Why nobody needs Firefox OS, Sailfish OS, Tizen and Ubuntu Touch. Installing Sailfish OS on Nokia N9

We often write about the security of mobile operating systems, publish information about vulnerabilities found, describe security weaknesses and hacking methods. We wrote about surveillance of Android users, and about malicious applications that are embedded directly into the firmware, and about the uncontrolled leakage of user data into the manufacturer's cloud. Which of the modern mobile platforms is the most secure for the user - or at least the least insecure? Let's try to figure it out.

What is security?

You can't talk about device security without defining what we actually mean. Physical data security? Protection against low-level analysis methods with the extraction of a memory chip, or just protection against curious people who do not know the password and do not know how to deceive the fingerprint scanner? Transferring data to the cloud - is it a plus or a minus in terms of security? And to which cloud, to whom and where, what kind of data, does the user know about it and can he turn it off? And how likely is it to catch a Trojan on one or another platform and part not only with passwords, but also with the money in the account?

The security aspects of mobile platforms cannot be considered in isolation from each other. Security is a comprehensive solution that covers all facets of device use, from communications and application isolation to low-level security and data encryption.

Today we will briefly describe the main advantages and problems in all modern mobile operating systems that have at least some distribution. The list includes Google Android, Apple iOS and Windows 10 Mobile (alas, Windows Phone 8.1 can no longer be called modern). The bonus will be BlackBerry 10, Sailfish and Samsung Tizen.

Oldies: BlackBerry 10

Before proceeding to the description of the current platforms, let's say a few words about BlackBerry 10, which has already gone the distance. Why BlackBerry 10? At one time, the system was actively promoted as the "most secure" mobile OS. In some ways, this was true, something, as always, was exaggerated, something was relevant three years ago, but is hopelessly outdated today. Overall, we liked BlackBerry's approach to security; however, it was not without its failures.

• Microkernel architecture and trusted boot system is really safe. No one has received superuser rights for the entire existence of the system (by the way, they tried it repeatedly, including in serious offices - BlackBerry was far from always an outsider).
• It is also impossible to bypass the password to unlock the device: after ten unsuccessful attempts, the data in the device is completely destroyed.
• There are no built-in cloud services and there is no targeted surveillance of the user. Data is not transferred to the third party, unless the user decides to install the cloud application on their own (services such as OneDrive, Box.com, Dropbox are optionally supported).
• Exemplary implementation of corporate security policies and remote control via BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Services).
• Strong (but optional) encryption of both internal storage and memory cards.
• There are no cloud backups at all, and local backups are encrypted using a secure key tied to your BlackBerry ID.

• Data is not encrypted by default. However, a company can enable encryption on employee devices.
• Data encryption block, peer-to-peer; there is no concept of protection classes and anything even remotely resembling Keychain in iOS. For example, Wallet app data can be retrieved from a backup.
• You can log into your BlackBerry ID account simply with your username and password; two-factor authentication is not supported. Today, this approach is completely unacceptable. By the way, if you know the password for the BlackBerry ID, you can extract the key that will decrypt the backup created tied to this account.
• Factory reset protection and anti-theft protection is very weak. It gets by with a simple replacement of the BlackBerry Protect application when assembling the autoloader or (before BB 10.3.3) downgrading the firmware version.
• There is no MAC address randomization, which allows you to track a specific device using Wi-Fi hotspots.

Another call: BlackBerry willingly cooperates with law enforcement agencies, providing the maximum possible assistance in the capture of criminals who use BlackBerry smartphones.

In general, with proper configuration (and users who choose BlackBerry 10, as a rule, configure their devices quite correctly), the system is able to provide both an acceptable level of security and a high level of privacy. However, “experienced users” can negate all the benefits by installing a hacked version of Google Play Services on their smartphone and getting all the delights of Big Brother’s supervision.

