Review of the Jolla smartphone based on Sailfish OS with support for Android applications. Why no one needs Firefox OS, Sailfish OS, Tizen and Ubuntu Touch
It looks like the mobile technology market is finally emerging from stagnation. It no longer consists of 90% of 2 giant companies, which are looked down on obsequiously by small players. Manufacturers stopped churning out outwardly identical monoblocks and began to think about how to really surprise customers.
In software matters, the beginnings of competition are also revealed. The triumvirate of Android, iOS and Windows Mobile It’s about to collapse under the pressure of lesser-known “operating systems” - Firefox OS, Tizen OS, and, of course, Jolla Sailfish OS. The latest OS has the greatest chance of climbing to the pedestal, because two major powers are interested in it at once - Russia and China. Where did Sailfish Mobile OS come from and why is it better than popular operating systems, you will learn from this article.
In 2011, two technology giants Nokia and Intel, in partnership, decided to create an operating system, the distinctive feature of which was the ability to adapt to any user requirements. This is how it appeared MeeGo is an extremely interesting “OS” that was used on only one smartphone model, Nokia N9.
Russian users had few opportunities to get acquainted with MeeGo, because Nokia N9 was not sold in domestic retail. MeeGo received a lot abroad positive feedback both from ordinary users and from experts - but still quickly “sank into oblivion.” Nokia refused to develop this OS and decided to focus on Windows Mobile, which seemed to it a more promising project.
However, a group of enthusiasts broke away from Nokia and formed new company Jolla and began developing MeeGo, on the basis of which Sailfish Mobile OS grew. The beta version of Sailfish OS 1.0 appeared in November 2013. 2 years later, Jolla released the second version of the operating system, which is still relevant today.
In 2015, another significant event occurred with Jolla: Russian entrepreneur G. Berezkin, a representative of the top 200 most successful businessmen in Russia, appeared in the company as the main shareholder. Berezkin launched the OMP (Open Mobile Platform) company in the Russian Federation, the purpose of which was to create Sailfish Mobile OS RUS - a Russian “folk” operating system based on the software components of the original Sailfish.
In the fall of 2016, Sailfish Mobile OS RUS was completed and added to the register of domestic software under the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications. In other words, a native Russian version of the Finnish “OS” Sailfish has appeared.
What's good about Sailfish OS?
Sailfish has many advantages - here are just a few:
- Availability of 2 application stores at once. There is no Google Play on Sailfish, but in the menu you can find icons for Yandex.Store and Jolla’s own store. Android applications (which are compatible with Sailfish) are available in Yandex.Store, and the Jolla store offers only those programs that are written specifically for the Finnish operating system. Of course, there are not many of them yet - so integration with Android applications looks like a reasonable solution.
- Complete freedom when working with files. Sailfish is a kind of antipode to iOS: this OS completely open. The user can upload files of any type into the smartphone’s memory without any media processors and open them using Jolla applications. If necessary, you can even activate developer mode or launch a fully functional Terminal.
- Original interface. The Sailfish interface may seem strange to a user accustomed to iOS or Android. Many operations are performed differently than on Android and iOS - for example, to change the keyboard language, you have to press and hold the spacebar button. However, if the user gives Sailfish a chance and uses it for at least a week, he will find that operating a smartphone with this OS is even more convenient - if only because it recognizes a lot of gestures.
- Minimum default programs. Unlike Android and iOS Sailfish does not oblige the user to use pre-installed navigation or mail and does not impose anything. By default, the menu contains only the essentials - “Contacts”, “Gallery”, “Messages”, “Browser” and so on.
- Integration with many cloud services. There are at least a dozen services to which Sailfish is capable of uploading data. The user can choose which one to use - there are popular options, like Google Drive, and more exotic (Flickr).
- Increased security. Sailfish supports OS-level encryption and boasts strong MDM algorithms. It is for this reason that the Russian public sector, as well as some large corporations, are looking at the Finnish OS.
Sailfish 2 now has a call recording feature. This can also be attributed to the advantages of the “OS”, because, for example, on iOS, recording telephone conversations It is impossible to do this using built-in tools - Apple believes that call recording violates a person’s right to confidentiality of personal data.
Does Sailfish have any disadvantages?
