Jolla unveils first Sailfish OS smartphone

Finnish startup Jolla has announced its first smartphone, which shows off its Sailfish OS on a 4.5-inch screen. The device integrates the company's unique back covers with the software, allowing the look to change and new features to be added.

Jolla, which was founded by a former Nokia employees who wanted to continue the development work the Finnish phone maker had done on the MeeGo OS, is with the introduction one big step closer to entering the ultra-competitive smartphone market.

The LTE-smartphone—which is just called Jolla, for now—is powered by a dual-core processor and has an 8-megapixel camera. It also has 16GB of integrated storage which can be expanded using an SD card.

The smartphone has been designed to look like two thin slabs that have been bonded together, and users can change the color of the back one with different snap-on covers. The back cover isn't just about the hardware design. It is integrated with the OS and can be used to add features and change the look, a concept Jolla calls "the other half."

The company's core offering is the Sailfish operating system, which Jolla hopes will lure users away from competing platforms. To help boost the availability of apps, the OS will be able to run Android applications.

The heart of the OS consists of thumbnails of opened applications on the home screen from which users also can access multiple features directly by scrolling from side-to-side or just clicking on them to access the main feature.

The Jolla will start shipping during the fourth quarter and cost €399 ($510) including taxes in the EU. It can be preordered on Jolla's website.

The market for smartphone operating systems will get a lot more crowded this year, as the respective backers of Firefox OS, Ubuntu and Tizen are also expected to launch their first phones. The only thing Jolla has got going for it is its small size, which means it doesn't have to sell many devices to survive, according to Francisco Jeronimo, research director at IDC.

All of the new operating systems will have a very hard time even making a dent in Android and iOS' dominance. Firefox OS and Tizen are expected to have a share of less than 5 percent in five years, according to IDC, which isn't even tracking Ubuntu and Sailfish.

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Jolla releases new mobile OS 'Sailfish OS'

The new OS smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, automotive and other devices.
Finnish start-up firm Jolla has released the new Sailfish OS and detailed the improved multitasking features, interaction and its personalisation options.
Developed in collaboration with Sailfish, the new Sailfish Software Development Kit (SDK) and Jolla User Interface (UI) will support multiple chipset technologies.

According to Jolla, ST-Ericsson is all set to support the new Sailfish OS in its NovaThor platforms.
Jolla CEO Marc Dillon said that ST-Ericsson's NovaThor platform combined with Sailfish OS will enable vendors to bring competitive mobile products to the market. "We also target to announce other chipset provider partnerships soon," Dillon said.

Supporting smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, automotive and other device classes, the new OS will be developed through community participation.

The Sailfish SDK features Mer Core's tools, Qt Creator, Jolla UI components, Sailfish UI framework and Sailfish handset application interfaces.

The Sailfish user interface is claimed to be developed as per the latest user requirements and the UI Sailfish will offer easy multitasking.

Jolla is also planning to offer ready-made Jolla hardware to mobile network operators and also advised that firms that desire to incorporate their own technologies to the device can also deploy without sharing their elements with other vendors that operate on Sailfish.

The start was formed by a group of former Nokia employees who left the company following its decision to shift to Windows OS ditching the MeeGo operating system.

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