Exotic: Tizen and Sailfish

Tizen and Sailfish are clear market outsiders. Outsiders even more than Windows 10 Mobile or BlackBerry 10, whose share fell below 0.1%. Their safety is that of the "elusive Joe"; little is known about her only because they are of little interest to anyone.

How justified this approach can be judged by a recently published study, which found about forty critical vulnerabilities in Tizen. Here we can only summarize what has long been known.

• If serious independent studies have not been conducted, then it is impossible to talk about the security of the platform. Critical vulnerabilities will not be revealed before the platform becomes widespread. But it will be too late.
• There is no malicious software only because of the low prevalence of the platform. It's also a kind of protection.
• Security mechanisms are insufficient, absent or described only on paper.
• Any certifications say only that the device has been certified, but absolutely nothing about the actual level of security.

Jolla Sailfish

With Sailfish, the situation is ambiguous. On the one hand, the system seems to be alive: some devices are announced on its basis from time to time, and even the Russian Post has acquired a large batch of devices with an prohibitively high price tag. On the other hand, users are offered to pay the cost of a strong average Android phone for a model running Sailfish, which has the characteristics of a cheap Chinese smartphone three years (!) ago. This approach will work in the only case: if the models on Sailfish are purchased for budget money, and then distributed to lower-level civil servants. Of course, it is not at all interesting for the participants in the transaction to think about some kind of security with this approach.

And even the presence of government certificates does not provide any guarantee in the same way that open source does not. For example, the Heartbeat vulnerability was found in router firmware, the source code for which has been in the public domain for more than a decade. In the Android operating system, which is also open source, new vulnerabilities are discovered regularly.

Exotic operating systems are a lack of infrastructure, an extremely limited set of devices and applications, underdeveloped corporate security policy controls, and more than dubious security.

Samsung Tizen

Somewhat apart from the rest of the "exotic" platforms is Samsung Tizen. Unlike Ubuntu Touch and Sailfish, Tizen is a fairly common system. It manages dozens of models of Samsung smart TVs, as well as smart watches and several budget smartphones (Samsung Z1-Z4).

As soon as Tizen received noticeable distribution, independent researchers took up the system. The result is disappointing: in the very first months, more than forty critical vulnerabilities were found. To quote Amichai Neiderman, who conducted the Tizen security study:

Possibly the worst code I've ever seen. All the mistakes that could have been made were made. Obviously the code was written or reviewed by someone who doesn't understand anything about security. It's like asking a high school student to write software for you.

In general, the conclusion is clear: to use an exotic, less common system in a corporate environment is an open invitation for hackers.

Apple iOS

Apple we will praise. Yes, this is a closed ecosystem, and yes, the price tag is incomparable with the technical capabilities, but nevertheless, iOS devices have been and remain the most secure of the common commercial solutions. This mainly concerns the current models of the iPhone 6s and 7 generations (and, perhaps, SE).

Older devices have a lower margin of safety. For old iPhone 5c, 5s and 6, there are already ways to unlock the bootloader and attack the device password (for details, you can contact the developers - Cellebrite). But even for these outdated devices, hacking the bootloader is time-consuming and very expensive (Cellebrite asks several thousand dollars for the service). I think no one will break my or your phone in this way.

So what do we have today. Let's start with physical security.

