Comment by fractallyte
1 year ago
By far the best mobile OS, way better than iOS or Android (simpler and more consistent).
The biggest obstacle to greater adoption is the lack of availability outside of the EU; of course, this is easy to work around...
It has a 'killer feature': Android App Support (https://jolla.com/appsupport), which enables a SFOS device to run Android apps in a sandbox.
I would also love to see a carefully engineered photo app...
Na thanks no closed source "near scam" OS/Company for me.
Well, I think you ought to write more than that... Enlighten us!
I think he's talking about how they(?) market it as open alternative to Android but most of the UI and apps were proprietary.
Some people also don't like it that they had some deal with the Russian Government.
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I am skeptical too, but the company is Finnish. Anybody know more about them?
Edit: looks like a non-free OS indeed. The developer tools just seem to include an SDK. It's a pass for me.
fwiw I was working at Nokia R&D when Elop trojan horsed us, Jolla (and sailfishOS) was the result of people making MeeGO jumping ship.
I don’t know if it’s the same now, because 12 years or more of fighting the duopoly with no cash to speak of in comparison must have meant selling your soul somewhat, but I doubt it’s the intent to do anything shady.
Android (in popular use) tends to have a lot of closed source bits, though I agree that it should be entirely open source. I would guess that not having it straight FOSS is more a function of financials and headcount to be good stewards than it is of ill-intent.
For those curious, it's a continuation from where Nokia left with their Linux efforts, that's the roots in a nutshell. They did ship a smartphone with their own hardware in 2013. I still have it in my drawer.
Definitely ambitious, and an achievement, for a small company tackle OS, hardware, dev experience, everything.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolla_%28smartphone%29
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What's the significance of the company being Finnish?
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Is there any reason it would not work in the USA, assuming an unlocked compatible phone?
Assuming a compatible phone and a compatible carrier (AFAIK AT&T and Verizon both still operate white lists), no there's nothing stopping you. There are/were US users who bought Sailfish over VPN. But for official hardware at least, "compatible phone" is the sticking point. The last phone with a North American variant was the Sony XA2 from early 2018. Today it's a brick because Jolla never gave it VoLTE support.