Monday 14 July 2014

Jolla Sailfish OS update 1.0.8.19 Tahkalampi

Credits: leppavirta.fi (close to Tahkalampi)
Jolla system update 8 - July 14, 2014

Jolla's 8th system update for Sailfish OS is called Tahkalampi. Now we have a great tutorial app for new Jolla users showing how SailfishOS works. Also multitasking gets better with an own app cover for each running Android app....

System update 8, July 2014

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Sudden reboot issues are hopefully fixed, but the release notes doesn't tell that so we must study for a while to see. As far as I know, they are related to apps using too much of CPU for too long making Jolla think that the phone's battery is empty. Also a close to full internal memory have caused issues, and unfortunately this might still be a problem. To avoid, please keep at least 1.5 Gb of free space in your Jolla. Oh, and we have an updated connectivity stack, let's see how much that helps for some bugs reported earlier.

One negative issue is that a lot wished turn-by-turn navigation is unfortunately still missing. Browser gets new features but it's still far from perfect - I've been using Android browser Dolphin and Android app NavFree for the missing turn-by-turn navigation - They both work perfect running on the foreground. Despite the yet missing features and yet existing bugs,  Jolla has once more delivered us a great update in the promised time, and in my opinion it includes much more than what I expected - I though the sailors are on their summer vacation! Great work in overall!

Install: Settings > System > Sailfish OS updates > pulley menu, check for updates (WLAN recommended)
Note: Make sure have enough of power, or keep the charger connected during the update process

    Top10 picks from the update - full changelog at TJC

    • Multitasking: Each running Android app can be dropped to its own cover window. The latest activity snapshots i to the cover and returning to the apps is fast, directly from the phones home screen. Audio services keeps running in the background, as long as another app doesn't "steal" the sound. Few audio related bugs are left in this feature, but most Android apps works with it.
    • Tutorial: New Jolla users will definitely love this app which guides you hand in hand through the Sailfish OS user interface. UI differs a lot from Android and iPhone's OS X - but now it's easy to get familiar with, and I suppose most users doesn't want to return to other UI's after using Sailfish OS for a while
    • Connectivity: "New version of the connectivity stack" will hopefully fix the issues regarding extra battery drain when in weak 3G coverage area. This is yet to be seen...
    • Browser bookmarks to launcher screen: From the browser bookmark list it'¨s now possible to add any bookmarked pages to your launcher screen for easy access. Even further, the app folder feature released in the previous system update works with these bookmarks too, enabling you to folder both your apps and your bookmarks and have a customized launcher screen for easy access to your everyday apps and web content. 
    • Messages saved as drafts: Whilw writing an email or other message, something might come up and you need to visit another app in between. Now when leaving the message, it's saved automatically as a draft and when you return to writing it, your already written part is waiting for you. Very important feature nowadays.
    • Calendar improvements: Enhanced day view: sparser background, support for 12h clock, all-day events shown right aligned near the top right corner when active. App cover no longer displays already occurred events. 'Edit' option is now available in the context menu (in addition to 'Delete')
    • Bluetooth: Improves detection of suitable Bluetooth devices for file sharing by checking whether the device offers 'Object Transfer' service.
    • Lockscreen: Higher contrast with a brighter font. Maybe we're able to see the time better even in a bright sunlight ;)
    • Settings, email: Set separate synchronization schedules per mail account
    • Front camera bugfix: Some Android apps showed fron camera image in a wrong orientation before. Now, most apps should work correctly with the front camera. 

    Known issues not yet fixed on this release

    • EDIT: Problems with AUDIO disappeared after two reboots and audio works perfectly in both Android and Sailfish sides including swirching in between them. Only problem was that Skype was ringing together with Spotify and it was difficult to hear the call. However, we have a nice Android multridrive phone here
    • For apps using audio it's also recommended to use only one app at a time (see the release notes). If you loose your audio in your Android apps, rebooting the phone might be needed - happened to me.
    • Navigation feature for Jolla's HERE Maps: No news about development. Several Android navigation apps are reported to work fine. After this update, however, the Navigation app should be kept running on the foreground.
    • SD card: sometimes the card must be manually reattached to access the files
    • External GPS devices: Not supported. There's no setting to bypass Jolla's own GPS device
    • Video recording: Audio quality is reduced after few seconds of recording
    • Video codec issue - Videos recorded with Jolla and uploaded to internet are not played by Jolla's own web browser. As a workaround, convertion is required (e.g. Youtube converts uploaded videos automatically)
    • Zooming of emails or attachments is not always working correctly. Reopening the email might help.
    Some updates which were tagged as part of this update, like Glance Screen, are obviously postponed to a later release. You can still enable the Glance Screen in it's early adaptation with the instructions here

    Problems after updating the system?

    Upcoming Sailfish update releases

    • Jolla has stated that updates are planned to be released monthly. This one came on time as so many earlier ones, but due to the summer vacations we might have the next one either in August or in September.
    • Follow up our Twitter feed and Facebook page - you'll be among The First Ones to know

    Previous updates

    Sailfish OS Tahkalampi - the naming

    Review Jolla Blog has kept you familiar with the Finnish lakes Jolla is using in their release naming. Tahkalampi, misspelled in Google Maps as "Takalampi", is a rather small lake (2,55 ha) located near Leppävirta, Finland. The surrounding is famous for it's tasty strawberries and beautiful lake nature.

    Jolla has stated that they are using lakes of Finland in the naming of updates for Sailfish OS. There are 187 888 lakes in Finland, including the small ones, so we might have more than a few updates coming up. Looking at the size of Tahkalampi we could speculate that this is a small update, fitting nicely into the summertime, but I must disagree with that - there's a bit more. Sails up, let's see what does the letter U bring us!




    Published: July 14, 2014 15:24 UTC
    Updated: July 14, 2014 17:32 UTC

    4 comments:

    1. Problem with Skype occured to me only in a low battrey state and disappeared after 2 reboots and some recharging. I'll test this again when my battery runs low ands try to reproduce the bug. Meanwhile, audio on both Sailfish and Android side and changing between them seems to works even too good (well, I would like the Spotify to silence when I receive a Skype call).

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    2. öm, google maps shows Takalampi, not Tahkalampi

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    3. Simo, did you try the ICQ app for Android? It seems to work fine and if you send a text message to a contact that doesn't have it installed, it sends as a SMS for free. :)

      ReplyDelete