1. All iPhones and iPads with iOS 8.0 and above (and currently iOS 10.3.2 is even more secure) use such strong protection methods that even their manufacturer both officially and actually refuses to extract information from locked devices. Independent research (including in the Elcomsoft laboratory) confirms Apple's claims.
2. iOS provides (and actually works) a data protection system in case of theft or loss of the device. Mechanisms for remote data wipe and device lock are available. A stolen device cannot be unlocked and resold if the attacker does not know both the password for the device and a separate password from the owner's Apple ID account. (However, everything is available to Chinese craftsmen, and tampering with the device's hardware can bypass this protection ... for iPhone 5s and older devices.)
3. Multi-level data encryption "out of the box" is perfectly designed and implemented. The data section is always encrypted; a block cipher is used with keys that are unique for each individual block, and when a file is deleted, the corresponding keys are deleted - which means that in principle it is impossible to recover deleted data. The keys are protected by a dedicated coprocessor that is part of the Secure Enclave system, and you can’t get them out of there even with a jailbreak (we tried). Power-on data remains encrypted until you enter the correct password. Moreover, some data (for example, passwords to websites, e-mail downloaded to the device) is additionally encrypted in the secure Keychain storage, and some of them cannot be retrieved even with a jailbreak.
4. You can't just plug an iPhone into your computer and download data from it (except photos). iOS provides the ability to establish trust relationships with computers. This creates a pair of cryptographic keys that allow a trusted computer to make backup copies of the phone. But even this possibility can be limited using a corporate security policy or a proprietary Apple Configurator application. Backup security is ensured by the ability to set a complex password (the password is required only for restoring data from a backup, so it will not interfere with everyday use).

Unlocking the iPhone is done at a fairly safe level. To unlock, you can use either a standard four-digit PIN or a more complex password. The only additional way to unlock the device is with a fingerprint. At the same time, the implementation of the mechanism is such that an attacker will have very few opportunities to use it. The fingerprint data is encrypted and will be deleted from the device's RAM after shutdown or reboot; after a while, if the device has never been unlocked; after five unsuccessful attempts; after some time, if the user has never entered a password to unlock the device.

iOS has an option to automatically delete data after ten failed login attempts. Unlike BlackBerry 10, this option is controlled at the operating system level; for older versions of iOS (up to iOS 8.2) there are ways to get around it.

What about user surveillance and leaks?

iOS has a switchable cloud sync through Apple's own iCloud service. In particular, iCloud usually saves:

• device data backups;
• synchronized data - call log, notes, calendars, passwords in iCloud Keychain;
• passwords and history of visiting resources in the Safari browser;
• photos and application data.

All kinds of cloud syncing in iOS can be disabled by simply turning off iCloud and deactivating iCloud Drive. After that, no data will be transmitted to Apple servers. Despite the fact that some mechanisms do not work very intuitively (as an example, to turn off call synchronization, you need to turn off iCloud Drive, which is actually intended for synchronizing files and photos), turning off cloud services completely disables synchronization.

iOS provides a mechanism to prevent surveillance (the system can present random Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module IDs to the outside world instead of fixed real ones).

Okay, but what about malware? In iOS, the possibility of installing malicious software is practically excluded. There were sporadic cases (through applications built using hacked development tools), but they were quickly localized and fixed. Even then, these applications could not cause much harm: in iOS, each application is reliably isolated both from the system itself and from other applications using a sandbox.

It should be noted that granular control over application permissions was implemented in iOS a long time ago. You can individually allow or deny each application such things as the ability to run in the background (there is no such possibility in “pure” Android!), access to location, notifications, and the like. The presence of these settings allows you to effectively limit surveillance by applications that have made such surveillance their main business (this applies to both Facebook-class applications and games like Angry Birds).

Finally, Apple regularly updates iOS even on older devices, almost instantly (compared to Android) fixing the vulnerabilities found. At the same time, updates arrive simultaneously to all users (again, "unlike").

Interestingly, starting from version 9, iOS is also protected from man in the middle class attacks with interception and certificate substitution. And if in the Elcomsoft laboratory it was possible to reverse the iCloud backup protocol in the 8th version of the system, then in newer operating systems this could not be done for technical reasons. On the one hand, we get a guarantee of the security of transmitted data; on the other hand, we have no way to reliably make sure that "extra" information will not be sent to the servers.

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Jolla is an unusual smartphone from the Finnish manufacturer of the same name that runs 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 classified as a budget device, the official cost in Russia is 19,990 rubles. Jolla will surprise us with at least good performance and features that are not inferior to the flagships of early 2014.

