Worried about Stagefright Android bug?

If you have a Sailfish OS device, don't worry about MMS, but...

...manipulated media files watched using Android apps might still be a risk. Please use Sailfish OS apps.

But if you have any friends using Android devices, please warn them about this. Stagefright is a serious "remote code excution" bug, and on Android phones a simple MMS message received automatic can cause a problem to about 95% of Android phones out there.

GPS voice navigation: Not for Sailfish, Android apps work

Update: Jolla will not provide offline navigation for Sailfish OS, at least not for a while

This is the most wanted feature among Jolla owners, unfortunately the news are opposite.

However, there are many Android apps, both free and paid, offering this feature and running well on Jolla.

Jolla battery life power consumption problems

Update 18-Jun-2014 - It's Android support related

There is a bug, some processes caused by Android support are left running on the backgroud causing extra battery drain. More reports with different Android apps running (list them in your comment on the last page) would be very useful at this point, please contribute: User Report Tool

Workaround: Jolla rotation and video format problems

Jolla phone - video formats

With Beta releases, it's sometimes just needed to do something yourself. This time, unless a fix is released, it has to do with the video recordings using Jolla's camera. There's a minor bug in rotation, turning some videos upside down (and some photos too), and there's another problem related to Jolla's less common video format h.263. Oh... and the recorded audio quality isn't great either (I hope the problem is just in the software)

Workaround for the rotation bug

When recording a landscape video, turn your Jolla anticlockwise (to the left).
This way the rotation angle will be 0. If you turn it right, the video will show upside down in your computer.

Workaround for the less supported video format

When sending videos to services like Youtube or Vimeo, the videos are automatically converted, and the file size & quality is reduced. No problem in here, if you're satisfied to the quality and the service.

Jolla records videos in format mp4v/h.263 (MPEG-4 Visual Simple@L6 to be exact). Not all players, and especially not the common web players are able to show this (you'll only hear the sound).

If you don't want to use 3rd party services, here's what you can do for the empty video frames and whining relatives: Convert your video to a better supported format. Here's a HowTo for mp4/avc1 format, which is well supported:

For converting a video, I used VLC Player. HowTo:

1. Save your video to any folder in your computer. You can transfer it via USB cable, Bluetooth or Email (attachment). Moving it via 3rd parties is not recommended, as it's usually converted in their desired way when uploaded, reducing the quality
2. Open VLC Player (link is to the official download site)
   Select from menu: Media -> Convert/Save...
3. Add... the video / videos you want to convert to the File selection list
4. Click Convert / Save
5. Browse Destination File. Select the Folder and write the name for the converted video, ending to text .mp4 (note the dot)
6. Select any profile from the dropdown menu, as it need to be edited anyway. I used Video - MPEG4 + AAC (mp4)
7. Edit your selected profile (click the tools icon)
8. For encapsulation, choose mp4
9. Video codec selections (this is what we convert)
   The selection boxes: Select "Video", unselect "Keep original video track"
   Codec: choose H.264
   Bitrate: 10 000 Kbit for max quality, 300-600 for web viewing purposes. This selection is the most important considering the file size and quality, and the processing time too. You could start with smaller values, and make another setting later if you're not satisfied with the outcome.
   Frame rate: 30fps for max quality, less to get smaller file size. At least 12 fps recommended.
   Scale 1 / Width 0 / Height 0 for original size, or change only one of the values for desired size.
10. For audio codec, select "Audio" and also select "Keep original audio track"
11. Save the settings (next time they will be ready in your selected profile)
12. Leave the checkboxes unselected, and start. Convertion takes a while, you can follow the advance from the bar at bottom. After it's ready, the player shows its stopped (no notifications)

You can find your converted video in the Folder you selected earlier. The original video is left unchanged. The format of the new video is mp4/avc1 (MPEG-4, Advanced Video Codec High@L4.0) which is recognized by most web players and html5. Html5 supported browsers are at least Mozilla Firefox (from v21), Internet Explorer, Google Chrome & Safari. Opera does not support mp4 - to gain visibility there, convert video also to ogg format.

