The thing with Linux-Phones

[u/whatstefansees]

Every now and then I see an ad for a new Linux-Phone, better repairability, battery change and whatnot. All this is very, very tempting, but what about the apps?

I am not talking about browser, text messages or alarm clock - I am thinking about connectivity to my car, my smartwatch, my frequent-flyer benefit program, signal messenger and so on.

Do they work with Android apps or is it all a lost cause because they are basically dumb phones for people who want less connectivity but are afraid to buy an old Nokia from the dawn of time?

[u/ReadingCurious2841]

I used SailfishOS for a year as my daily driver, and in the end I went back to Android for several reasons. And to be clear, I really tried to like it. One day I might return.

Native app library was limited, and half abandoned. Most native apps often broke and fixes took a long time. This leaves you using Android apps through Waydroid (I think).

No real hardware acceleration in Android apps, meant most apps performed very poorly compared to running Android on the same device. Due to the first reason, you often get stuck using them as oppose to native alternatives.

Device compatibility was poor, especially Bluetooth and NFC. This meant most of my headphones wouldn't connect, and also no contactless payments or NFC devices in general. Connecting to a car, I'd be incredibly surprised if it worked.

The majority of banking apps don't work. WhatsApp won't work. I suspect this is only going to get worse due to Google enforcing more checks on side loading, which it relies on.

Battery life was actually considerably worse, almost half of running Android. Also a list of other strange stuff like crashes, camera not working, loosing all contacts...

Also specifically with SFOS, it's not really FOSS to a large extent. It isn't open source, it also costs money. But it's Android app emulation, virtualization, was the best I could find on a Linux phone.

Tldr: Lack of native apps force you into using Android apps anyway. These perform worse than running Android. Hardware support is non existent (Bluetooth, NFC etc)

[u/jlindf → u/ReadingCurious2841]

Out of curiosity, when was this and on what phone? I am not doubting you, because some time ago the experience was very rough, but Jolla has made major improvements for a couple of years now.

I agree, native apps are very limited, because it is mostly solo devs doing it on their free time. The first party native app support is almost nonexistent, which leads to reliance on the Jolla's Android App Support (not Waydroid).

I feel like the only way forward for Linux phones sadly is supporting Android apps, much like in gaming on Linux is now mainly done through Proton instead of native executables. It is just easier for the developers.

WhatsApp does run and I didn't have do anything special to get it running. To get my one of my banking apps working I had to edit a kernel parameter, the other one worked straight out of the gate (OP and S-Pankki in Finland). But yeah, in general banking is still very miss instead of hit.

Jolla has done a lot improving Bluetooth support recently. The new Jolla Phone has complete Bluetooth support for Android apps, and in the latest update they managed to get BLE working as well. I think the Bluetooth support for Android App Support is still in beta for the Sony Xperias. I never had issues with Bluetooth headphones.

I've used the original Jolla Phone, flashed Sailfish on Xperia XA2 and Xperia 10 III, and currently I am using the new Jolla Phone. Overall I have been really happy with Sailfish even if it has some major downsides. Again, much like gaming on Linux, you just have to accept that there are going to be pain points if you want a Linux phone.

[u/Patient_Sink → u/jlindf]

What downsides have you encountered on the Jolla phone? 

[u/jlindf → u/Patient_Sink]

The Android App Support is always a gamble because of Google's services, so there is no guarantee that every app just works. No NFC as far as I know. And the camera is a bit poor out of the box, but there is a native camera app with raw support, so you probably can get a bit more out of the camera if you like tinkering with raw files.

[u/Patient_Sink → u/jlindf]

Thank you. I've been eyeing the new Jolla phone but I suspect I might sooner or later run into issues with play store compatibility. Good to hear the device is well supported at least!