Design and equipment

Contents of delivery:

Jolla

Power adapter

MicroUSB/USB cable

Instructions

Warranty card

stickers

There are no headphones. Jolla saves space in our bin and doesn't include 50 ruble plugs just for show. Thank you.

Probably, most of all, among the competitors of Jolla, its very unusual case in the form of a sandwich stands out. When I took the phone out of the box, I wanted to separate its top from the bottom. This desire remains to this day, my hands itch.

In fact, it is a removable cover. Clever removable cover. For example, if you put a panel of a different color, Jolla will automatically offer to change the color scheme of the interface. Great? Undoubtedly. Another plus in favor of its unusualness.

Under the cover are slots for a Micro SIM card and a MicroSD memory card, as well as a removable battery with a capacity of 2100 mAh. The device can work up to 10 hours of talk time and up to 21 days of standby time.

Here we will also find the necessary information about the phone: IMEI, serial, model and production date. The device is assembled in China.

There are no buttons on the front panel, only a light indicator. On the side is the power/unlock button and the volume rocker. Tactile sensations are pleasant: pressing is clear and precise. On top are a standard 3.5 mm audio output and a no less than standard MicroUSB connector.

The case is made of good plastic, it does not blur and does not collect dirt. The design 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 really love to do this), then crackles are clearly audible. Perhaps the removable cover is to blame. Jolla weighs 141 grams and measures 131 x 68 x 9.9mm.

As for ease of use, the well-established “apple does not fall far from the tree” suggests itself. I give an analogy with Nokia Lumia phones. Sharp edges dig into the palm of your hand, and this feeling is especially enhanced 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. In the sun, the screen behaves well. Colors juicy, in comparison - something between the iPhone 5 / 5S and the new sixes.

On the color rendition, positive impressions end. Resolution - qHD, 540 × 960, 245 ppi. And this few. For example, the 3.5-inch iPhone 4 introduced in 2010 has a resolution of 640 × 960 with a density of 326 ppi. When watching videos, working with photos and working with a smartphone interface, pixels will not catch your eye, but once you go to the browser, all the beauty of grainy and smeared fonts will start to get on your nerves. For clarity, I tried to take a screenshot on a SLR camera, even in horizontal orientation the text display quality is not impressive:

As for the viewing angles, there is no praise or scolding. Quite comfortable for work, but no more.

In general, impressions from the display are positive. Yes, low resolution. But good brightness, saturated colors, no serious glare in the sun and acceptable viewing angles smooth out this shortcoming.

The glass is durable - Gorilla Glass 2. Scratches and scuffs should not occur. Unless, of course, you decide to hit him with a key or something else.

Camera

Before moving on to the main camera, let's quickly go over the front. Its resolution is 2 megapixels. I am not a fan of selfies, so I left the opportunity to test and make a verdict to my girlfriend. She took two pictures: on Jolla and on iPhone. The photos are not processed, the lighting in the room is good.

jolla:

The pictures show that it will not work to take a high-quality selfie on the Jolla. The color reproduction is unnatural, the complexion is distorted (red skin tone effect), the image is very noisy.

Let's go to the main 8th megapixel camera. Fixed aperture value - f/2.4.

To convey its capabilities in detail, let's look at a couple of shots outdoors (during the day), indoors with insufficient lighting, and again outdoors, but at night.

Outdoors (during the day):

Poorly lit room:

At night:

For everyday shooting, the quality is quite acceptable. The pictures were taken in automatic mode, because I'm used to taking pictures on the iPhone, which perfectly adapts the settings to any conditions. The algorithms of the Jolla camera app handle this task satisfactorily, but for the best result, manual adjustment is indispensable. The following options are available to the user:

Exposure compensation

ISO (Auto, 100, 200, 400)

Net

Flash

White Balance (Auto, Cloudy, Sunny, Fluorescent, Incandescent)

Focus Mode

Timer

Jolla can record video with resolution 1080p at 30 frames per second and does the job well. Colors are moderately saturated, noise is smoothed out. Digital stabilization does not work as well as we would like (the picture is not very smooth), but in general it will do.

