I'm intrigued by Jolla, if not enthused by it. I'm not sure what it gives me that Android doesn't - can anyone enlighten me?
Here is some material from the launch event last year: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/jolla-sailfish/
Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
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Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#12I'm intrigued by Jolla, if not enthused by it. I'm not sure what it gives me that Android doesn't - can anyone enlighten me?
In the same boat. It runs on mostly the same broad hardware (as I understand it leveraging much of the Android BSP work via libhybris). Obviously if you prefer Qt to Java/Dalvik it's a win, but the fact that it includes the Android runtime means that most app developers are going to target Android anyway.
It's sort of a wash from the perspective of open source. The SailfishOS core seems more open and "project-like" than AOSP, but just like with Google/GMS the core apps and user-facing bits are proprietary to Jolla. And being new, the ecosystem doesn't yet have good open source replacements you can find for Android.
Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#13The Verge's reviewer didn't like it. I have yet to get my hands on one. It is strongly a "global gestures" UI. Some people like that as a way of enforcing consistency. That will have some possibly confusing effects on Android apps running in Myriad's compatibility environment. Also, the last time I looked at Myriad's technology, they were using their own Java VM, which means, at least,some kind of Dalvik to Java byte…
>Also, the last time I looked at Myriad's technology, they were using their own Java VM, which means, at least,some kind of Dalvik to Java bytecode converter for apps as they are installed, or an SDK plugin to produce "Myriad-VM-ready" apps.
Does that mean it's a fork of Android and thus no Android OEM(that ships the Play Store) can make Jolla phones unless they stop shipping Android phones and get out of the Open Handset Alliance?
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-...
Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#14The Verge's reviewer didn't like it. I have yet to get my hands on one. It is strongly a "global gestures" UI. Some people like that as a way of enforcing consistency. That will have some possibly confusing effects on Android apps running in Myriad's compatibility environment. Also, the last time I looked at Myriad's technology, they were using their own Java VM, which means, at least,some kind of Dalvik to Java byte…
For anyone finding the verge review- http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/11/29/5156446/jolla-smartpho...
Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#15I'll probably buy a Jolla. I'm just so tired of the mainstream phone manufacturers like Sony and Samsung, it just feels like they don't care about me as a user. I've had way too many annoying problems with my Galaxy S2 because of the pre-installed apps, locked-in OS and design flaws.
Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#16The marketing and sales copy is horrendous.
> Jolla is powered by Sailfish OS, a truly open and distinct mobile operating system. Navigate effortlessly with the gesture-based user interface and load the phone with top Android™ apps.
That's pretty much it. Bland, uncompelling, and unemotional. It's a poorly positioned phone that isn't cool -- but it could be with decent marketing and a great sales pitch. Way back when, if Apple had marketed the iPhone with this pitch, there'd be no iPhone today.
There's a lesson here: prospects don't know or care about you unless you make them. I have no idea who these people are, why I should care about them, or why this product will make me feel good or alleviate some pain in some way.
Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#17I'll probably buy a Jolla. I'm just so tired of the mainstream phone manufacturers like Sony and Samsung, it just feels like they don't care about me as a user. I've had way too many annoying problems with my Galaxy S2 because of the pre-installed apps, locked-in OS and design flaws.
I had the same problems with my previous Motorola defy. Then I switched to BlackBerry 10 and I'm happy with that. I'll try Jolla for sure as soon as possible, but I suggest you trying the blackberry z10 (that is priced at ~250E now) if you are interested in something different and more polished.
Just my 2 cents
Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#18I'll probably buy a Jolla. I'm just so tired of the mainstream phone manufacturers like Sony and Samsung, it just feels like they don't care about me as a user. I've had way too many annoying problems with my Galaxy S2 because of the pre-installed apps, locked-in OS and design flaws.
>Locked-in OS
I'll agree on that point. Have to root your phone using closed-source hacks from questionable sources, just so you can use your phone the way you want to, makes me a little sad. I believe that Samsung and others do this to decrease support costs and perhaps for DRM/piracy reasons. It still is a shitty business decision.
Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#19The marketing and sales copy is horrendous. > Jolla is powered by Sailfish OS, a truly open and distinct mobile operating system. Navigate effortlessly with the gesture-based user interface and load the phone with top Android™ apps. That's pretty much it. Bland, uncompelling, and unemotional. It's a poorly positioned phone that isn't cool -- but it could be with decent marketing and a great sales pitch. Way back when…
Marketing can be very expensive, but it's useful as well. Jolla probably prioritized development and production vs investing millions in marketing. They have limited resources and had to make choices and the first priority was a functional product. It affected many areas besides marketing (for example lacking community infrastructure, no public bug tracker and so on). Hopefully they'll gradually catch up in these aspects, but so far they seem to have enough of demand for their level of production. Don't compare them to Apple - they aren't huge company which pours millions into marketing from the start and expects some crazy numbers in sales in return right away. They aren't Nokia either - they are a small startup.
Re: Jolla phones now available for sale in Europe
#20The marketing and sales copy is horrendous. > Jolla is powered by Sailfish OS, a truly open and distinct mobile operating system. Navigate effortlessly with the gesture-based user interface and load the phone with top Android™ apps. That's pretty much it. Bland, uncompelling, and unemotional. It's a poorly positioned phone that isn't cool -- but it could be with decent marketing and a great sales pitch. Way back when…
What are "top" Android apps?? What does it mean?
It sounds like only top-selling Android apps are available, because they need to be ported somehow to the Sailfish OS and that the porting takes resources that are only applied to those "top" apps...
... which is not very reassuring: if the porting effort dries up then the phone won't be able to run any app...
... which is scary for something that costs almost as much as a top-brand phone (at under EUR 100 I'd be willing to take a chance, but not at EUR 400).