Finnish smartphone designer Jolla has announced the first smartphone that will use its open-source Sailfish OS, and revealed plans to ship the device in some European markets by the end of the year.
Sailfish was spun out of the MeeGo project after Nokia and Intel pulled the plug in 2011. Jolla was founded by several former Nokia employees to continue development of the platform.
The debut Jolla smartphone will be dual-core, have a 4.5-inch display, come with 16GB of storage and a microSD slot, and have an 8MP camera. It has an RRP of €399 ($515). The device will support LTE in markets to be disclosed later.
According to Jolla's website, the device is “Android app compliant,” but it is unclear how many apps will be supported.
The company's introductory video is heavy on the feel-good music and light on information, but the handset appears to have a shortage of unique features that would help it stand out from the pack of smartphone contenders.
One USP appears to be the ability to swap out the case for a different color, and have the OS automatically change the color scheme to reflect this. But whether this will be enough to ensure Jolla's survival in a market dominated by Android and iOS remains to be seen.