Sailfish OS

All the uniqueness of the device from Jolla lies in its operating system. I will say right away: it does not look like either iOS, or Android, or Windows Phone. This is something new, interesting, quite simple and intuitive, aimed at managing gestures. I will not consider it in detail, what matters here are the impressions that everyone should get for themselves, holding the smartphone in their hands and testing it before buying. 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 the date at the top. Scrolling down - we get to the multitasking screen and the first 4 applications. Another scroll - the rest of the applications. An interesting concept.

Examples of some standard applications:

If you want to install an Android app, you need to download the support of the respective stores. Available by default Anzhi Market, Aptoide App Store and Yandex Store. They are complementary, if you wish, you can find the most necessary, for example, applications VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Yandex.Maps, Shazam and others. Pro google play You can forget out of the box, although I have no doubt that enthusiasts have already found a way to access it.

There is an alternative way to install applications for Android: connect the device to a computer and download the APK file to it and then install it. Programs that use the smartphone's 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: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 2 cores at 1.4 GHz, 1GB of RAM. Its performance is comparable to Samsung Galaxy S2. Sad tests in AnTuTu Benchmark:

Org has already ported and created a wiki page with a detailed manual. That's what I took as the basis for the installation. Everything was done from under Ubuntu 64 bit, but any debian-based distribution kit is quite suitable. It will also take some free time and patience.

1) We make a full backup of the system, documents, contacts and everything that seems necessary. We disable the pin code request on the sim card and the security security code on the phone itself. We make sure that the battery is at least 90% charged. We are aware that in case of erroneous actions or disconnection of the USB cable during the firmware, you can get a completely faulty phone, which will be problematic to restore at home.

6) Install OpenMode kernel. This time we start the flasher with the parameters flasher –a main.bin –k zImage_2.6.32.54–openmode_l2fix ––flash–only=kernel –f –R

7) Run Meego again and make sure that the disclaimer does not appear on boot. I also recommend installing N9/50 QuickTweak right away. This is completely optional, but the tweak will allow you to activate ssh root access and install bash, wget and other little conveniences. Also, after installing the OpenMode kernel, Meego stops remembering account passwords. Let's cure it by typing in the smartphone terminal:
rm –rf /home/user/.accounts
rm –rf /home/user/.aegis
mkdir -p /root/ssl
cp –Rf /etc/ssl/certs/* /root/ssl
rm –rf /etc/aegisfs.d
sync
/sbin/reboot
And after loading:
cp -Rf /root/ssl/* /etc/ssl/certs

8) Install MOSLO kernel from nemomobile.org. Unzip the rpm package and as usual flasher –k zImage–moslo –n initrd–moslo –l –b Now a new Alt_OS partition has appeared on the flash memory of the smartphone, which should be mounted in /media/Alt_OS on the PC.

9) Install Ubiboot. This option is optional, but it is a handy GUI bootloader that will allow you to switch between SailfishOS and Meego Harmattan on boot. For these purposes, there is already a pre-configured version, which I used. But if you plan to run FirefoxOS and/or Nitroid as well, then install a clean version. Download the archive to the folder with the flasher and unpack tar –xvf ubiboot–02_0.3.5_131213_SFOS.tar Connect the phone in Storage Mode and copy the extracted ubiboot_035_sailfishos.tar to the MyDocs directory. Now we go to the Meego terminal, get root rights, unpack.
devel-su cd /home/user/MyDocs/ tar -xvf ubiboot_035_sailfishos.tar -C /
We turn off the smartphone, start the flasher again from the desktop terminal with the parameters sudo flasher –a main.bin –k zImage_2.6.32.54–ubiboot–02_301013 ––flash–only=kernel –f –R Bootloader is installed.

