the XA2. And as of now, android support is working far better and more stable than on the X. If Jolla had decided to upgrade android support for the X, I'd still be sticking to it. But they sadly didn't, so I had to move on...

If you plan on buying a Xperia X again: I'm thinking on parting with mine in the near future as I'm satisfied with my new XA2. Maybe it would suit you? ;)

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About Unplayer, does it have a equalizer? can we navigate into the library by genre?

kibatz ( 2019-12-04 13:37:07 +0200 )edit

I miss Android Calendar support in XA2 with MicroG that's why i am hesitating to switch. My X can display Android Calendar apps and Jolla Calendar all both on the same google calendar, the XA2 can't. I could jump to any calDAV server and sync via DAVx5 but this seems a complicated route.

danfin ( 2019-12-04 13:53:33 +0200 )edit

@kibatz: Navigation by genre - yes, equalizer - couldn't find one, so probably no.

filtrator ( 2019-12-04 14:25:04 +0200 )edit

Deadbeef Silica (which has an equalizer) and Muuzik! are two other options you might consider as music players,

DrDweeb ( 2019-12-12 10:24:06 +0200 )edit

Loved Xperia X. Very disapointed by the XA2.

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4 Answers

Regarding 1:

Regarding video player:

Regarding 2:

Regarding 4

Regarding 5:

regarding 8:

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Loved Xperia X. Very disapointed by the XA2.

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Regarding 1:

Regarding video player:

Regarding 2:

Regarding 4

Regarding 5:

regarding 8:

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