Sailfish OS is also not without its shortcomings. Among the main ones, users name the following:
- No Swipe keyboard.
- Mediocre integration of applications with each other. On Android, for example, a picture from the gallery can be sent anywhere - be it to a messenger or to the cloud. Sailfish cannot boast of anything like this.
- No voice control.
All the described shortcomings are eliminated. So it is quite possible that Jolla will get rid of them from Sailfish OS with the next updates.
What phones can you buy on Sailfish?
There are still very few gadgets running Sailfish - all of them can be found on the official website of the Jolla company.
The first smartphone with the Sailfish operating system was released back in 2013 and was named the same as the manufacturing company - Jolla. Here is a short video introducing the device:
Sailfish Jolla presented another gadget in a duet with the young Indian company Intex at MWC 2016. The smartphone was named Aqua Fish and a design almost completely copied from the first Jolla.
Perhaps the Aqua Fish gadget would achieve success in Russia - for its low price (about $80) it has very decent characteristics. However, it is not officially sold in the Russian Federation. You can only order a device from Intex on eBay.
In 2016, another extremely interesting device received the Sailfish operating system - Turing Phone, named after the famous British mathematician. Turing Phone is interesting because it consists of the so-called liquidmorphium– a material that is stronger than titanium and steel.
However, Turing would hardly approve of his name appearing in such a dubious project. The Turing Phone company has disgraced itself on all fronts: not only did it start sending out gadgets for pre-orders later whole year(!), and she also sent something that was not at all what she promised. Turing Phone was originally supposed to have Android; when and why the manufacturer decided to resort to Sailfish is a mystery.
In the same 2016, the Open Mobile Platform company announced the first device on Sailfish OS RUS “Ermak” with a phenomenal cost of 2 thousand dollars. "Ermak" is distinguished by its outstanding reliability - in particular, it is capable of transmitting information through closed communication channels.
Everyone “disowned” the sales of “Ermak” large networks, reasonably considering that with such a price tag a smartphone has nothing to do on the mass market.
In 2017, the OMP company nevertheless released a publicly available smartphone running on the Russian version of Sailfish - INOI R7. This gadget is different high degree protection of personal data, and therefore is positioned as a smartphone for the corporate sector.
You can purchase INOI R7 in the Buyon online store - the cost of the device is about 12 thousand rubles.
Is it possible to install Sailfish OS on a smartphone yourself?
On many of modern smartphones can be installed unofficial firmware Sailfish - a complete list of gadgets. However, this task is not an easy one: you will have to use utilities Android SDK, unlock the current bootloader and install a new one. A person who does not consider himself an advanced user is better off not going down this “rabbit hole.”
There is an opinion that soon manufacturers will make it possible to switch from one “OS” to another official. In the meantime, the official “relocation” is available only to owners of Sony Xperia X – and then on a fee basis. According to the current agreement between Jolla and Sony, an Xperia X user will have to pay almost 50 euros to replace Android with Sailfish.
Is Sailfish the future?
Sailfish OS looks promising - there are a number of reasons to believe that this “OS” has a good future:
- Sailfish actively cooperates with the Japanese giant Sony. At MWC 2017 the companies presented together Sony Xperia X running on Finnish OS. In August, news appeared about the Xperia X, which runs on 2 operating systems at once. Having a strong partner was very important for Jolla.
- At the same exhibition, Jolla entered into a partnership with Sailfish China, a company that develops software for smartphones, smartwatches and other gadgets. According to the agreement between the companies, the Chinese must invest $250 million in the development of Sailfish.
Sailfish's data security capabilities have attracted not only the Chinese, but also Russia and India. If these two states continue to invest money in the development of the Finnish operating system, then you certainly won’t have to worry about its future.
Hello everyone, I haven’t been here for a long time :) I’ll say right away that the article is not mine, just a copyright for general development :) Do not install Google Play if you don’t trust Google services. Do not attempt the procedure if you are not sure that you can do it. You do all the actions given in the article at your own peril and risk, bearing full responsibility for the further operation of the device. The text is written for informational purposes.
Preparation
Before installation you must have:
- Access to Jolla Store;
- Internet connection (WLAN/WiFi or mobile network);
- "File manager" application, which you can install in the Jolla Store;
- Starting from version Sailfish OS 1.0.4.20, the ability to install third party programs: settings - system - unverified programs - allow installation of third-party programs.