10) Finally, we proceed directly to the installation of Sailfish. There are several ready-made images, one of which I used. If you have the desire and time to experiment, then after studying the documentation of the MerSDK project, you can prepare your own. Rename the downloaded image to sailfish.tar.bz2, unpack it into the mounted directory /media/Alt_OS on the desktop. tar --numeric-owner --xvjf sailfish.tar.bz2 --C /media/Alt_OS/ That's enough to get SailfishOS up and running, but there are a couple of things you want to do right away, which is enabling ssh root access nano /media/Alt_OS /etc/ssh/sshd_config uncomment PermitRootLogin yes and the procedure that allows you to change the root password after booting, edit the file nano /media/Alt_OS/etc/shadow There will be a line like root:$1$00Z6Bfjc$vlIKUOMHIavIABL1gNuy6/:16049:0:99999: 7::: Convert to root::16049:0:99999:7::: Don't forget to set the root password in the SailfishOS terminal after startup.

Hello everyone, I haven't been here for a long time :) I say right away that the article is not mine, just a copyright for general development :) Do not install Google Play if you do not trust Google services. Do not try to start 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.

Training

Before installation you must have:

1. Access to Jolla Store;
2. Internet connection (WLAN/WiFi or mobile network);
3. "File manager" application which you can install in Jolla Store;
4. Starting with Sailfish OS 1.0.4.20, the ability to install third-party programs: settings - system - unverified programs - allow the installation of third-party programs.

Installation

2. Go to the section: Settings - system - developer mode. And choose a mode. If you have access to the Jolla Store, then the Terminal application will appear in the application list;

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 $ sign will be in the input line;

7. Change to the downloads directory: to do this, type cd ~/Downloads ;

8. Unzip the file: type 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 the 4th step. Enter it and press Hint: the "$" sign will change to "#". So you got root access! Be careful!

10. Change to the target directory: type cd /opt/alien/system/app ;

11. Copy the files one by one (you will not need the rest of the unzipped ones: Enter in turn:

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 the device;

14. Open the application "File Manager";

15. Navigate to the /opt/alien/system/app directory. The directory always opens in /home/nemo/, so double-tap the top left dot. There you can navigate to the desired directory with the application;

16. Tap the Phonesky.apk file. A window with file data will open;

17. Swipe down from the top to open the menu at the top and select Install. The installation of Google Play will begin;

18. Use the "File Manager" application to delete unnecessary files.

You can read the original version of the article here: http://bit.ly/1ojJXue

If Android is on most smartphones on the planet, iOS is great for many aesthetes, and Windows Phone is budding for non-conformists, then why do we need Firefox OS, Sailfish OS, Tizen and Ubuntu Touch?

The mobile platform market is dominated by an oligopoly. The two largest corporations in their fields, Google and Apple, are constantly fighting for the audience, sometimes diverted by mutual lawsuits.

Other companies do not want to put up with this situation, trying with all their might to grab a place under the sun of mobile operating systems. Every now and then there is news about the development of a new operating system. Companies do not even dream of taking a significant share, but the seemingly small numbers of 0.2-1% on the market are millions of users for whom the struggle is being fought.

With the release of the first iPhone and iPod Touch in 2007, the Cupertino-based corporation threw competitors far behind, and some did not recover at all from such a blow (Nokia, which is discussed below). The iOS mobile system is based on Apple's core principles of simplicity, convenience, and intuitiveness. Together with this, as well as previously unseen features, such as the “zoom” of the picture by spreading the fingers and inertial scrolling, the company turned out to be inaccessible to the rest. Moreover, the brainchild of Jobs generally stepped into a new area for itself - the "apple company" never developed cell phones.

He quickly assessed the balance of power and joined the struggle of Google, releasing Android a year and a half later. To date, the operating system of the search leader is confidently leading the market (about 80% share), although there are several reservations.

The first caveat: not all budget smartphones and tablets on Android support the current version of the OS. That is, when buying a new phone, you are left with an outdated generation of the operating system. Hence the large fragmentation of Android and the spread in device performance.

