Installing Sailfish OS on Nokia N9. The most leaky OS
If the majority of smartphones on the planet have Android, for numerous aesthetes there is the excellent iOS, and for non-conformists there is the promising Windows Phone, then why do we need Firefox OS, Sailfish OS, Tizen and Ubuntu Touch?
There is an oligopoly in the mobile platform market. The two largest corporations in their fields, Google and Apple, are constantly fighting for audiences, sometimes distracted by mutual lawsuits.
Other companies do not want to put up with this situation, trying with all their might to grab a place in the sun of mobile operating systems. Every now and then news appears about the development of a new operating system. Companies don’t even dream of taking a significant share, but the seemingly small figures of 0.2-1% on the market are millions of users for whom they are fighting.
Having released the first iPhone and iPod touch, the corporation from Cupertino threw its competitors far back, and some did not recover from such a blow (Nokia, about which below). Mobile system iOS is based on the core principles of Apple: simplicity, convenience and intuitiveness. Along with this, as well as previously unseen features, such as “zooming” pictures by spreading fingers and inertial scrolling, the company turned out to be inaccessible to others. Moreover, Jobs’ brainchild generally stepped into a new area for itself - cell phones The apple company has never developed.
Google was the quickest to assess the balance of power and joined the fight, releasing Android a year and a half later. To date, the operating system of the search leader confidently leads the market (share of about 80%), although there are several reservations.
Disclaimer one: not all budget Android smartphones and tablets support current version OS. That is, when you buy a new phone, you are left with an outdated generation of the operating system. Hence the great fragmentation of Android and the variability in device performance.
The second caveat: there are hundreds of models of Android devices in the world, there are cheap and expensive ones, while Apple has much fewer products, and they cannot be called budget ones. Five flagship iPads and two generations iPad mini, five iPod Touches, seven iPhones (let's add a colorful misunderstanding - iPhone 5C).
These reasons make Android a much more popular and widespread system. But Apple has its own policy and a level of customer loyalty unattainable for other companies. You can easily conduct an experiment: ask your friends with an iOS device if they want to exchange it for a top-end Android gadget. In 9 out of 10 cases there will be a categorical refusal.
Microsoft, the third giant in the IT sector, joined the fight too late, and is now strenuously 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 aren’t really any flagship devices: a couple of Nokia 92x, and that’s all.
Last year, Microsoft, as analysts predicted, bought Nokia. The once leader of mobile devices was completely unlucky in last years. Either they couldn’t recover from a sharp decline in the share of sales of their phones, or they didn’t find the vector of development in the new conditions, but the Finnish company was blown away surprisingly quickly.
While three corporations are bringing their OS to perfection and focusing on ideologies (which is especially noticeable with Apple), relatively small companies are announcing the development of their own operating systems. Here are the main ones.
Sailfish OS
A group of Nokia workers left the company before it was sold to Microsoft and founded Jolla. At one time, specialists were developing the MeeGo OS. When Nokia dropped out of the creation of the project, the system development department dropped out from under the wing of the Finnish company. Educated Jolla presented not only its operating room Sailfish system OS, but also your own smartphone.
The OS is based on the Linux kernel and is completely open source. This gives programmers enormous scope for creativity 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 Android applications. 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, buyers have swept the only Jolla smartphone off the shelves; reviews from professional publications about the phone and the OS are moderately positive. There are a lot of shortcomings in the system, but these are fixable disadvantages.
Firefox OS
Mozilla, famous 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 focus on budget and middle-class smartphones. Sales of mobile phones will be carried out mainly through operators. Predictably, there are no CIS countries in the first wave of launches.
Firefox OS only supports applications written in web programming languages: CSS, Javascript and HTML5. This means that with the transfer of programs to different platforms there will be no questions. But the creation of “heavy” applications and games that require high-power smartphone hardware is a big question. Mozilla's focus on the budget segment has saved the company so far: when buying a $200 smartphone, no one expects it to play GTA.
Firefox OS on this moment looks like an alternative to cheap Android models, but given the crudeness of the system, the choice is clearly not in favor of Mozilla.
Ubuntu Touch
And again open system. So much so that there is not even a lock screen. There really are no barriers for the user. It is based on the same kernel as in the full version of Ubuntu, only the graphical side is completely different - adapted for 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 later). 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 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.
For now, 2.2.1 is available. Launch expected own store applications along with official release Tizen. Access is now available for application developers.
The main feature of all these systems is their main drawback. Openness, accessibility, the ability to make icons with your own hands not round, but square - most people will never take advantage of this for a number of compelling reasons.
