asked 2014-03-06 21:00:07 +0200
i have seen tons of posts about sailfish os ports to android devices. so it's now comes to me whether it will be possible to flash customs android rom on our jolla? or unlock boot loader so that independent developers could try to do it?
answered 2014-03-16 02:22:43 +0200
I understand why a lot of people would dislike this question upon first reading, because, as @flotron said : "Everybody here is trying to get rid of Android man".
But I believe that if anyone of us think about the question for a little bit longer, we have to concede that what we most value in Jolla is openness, and being able to flash other things on our device is not also fun, but interesting to see, and a reason to be proud of our device. Even though, as @Jozz said : "The hardware [specs] of the Jolla isn't that special".
A few people have already answered that flashing is possible, although reversing back to the original is uncertain.
So my suggestion to the folks at Jolla is: please improve upon the bootloader, so that we can multi-boot, to hack on any rom we want, from CyanogenMod, to FirefoxOS, to Ubuntu, to whatever else anyone wants to hack on.
Let's keep this the most hackable phone in the world, and let's be able to do it for a long time, and also let's be able to have fun while doing it!
answered 2014-03-06 21:52:07 +0200
Buy an Android phone, simpler
it is simpler and you get much (!) better hardware.
Jolla hardware is much below average, the only distinction is GPIO and TOH. As I do not see use for any of those at the moment, I would like to see Sailfish on something of the range of SG Note 3, not the other way round.
ortylp ( 2014-03-17 00:04:49 +0200 )editanswered 2014-03-07 00:26:58 +0200
I'm a bit disappointed that this question has been downvoted as strongly as it has been. Given the background of the Jolla, i.e. the hardware adaptation, it's device forebears and particularly it (and their) developers, it's precisely this sort of thinking that leads to interesting things. Some may be fruitful, some not but the very fact that it's open enough to experiment with is a good thing. Caveat flasher, but beyond that warning, why not?
To answer your question, the Jolla has a hardware cousin (with very similar specs) that does run Android of some form or another, I don't have a link to hand but a bit of searching should turn it up. The bootloader is now unlockable (as of 1.0.3.8) but yeah you run the risk of bricking it
steph ( 2014-03-07 00:30:07 +0200 )editJolla hardware most likely has a reference Android implementation and SailfishOS is utilising its drivers via was it libhubris. It might be that the CyanogenMod HowTo might help in starting an alternative ROM ( http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Doc:_porting_intro ). The benefit of Android here being of course that the network and security stack would be better than in SailfishOS.
Karri Huhtanen ( 2014-03-07 08:59:33 +0200 )editanswered 2014-03-06 22:31:28 +0200
The "Recovery Mode" has an option to unlock the boot loader, as I recall. There's some information about flashing the device here. (Also see here for how to use recovery mode.) I don't plan to try it, though. They apparently can't provide a flash image that you can use to get Sailfish back afterwards.
answered 2014-03-06 23:09:41 +0200
This post is a wiki. Anyone with karma >75 is welcome to improve it.
See the HowTo https://together.jolla.com/question/22079/howto-all-pc-users-recover-or-reset-a-device-that-is-stuck/?answer=22127#post-id-22127 to unlock the boot loader.
But why do you want to install something else than Sailfish? I've bought Jolla because of Sailfish.
answered 2014-03-15 09:40:55 +0200
This is a good question! And all people who ask why you should do this: because you can! I don't think it would be that hard to port CyanogenMod to Jolla, there is a nice porting HowTo. But I don't know how to flash sailfish back to jalla, because there is no factory image of sailfish.
answered 2014-03-16 11:14:11 +0200
Most Jolla buyers will never flash Android on a Jolla. May be I won't either but even if I purchased a Jolla to support this amazing project, I'm not a techie myself and I appreciate well working devices. And for now my Jolla is doing worse than my Galaxy Nexus, a device from 2011! Just the browser comparision makes Jolla a not so good phone for now... at least for the average user.
answered 2016-01-22 13:14:45 +0200
I think this should be possible. But neccessary? If I understand everything correct this is the order of how everything is working togehter:
jolla phone / tab non sfos ports:
downstripped android as base
libhyris (translation between android kernel and sfos kernel)
sfos
aliend dalvik
android apps
on the ports it would like this:
non downstripped android as base
libhybris
sfos
no alien dalvik
alpha of open source android support
able to start android app
alpha of open source android support does the following: it starts android from within sfos and renders it to a sfos application window. If you press on the window on homescreen you'll enter ANDROID and using it like android ;)
So I guess in any way it should be possible ;)
Asked: 2014-03-06 21:00:07 +0200
Seen: 3,054 times
Last updated: Jan 22 '16
This sounds like a silly idea. The hardware of the Jolla isn't that special. Buying an android phone is easier. Why should you want to replace Sailfish OS with android?
Jozz ( 2014-03-06 22:25:09 +0200 )editIf Sailfish OS fails to deliver working middleware. Currently Android (AOSP and especially CyanogenMod) has better and more stable network and security stack and more complete features. If ones likes Sailfish OS for its UI, one could then get a better user experience from running Sailfish OS Launcher on top of the AOSP than on top of Sailfish OS.
Karri Huhtanen ( 2014-03-07 09:03:11 +0200 )editI personally don't need an answer to this, but I fail to see why this should be downvoted. So +1 from me, just for balance: It is a legitimate question, even if it is just a curiosity.
Knowledge is useful, in any case.
mikelima ( 2014-03-07 12:43:17 +0200 )editThis is the worst idea ever. Everybody here is trying to get rid of Android man :)
mariano ( 2014-03-10 14:37:56 +0200 )edit@mikelima we do not have enough resources to get Sailfish stable and production ready, why should anybody bother with Android on this underpowered device??? If we want to achieve our goal with Jolla we need to concentrate on specific targets, there is absolutely no sense in duplicating work for things no sane person would use. If you want Android, you have much better and cheaper hardware to run it on.
ortylp ( 2014-03-17 00:10:31 +0200 )edit