The second caveat: there are hundreds of models of devices for Android in the world, there are cheap and expensive ones, while Apple products are much smaller and cannot be called budget. Five flagship iPads and two generations of iPad mini, five iPod Touches, seven iPhones (let's add a colorful misunderstanding - iPhone 5C).

These reasons make Android a much more popular and massive system. But Apple has its own policy and a level of customer loyalty that is unattainable for other companies. It's easy to experiment: ask your friends with an iOS device if they want to change it to a top-end Android gadget. In 9 out of 10 cases there will be a categorical refusal.

Microsoft, the third giant in the IT field, joined the fight too late, and is now hard at work making up for lost time. Windows Phone may be a promising OS, but there is still a lot to be done. The share of WP, albeit slowly, is growing (about 3%). Mainly due to budget models, because there are no special flagship devices: a couple of Nokia 92x, and nothing more.

Microsoft bought Nokia last year, as analysts had predicted. The once leader of mobile devices has had a lot of bad luck in recent years. Either they could not recover from the sharp decline in the share of sales of their phones, or they did not find the vector of development in the new conditions, but the Finnish company “deflated” surprisingly quickly.

While the three corporations are perfecting their operating systems and focusing on ideologies (which is especially evident with Apple), relatively small companies are declaring the development of their operating systems. Here are the main ones.

Sailfish OS

A group of employees from Nokia left the company before it was sold to Microsoft and founded Jolla. Specialists at one time were engaged in the development of the MeeGo OS. When Nokia dropped out of the project, the system development department dropped out from under the wing of the Finnish company. Educated Jolla presented not only its Sailfish OS operating system, but also its own smartphone.

The OS is based on the Linux kernel and is completely open source. This gives a huge scope for creativity for programmers in terms of modifying the platform and developing additional features for it. Android also allows you to change the look of the system beyond recognition, but in the case of Sailfish OS, you really have access to the heart of the OS.

The fundamental difference from other systems is the ability to run applications for Android. They do not always work smoothly, the design remains the same and does not match the look of Sailfish OS. However, this is a very valuable feature. You need to download programs from third-party stores - for example, Yandex.Store.

The fact is that Google does not release the Play Store separately from Android. So far, the only Jolla smartphone has been swept off the shelves by buyers, reviews of professional publications about the phone and OS are moderately positive. The system lacks shortcomings, but these are fixable disadvantages.

Firefox OS

Mozilla, known for the Firefox browser, announced its own operating system in 2012. Its concept also lies in the openness of the code and the ability to change any OS parameters. The developers plan to bet on smartphones of the budget and middle class. Sales of mobile phones will be carried out mainly through operators. There are no CIS countries in the first launch wave.

Firefox OS only supports applications written in web programming languages: CSS, Javascript, and HTML5. This means that there will be no issues with transferring programs to different platforms. But the creation of "heavy" applications and games that need large hardware capacities of smartphones is a big question. So far, Mozilla's focus on the budget segment is saving the company: buying a smartphone for $200, no one expects GTA to run on it.

Firefox OS at the moment looks like an alternative to cheap Android models, but given the dampness of the system, the choice is clearly not in favor of Mozilla.

Ubuntu Touch

And a newly opened system. So much so that there is not even a lock screen. Indeed, there are no barriers for the user. It is based on the same core as in the full version of Ubuntu, only the graphical side is completely different - adapted to the touch screens of smartphones.

The system was released in January 2013, it can be installed on some Android devices (for example, Google Nexus 4 and newer). There is no need to talk about mobile gadgets with basic Ubuntu Touch on board yet.

Tizen

Another OS based on the Linux kernel. Intel and Samsung are involved in the development, and the latest version 3.0 was shown on the then flagship Galaxy S4. 3.0 promises support for 64-bit processors, a redesigned interface, and other important changes. The release is planned for the third quarter of this year.

In the meantime, 2.2.1 is available. The launch of its own app store is expected along with the official release of Tizen. Now you can get access for application developers.