We usually buy products that are completely ready to use. A person gives money to get rid of unnecessary movements on his part. builds on this Apple policy, openly declaring the inaccessibility of Mac OS and iOS - they say, the user has no business getting into the code, we have already done everything for him in a way that he will never be able to. When purchasing a smartphone, people take a working device out of the box; they don’t have to spend hours perfecting their phone - what a joy there is in the purchase. Android is also quick to learn and functional; over the years of debugging, Google has finally eliminated key weaknesses systems.
And here Mozilla, Jolla, Tizen and Ubuntu return us to stone Age: Communicate the features you want to see, change the OS to your liking. When you come 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 into circles, not into slices.
App stores
Now it is not the OS that is more important, but the choice of applications. Google Play and App Store services number about a million available programs and games. This is enough even for the most meticulous users, who can choose the optimal one from dozens similar applications. Add many here free versions programs, strict control of access to stores - and in front of you huge opportunities to expand the functionality of smartphones and tablets. On Windows Phone the situation is noticeably worse, but Microsoft is doing everything possible to ensure that their Windows Market catches up with their competitors as quickly as possible.
What about the new OS? At the start of Jolla, as many as one and a half hundred applications were available for Sailfish OS, not including those adapted from Android. Firefox OS isn't doing much better. Stores are growing, but at an extremely sluggish pace. 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 optimization and development of functions, constant improvement of 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 polishing it, and this is where difficulties may arise.
The top three (Google, Apple, Microsoft) - even they do not always cope. Remember the unstable communication signal and rapid discharge of iOS devices, terribly slowing down Android, blue screens death on Windows Phone. And here companies of a much smaller caliber take on a burden that can become unbearable.
There is another worrying point here. Microsoft has been 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 systems. Smartphones are also quickly losing their relevance: WP8 could not be installed on two-year-old devices. The fragmentation level of Android is still a long way off, 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 the gadgets are connected, the more efficient and enjoyable the work. Automatic synchronization, cloud services, unified programs and settings, general corporate design. Neither Sailfish OS nor Firefox OS can offer this. Perhaps Ubuntu Phone and Tizen, but in the distant and vague future.
Having bought, say, an iPhone, the user will reach for the iPad, and then it’s not far from the iMac or Macbook - and the person is “at home”: nothing else is needed, everything works at its best. The same goes for Microsoft and Google. New operating systems have serious problems: when buying a smartphone on Firefox OS, achieving normal synchronization with other devices will be problematic, if not impossible. Apparently, the buyer must write the necessary lines of code and develop the application himself. What: open systems, the code is available to the user. But such openness is not needed for nothing.
These platforms are capable of taking a mere share of the market - after all, each product will have its own buyer. Companies do not say openly, but they certainly understand: in the coming years it will be useless to compete with the top three. They won't even feel the competition.
On the other hand, who knows: suddenly, right now, a fundamentally new smartphone or tablet (or a class of devices in general) is being developed, which will again revolutionize the industry and force competitors in a panic to develop their own variations on the theme.
Jolla is an 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 classified as a budget device; the 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 maps MicroSD memory, and 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 telephones. Nokia 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 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 quality of the text display 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.
Durable glass - 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: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 2 cores at 1.4 GHz, 1GB of RAM. Its performance is comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S2. Sad tests in AnTuTu Benchmark:
We often write about mobile OS security, publish information about found vulnerabilities, and describe weak sides protection and hacking methods. We also wrote about surveillance Android users, and about malicious applications that are built directly into the firmware, and about the uncontrolled leakage of user data to the manufacturer’s cloud. Which of the modern mobile platforms is the most secure for the user - or at least the least unsafe? Let's try to figure it out.
What is security?
We can’t talk about device security without defining what we actually mean. Physical data security? Protection from low-level analysis methods with the extraction of a memory chip, or simply protection from curious people who don’t know the password and don’t know how to deceive the fingerprint scanner? Transferring data to the cloud - is it a plus or a minus from a security point of view? And to which cloud, to whom and where, what data exactly, does the user know about it and can it be disabled? How likely is it to catch a Trojan on one platform or another and lose not only your passwords, but also the money in your account?
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 data protection and encryption.
Today we will briefly describe the main advantages and problems in all modern mobile operating systems that are at least somewhat widespread. The list includes Google Android, Apple iOS and Windows 10 Mobile (alas, Windows Phone 8.1 can no longer be called modern). BlackBerry 10, Sailfish and Samsung Tizen will be a bonus.