Installation
2. Go to the section: Settings - system - developer mode. And select a mode. If you have access to the Jolla Store, the Terminal application will appear in the list of applications;
3. Activate "Developer Mode";
4. Activate " Remote connection" and set a password or generate one;
5. Using Jolla Phone, download this archive: http://bit.ly/1IjsdF9. The file will be downloaded to the /home/nemo/Downloads directory;
6. Open the terminal application that was installed in the second step. If you are registered as a developer, then the input line will contain a $ sign;
7. Go to the downloads directory: to do this, enter cd ~/Downloads ;
8. Unzip the file: enter unzip gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip ;
9. Get root access: enter devel-su 10) You will need to enter the password that was set in step 4. Enter it and click Tip: The "$" sign will change to "#". So you have received root access! Be careful!
10. Navigate to the target directory: enter cd /opt/alien/system/app ;
11. Copy the files one by one (you won’t need the rest unzipped: Enter one by one:
cp /home/nemo/Downloads/system/app/Phonesky.apk .
cp /home/nemo/Downloads/system/app/GoogleLoginService.apk .
cp /home/nemo/Downloads/system/app/GoogleServicesFramework.apk .
12. After all the steps, your terminal window will look like this:
bash-3.2$ cd ~/Downloads bash-3.2$ unzip gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip inflating: (… many, many lines …) Inflating: system/usr/srec/en-US/symbols
bash-3.2$ devel-su Password:
bash-3.2# cd /opt/alien/system/app
bash-3.2# cp /home/nemo/Downloads/system/app/Phonesky.apk .
bash-3.2# cp /home/nemo/Downloads/system/app/GoogleLoginService.apk .
bash-3.2# cp /home/nemo/Downloads/system/app/GoogleServicesFramework.apk .
13. Reboot your device;
14. Open the application " File Manager";
15. Go to the /opt/alien/system/app directory. The directory always opens in /home/nemo/, so tap the dot in the top left twice. There you can go to the desired directory with the application;
16. Tap the Phonesky.apk file. A window with file data will open;
17. Swipe down to open the menu at the top and select Install. The installation of Google Play will begin;
18. Using the File Manager application, delete unnecessary files.
You can read the original version of the article here: http://bit.ly/1ojJXue
The Jolla company, which develops Sailfish OS, unexpectedly announced the third version of its operating system. The presentation was held in Barcelona as part of MWC 2018.
In connection with this event, we decided to continue talking about alternative Android And iOS mobile OS. We looked at it earlier. Now it’s Sailfish’s turn.
What do Nokia and Intel have to do with it?
It's a long story. It started 13 years ago. Then, in 2005, good old Nokia was famous for its, and the model was not yet famous for its indestructibility. In those May days of the mid-2000s, the Finnish manufacturer presented its Nokia 770 pocket computer. It was a revolutionary device: it caught the Internet via Wi-Fi! There were VoIP and Google Talk services.
The tablet supported the Jabber protocol! God, how much nostalgia there is in these words! The tablet went on sale in November 2005. The 770 ran on the first version of Maemo - 2005OS. Later Nokia N800, N810, and then N900 came out. All of them were managed by Maemo.
Maemo interface on Nokia N900
From Finland we are moving to the USA. In 2007, netbooks with processors were released Intel Atom. The company wants to promote these devices, which requires an operating system that is not very resource-intensive. Windows is not suitable - Microsoft is stupidly uninterested in Atom. Then the Moblin project appears. The name is short for Mobile Linux. As you might guess, the new operating system was designed for mobile devices. It was based on open source Linux.
Moblin interface Eight years ago, in February 2010, Nokia and Intel announced they were joining forces. The jointly developed operating system is called MeeGo. Then it was announced that Nokia N8 would be the last smartphone on Symbian OS (another operating system Nokia system, which was installed on a larger number of devices), and N9 will be released running MeeGo.
Nokia N9 on MeeGo It was very cool: users could choose between iOS, Android, Windows Phone, MeeGo or even buy a BlackBerry! But, unfortunately, such an idyll did not last long.
