The Finnish upstart, Jolla, has just hit another milestone and is now available for purchase in Europe. Running on the Sailfish operating system, the phone has a very interesting user interface derived from the remains of the erstwhile MeeGo project. The phone is already on sale in Finland and has been shipping to users for a few days now.
Jolla’s self named phone has fairly mid range specifications but that doesn’t hold it back as the hardware and software are very well optimized for each other. The screen is a 4.5 inch display with a resolution of 540×960 pixels. Powering it is a 1.4Ghz dual core Snapdragon 400 processor paired with 1GB of RAM. The camera module is 8MP alongside a 2MP front facing unit. Users get 16GB of built in storage.
Apart from the operating system, the device also has a back plate component called the ‘Other Half’ that can be swapped out for ones with more capabilities. We’ve already seen people hack in wireless charging capabilities and the IO port ensures that options are limited only by your imagination. Keyboards and eInk back panels are very much a possibility. Jolla plans to make Sailfish OS open source and it brings some very interesting gesture based UI elements. Sailfish OS can also run Android apps. The device is now available and is priced at Eur 399.