[guide] Install Sailfish OS on Fairphone 2

Olivier Hebert, CTO at Fairphone.
Antti Saarnio, Chairman of the Board at Jolla. 

Updated on Marc 26, 2017 

Your Fairphone 2 can now run Sailfish OS, gesture based mobile operating system by Jolla, Finland. Unofficial version was made available by Sailfish OS porter Matti Lehtimäki. 

In the official side I had another interview with Fairphone. Below these news, there's a guide using fastboot method which is now outdated. Installing guide is up to date at merwiki.


Worth a read? Please share:

Meanwhile in the official side

Followup to our earlier news story

Fairphone and Jolla are currently evaluating possibilities to enter into commercial collaboration based on their common values. According to Daria Koreniushkina, Public Engagement at Fairphone:

"one possibility could be selling the Fairphone 2 with Sailfish OS officially, next to the option of Fairphone 2 with Android."

Daria shares that the common values include strong community involvement, dialogue and transparency, and continues that Fairphone and Jolla can definitely learn more from each other.

Android apps on Sailfish OS
on Fairphone 2. Pic by JollaES

Sailfish OS is currently being tested at Fairphone, and Sailfish OS including its Android support was already seen running on this phone during MWC16. Hope for a later official version stands strong in the communities:

The community works on #SailfishOS #FirefoxOS & #Ubuntu ports.
Which one will make you get a #Fairphone2? #MWC16

— Fairphone (@Fairphone) 24 February 2016

Also Daria finds user feedback always as important. Now that the community version is released, let's start testing and sharing some feedback. Leave a comment for example below, or visit Fairphone forums for this.

For the end, Daria mentioned the power of the communities "not to be underestimated" in spreading the word out. Reading between the lines, this might be exactly what's needed right now to support the availability of the official version, so...Fairphone is a Dutch social enterprise focusing on healthy supply chains, customer enabled repairs and longer lifespan with their modular smartphone model Fairphone 2

Sailfish OS is a gesture based mobile operating system developed by Jolla Oy, Finland, a software company focusing on user experience and privacy.

This OS was first released on November 2013 running on Jolla Phone, and since then there have been 15 public upgrades, the latest being Sailfish OS 2.0.0.10 Saimaa. Sailfish OS 2.0.2.x Aurajoki is expected to be released by the end of April for the Intex Aqua Fish launch, bringing in for example Dual SIM support also useful for Fairphone 2.

Guide to install (OUTDATED) See: Merwiki

Disclaimer: Testing with any unofficial images is in your own responsibility. If you brick the device following this guide, it's up to you to fix. This guide is written by information available on April 2016 after the first alpha version was released, please check any possible updates in this post and in the sources linked in the end of this post.

Pre-requirements:

• Fairphone 2 with standard or open source Android installed
• Computer with fastboot (Part of Android SDK platform tools) installed. Use this minimal install guide on XDA, or install the full SDK via Android. Depending on your OS, you might also need additional drivers.
• Any program to extract zip files, for example 7-zip
• Download Sailfish OS 2.0.0.10 alpha1, images for Fairphone 2
• Optional, Recommended: Backup your data on the phone, as changing the OS will remove all user data

Step 1: Extract the images

• Find fastboot.exe on your computer (...\Android-SDK\platform-tools)
• Extract the downloaded Sailfish zip -file on your computer and save the images in it into the same directory where fastboot.exe is located
• Open a command prompt as an administrator (cmd on Windows, or any terminal on Linux) and navigate to your fastboot.exe directory using cd command

Checking fastboot. Photo by André

Step 2: Boot your Fairphone 2 into fastboot mode

• Your phone should be turned off. Press and hold Volume Down -button while connecting USB cable between your Fairphone and a computer.
• Release your finger when you see light on the phone. Note: You don't need to touch the power button.

(Step 2B if running on the latest Android: Downgrade)

Note: Follow this step if your Android version is 1.2.8. or later, or if you've already installed Sailfish OS and you're experiencing problems with camera and playback. A downgrade to 1.1.7 is needed for the camera and mp3 decoder to work on the Sailfish OS alpha1 version. If your Android version is 1.1.7. already, you can jump to step 3 directly.

• Download Android 1.1.7 zip, images for Fairphone 2
• Save this zip -file into the same directory where fastboot.exe is located
• On the command line/terminal of your computer, enter fastboot devices to check if your fastboot is working. This command should return something like "a1b2c3  fastboot"
• If the result is an empty line, troubleshoot fastboot
• If it seems to be working, go on with:
• fastboot update FP2-gms36-1.1.7-img.zip
• Wait for your phone to boot to Android, then follow step 2 and step 3

Step 3: Flashing Sailfish OS (commands to enter have yellow background)

• On the command line/terminal of your computer, enter fastboot devices to check if your fastboot is working. This command should return something like "a1b2c3  fastboot"
• If the result is an empty line, troubleshoot fastboot
• If it seems to be working, go on with:
• fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
• fastboot flash boot boot.img
• fastboot reboot
• and wait for your Fairphone to show boot image

Using fastboot. Photo by André

Step 4: Go through the welcoming screens of your Sailfish OS

• Optional: Add a Jolla Account to gain access to Sailfish OS apps in the Jolla Store
• Optional: For nice assortment of unofficial apps, visit OpenRepos with the browser. You can download any armv7hl.rpm packages and install them via Settings > System > Transfers. Note the unofficial status of these, some of them are open source.
• Optional: Add other accounts you might use via Settings > Accounts. For chatting, there's for example XMPP (Jabber) nicely integrated into the Messages and People app

Successful! Photo by André

Missing features and known issues:

• Insert your SIM Card into the slot closer to the camera. Dual SIM is not yet supported by the OS, a later image should fix this
• Commercial parts of Sailfish OS: Android support, Exchange Active Sync and Text Prediction are not included due to licensing reasons. Another open source solution for Android apps exists, but that is not yet available for Fairphone 2
• Compass direction sensor not working
• Possibly some issues with proximity sensor during calls
• Phone app occasionally freezes the UI, requiring reboot. Fix under work.
• Double tap to unlock (gesture of Sailfish OS) does not work on this port
• FM Radio isn't supported yet, but there's an app under work already. This feature can probably be tested starting from the next release

One of the porters "Kimmoli"
is almost ready with FM
Radio app for Sailfish OS

Credits:

• Sailfish OS porters community, especially Matti Lehtimäki, Vasil Filipov and Simonas Leleiva
• Jolla sailors joining the unofficial contributing, especially Slava Monich and Philippe de Swert
• Fairphone developers, especially Kees Jongenburger
• Community sailor André Koot for the photos for this guide, and for getting the step 2B well tested
• Everybody in SailfishOS and WeAreFairphone communities for their support and testing

Share and Shout! Your friends might read it.

By: Review Jolla
Cover image: MWC16 Press Event, photo by Fairphone
Sources: Merproject, Jolla press release, Fairphone (email interview)
Published: 2016-03-20 08:16 UTC
Updated: 2017-03-26 03:35 UTC (merwiki link, intalling guide outdated)