In 2011 year Nokia MeeGo suddenly closed. The project was no longer developed, despite the popularity of the Nokia N9. Thus, the first smartphone on this version of the OS also became the last.
Part of the team involved in the development of MeeGo left Nokia to create their own company. They named her Jolla. The team was unable to obtain control of most of the patents for the operating system, so many of its elements had to be developed anew. For example, design.
What did Jolla try to leave with?
The company emphasized multitasking and openness. During the first presentation, they promised to release an SDK for development by third-party application developers. Operating system with rich customization options and support multi-core processors, which are the future.
Special emphasis was also placed on the interface. Thus, Mark Dillon, co-founder of the company, said the following: “The Sailfish OS interface is unique in that the device can only be used using gestures.” From any application, swipe right to open the notification center. Bottom to top - a list of installed applications opens. There were a lot of gestures. All of them replaced the usual buttons. Manufacturers of Android smartphones are now trying to come to this and abandon on-screen buttons, which “eat up” a significant part of the screen.
In 2012, the company announced its Jolla smartphone. It went on sale a year later. The device had an unusual appearance. It seemed like it was glued together from two different smartphones. A little later, the Jolla Tablet was announced, but then the company encountered financial difficulties. The tablet was not released.
How does Jolla live now?
Since then, the company has decided to focus on its operating Sailfish system OS. For example, firmware development for the Nexus 4 and OnePlus One smartphones was carried out directly within Jolla.
In 2016, the company licensed Sailfish OS for the Russian "Open Mobile Platform". Together, Sailfish Mobile OS RUS was released. The list of supported devices includes a smartphone for government employees and corporate clients “Ermak OMP”, as well as Russian smartphone INOI R7. Operating systems similar to the Russian licensed OS exist in Brazil, China and other countries.
Ermak WMD The third version of Sailfish will be designed for more devices. At MWC they announced its appearance in the fall on the above-mentioned INOI R7, Sony Xperia XA2, Gemini PDA PDA, as well as on unnamed push-button phones with 4G support. Sailfish OS 3 will focus on security. For example, if the device is lost or stolen, the user will be able to remotely erase all data.
The operating system supports Android apps, but only if the user has paid $50 for Sailfish OS.
Sony Xperia XA2 with Sailfish OS installed The dominance of two operating systems on the market is not the best situation for the user. In this case, the technological progress that we so dream of will be hindered by a lack of interest in development. The more choice there is, the better it will be for the chooser. We hope that Sailfish will develop as an alternative operating system and one day find its niche, which it will confidently hold.
Having studied the Jolla smartphone, we decided to prepare a separate material on Sailfish OS - operating system, on which this device operates. Since we reviewed the smartphone itself, we will not touch upon issues of performance, operation of communication modules, and the like. In addition, we emphasize that this article is the result of a first acquaintance with the operating system. It is possible that after using the smartphone for a long time, details will appear that were not described here. However, we will closely monitor the development of the new OS, and as soon as new information appears, we will prepare new material.
Sailfish OS is an attempt by people from Nokia, which died shortly after Stephen Elop joined Nokia. To better understand the intricate pedigree of Sailfish OS, we advise you to refresh your memory of the articles about Nokia N9 and Nokia N950, as well as where Sailfish OS was first introduced.
We will not retell this whole story and will just mention a few key facts necessary for understanding basic principles functioning of the OS. So, at the heart of Sailfish OS - Linux kernel with an add-on in Qt and Mer, and the interface and applications are made in QML and HTML5. The source code is completely open, which allows enthusiasts to modify the OS and install it on other smartphones. In particular, there are already successful attempts to install Sailfish OS on Nokia N9 and Google Nexus 5. We also note that at MWC 2013, Jolla CEO (now head of the development team) Mark Dillon demonstrated Sailfish OS to us on a Nokia N950.
However, there is no news yet that Jolla plans to license its OS to other manufacturers, so at the moment the only official “carrier” of Sailfish OS is the Jolla smartphone. Let's get acquainted with the OS in practice.
Initial setup and basic applications
When we turn on the smartphone for the first time, we are asked to go through several steps to set up the system (selecting a language, country, registering in a store, etc.). Everything is done very nicely, the interface immediately captivates with its style and various interesting features. It’s nice that the Russian language is supported - although the smartphone is not only not sold in Russia, but is not even delivered here if you place an order on the Jolla website. Moreover, support extends both to the keyboard (Russian is present initially, it does not need to be enabled in the settings) and to the interface.
