Ex-Nokia Employees makes a comeback

There’s a new phone on the block!

The first and only handset released with the Linux-based MeeGo “Harmattan” mobile operating system was the Nokia N9 the MeeGo was an open sourced operating system which was discontinued in preference to adapting the Windows Phone system which is weird, because the N9 was well received by critics. So ex-Nokia engineers decided to form a group to continue the legacy of MeeGo, and in March 2011, Jolla was created.

The MeeGo operating system was a project by Nokia and Intel. Its purpose was to run on different kinds of hardware platforms such as hand-helds, in-car devices, netbooks and televisions. MeeGo is also an open source project, which means the public may contribute to the development of MeeGo. After Nokia abandoned the project, directors and core professionals from Nokia’s N9 team they aimed to form Jolla Oy. People actually made a petition in the form of a twittition to keep MeeGo going, but after 2 years they’ve only accumulated 3,132 signatures so far. But that’s enough for Jolla Oy to keep going and finally released their first mobile phone that runs on Sailfish, the name which they now call MeeGo. Antti Saarnio, chairman and co-founder of Jolla said “Everybody felt so strongly that they wanted to continue”. And here they are with a new independent platform.

BBC reports that only 450 Jolla phones will be available at launch, and most of it is pre-orders. Co-founder Marc Dillon also told BBC that the phone’s ethos was to provide a more “open” approach to how people will use their phones, contrary to the closed systems of the iPhone and (to a lesser extend) Android devices.

“There’s a different opportunities for people to get apps from different places, different stores,” Dillon said “We’ve created a world-class platform. Users will be getting more choice.”

Anyway, let’s take a look at their device.

The smartphone is gesture-based, Jolla describes its interface responds to your needs effortlessly, seamless adapting to your habits. You can use apps simultaneously, accessing app shortcuts with a swipe from switching music tracks to opening a new browser window. With the simple options of Swipe away to minimize or close apps, Peek to see notifications and updates, and Pull, for pulling and releasing actions to start the camera, or make a call. They also have a start-up wizard which allows you to choose apps you want, there are no pre-loaded apps.

Design from Finland, it’s designed to have no front-facing buttons. Has a 131 mm height, a 68 mm width, it’s 9.9 mm thick and weighs 141 g. Has an ample 4.5” IPS qHD display and it’s a 5-point-multi-touch with Gorilla 2. The device features an 8 MP AF camera with LED flash, and a 2 MP front-facing camera. It also has a 16GB storage and 1GB RAM, and a MicroSD slot.

Jolla also has something new called, “The Other Half”. The Other Half is a replaceable plastic back cover which alters the phone’s software or/and hardware, that changes parameters or characteristics. And according to Dillon, The Other Half cover could even have more memory. So it’s kinda like phoneblok, I guess? Anyway, the polycarbonate property for its chassis is more durable than the standard plastic.