Jolla Oy is a Finnish technology company; vendor and developer of Sailfish OS. Headquartered in Tampere, Finland, Jolla has its own research and development offices in Helsinki, Tampere and Cyberport, Hong Kong.
Sailfish OS
Operating system
Sailfish OS is an operating system that can be adapted to different mobile devices. Also, the software can be tailored to best fit the consumer needs, from companies to mass consume. It is the core product of Jolla.
Sailfish OS is an evolution of the Nokia MeeGo and Mer project. It is based on GNU free software code powered with C, C++, Qt and QML. The core is developed on Linux kernel that enables a wide hardware support.
Sailfish OS has its own native applications that can be developed and uploaded in the store through the portal harbour.jolla.com. Thanks to Sailfish SDK, developers can fully emulate the whole OS behavior. This enables the development also for programmers who don’t actually have a Sailfish device. Sailfish application are complemented by the Android ecosystem. Here with Alien Dalvik, third-party Android applications become compatible with Sailfish.
Sailfish OS has an open core that can be improved by the community but also a proprietary UI that is seen as the succession of the Nokia N9 interface. It is touch-based and the only available interface with true multitasking capabilities. Basic UI applications, like mail, contacts, camera are provided by Jolla and are under continuous development.
Sailfish OS 1 was launched in December 2013 with the first Jolla phone.
Sailfish OS 2 was implemented in November 2015 for the Jolla Tablet and made compatible for all other products onward.
Sailfish OS 3 was released on 11 November 2018. This version and its ongoing series of updates introduced a faster user interface. The new generation will be focused on privacy and security as well as extending the support to new hardware.
Sailfish OS products
Marc Dillon showing Jolla’s phone. The event was titled Jolla Love Day at KlausK, Helsinki.
- Jolla Mobile Phone (November 2013) – smartphone with Sailfish OS, 4.5in IPS qHD display, 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM, a microSD slot and an 8 MP camera.
- Jolla Tablet (November 2014) – Sailfish OS 2 64-bit Intel’s CPU tablet with 7.85 in IPS display, 32GB storage, 2GB RAM, microSD slot, 5 MP main and 2 MP front camera.
- The Other Half – replaceable back cover to the Jolla Phone, which can be used as hardware extension for various purposes. It has NFC and power connection to main smartphone, can have own RAM, CPU, software or hardware, can influence smartphone performance as easy replaceable accessory or extension, e.g. change appearance and ambience settings, or connect the hardware keyboard.
- Jolla C Mobile Phone (May 2016) – smartphone with Sailfish OS 5.0in IPS HD display, 16 GB storage, 2 GB RAM, a microSD slot and an 8 MP camera.
- Aqua Fish, by Intex in July 2016 – Sailfish OS, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage, 5.0-inch display, microSD slot and 8 MP camera.
- Turing Phone, by TRI in 2016 – Sailfish OS, 3 GB RAM, 16, 64 or 128 GB built-in memory, 5.5-inch HD display, 13 MP back camera and 8 MP front camera.
- R7, by INOI in February 2017 – Sailfish OS, dual SIM smartphone with both GPS and GLONASS navigation capabilities, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, microSD up to 64GB, 5.0-inch screen, 5 MP front camera, presented at the Congress in February 2017.
- Accione, by Jala in October 2017 – Sailfish OS, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory, microSD up to 128 GB, 5.0-inch display, quadcore.
- Accione P, by Jala in October 2017 – Sailfish OS, 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal memory, microSD up to 128 GB, 5.0-inch display, octa-core.
- Sony Xperia X in October 2017- Sailfish OS, single SIMsim, microSD up to 200 GB, 5” full HD display, 13 MP front camera.
- Gemini, by Planet Computers in January 2018 – Sailfish OS, 4G and WLAN, full physical keyboard, 5.99-inch screen, 5 MP camera and stereo speakers