Immediately before launching the OS, we are offered to undergo a short training on managing the interface. Like MeeGo, Sailfish OS is completely gesture controlled. In addition, before launching, you can select a list of applications that will be installed. Unlike iOS and Android, we are not forced to use pre-installed maps, mail and other services - the “mandatory” package includes only Phone, Messages, Browser, Camera, Contacts, Store, Gallery, Settings, Guide and Yandex.Store.
In the screenshot on the left above this paragraph you can see full set pre-installed applications (the top two rows plus the first icon of the third row), and in the screenshot on the right is the full set of applications that we are offered to install upon first launch. It is clearly visible that there is a lot missing here - for example, a file manager, social networking clients, YouTube... Partially these problems can be solved, but we will talk about this later.
Let's briefly talk about the main applications.
All applications are very minimalistic. There are almost no settings, the interface is not always intuitive. But the appearance is pleasant. Above are screenshots of the Phone application. Below are Messages. Let's pay attention to the keyboard and switching languages. To change the layout, you need to touch and hold your finger on the spacebar button, and then, still without lifting your finger, click on the language you need in the menu that opens. On the one hand, this method of changing the layout is interesting, on the other hand, it takes longer than on iPhone and Android. If you need to insert one word in English into a Russian-language message, the procedure turns out to be too long and inconvenient.
The browser here is its own, and, to be honest, we were somewhat disappointed with it. Firstly, the interface is too unusual: address bar is located only on the second screen where bookmarks are located. And, most importantly, there is no change in orientation from portrait to landscape. This, for example, makes watching online videos virtually pointless. Unfortunately, the lack of ability to change orientation is a problem with many Jolla applications.
The Camera application is interesting because of the layout of its settings, and the Notes application is interesting because it allows you to assign colored labels to your entries, sorting them in this way.
Clock, Calculator, Contacts, Calendar are nothing special, Media, Documents and Gallery are meant to be opened various files(audio, text and photo/video, respectively). As for the Maps application, it uses Nokia Here Maps. They determine the location using GPS correctly, the maps themselves are quite detailed (in Moscow they show everything, right down to individual houses), but, alas, unlike Nokia smartphones, there is no way to use maps locally, without the Internet.
The last Jolla app we'll cover is Mail. Its main drawback is the inability to open an attachment directly in mail client: You can only download the file and open it in Documents. And as advantages, we note the ability to select several letters and delete them all with one click (for some reason, new operating systems do not always have this option), as well as the ability to work with several mailboxes.
Appearance and Controls
For a geeky operating system, and even in its first version, Sailfish OS looks great. Well-chosen thin fonts, translucent window thumbnails, smooth appearance and disappearance effects for minimized applications...
Unlike Firefox OS, which is reminiscent of early Android versions, Sailfish OS turned out really beautiful. Let's pay attention to application icons: most of them are of different shapes. This demonstrates the Jolla philosophy, expressed by the English word Unlike (different, different from others, dissimilar).
Icons for new applications are added at the bottom; there are no horizontal desktops here, as in Android - only a vertical “sheet” with icons. And this is due to the management features.
Swipe gesture from right to left and left to right collapses running application without closing it. A swipe from below opens the notification window. Top - completely closes the open application. And if you put your finger on the screen and pull it down a little without lifting your finger, we will see extra menu, which will appear on top, as if above the desktop. To select one of the items in it, you need to combine this item with a translucent strip. A very interesting, although unusual solution to master!
Swipe from above when no app is running in active mode, causes the screen to turn off and enter sleep mode. Double tapping on the switched off screen, on the contrary, turns on the smartphone. Of course, getting used to all this swiping, pulling, tapping, etc. is not so easy. And it’s not a fact that it will be really convenient in everyday life (although some solutions are clearly convenient). But, nevertheless, such experiments are necessary for the development of the industry. mobile devices. Perhaps some will come into use in other operating systems.
There are quite a few quite familiar solutions in Sailfish OS. For example, to delete an application, you need to click on the icon, holding your finger until a cross appears under the icon. After this, just click on the cross and the application will be deleted. In a similar way, you can “kill” unnecessary thumbnails of open applications.
