Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwdbaaway | Hacker News Reader

> I have used a Linux phone for 12 years or so. First the N900 and later the Jolla/Sailfish ones.

> None of them has been a great product.

Likewise, and I disagree. The phones that support Sailfish X or later are all great. With Xperia XA2 or Xperia 10, you can install micro-g via f-droid, and then most android apps should work fine. Yes, it is not ideal that we need android/ios apps to function properly in a society. Blame it on SV. Oh, that's us?

Anyway, back to Jolla. A good example is that if the LCD screen breaks, I can just buy a replacement, ssh into the old phone, and scp from it to the new phone (this actually happened). That's a Linux phone.

View on HN

>A good example is that if the LCD screen breaks, I can just buy a replacement, ssh into the old phone, and scp from it to the new phone (this actually happened). That's a Linux phone.

Exactly. When I read the headline, I immediately thought of my N900, and having pretty much a full computer in my pocket at all times. Yes, I really, really want a Linux phone.

It's hard to imagine what you're missing, given the present absolute dominance of user-friendly locked-down devices, but a proper Linux phone really is worth it.

>> I have used a Linux phone for 12 years or so. First the N900 and later the Jolla/Sailfish ones.

>> None of them has been a great product.

> Likewise, and I disagree. The phones that support Sailfish X or later are all great. With Xperia XA2 or Xperia 10, you can install micro-g via f-droid, and then most android apps should work fine

I am still on Xperia X and since last fall I cannot even update Firefox any more. The few commercial apps I did try like my bank say they won't run on a rooted phone.

The models with the newer kernel/Android had their own share of issues what I read from the forums. So I did not feel any urge to upgrade to a hardware that does not fit into my pocket.

Of course the blame is on the kernel misery for phone SoCs, Google de-facto monopoly accepted by companies and governments publishing apps. So I could say I have a great phone and all the others are wrong...

> ssh into the old phone

Sure, you don't have to tell me, that's those reasons why I use it.

Ah you are still on Xperia X, that explains. For me, Xperia X was great for a year or so circa 2018, before:

* everyone started to abandon the perfectly capable android 4.4 API, mostly due to the support of TLS 1.2

* payment / transport / banking / e-commerce / travel / food / coffee all started moving to mobile-first

Following that, there was a rather rough 2~3 months transition period when I upgraded to XA2 in early 2019. It has been smooth sailing since.

I once was a strong proponent of small form factor too, but I am afraid that boat has sailed, and well, XA2 Ultra actually still fits in mine :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com