Sharing videos in mp4/avc1 format is currently the best way considering most viewers, as both the web and most players in several devices/computers support viewing this format. As an example, here's a 7 second teddy clip not using iframe or Java/Flash. The format is simply supported by html5 programming language. You shouldn't see this with Opera browser, but with most others, yes:

Jolla HowTo: Workaround for battery life NFC bug

Link to mobile view for Jolla Sailfish browser (browser is not automatically recognized yet):
https://reviewjolla.blogspot.com/2013/12/jolla-howto-workaround-for-battery-life.html?m=1

After publishing an article about finding the NFC bug, lot's of users have tested workarounds to fix the bug. The software solution given there is now confirmed as safe, so I share it again in this detailed HowTo. Workarounds like this remains the only change for users to extend their battery life for normal level, as the next Sailfish update 2, version 1.0.2.5 does not offer a fix the this bug yet, but an update is on it's way:

@zlatkoe @SimoRuoho ETA for NFC hot fix is second week of January. This time we need to make sure that it really works ..
— Harri Hakulinen (@HarriHakulinen) December 27, 2013

To enable developer superuser mode in Jolla

1. Go to Jolla Settings -> Developer Mode
2. Enable developer mode. Enable SSH connection.
3. Enter or generate a new password (options are visible after SSH). Remember it and Save.
4. Reboot your phone

After steps above, your phone has a new app called Terminal in the laucher view. Via terminal you are able to give commands to the phone as a root user, and practically everything is possible there - even causing the phone not to start, so please be careful and doublecheck every letter you write there. Giving wrong commands might affect to the warranty of your phone.

To prevent Jolla's communication with The Other Half (NFC bug)

Open terminal. You see an exchanged keyboard, and an enter line showing "bash-3.2$ ". That's where you write your commands. During the following commands, the enter line changes to "bash-3.2# ", telling you that you have entered developer superuser mode. In this mode it's possible to command the phone's hardware. During your writing, either the keyboard or the command line is higlighted - you can write even when keyboard changes to grey. Write the bolded commands below, and press enter after each:

devel-su <- you command your terminal to enter developer superuser mode
(your password) <- note: invisible writing. Jolla confirms that you are the superuser
systemctl mask tohd.service <- you put a mask to a buggy service commanding NFC chip
systemctl stop tohd.service <- you stop the service
exit <- you leave the devel-su mode
exit <- you leave the terminal (it closes)

Terminal closes, and you have now a phone using less battery. Cconsumption is reduced by 2% per hour, giving you max 500h standby time. Your phone does not recognize The Other Half any more, so the ambience does not change when you attach it. Everything else is normal. Masking the service, like commanded above, prevents the phone to enable connection after reboot, so this offers a permanent fix until removed.

To return everything the way it was

After Jolla distributes a Sailfish OS update fixing the NFC bug, you can remove your changes to the system. It's safer to do before installing that update, but this should work as well after it. Open terminal again, write the bolded commands below, and press enter after each:

devel-su <- you command your terminal to enter developer superuser mode
(your password) <- note: invisible writing. Jolla confirms that you are the developer.
systemctl unmask tohd.service <- you take the mask away, so the system can find the service again
systemctl start tohd.service <- you start the service
exit <- you leave the devel-su mode
exit <- you leave the terminal (it closes)

Terminal closes, and your Jolla can communicate with The Other Half again.

Is this all safe?

According to Harri Hakulinen, Chief engineer at Jolla, yes it is:

@SimoRuoho Stopping tohd.service should be otherwise ok, but if you do it you may need to start it again manually after update.
— Harri Hakulinen (@HarriHakulinen) December 27, 2013

According to several users, yes it is. I've been carefully following comments going on at forums, twitter and The User Report tool during the last 4 days. People are reporting better standby hours, and none of them has reported  problems caused by this fix.

However, keep in mind that you must be careful with what you do. In the developer mode, wrong commands given can break your phone.