Note that one of the interface features that Mark Dillon showed us at Mobile World Congress 2013 has not yet been implemented - this is application control directly in miniature. For example, controlling music playback: without opening the application to full screen, you press Play or Pause. Alas, we were never able to see this idea in action on the final device: in response to any touch, the application thumbnail expanded it to full screen. But traces of that concept remained in the appearance of the miniatures. Let's see, maybe it will be implemented in the future. However, even without this, Sailfish OS’ multitasking performance is very good.
Android app stores and support
Sailfish OS has two application stores installed: its own Jolla store and Yandex.Store. The Jolla store contains applications written specifically for Sailfish OS. At the time of this writing, there are 152 of these applications (including the Jolla applications offered during system setup). Of course, this cannot be compared with the abundance of applications for more popular and older operating systems, but considering that sales of the smartphone began quite recently, the start is quite good.
To highlight more successful applications in the Store, a system of likes is used and information about the number of downloads is displayed. In addition, there is, of course, a division into categories.
Most of the currently available applications are simple utilities and casual toys (snake, Sudoku, etc.). But there are also extremely useful things that we strongly recommend installing soon after your first acquaintance with the OS. Let's list them.
File Browser is a file manager. It’s even strange that there is nothing like this in the main set of applications. Screenshot is a tool for taking screenshots (alas, the hardware ability to take screenshots, as in Android 4.x and iOS, is not yet implemented in Sailfish OS).
Flashlight is a basic flashlight. Friends is a nice client for Facebook.
Finally, Webcat is a good (although not flawless) browser, superior to the preinstalled browser in speed (the result in SunSpider is one and a half times better!) and interface convenience, and also pleases with the presence of landscape orientation (which the preinstalled one does not have).
Of course, there are also not very successful applications in the Store. For example, a client for Dropbox called Sailbox disappointed us (it’s inconvenient to use, its functionality is modest). and Weather could not start normally. However, all the presented applications are free, so even if you install something mediocre, you won’t mind deleting it later.
Now let's see how Yandex.Store works in Sailfish OS and why it is needed here. In fact, having Yandex.Store is very valuable because you can install Android applications from it. Sailfish OS claims to be compatible with Android apps, but there is no Google Play Store ( Google company does not license it separately from Android). Therefore we have to be content alternative markets, and Yandex.Store is at least not the worst of them.
Among the applications that can be installed from Yandex.Store and it is quite normal to work with them on Jolla are VKontakte and Odnoklassniki clients, Skype (however, it can only be used as text chat due to problems with sound transmission), Viber, Angry Birds, Metro.Yandex and some others, without which it is now difficult for us to imagine our lives.
Please note that Android applications have Back and Menu buttons that are not used in Sailfish OS, but the black bar with them “eats up” part of the screen space.
And, of course, the interface of Android applications is not made in the style of Sailfish OS. We also note that players and file managers from Android are practically useless here, since the list of folders that are “visible” from them does not at all coincide with what can be seen by connecting Jolla to a computer or launching the native File Browser. Apparently, Android applications run in some kind of virtual machine, which is isolated from the main file environment. That is, working with files is difficult because of this. For example, you cannot download a movie from your computer and open it with an Android player (via at least, we didn’t succeed). It was not possible to play the video using MX Player installed from Yandex.Store and from a microSD card.
Working with files, connecting to a PC, Terminal
The fundamental feature of Sailfish OS is maximum openness, providing the user with maximum freedom (as befits a Linux system). Therefore, working with files here does not require any additional tricks: you can copy files from your PC to your smartphone and open them using Sailfish OS applications, you can even enable developer mode and get a fully functional Terminal at your disposal.
As for connecting to a PC, without activated mode developer, the smartphone will offer two options when connected to a computer: transferring files or only charging. In the first case, the smartphone will appear as removable storage, and you will be able to overwrite files from internal memory smartphone and into it. In the second case, of course, the smartphone will simply be charged from the computer.
If you have developer mode enabled, then a third option will be available, which is called Developer Mode.
It is very important that Android applications can be installed directly from an APK file: we simply copy the APK into the internal memory of the smartphone and install it. There is, of course, a chance that it won’t work properly, but this also happens on “real” Android.
