No Facebook Chat Jolla? Hello Diaspora*

D* chat integration to Sailfish OS Messages

Comparing Facebook and Diaspora* as social media platforms and guiding how to integrate D* chat on Sailfish OS. The guide applies to both official and unofficial (ported) Sailfish OS devices. Sorry Facebook, but without Sailfish OS support you might be dropped out in this growing community.

[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 Below these news, there's a guide using fastboot method which is now outdated.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.

Test: compatible batteries for Jolla Phone

New official Jolla battery vs 2 new "compatible" batteries

and 2 used ones to add to the comparison. This post does not only share my test results, but hopefully also guides you in the sail for compatible spare battery for Jolla Phone. Unfortunately I didn't run into one 100% compatible yet - but on the other hand, even a new official Jolla battery failed on one test. There are also related safety issues, so please read before starting your own tests.

Install Sailfish OS on Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro

[How-to] Renew an old Android Phone with a new operating system

Android phones capable of running Jolla's Sailfish OS, gesture based mobile operating system, are now added by Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro. Work is done by Sailfish OS porters, in this case especially Matti Lehtimäki

Do you have an old Xperia Pro laying around? Install Jolla's Sailfish OS on it, the operating system seems to run on this 512MB of RAM smartphone, and the hardware is quite well supported too. For other models, check the end of this post.

[step-by-step guide] Jolla phone unresponsive or laggy

Step-by-step guide: Jolla phone file system, full cleanup

If you're experiencing slow response times, lags and app crashes, or get errors like "Cannot write to file" or "Couldn't install update", these steps will probably help you.

I've followed them all through myself, but I can only confirm them safe on my Jolla. As always, doing stuff as root is in your own responsibility. Be careful!

UPDATE: Part of the process is automated since Sailfish OS 1.1.4.29

Jolla guide for installing Sailfish OS to Android phones

Porting Sailfish OS for Android? Hardware Adaptation Development Kit

"This is a guide to help you understand how you can port Sailfish OS to devices running the CyanogenMod flavour of Android"

"By following this guide you can set up a Mer-core based Linux system that will run on an Android device, on top of the existing Android Hardware Adaptation kernel and drivers"

Update, February 1, 2015: HADK version 1.0.3 published

[HowTo] Jolla Phone Ambience text color with Paint Shop Pro

Jolla Phone Ambience design, desired text color using Paint Shop Pro

Walkthrough for creating your own energy saving background with Paint Shop Pro in Windows. In this guide we create an energy saving black background with your desired font color. Selected color is used in Sailfish UI on Jolla Phone. Ok, open your Paint Shop Pro and follow the path:

1. Select New (CTRL+N). Create a new image:
1. Width 540
2. Height 1600
3. background color black (RGB 0,0,0)
2. Select New (CTRL+N). Create a second new image:
1. Width 1
2. Height 4
3. Backgrounf color black (RGB 0,0,0) 
3. Zoom in to the second image until you see the four pixels.
4. Change the color of the bottom pixel only:
1. Use tool "Paint Brush" with size 1 (all other tool values at 100)
2. Select you desired color to the brush (Materials -> Foregroung color)
3. Click on the bottom pixel
5. Select all (CTRL+A) and copy (CTRL+C)
6. Activate the first image by clicking it's window
7. Paste (CTRL+L) your selection (1x4 image) as a new layer to your background image (540x1600)

Additionally you can decorate your image with any greyscale photos, or create any colorful header to the top (use area of 113 px high on top for your header, colors used there doesn't affect to the text color).

Your image is ready. For some reason you can't save the image directly to Jolla Phone from Paint Shop Pro, so let's save it to the computer and move it to the phone:

1. Select Save As...
1. Name: [your image name]
2. Format: JPEG
3. Options: Compression factor 1
4. Target: Any folder in your computer
5. Save
6. (you see a warning about merging and a confirmation: select Yes)
2. Open the target folder in windows
3. Copy the image (CTRL+C)
4. Connect your Jolla to your PC with USB cable. Select "PC connection" from Jolla's screen.
5. Browse to phone folder: Pictures / Jolla
6. Paste the image to Sailfish / Phone Memory / Pictures / Jolla (CTRL+V)

For next, let's create a favourite ambience of the image. You can disconnect the USB cable now:

1. Start Gallery app in your Jolla.
2. Select "Photos" 
3. Tap on your new image.
   (note: at this point your display seems totally black)
4. Tap again. Image drops to the bottom and options become visible
5. Select "Create ambience" from Pulley menu
6. Flick right two times to return to the gallery menu
7. Select "Ambiences"
8. Tap on your new ambience (black square)
9. Tap on the star icon. The ambience is now favourited
10. Write a name and select your desired tones for your new ambience
11. Flick left to Save

We are ready. Your new ambience is available in your favourite ambience selection screen (accessible with Swipe left/right from the home screen or the lock screen).

Example Background

Tap twice for full size (540 x 1600) image. You can save this directly to Jolla Phone:

 Read more about the ambience design for Jolla Phone's different screens