Oldies: BlackBerry 10
Before we begin describing the current platforms, let's say a few words about BlackBerry 10, which has already retired. Why BlackBerry 10? At one time, the system was actively promoted as the “most secure” mobile OS. In some ways this was true, in some ways it was exaggerated, as always, in some ways it was relevant three years ago, but is hopelessly outdated today. Overall we liked the approach BlackBerry to safety; however, there were some failures.
- Microkernel architecture and system trusted download- it's really safe. During the entire existence of the system, no one has received superuser rights (by the way, they tried several times, including in serious offices - BlackBerry was not 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. No data is transferred externally unless the user decides to install cloud application independently (services such as OneDrive, Box.com, Dropbox are optionally supported).
- Exemplary implementation of corporate security policies and remote control via BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Services).
- Reliable (but optional) encryption of both the built-in storage and memory cards.
- There are no cloud backups at all, and local ones are encrypted using a secure key linked to the BlackBerry ID.
- Data is not encrypted by default. However, the company can activate encryption on employee devices.
- Data encryption is block, peer-to-peer; there is no concept of security classes or anything even remotely reminiscent of Keychain in iOS. For example, Wallet app data can be retrieved from a backup.
- You can log into your BlackBerry ID account simply with a username and password; Two-factor authentication is not supported. Today such an approach is completely unacceptable. By the way, if you know the password for the BlackBerry ID, you can extract the key, which will be used to decrypt the backup created associated with this account.
- Factory reset protection and anti-theft protection are very weak. It can be accomplished by simply replacing the BlackBerry Protect application when assembling the autoloader or (up to BB 10.3.3) downgrading the firmware version.
- There is no MAC address randomization, allowing tracking specific device using Wi-Fi access points.
Another bell: BlackBerry willingly cooperates with law enforcement agencies, providing as much assistance as possible in catching criminals who use BlackBerry smartphones.
In general, with proper configuration (and users who choose BlackBerry 10, as a rule, configure their devices quite competently), the system is able to provide both an acceptable level of security and high level privacy. However, “experienced users” can negate all the advantages by installing a hacked software on their smartphone. Google version Play Services and getting all the delights of Big Brother supervision.
Exotics: Tizen and Sailfish
Tizen and Sailfish are clear market outsiders. Underdogs even more so than Windows 10 Mobile or BlackBerry 10, whose share fell below the 0.1% mark. Their safety is the safety of “elusive Joe”; little is known about her only because few people are interested in them.
How justified this approach can be judged by a recently published study, which discovered about forty critical vulnerabilities in Tizen. Here we can only summarize what has been known for a long time.
- If serious independent research has not been conducted, then it is impossible to talk about the safety of the platform. Critical vulnerabilities will not be revealed until the platform becomes widespread. But it will be too late.
- There is no malicious software only due to the low prevalence of the platform. Also a kind of protection.
- Security mechanisms are insufficient, absent or described only on paper.
- Any certifications only say that the device has passed certification, but say absolutely nothing about the actual level of security.
Jolla Sailfish
The situation with Sailfish is ambiguous. On the one hand, the system seems to be alive: from time to time, some devices are announced based on it, and even Russian Post has purchased a large batch of devices with an prohibitively high price tag. On the other hand, users are offered to pay the price of a strong average Android device 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 government employees. Of course, with this approach, the participants in the transaction are not at all interested in thinking about any kind of security.
And even the presence state certificates does not provide any guarantee in the same way that open source code does not provide one. For example, the Heartbeat vulnerability was discovered in the firmware of routers, the source code for which was in the public domain for more than ten years. In the operating room Android system, which is also open source, new vulnerabilities are discovered regularly.
Exotic OS means a lack of infrastructure, an extremely limited set of devices and applications, underdeveloped means of managing corporate security policies and more than questionable security.
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Samsung Tizen
Samsung Tizen stands somewhat apart from other “exotic” platforms. Unlike Ubuntu Touch and Sailfish, Tizen is a fairly common system. It controls dozens of Samsung smart TV models, as well as smart watches and several budget smartphones(Samsung Z1–Z4).
As soon as Tizen became noticeably widespread, independent researchers took up the system. The result is disappointing: in the first months, more than forty critical vulnerabilities were found. To quote Amichai Neiderman, who conducted the Tizen security study:
This may be the worst code I've ever seen. All the mistakes that could have been made were made. It is obvious that the code was written or reviewed by someone who does not understand anything about security. It's like asking a high school student to write software for you.
