Jolla Announces First Sailfish-Based Smartphone

A team of ex-Nokia engineers and designers has unveiled the Jolla, a totally new smartphone with a brand new operating system.

Jolla is Sailfish, a mobile-optimized OS that has the flexibility of a unique, open platform. This is the world’s best stage for your apps, including those for Android, said Marc Dillon, Jolla’s head of software development. He  calls the new Jolla “a truly independent and open alternative in mobile.”

The 4.5’’ LTE-smartphone is powered by a dual-core processor and has an 8-megapixel camera. It also has 16GB of integrated storage which can be expanded using an SD card.

The smartphone’s most unique and interesting feature is its split nature design that looks like two thin slabs that have been bonded together, and users can change the color of the back one with different snap-on covers. The back cover isn’t just about the hardware design. It is integrated with the OS and can be used to add features and change the look, a concept Jolla calls “the other half.”

“This is one of the most powerful things we have … a very simple example could be that you have covers with different colors,” Dillon said. “So you change the back of the device to a red one in the evening and a black one for the office and that would also change the user interface because there is a connection there.”

The cover could also have more memory for extra content that could be used by artists to put out limited edition phones, according to Dillon.

The Jolla will start shipping during the fourth quarter and cost 399EUR (US$510) including taxes in the EU. It can be preordered on Jolla’s website.