Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Mer Project Merging With Sailfish OS

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #11
    Originally posted by ZeroPointEnergy View Post
    Except that they retired development on 14.1 and wont port the majority of phones to a newer version because they don't use project treble. Which means they just abandoned the majority of their users.
    How is this different from when it was CyanogenMod? Why does Treble even matter in phones that never supported it to begin with. Not even stock firmware adds Treble support when updating to Android 8.

    They drop support for older versions with the same speed, once a device maintainer disappears (which is all too common) and none ports the device to a newer release version, the device is not updated anymore.

    I currently use a Samsung s7 which isn't that old and the hardware is still more than I will ever need from a phone, yet there will be no new updates.
    And on top of that they broke bluetooth with the last one...
    I'm not sure what you mean with this. Too high expectations?
    The project has always been like this, devices rarely if ever lasted more than 3 years, and nightlies are known to break things.

    Not really a fan anymore.
    I'm not a fan either, but it remains the only half-decent Android third party firmware that cares about updates for years.

    What I'm really wondering about is when will they make a GSI Cyanogenmod Treble release (the generic images used by Project Treble), as that's more or less the future now.

    Comment


    • #12
      The phone has a port of 14.1 already. But 14.1 is now in maintenance mode and most devices are not updated to a newer version. I know it isn't always possible to upgrade to a newer android because of old kernels and binary drivers, but I would at least have expected that they continue to support 14.1 if the majority of devices is unable to get ported.

      Obviously you can now say "go do it yourself" and you are correct, but it's just not an argument if we are judging those projects from a normal consumer standpoint. I chose that device because it was supported by Lineage at the time and expected it to be supported for the lifetime of the device. I was quite surprised by this move.

      Anyway, the Librem 5 is already ordered so I can get rid of it as soon as they ship it hopefully. This will be my first and last Android device

      Comment


      • #13
        Originally posted by starshipeleven View Post
        I'm not sure what you mean with this. Too high expectations?
        The project has always been like this, devices rarely if ever lasted more than 3 years, and nightlies are known to break things.

        I'm not a fan either, but it remains the only half-decent Android third party firmware that cares about updates for years.
        Yes, it is probably as good as it gets if it comes to Android. I think the whole ecosystem is a complete mess and the troubles they face are not of their own making but probably deliberately designed that way to make devices obsolete faster.

        Comment


        • #14
          Originally posted by ZeroPointEnergy View Post
          deliberately designed that way to make devices obsolete faster.
          Kind of yes, kind of no. I'm still waiting for their move about GSI Cyanogenmod Treble release (the generic images used by Project Treble) which are supposed to work on any device (with the same architecture).

          I chose that device because it was supported by Lineage at the time and expected it to be supported for the lifetime of the device. I was quite surprised by this move.
          Heh, I have a strict personal policy of not spending more than 200 euro/$ on Android devices. I need to change phone every 2-3 years if I want to still get software support, be it from manufacturer or from third parties.

          Comment


          • #15
            I keep wondering why people aren't complaining about the utterly insane EULA, in which they reserve the right to nullify your right to use your phone if you ever display "inappropriate information".

            Comment


            • #16
              Originally posted by shmerl View Post
              Still no sign of open sourcing the UI and common applications in Sailfish OS.
              At this point, I'd much rather have them work on round 2 of the Tablet Refund. A lot of people, including me, are still waiting for the rest of the refund even though it's been a few years now...

              Comment


              • #17
                Originally posted by DrYak View Post

                Yet, even if the license isn't nominally copyleft nor permissive, the source happens to be visible in practice (it's all QML and Javascript) which has brought a community of patches available to modify the functionnality of said UI and applications (see PatchManager on openrepos).

                Also they have progressed. Since you last complained about it, the browser is now opensource (and a few other bits, but I haven't exactly kept track of which bits got, between which of your whining).

                And also, Sailfish is currently about the only non-Android OS that you can easily install on a smartphones with some levels of commercial support for some models.
                (UBPort's UbuntuTouch being the other one. And Purism's Librem 5 being the upcoming third one.)

                So, perfect? Definitely not.
                Useful? Yes, plenty already.
                You mean "LuneOS being the third one, and Purism's Librem 5 being the upcoming fourth one."

                Comment


                • #18
                  Originally posted by Vistaus View Post

                  At this point, I'd much rather have them work on round 2 of the Tablet Refund. A lot of people, including me, are still waiting for the rest of the refund even though it's been a few years now...
                  Same story here, I got only round one.

                  Comment


                  • #19
                    Every time I go to try to buy a phone for this I just get a message saying it's not available in my country. The state of these android alternatives is a shit show, and they generally only target niche devices that only work on European wireless bands.

                    I am hoping the Librem 5 will be worth it, and will work on the Sprint network in the US. Regardless, this has been a good opportunity to remove my dependence on smart phones altogether. just need a linux tablet now.

                    Comment


                    • #20
                      Originally posted by starshipeleven View Post
                      LineageOS remains much better on all metrics.
                      Yes, LineageOS os hugely popular. But LienageOS is just a different distribution of AOSP.
                      (Basically, only the open bits of Android, with the closed BLOB-service like Google Play left out, and some sub-variants of LineageOS pre-packaging microG instead).

                      But with you want an OS that is *not* based on Android - or to be RMS-style pedant, if you want a GNU/Linux distribution instead of an Android/Linux one running on your smartphone, the one I listed are the only viable options.

                      Originally posted by Vistaus View Post
                      You mean "LuneOS being the third one, and Purism's Librem 5 being the upcoming fourth one."
                      I love webOS, think it's one of the best smartphone OS gesture-wise (on par with Sailfish) and multi-applications (their stack-of-card seemed to me even better that Sailfish's) and for "desktop" search (Simply "Just Type"), and I've owned Palm Pre and HP Pre3 smartphones (after having used PalmOS for nearly a decade up to that).

                      But I have to admit that LuneOS efforts seem to me to be a small niche effort by a tiny community that doesn't attract much attention and doesn't see that much deployement. Even Ubuntu Touch (which also isn't company backed since Canonical droped the ball) seems to attract more mind-share.

                      On the other hand, LuneOS has switched to QML/Javascript applications (as opposed to the HTML5/Javascript used by older webOS and openWebOS), Jolla are using QML/Javascript for most of their application, Ubuntu could run QML, and Librem are considering Plama mobile which is QML.

                      Means that with correct coordinating efforts, it would be possible to see a (albeit still niche) common ecosystem for QML based apps emerge.
                      This is already hapenning with some Sailfish app developpers making their apps more modular with the target of making a simultaneous port to Librem easier (e.g.: Pure Maps and OSM Scout Server).

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X