Hi,

I'm interested in the Jolla phone, I know it's been out a while but my contract is up and my aging Google Nexus needs replacing, I've been trying Ubuntu phone on a Nexus 4 but it's not quite there (and my wife complains the sound quality on calls is awful). Anyone here comment on the call quality and usability of the Jolla phone? I understand it won't have the depth of apps that you can have on Android/iOs,

thx,

J

Edit: Would this be better off in the Sailfish forum??

I have it since the beginning
It is very usable in terms of phone operation.

-pro battery life
-call quality and reception is good where I have been testing (Europe / S.E.-Asia)
-great OS
-hardware had dropped a few times and survived with cool dents and more rounded corners

Things still to improve phone and communcation wise:

-speaker: when somebody calls there is background "noise" but it does take me seconds longer to realize it is actually my phone, not so with Nokia N900 / 808 speakers.

no fully integrated SIP (not even 3rd party type of CSIPSimple like on Android),

no fully integrated full XMPP client

for the device being sold as a phone and given the excellent example set by Maemo, the grandparent of Sailfish OS, I can't understand why Jolla hasn't included those features (XMPP, SIP, etc..) right from the start and do Facebook afterwards instead.

It looks like there is need for an easier framework for 3rd party developpers to integrate different builds of XMPP, SIP, Tox, Telegeram ,Whatsapp etc.. right in the Sailfish OS on for seemless integration with accounts / addressbook / phone applications.

This is not a Jolla exclusive issue, just sayin I expected them to do better.

The use of 3rd party communication applications with different non standard interfaces and even publicity is way too high a price to pay for a capacitive touch screen and is becoming soon a decade long dark page in smartphone history.

But other than that I am enjoying my Jolla "phone".

I would be very reluctant to recommend the Jolla phone. The OS is great, but in pretty much every aspect, the hardware is woeful.

The Jolla CEO has suggested that a third party is looking at making a Jolla phone, so if you can hold off, I would wait and see how that shapes up.

why not try Sailfish for your Nexus 4?

Call quality is great in comparison to pretty much anything... Apple is probably better, but only tested it when it talked to another iDevice. Then it's comparable to LG or HTC, the latter has been making good quality phones for ever. Note that I don't mention Samsung. Samsung has always lowered the bar when it comes to, well, anything that is quality related. Thanks, Samsung.

Most importantly, reception is very good (which adds to the good call quality).

OS wise, to me it's the best thing, good continuation since maemo and meego - both of which are still alive but with no commercial support. It still needs some time to mature, but I can do anything I want, plus more.

Hardware is OK, mine had a massive drop and the screen developed some cracks, then the phone decided to go screen to corner-of-gopro while I was ungracefully falling while skiing and now it's a bit shattered. The phone still works

If you want the latest and greatest CPU for the sake of it, don't buy it. With Sailfish, the specs work a lot better than Android on equal hardware, and even on better hardware.

All in all, the phone is cheap. Yes, you can get cheaper androids, but they'll be inevitably slower.

Search for the Jolla User Experience thread, it's very, _very_ long, but you have lots of folks posting comments since day one. There is the occasional pages long rant, but hey ;-)

Hi,

Thx for all your thoughts, I would try Sailfish OS on the Nexus 4 but I think it's a hardware problem that is giving me the issue, I got it cheap (HK$1000) from ExpansysHK as a refurb to try Ubuntu Touch. Can you expand on why you think the hardware is woeful? I've never seen one in real life but it doesn't look bad in the pics. Rubbish camera? Cheap feeling/looking? Low end hardware cpu etc shouldn't be a problem if it's a lightweight OS and probably helps with the battery life as it's said to be good,

Cheers,

J

Very quickly. I just received my Jolla a few minutes ago
Doing update to 1.1.2.16 right now (I thought there was a newer version already..)

It looks really really nice!
Gimme a day or two to play with it
(I can't test calls because of lack of microSIM. Should arrive in a day or two ..)

Camera picture quality is somewhat decent in good light conditions, but not so good in low light. Video recording has awful audio quality at least for now, looks like software issue though. There has been some quality issues also (sim-card connection loss when pressing the back, random reboots, jammed vibrator), but for most part they have been sorted out with newer HW-revisions. Screen is nowhere near best HD displays on the market and it's difficult to read in bright sunlight. Spare batteries are practically not available at all.

Otherwise I have no complaints with my device, been using it as my main phone since from the beginning. Device was replaced on warranty after vibrator ceased to work, at the same time reboots and sim-card problems disappeared.

Camera is pretty much useless in any situation that's not brightly lit. Has bad colour casts and ultra-low resolved detailed. Contrast is appalling. Focus is also ... awful. Video's a bit like one of those early 00's ultra-cheap logitech webcams.

Screen pretty much unusable outdoors as it has very low contrast and brightness. Also has bad colour casts and obviously the low resolution.

Call quality is poor to mediocre at best, regardless of what those above will tell you. Sounds bad next to my old Nokia E series phones, N9, Sony Z3C and Nexus 5.

Battery fit tends to be poor, even in the (current) year old batch rather than earlier ones. It's advisable to use a bit of paper to jam it in, even if you have a 'good' unit.

Reception is poor (wifi and mobile). Though this may be partly Conman's fault (networking stack which is not good).

Fit between TOH (back cover) and phone provides very poor environmental seal. If you live or work in humid or dusty environments, it ain't good.

Battery life is poor and batteries aren't likely to be purchasable again - though with some effort you can adapt 3rd party ones (at your own risk).

On a positive note it does seem to survive being dropped and thrown around extremely well.

Also, if you're buying a new phone you should get more than 1GB of RAM. Sailfish has the worst problems with RAM usage of any mobile OS I know, though they have been ameliorated somewhat in the last couple of updates. It's much better off with 2GB.

I'd have struggled to ever recommend the Jolla as a piece of hardware nearly 2 years ago when it launched. Now? No way. It would have been EOL already if Jolla hadn't failed to 1) sell inventory 2) secure new partners.

As you yourself note in your post, Jolla have rather struggled to sell inventory. Why do you believe, therefore, that there are recent manufacturing batches?