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Questions from people thinking about buying a Jolla phone
  • AndrewAndrew
    12.00 KarmaPosts: 8Crew
    I am very interested in sailfish as I find the concept persuasive in a way that is not true for other platforms. However, I am holding off buying a Jolla phone until I am confident of a few things.

    My first worry was the new interface may not be easy to use. However, recent articles persuade me that it is basically good, even if there is room for improvement. So that is one box checked.

    My next worry is email clients. My primary use for my mobile phone is email, and my main account is hosted on my work exchange server. There was some feedback yesterday on this site that one of the recent patches improved the way the email client works with exchange. Is anyone using an exchange account heavily and able to report that the client is robust under heavy use?

    My third worry is the calendar. Does the calendar work well with an exchange sever? Can invitations be sent and accepted/rejected? Does it update smoothly? Is it easy (ergonomic) to add events? Is it easy to see what is in the calendar for a given day? Does the phone alert you with sound when the next meeting is approaching over the horizon?

    My fourth worry is document viewers (word, excel, pdf). Has anyone tried these out? If so, how well do they work?

    My fifth worry is LDAP. To make the phone easy to use at work, I need to be able to look up phone numbers of colleagues on the LDAP server. Has anyone tried this? If so, how well does it work?

    My sixth worry is the keyboard? My current phone is an aging, decaying blackberry curve. The keyboard is not perfect, but I find it easy enough to use. I say this to indicate I have little experience of onscreen keyboards. How does the one in Sailfish compare to others? There seem to be many calls for Swype. Is this indicative of weaknesses or just user preference?

    I guess this will do for now. Thanks in advance for any information.
  • blitzschlagblitzschlag
    63.00 KarmaPosts: 67Crew
    hey,
    exchange connector works pretty good. But i dont consider myself a heavy user. i get maybe 40 mails a day and write like 10 on a usual Workday.
    i find the keyboard pretty accurate and responsive..
    i'm not even close to be a first one
  • AndrewAndrew
    12.00 KarmaPosts: 8Crew
    Thanks. Looks like that is two worries taken care of.
  • JollaTidesJollaTides
    326.00 KarmaPosts: 311Captain
    I haven't had much experience with some of the things you mention so will do my best to comment on what I do know.

    I only have gmail accounts configured currently and haven't used exchange, so no use there. The google accounts are integrated so make it dead easy to set up and the email client itself seems pretty good allowing attachments to be sent, cc, bcc, importance level.

    The native app store doesn't have any document viewer currently, but there are a whole lot available on your android store of choice - I use:
    http://www.aptoide.com/
    Have a search on that website to see if it has what you require. So far, I would say 95% of the android apps I've needed have worked fine.

    FWIW, I just tried downloading 'Documents To Go' from aptoide, but it wouldn't load up, however there are a whole host of other document related apps and I can confirm adobe reader seems to be working fine. If there is any particular app you would like me to test let me know. ;-)

    Finally, the keyboard is great but obviously if you are coming from a blackberry qwerty, there will be some adjustment needed for any touchscreen keyboard. Of course, we're all hoping/praying that someone will create a qwerty other half, but that at the moment is just a pipedream so don't count on it.

    In terms of a well rounded business smartphone, just remember, Sailfish is still in BETA - a lot of the functions are there and work fine though so don't be dissuaded, but do bear that in mind.

    Feel free to ask any more questions and I'd be happy to run some tests if you need something in particular tested. ;-)

    Sail On!
    /
  • AndrewAndrew
    12.00 KarmaPosts: 8Crew
    Thanks. I am happy to adjust to an on-screen keyboard (not a show stopper for me). I am relieved to hear that it is in fact good. Looks like three worries are now dealt with.

    Interesting what you are saying about the document viewer. Getting Android apps to work as well as they do is one of the great achievements of sailfish. I believe one of the Calligra developers has produced a Qt5 version of a word document viewer for sailfish:

    http://www.valdyas.org/fading/index.cgi/2013/08/22#calligra-qt5

    I guess it did not make it in yet.

    Your point about the software being in beta is a good one. But even beta software can reveal what the final product will be like. For example, when I first investigated the BB Z10, with a view to possibly buying one, I was expecting to find something interesting. But I was not reassured by what I saw, and am still unpersuaded. The beta version of sailfish already feels more promising.

    Thank you for the offer to test other features. I think the initial list covers the main points for me at the moment.
  • JollaTidesJollaTides
    326.00 KarmaPosts: 311Captain
    @Andrew

    To confirm I have also just got BBM working flawlessly (as you mentioned you currently own a blackberry). It also registers in the notification area and even shows an icon on the lockscreen. ;-)
    Sail On!
    /
  • AndrewAndrew
    12.00 KarmaPosts: 8Crew
    Excellent. Beginning to look like Jolla offers a safe harbour for BB refugees.

    Just two remaining worries (calendar and LDAP).
  • JollaTidesJollaTides
    326.00 KarmaPosts: 311Captain
    @Andrew

    Calendar has been fine syncing with all facebook events/birthdays etc. But for exchange purposes, again, I can't comment sorry.

    Google syncing has worked ok for contacts/emails, but the calendar side seems to require CalDav which will hopefully come in a future update.

    LDAP is something I'm really not sure about either, but I have contacted Jolla with your questions and will write here when I hear back. ;-)
    Sail On!
    /
  • AndrewAndrew
    12.00 KarmaPosts: 8Crew
    Thanks.
  • JollaTidesJollaTides
    326.00 KarmaPosts: 311Captain
    @Andrew

    Just thought I'd mention, 'documents to go' is working now - seems it just needed some settling in time (ie. reboot). ;-)
    Sail On!
    /
  • AndrewAndrew
    12.00 KarmaPosts: 8Crew
    Excellent. Many thanks for the update.

    By the way, I should say I have found this to be a very useful website.
  • AndrewAndrew
    12.00 KarmaPosts: 8Crew
    Looks like Touchdown is a full featured Android app for MS Exchange email and calendaring:

    http://www.nitrodesk.com/

    I guess if this works under sailfish that is all the most important worries dealt with.
  • JollaTidesJollaTides
    326.00 KarmaPosts: 311Captain
    @Andrew

    FYI, i downloaded the 'Touchdown" app directly on to my Jolla from the 1Mobile android app store.

    It loads fine, and I've attached some images for you (didn't go beyond the configuration screen).

    20131223010811
    20131223010829
    20131223010904
    20131223010919
    20131223010936
    Sail On!
    /
  • AndrewAndrew
    12.00 KarmaPosts: 8Crew
    Thanks. This looks very good. Time to think seriously about buying a Jolla phone ...
  • JollaTidesJollaTides
    326.00 KarmaPosts: 311Captain
    No problem - glad to help! :-)
    Sail On!
    /

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