The main feature of all these systems is their main drawback. Openness, accessibility, the ability to make their own icons not round, but square - most people will never use this for a number of good reasons.

Usually we buy completely ready-to-use products. A person gives money for getting rid of unnecessary movements on his part. Apple's policy is based on this, openly declaring the impregnability of Mac OS and iOS - they say, the user has nothing to go into the code, we have already done everything for him in a way that he will never be able to. By purchasing a smartphone, people get a working device out of the box, they do not need to spend hours on bringing their phone to mind - what a joy it is to buy. Android is also fast to learn and functional, over the years of debugging Google still eliminated the key flaws of the system.

And here Mozilla, Jolla, Tizen and Ubuntu take us back to the stone age: report the features you want to see, change the OS to your liking. Coming to a restaurant, you order a dish from the menu and do not tell the waiter that you want to personally cut the vegetables into the salad in circles, not in any way slices.

App Stores

Now it is not the OS that is more important, but the choice of applications. Google Play and App Store services have about a million available programs and games. This is enough even for the most picky users who can choose the best one from dozens of similar applications. Add here many free versions of programs, strict access control to stores - and you have huge opportunities to expand the functionality of smartphones with tablets. On Windows Phone, the situation is noticeably worse, but Microsoft is doing everything possible to ensure that their Windows Market catches up with competitors as quickly as possible.

What about the new OS? At the start of Jolla for Sailfish OS, as many as one and a half hundred applications were available, excluding those adapted from Android. Firefox OS isn't doing much better. Stores are growing, but very slowly. On the same Windows Phone, the Instagram service appeared only in October 2013! But this is one of the most popular and relevant social networks.

OS support

The frequency of updates and their quality, work on optimizing and developing functions, constantly improving the design, adding options - all this depends on the authors of the operating system. Releasing OS 1.0 is half the battle. Then continuous work begins on its polishing, and difficulties may arise here.

The top three (Google, Apple, Microsoft) - and that one does not always cope. Remember the unstable communication signal and the rapid discharge of iOS devices, terribly slow Android, blue screens of death in Windows Phone. And here companies of much smaller caliber take on a burden that can become unbearable.

Here is another point of concern. Microsoft is criticized for the incompatibility of older smartphone models with new OS versions. For example, applications written for Windows Phone 8 do not work on earlier versions of the system. Smartphones are also rapidly losing relevance: WP8 could not be installed on two-year-old devices. The fragmentation of the Android level is still far away, but the first troubles have already begun. Apple is doing well here - iOS 7, released in the fall of 2013, can be installed without restrictions on the iPhone 4, which went on sale three years earlier.

Lack of ecosystem

Android, Windows Phone and iOS are part of a larger environment. It consists of all the devices you use. The more closely connected gadgets are, the more efficient and enjoyable the work. Automatic synchronization, cloud services, unified programs and settings, common corporate design. Neither Sailfish OS nor Firefox OS can offer this. Unless Ubuntu Phone and Tizen, but in the distant and foggy future.

Having bought, say, an iPhone, the user will reach for the iPad, and there it’s not far to the iMac or Macbook - and the person is “in the house”: nothing else is needed, everything works in the best possible way. The same goes for Microsoft and Google. The new operating systems have serious problems: when buying a smartphone on Firefox OS, it will be problematic, if not realistic, to achieve normal synchronization with other devices. Apparently, the buyer must write the necessary lines of code and develop the application himself. And what: open systems, the code is available to the user. But such openness is not for nothing.

These platforms are capable of occupying a penny market share - in the end, there will be a buyer for each product. Companies do not speak openly, but they certainly understand that it is useless to compete with the top three in the coming years. They don't even feel the competition.

On the other hand, who knows: suddenly a fundamentally new smartphone or tablet (or a class of devices in general) is being developed right now, which will once again turn the industry upside down and force competitors to develop their own variations on the theme in a panic.