In general, the conclusion is clear: using an exotic, little-used system in a corporate environment is an open invitation to hackers.
Apple iOS
We will praise Apple. Yes, this is a closed ecosystem, and yes, the price tag is incomparable with technical capabilities, but nevertheless, devices running iOS have been and remain the most secure of the common commercial solutions. This mainly applies to the current generation models of the iPhone 6s and 7 (and, perhaps, SE).
Older devices have less safety margin. For older iPhones 5c, 5s and 6, there are already ways to unlock the bootloader and attack the device password (you can contact the developers, Cellebrite, for details). But even for these outdated devices, hacking the bootloader is labor-intensive and very expensive (Cellebrite charges 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.
- All iPhones and iPad iOS 8.0 and higher (and in currently iOS 10.3.2 is current, which is even more secure) use such strong protection methods that even their manufacturer, both officially and in fact, refuses to retrieve information from locked devices. Independent studies (including from the ElcomSoft laboratory) confirm Apple's claims.
- iOS has (and does work) a data protection system in case of theft or loss of the device. Mechanisms for remote data erasing and device locking are available. A stolen device cannot be unlocked and resold if the attacker does not know both the password for the device and 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.)
- 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 it is basically impossible to recover deleted data. The keys are protected by a dedicated coprocessor included in the Secure Enclave system, and they cannot be pulled out from there even with a jailbreak (we tried). When you turn on your data, it remains encrypted until you enter correct password. Moreover, some data (for example, passwords to websites, email downloaded to the device) is additionally encrypted in the Keychain secure storage, and some of it cannot be retrieved even with jailbreak.
- You can't just stick it in computer iPhone and download data from it (except photos). iOS provides the ability to set trust relationships with computers. This creates a pair of cryptographic keys that allows a trusted computer to make backup copies of the phone. But even this possibility can be limited using corporate security policy or the proprietary Apple Configurator application. The security of backups is ensured by the ability to install complex password(the password is required solely to restore data from a backup copy, so in mode everyday use will not interfere).
iPhone unlocking is done at a fairly safe level. To unlock, you can use either a standard four-digit PIN code or a more complex password. The only one additional method unlocking the device - fingerprint. Moreover, 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 that allows you 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 bypass it.
What do we have with user surveillance and leaks?
iOS has a disable synchronization with the cloud through its own service Apple iCloud. In particular, the following are usually stored in iCloud:
- 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 types cloud synchronization in iOS you can disable it by simply turning off iCloud and deactivating iCloud Drive. After this, no data will be transferred to Apple servers. Despite the fact that some mechanisms do not work very intuitively (for example, to turn off call synchronization you need to disable iCloud Drive, which is actually intended for synchronizing files and photos), completely turning off cloud services completely disables synchronization.
iOS has a mechanism to prevent tracking (the system can represent to the outside world random IDs Wi-Fi modules and Bluetooth instead of fixed real ones).
Okay, but what about malware? In iOS, the possibility of installing malicious software is virtually eliminated. Isolated cases there were (via 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 securely isolated both from the system itself and from other applications using a sandbox.
It should be noted that iOS implemented granular control over application permissions a long time ago. You can individually allow or deny each application such things as the ability to work in background(in “pure” Android there is no such option!), access to location, notifications, and the like. Having these settings allows you to effectively limit surveillance by applications that have made such surveillance their core 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 found vulnerabilities. In this case, updates arrive simultaneously to all users (again, “unlike”).
Interestingly, starting from version 9, iOS is also protected from man in attacks. the middle with certificate interception and substitution. And if the Elcomsoft laboratory managed to reverse the iCloud backup protocol in the 8th version of the system, it was not possible to do this in newer operating systems. technical reasons. On the one hand, we receive a guarantee of the security of the transmitted data; on the other hand, we have no way to reliably verify that “extra” information will not be sent to the servers.
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It looks like the market mobile technologies is finally breaking out of 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 partnered to create an operating system distinctive feature which had 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. Abroad, MeeGo received a lot of positive feedback from both ordinary users and 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 it is impossible to record telephone conversations using built-in tools - Apple believes that recording calls violates the human 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:
Another gadget for Sailfish Jolla presented in a duet with the young Indian company Intex at the MWC 2016 exhibition. The smartphone was called 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.
Operating system In 2016, Sailfish received another extremely interesting device - 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 via closed channels communications.
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?
Many of today's 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 the Android SDK utilities, 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 jointly presented the Sony Xperia X, running on the 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.