Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Been searching for reasons to upgrade my xperia x to xa2. So far it seems not to improve much. Battery capacity is notably better, CPU power seems slightly better, bluetooth is version 5 but front cam quality is worse, gpu is worse (?) and it is thicker than X.

What are your reasons to upgrade? Did i miss something?

This leaves me begging if there are adaptations coming to xa2 variations with better specs. There is a bigger screen plus etc version with top specs which would be delicious for multitasking.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

I don't think that the CPU power is better but I think the CPU should be more efficient. Together with the bigger battery that should give us an outstanding operation time.

Design is better. But that's a matter of taste.

Beeing thicker it allows me to hold it save in my hands without a cover. The x was to thin in my opinion.

Screen is slightly larger, boarders are thinner. So having a bigger screen without making the phone larger is an advantage.

Bluetooth isn't good on X so hopefully that gets better with XA2.

XA2 is getting Android 8, X probably just 7.

Faster LTE Standard Cat 12/13 vs. Cat 6.

So all together, the only real technical reason for a switch in my opinion is the operation time. There are some "nice to haves", but nothing what changes to much.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

It's newer. That's always better, is it not? :D

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

If I had an X I would not change it...why paying a new device and a new license for almost nothing? If the X does not satisfy you, maybe it's better to switch back to Android, the same phone could give you a lot more depending what you need.
I don't want to be pessimistic, but I am pretty sure that even the XA2 won't be bug-free.
This is Sailfish and I like it even with its few functionalities, since I am writing with a Nexus 5 with still SFOS 2.0.4
Nice to be part of this OS development, but not so nice wasting resources and playing the market game, changing phone once a year.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Just to throw in that the screen is a bit bigger too - about 5.1 mm :D

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Quite so! I am not (yet) changing my Jolla while it still works and fulfills my needs. Ask yourself if your current phone does and only 'upgrade' if the answer is no.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

There is an issue with XA2 TA partition backup, there is no known way to do it. This means that XA2 phones cannot be restored to their original state, or claim guaranty.

In terms of specs XA2 is marginally better that X, but I think the overall UX will be much better, at least for the android environment. How much of that will be supported from SFOS X is not known yet.

Also XA2 has more variants from X and it seems SFOS X will be supporting some of these variants from the beginning.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Where is that information from. I haven't found anything about this issue.
And even if this issue exists. The device is part of the Open Device Program. I can't imagine Sony would try to refuse warranty.

And at least in Germany law, there must be a link between the defect and what you have done to a device. Just for example: If you decide to spray the seats of your car pink. The car manufacturer can't claim that, when you have a engine break down.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

I would not change my SFOS for anything. It has served me better than Androids ever can. I still may update to XA2 just out of curiosity and support.

But what made me now very curious is what pagis said. Do you know for a fact that more XA variants will be officially supported? That would be awesome. I would very much like to see SFOS on a cutting edge phone.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

This is clear that both the XA2 (pioneer) and XA2 ultra (discovery) will be supported from the launch.
Edit: Actually the XA2 Plus (voyager) will also be supported. For the source, look for instance at https://github.com/mer-hybris/droid-...dff8e9ccf71654

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Does 'device is mentioned / configured in mer-hybris' really imply that the device is 'officially supported', latter including Android support etc? I just want to be on the safe side.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

From Jolla's blog (28/09) and from the comments section
XA2 Dual SIM (H4113) and the XA2 Single SIM (H3113) will be initially supported, and hopefully other variants will be supported soon, or at least that's the intention?

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

If you want to be on the safe side, just wait for the official announcement. That shouldn't be a to long wait. All variants should still be available and maybe they are again a little bit cheaper.

I will definitely wait until I get the first reports, if I'm right with my expectations regarding battery life. I also think at the beginning there will be some annoying bugs. just like the time when Sailfish X hit the market. So this time I don't have to be the first one.

If I'm wrong regarding battery life I will stay with my X. The XA2 is at the limit for me regarding size, so Plus and Ultra are no options for me.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Of course it is better to wait to be sure. But I really doubt that they work on those devices for fun. They lack time and resources so when they work on something, it is usually for production.
The three devices depend on the same platform "nile". So I guess they minimise the efforts while trying to have a multi-size offer. I expect that android support for example will be really similar or ideally the same (only dpi and screen concerns will matter afaik).

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Well if Someone can't wait: There is a post from James regarding the Plus on Jolla's blog, which is in my opinion a clear statement:

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

sony xa2 is better than xperia x.
better bezeless
better glass
better design
better usb
better cpu perhaps ...

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Great news! I already ordered the Plus in an intention to bring support myself, but official will be way better. 🙂

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

If XA2 Plus support comes official then it is big congats to Jolla for a bold move. There is nothing like showing off OS with top hardware.

And makes super happy sailors.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

there's nothing more "top" in plus than there is in regular or ultra. Screen size and format is the only real difference. I don't like 18:9 so I'll go for ultra if I find one for some reasonable price because ~350€ is to much for that HW. And if I decide to move from AOSP.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Does it have 6G RAM?