As a matter of fact, the only problem with working with files that exists here is related specifically to Android, namely the inability of Android applications to reach the files in the root directory of Jolla’s internal memory. But this follows from the very logic of the operating system.
conclusions
And now we smoothly move on to the shortcomings. Of course, the system is very young, and judging it “by the Hamburg account” is perhaps not entirely correct. But it’s also impossible not to mention shortcomings and instabilities. On the first version of the firmware the situation was completely sad. Firstly, after installing one application, the Jolla store stopped working and crashed in all subsequent launches. Secondly, after starting work, a notification appeared about the availability of an OS update, but an attempt to update did not lead to anything. It seems that the OS simply did not respond to commands to start updating - so this is a notification about available update and continued to hang. Thirdly, there were constant freezes various applications. For example, Yandex.Store was launched successfully only once. After the OS update was finally installed ( Current version- 1.0.2.5 Maadajâvri), there were significantly fewer problems, but some instabilities and crashes were still noticed.
In addition, they left mixed impressions pre-installed applications: they, of course, are all beautiful and interesting from an interface point of view, but how could they release a browser without the ability to change the orientation to landscape? Why does the Media app only play music, but videos need to be watched using the Gallery? Why can’t a video file be opened simply from the file manager - only from the Gallery? There are plenty of such small and large shortcomings, but...
And yet, despite all these problems and noted shortcomings, we consider Sailfish OS to be a very promising operating system. It has its own style, its own ideology (correct, competent and sincere), its own unique features... Finally, there is a community of developers and enthusiasts who, since the days of Maemo, have been following the fate of mobile open source projects and supporting every step in this direction. Therefore, now everything will depend on the further strategy of the Jolla team. Will they license the OS or plan to use it only on their smartphones? In the latter case, do they plan to release cheap smartphones or will they focus exclusively on the upper segment? We will probably get answers to some of these questions in the near future (for example, after Mobile World Congress 2014). And in any case, we will monitor the fate of Sailfish OS and hope that the curse of Nokia (which buried first Maemo and then MeeGo) will bypass this startup, although it was born in the bowels of the Nokia corporation, but broke with it and set off on a free voyage to your fishing boat.
P.S. On January 31, after the article was completed, Jolla released operating system update 1.0.3.8 (Naamankajarvi), which fixed a number of shortcomings and added some features that were previously sorely lacking. These include: landscape mode for the browser, two-finger zoom in the Camera application, SMS support in the Android environment and other improvements.
Jolla unusual smartphone from the Finnish manufacturer of the same name, running on Sailfish OS, an open-source operating system with support for Android applications. The founders are former Nokia employees who left the company after the arrival of Stephen Elop and Windows Phone.
It cannot be categorized budget devices, official cost in Russia is 19,990 rubles. Jolla will have to surprise us with at least good performance and characteristics that are not inferior to the flagships of early 2014.
Design and equipment
Contents of delivery:
No headphones. Jolla saves space in our trash can and doesn’t include 50 ruble plugs for show. Thank you.
Perhaps what sets Jolla apart from its competitors is its very unusual sandwich-shaped body. When I took the phone out of the box, I wanted to separate it top part from the bottom. This desire remains to this day, my hands are itching.
In fact, it is a removable cover. Smart removable cover. For example, if you install a panel of a different color, Jolla will automatically suggest changing color scheme interface. Cool? Undoubtedly. Another plus in favor of its unusualness.
SIM card slots are located under the cover Micro SIM and MicroSD memory cards, as well as removable battery capacity 2100 mAh. The device can work up to 10 hours in talk mode and up to 21 days in standby mode.
Here we will also find the necessary information about the phone: IMEI, serial number, model and production date. The device is assembled in China.
There are no buttons on the front panel, only an indicator light. On the side there is a power/unlock button and a volume rocker. The tactile sensations are pleasant: the clicks are clear and precise. On top there is a standard 3.5 mm audio output and an equally standard MicroUSB connector.
The body is made of good plastic, it does not blur and does not collect dirt. The construction is solid, but the phone is not tightly assembled: in some places it backlash. If you turn it in your hands and press it with your fingers (and we love to do this), you can clearly hear crackling sounds. Perhaps the removable cover is to blame. Jolla weighs 141 grams and measures 131 x 68 x 9.9 mm.
