After a couple weeks of daily-driving Sailfish OS on the new Jolla Phone 2 (2026), here's my take on the European, privacy-first alternative to the Android and iOS duopoly. Design, hardware, camera...
Pretty expensive for a Linux phone that does not allow running most Linux apps.
A Fairphone costs 549 € (100 euros less), for that you get 256 GB of storage, better specs, repairability and a wider range of mobile Linux distros to choose from.
Then get a Fairphone, that said, most of the people who have purchased the Jolla Phone have gotten 256 GB for 500-580 EUR. I personally got it for 580 EUR.
Which one of those Linux distros on Fairphone is as daily driveable as a phone as Sailfish OS?
You know just as well as me that a phone is daily drivable if it does what you need, which is highly subjective.
I personally have used phones that wouldn’t work at all for most.
There are several options and people should look things up themselves and make sure the things that are important to them are supported.
I cannot give you an easy, simple, short answer in a single post, but we could discuss this in audio for many hours, easily. Sometimes simple answers do not work.
Thema advertising it as a Linux Phone is misleading imho. They should focus on advertising it as an alternative to Android/iOS with optional Android App support.
But from a Hardware point of view you are right. It is not a flagship device.
In regards to repairability at least the battery can be replaced.
What is so bad about the repairability of the Jolla Phone? You can have a look at the teardown on ifixit. Seems pretty straight forward and modular. Sure, Fairphone is yet better, not so much because it is so much easier to take apart but because of how extensive their replacement part store is.
Not necessarily for Smartphones and Tablets. There is an exception:
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may provide the battery or batteries referred to in point (i)(a) only to professional repairers if manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives ensure that the following requirements are met:
(a) after 500 full charge cycles the battery has, in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 83 % of the rated capacity;
(b) the battery endurance in cycles achieves a minimum of 1 000 full charge cycles and after 1 000 full charge cycles the battery has, in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 80 % of the rated capacity;
Pretty expensive for a Linux phone that does not allow running most Linux apps.
A Fairphone costs 549 € (100 euros less), for that you get 256 GB of storage, better specs, repairability and a wider range of mobile Linux distros to choose from.
Then get a Fairphone, that said, most of the people who have purchased the Jolla Phone have gotten 256 GB for 500-580 EUR. I personally got it for 580 EUR.
Which one of those Linux distros on Fairphone is as daily driveable as a phone as Sailfish OS?
You know just as well as me that a phone is daily drivable if it does what you need, which is highly subjective.
I personally have used phones that wouldn’t work at all for most.
There are several options and people should look things up themselves and make sure the things that are important to them are supported.
I cannot give you an easy, simple, short answer in a single post, but we could discuss this in audio for many hours, easily. Sometimes simple answers do not work.
Thema advertising it as a Linux Phone is misleading imho. They should focus on advertising it as an alternative to Android/iOS with optional Android App support.
But from a Hardware point of view you are right. It is not a flagship device. In regards to repairability at least the battery can be replaced.
Replaceable Battery is just the legal minimum for the EU.
I prefer repairability, we’ve got too much trash already and the planet isn’t in a good state.
What is so bad about the repairability of the Jolla Phone? You can have a look at the teardown on ifixit. Seems pretty straight forward and modular. Sure, Fairphone is yet better, not so much because it is so much easier to take apart but because of how extensive their replacement part store is.
Not necessarily for Smartphones and Tablets. There is an exception:
See: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A32023R1670
So If this requirements are met it does not need to be easily replacable by the End-User. Don’t know If they can achieve that.