A phone with many compromises
After about 3 months of waiting, ordered at the end of October Oct 15, 2025, the two C2 Community from Jolla arrived only yesterday 21/01/2026. I got 2 phones intending to use them as primary phones for both myself and my partner, so after just one day of use I can already draw some conclusions.
Let's start with the startup
From the very beginning, the phone requires registration of a Jolla account to access the official store and update the phone. Moreover, the account is also necessary to use the compatibility tool with Android apps. This doesn't seem much different from registering with a Google account on Android phones.
During initialization, the positive thing is that it already offers the installation of F-Droid and Aurora Store, which is good because it later allows the installation of apk apps.
The startup is slow even after updating to the new release. The idea of creating a tutorial for gestures, which are a bit different from Android, is a good one.
Audio and Camera Section
The audio is good during calls and even on speakerphone the other person can hear the conversation well, but compared to the Redmi Note 9 Pro there's no comparison in terms of music audio—sound is muffled as if coming from far away, definitely not adequate speakers. Even the ringtones section doesn't seem to be up to par.
Camera in HD, not 4K, and overall the software management is better than described, although still far from the performance of Android phones. Below is an example of some photos.
This photo was taken with zoom, it appears blurry, it doesn't seem like there is autofocus.
Here are the photos in detail.
At the moment this is the maximum the camera can achieve, I tried to optimize it with Android software like LibreCamera (which worked perfectly on the Redmi Note 9 Pro) but the situation actually got worse.
Do Android apps, banking apps, and chat apps work?
The answer is "yes and no." To keep it short, many banking apps work well and have no issues. I have ING and had no problems installing it from Aurora. Apps installed from F-Droid also seem to work with a few exceptions. For example, Syncthing does not sync photos because on the phone, Android apps are sandboxed and do not communicate with the device's folders.
Alternatives to Telegram like ForkClient downloaded from F-Droid seem to work, but I noticed that even though I installed MicroG, sound notifications from the apps, even if enabled, do not arrive (at least not promptly).
Apps like Tutamail, Jellyfin, NewPipe, Delta Chat work without major compromises.
Not having social accounts like Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, etc., I can't say if they work, but I can say that you can find a lot of info on the Jolla community blog.
For every app, it seems there is an alternative on OpenRepos.net, a repository of alternative apps.
Some apps, like those for surveillance cameras, do not work well. For example, Reolink is very slow to open and connect to cameras, definitely not in real time.
Maps and GPS
Another chapter concerns GPS and Maps. There is no official map installed on the Jolla C2 Phone, but we can use Pure Maps or an app like CoMaps or others. However, the problem in this case is the GPS fix, for which an app like GPS Info directly from the Jolla Store or from OpenRepos.net is needed. It takes a bit of work, but it works.
Bluetooth and Car
The Bluetooth part also works and recognizes devices, and the car hands-free system is recognized. I haven't tried yet if the music part works and if it can be controlled with the car controls.
Not having Google Auto, I don't know if the mirroring part works, although there seem to be negative reports since the Jolla is a Linux phone, not Android.
Conclusions
In short, if I had to recommend it to a user looking for practicality and ease of use, I wouldn't do it. The Jolla is still immature, many features are missing, and in my opinion, the audio, camera, and Android compatibility need to be improved. However, it's a good attempt to offer another choice compared to the American dominance of Google and Apple, but it's still not very successful, also because the price was 299 when I bought it in October but it seems to have increased due to the components. Furthermore, the new Jolla Phone is also coming out, so I hope this one won't be abandoned; in any case, there is support for 5 years from the time of purchase, including Android compatibility.
