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Posts: 1,335 | Thanked: 3,931 times | Joined on Jul 2010 @ Brittany, France
#18
Whatever the OS is, I think people here on TMO need to be absolutely certain that it will be possible to install something else and to make it (1) work and (2) useable for an everyday carry device. Although an Android flavor would certainly be best to get media coverage during the campaign and therefore more backers coming from many communities or no community at all (as opposed as all people here on niche-TMO), it would be a big disappointment if it turns out that the device that was first discussed here cannot comply with what people here would want. I myself would not want to use it if it came only with Android as a really working solution (I'd buy a Moto with your keyboard otherwise).

Sailfish is fine to me, it already has proven being capable of proper keyboard support with the daemon that came with the TOHKBD, although it would of course need some work to be adapted here. The OS itself is also very good for daily use and has active development with a company working on it, regardless of how much some people may complain about that company (and those people are still on TMO so they're not such haters either), it managed to make one of the only working alternatives to iOS and Android and it is a serious one, not something that disappeared after a few months (although there have been hard times). It is not perfect in every way, but none of the other OSes are and Sailfish is not a bad balance between privacy, openness and closed blob, although it does have some closed blob.

Sailfish can also come with Dalvik layer and I really hope you can set a deal with Jolla for an official Sailfish experience. Community ports are great, but there are far less users of community ports than official Sailfish. There are likely two reasons for that: (1) community ports require some hacking, (2) community ports can't run Android applications. I believe (2) is far more significant in the reduction of the number of potential users than is (1). Doesn't matter how schizophrenic it can be to want to run Android applications in an OS that is all but Android, we don't really get to chose if we want to use everyday life tools. Banking systems require Android applications and they do not all provide website alternatives, connected cameras require Android applications, town-related applications (parking, bus, etc.) all require Android, and I happen to live in a town where I am not allowed to park my car anywhere if I cannot use the application or buy a yearly subscription, believe it or not. We are already screwed. But running those applications on demand within an OS that better respects our privacy would still be better than running Android permanently and have to suffer the poor ergonomy (buttons on the top right and top left of the screen, really? Option enabled by default to send excerpts of what we type with the virtual keyboard to Google, really?).

I think official Sailfish would be the best for the trade-offs between everyday use, privacy, ergonomy, security (actively maintained). I don't really care if the phone ships with that OS out of the box (although it would send a strong message about what this device is for I guess) as long as I know for sure I can use it if I install it myself. The thing is, I'm a bit concerned there would be any guarantee to that if the phone was shipped with another android-based OS that was deemed acceptable, despite the Android ergonomy and paradigms. I would not mind paying extra for official Sailfish to help set the deal.

I must admit I would love being able to run a real Linux distribution on the phone too and I would have many uses for it, but this probably should not be the default OS provided with a smartphone. Also, although it does not satisfy the above rant about the need for Android compatibility layer, what about other OSes mentioned in this thread, like Plasma Mobile that seems to be actively worked on? Aside from the nice UI which is already an advantage, here is what they say about applications: "Plasma apps, Ubuntu Touch (.click) apps, Gnome apps (e.g.GnomeChess), X11 (e.g.xmame) and possibly other Qt-based apps like Sailfish OS or Nemo. Packages can be installed by “apt-get install packagename".

Good luck Chen and thank you for your continued efforts.

Originally Posted by t-b View Post
Don't forget that the Android crowd is a lot less tolerant about hardware or software issues. You need to launch with an almost perfect product and can't ask for a premium price if it is not.
People using debian are used to solve their own problems, looking for workarounds and will actively assist improving the OS.
This may also be something important to keep in mind. The bad reviews that could come from these people could ruin a campaign and reputation of a device, although the device might be up to the standard of a community more resilient to fiddling.

Last edited by Kabouik; 2017-07-22 at 15:41.
 

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