As for ease of use, the well-established “apple never falls far from the tree” suggests itself. Let me give you an analogy with Nokia phones Lumia. The sharp edges dig into your palm and this feeling is especially intensified when you try to reach the top of the screen.
Display
Jolla equipped their smartphone with a bright 4.5-inch multi-touch display with an IPS matrix. The screen behaves well in the sun. Colors juicy, in comparison - something between the iPhone 5/5S and the new sixes.
The positive impressions end with color rendering. Resolution – qHD, 540×960, 245 ppi. And this few. For example, the one presented in 2010 year iPhone 4 with a screen diagonal of 3.5 inches, the resolution is 640x960 with a density of 326 ppi. When watching videos, working with photos and the smartphone interface, pixels will not be noticeable, but once you go to the browser, all the beauty of grainy and smeared fonts will begin to get on your nerves. For clarity, I tried to take a screenshot with a DSLR camera, even in horizontal orientation The text display quality is not impressive:
As for viewing angles, there is no praise or scolding here. Quite comfortable for work, but nothing more.
Overall impressions of the display are positive. Yes, low resolution. But good brightness, rich colors, absence of serious glare in the sun and acceptable viewing angles smooth out this shortcoming.
The glass is durable - Gorilla Glass 2. There should be no scratches or abrasions. Unless, of course, you decide to hit it with a key or something else.
Camera
Before moving on to the main camera, let's quickly look at the front one. Its resolution is 2 megapixels. I'm not a fan of selfies, so I gave my girlfriend the opportunity to test and make a verdict. She took two photos: on Jolla and on her iPhone. The photos are not processed, the lighting in the room is good.
Jolla:
You can see from the pictures that you won’t be able to take a high-quality selfie on Jolla. The color rendering is unnatural, the complexion is distorted (the effect of a red skin tone), the image is very noisy.
Let's move on to the main 8 megapixel camera. Fixed aperture value – f/2.4.
To convey its capabilities in detail, let's consider a couple of pictures outdoors (during the day), indoors with insufficient lighting, and again outdoors, but at night.
Outdoors (daytime):
Room with insufficient lighting:
At night:
For everyday shooting, the quality is quite acceptable. The pictures were taken in automatic mode, because I’m used to taking photos on an iPhone, which perfectly adapts the settings to any conditions. The Jolla camera app algorithms cope with this task satisfactorily, but for best result without manual settings can't get by here. The following parameters are available to the user:
Jolla can record video with resolution 1080p with a frequency of 30 frames per second and copes with this task well. Colors are moderately saturated, noise is smoothed out. The digital stabilization doesn't work as well as we would like (the picture is not very smooth), but overall it will do.
Sailfish OS
The entire uniqueness of the Jolla device lies in its operating system. I’ll say right away: it’s not like iOS, Android, or Windows Phone. This is something new, interesting, quite simple and intuitive, aimed at controlling gestures. I will not consider it in detail; what is important here is the impressions that everyone should get for themselves by holding a smartphone in their hands and testing it before purchasing. The official website has a visual video demonstrating the interface and capabilities of Sailfish OS.
Jolla's start screen is unique. The clock is displayed at the bottom, the day of the week and date at the top. Scroll down - we get to the multitasking screen and the first 4 applications. Another scroll – the rest of the applications. Interesting concept.
Examples of some standard applications:
If you want to install an Android application, you need to download the support for the respective stores. Available by default Anzhi Market, Aptoide Appstore And Yandex.Store. They are complementary; if you wish, you can find the most necessary things, for example, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Yandex.Maps, Shazam and others. About Google play“out of the box” you can forget, although I have no doubt that enthusiasts have already found a way to access it.
Eat alternative way installing applications for Android: connect the device to the computer and download the APK file to it and then install it. Programs that use the smartphone file system (players, file managers) may crash and become unstable. For example, Yandex.Store periodically closes with an error and does not display images.
Performance
Jolla is equipped with very weak hardware by today's standards: a processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 2 cores 1.4 GHz, 1GB random access memory. Its performance is comparable to Samsung Galaxy S2. Sad tests in AnTuTu Benchmark:
