Few questions right before buying Xperia XA2 and starting to use Sailfish OS
This comment was posted to reddit on Nov 26, 2018 at 8:51 am and was deleted within 12 minutes.
Few questions right before buying Xperia XA2 and starting to use Sailfish OS
'Sailfish X' is the name for the downloadable image version of Sailfish that you download and flash onto an unlocked Android phone, rather than pre-installed on a Jolla phone. There are no functional differences - once the OS is installed then it's the same Sailfish 3.
The Sailfish X license unlocks certain third party premium packages in the Jolla Store, such as Exchance support and the Android runtime. When Sailfish X was first launched you had to buy this to get the initial flashable image, but with the XA2 you can just download that for free. If you flash a phone with it then it will never expire, but I don't think you get updates. You'd have to reflash with each new version.
The included browser is Gecko-based like Firefox, but it's a pretty old version and a lot of users find it annoying to use. It doesn't harvest any of your data - no Jolla software or services do that, it's just not in their business model. There's a community browser called Webcat that's based on Qt WebKit, but it really needs something else. Firefox can only be used through the Android runtime.
You can create an 'ambience' based on any image. This sets the wallpaper, and the colour palette. You could create a blank grey image, or take a photo of some rock :)
It's best to check the Sony open devices site for specific advice on which XA2 to buy. There's a way to check if the bootloader is unlockable. Generally phones that are bought through carriers can possibly be non-unlockable, even if they're not SIM locked. General retail devices are usually ok, but it's best to check.
I think people managed to backup the TA on the Xperia X, but I don't think it's possible on the XA2. It needs some exploit maybe?
It's good to know there are other places to get apps from, as the Jolla store is quite restricted. Openrepos is the main one to get built packages from, but lots of them can be found on GitHub, which will either point you to their own builds or you can check them out and build them yourself. If you need help, then the together.jolla.com site is very useful. You do get email support with a Sailfish X license though.