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Only the XA 2plus 64 GB internal storage variant.
Also bigger screen (but ultra has it too) and slightly better screen to body ratio.
GSMArena reviews rated the XA2 series as overpriced at used hardware.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Do we really need 6GB RAM on the phone? I have a phone with 1.5 and a tablet with 4 and it's the same thing in most cases. Android doesn't do multitasking so the only noticeable difference is when starting something demanding and huge. But part of that also lies on way faster SOC on tablet and not just the fact that app is frozen in the background.
And for sailfish............ well, there's not enough app to fill that RAM anyway :rolleyes:

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

That's what we thought (were told) when Jolla came out with 1GB. Within less than a year since the release an update came out that could not handle more than 3 very basic applications running simultaneously.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Yes, qt itself has somewhat a large memory footprint so some extra is never a bad idea.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

It really depends. I would say that for "normal" smartphone usage in 2018 2-3 GB RAM should be enough, especially if applications are reasonably optimized (eq. drop non-critical resources when they loose focus, etc.).

On the other hand our phones are more or less notebooks a few years back performance wise, so it might make sense to use them the same way, either when fooling around as a developer/it enthusiast or when the phone no longer works as a mobile device but rather like a static one (say a device with smashed screen or bad battery acting as a lightweight server).

In such cases it could be RAM rather than the CPU or permanent storage acting as a bottleneck. For a few not-really-mobile-but-interesting use cases that might be RAM intensive:

• emulation (old consoles, dosbox, wine, Android, etc.)
• virtualization (at least some 64 bit ARM CPUs should have extensions for hardware assisted virtualization)
• running containers & flatpacks (better app availability, running desktop apps)
• compiling non trivial stuff on device
• running advanced navigation and NLP algorithms on device (OSM Scout Server often hits memory limitations on Jolla 1 and other low RAM devices)
• running local advanced speech recognition and speech synthesis (eq. not running potentially sensitive data through public cloud)
• running some basic AI and machine learning tools & data analysis (as above & could be actually quite useful on mobile devices)
• more RAM means more stuff can be cached from permanent storage, possibly leading to faster app startup and better responsiveness
• running non optimized desktop apps (could be the only option for specialized apps)
• running an absurd amount of apps at once (sadly, not all apps start fast and properly keep their state when re-started, so just keeping them running can be more convenient)

So even if it might seem absurd, I say more RAM can't hurt, as long as there are not critical downsides of that, such as very bad power consumption or all devices being too expensive due to excessive amount of RAM.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Well, somewhat good news is that Sony Xperia XA2 (pioneer) is supported by LineageOS 15.1 :D
https://download.lineageos.org/pioneer

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

@acrux How that can be good news? Lineage s-h-i-t is anyways android so I don't get it. Sure Lineage is better than stock androids like less spying etc. But it's Still power hungry, unstable and evil operating system.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

One man's "evil" is another's "usable".

A mobile phone is primarily a communication device. What good is one with a "nice" operating system that you cannot use for that basic purpose? That is the real reason people still flock to "evil" operating systems: the availability of communication solutions (as well as other "apps").

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Trying to answer:
1. You have more choice: stock android; sailfishos; lineageos; some other rom thanks to Sony open device program...
2. What's wrong with Android? Yes, it is almost dominating the mobile world, but we should be thankful to Google releasing it's source code through aosp. This makes LineageOS and other rom's possible. In fact - LineageOS is fully open source (except vendor firmware&drivers). We can't say that about SailfishOS (using the same vendor firmware&drivers through libhybris + closed bits in SailfishOS itself). We may go even further and say that SailfishOS on real hardware would not existed if there did not exist Android :D
3. To my experience LineageOS is very good on my Nexus 6. I have not installed any Google Apps package to it and using only open source software repository F-Droid. It has been very stable through all the weekly builds. I do not remember any need to restart it except these weekly upgrades. As of power hungriness - my December 2015 Nexus 6 lasts longer than December 2017 XperiaX at my usage pattern. Well - if with Gapps, then it could be vice-versa... As of evilness - Android is controlled by US and SailfishOS by Russia :P I do not remember a case through history that US has tried to conquer and occupy Finland (or Estonia)...
4. Best greetings to the other side of Gulf of Finland :)

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

IIRC, bits of Linage OS are used by Sailfish OS/libhybris to provide hardware adaptation/android drivers for a device. So Lineage OS supporting a device means it is more likely to be supported in the future by both community ports and official Sailfish OS releases.

(Porters please correct me if I'm not remembering things right. :) )

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

64kb of RAM should be enough for everyone. Bill Gates

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

640, not 64. The most common quote that Bill never said.

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Too lazy to google :)

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

And now also the Xperia XA2 Ultra (discovery)
https://download.lineageos.org/discovery

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Speed comparison between X and XA2... Most likely the newer kernel helps, as the hardware is very similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gCDTiK0BOM

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

In case of an upgrade i would only choose Xperia XA2 Plus 6Gb/64Gb. Apart from that i think there is no big difference

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

It depends on what value you attach to the Android compatibility layer which may never be upgraded for the X ...

edit: additionally in the future XA2 may receive more love from Jolla developpers compared to the X which is already likely at its best ?

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

The Plus and Ultra also have a bigger 6" screen (5" on the X/XA2 std)

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

Whereas the size of Plus/Ultra now is way to big to handle the device one-handed.
The size of JollaC was/is just on the edge for my not-so-small hands. The size of the XA2 Plus/Ultra is definitely to much for easy, fast and safe handling.

I guess I need an old small Nokia 8210 for phone activities and the other maybe a Sony or Gemini or "chenPhone"?

Re: Xperia XA2 vs X
 

well, that why the one hand mode exist on many android phones