X

Jolla smartphone lets fly with Sailfish OS

The open-source operating system Sailfish is "Android app compliant." Jolla hasn't said so, but that suggests you'll be able to install standard Android apps on it.

Nick Hide Managing copy editor
Nick manages CNET's advice copy desk from Springfield, Virginia. He's worked at CNET since 2005.
Expertise Copy editing, football, Civilization and other old-man games, West Wing trivia
Nick Hide
Jolla phone
The Jolla phone. Jolla

The first phone running Sailfish, the open-source operating system from the people who tried to get MeeGo going, is the Jolla, it'll cost you 399 euros ($512), and it's coming by the end of the year.

Jolla -- pronounced "yo-la," not "joller" or "holler" -- is the name of the phone and the Finnish company that makes it. It has a 4.5-inch screen, a dual-core chip, 16GB of storage expandable via microSD, 4G, an 8-megapixel camera and a battery you can replace yourself.

Sailfish is "Android app compliant," which hints you'll be able to install standard Android apps on it. Jolla hasn't explained what this means in practice, but it sounds like you'll be able to sideload apps from Google Play, and that it'll be very easy for Android developers to translate their wares to Sailfish.

If you plop down 100 euros ($128) for a pre-order, you'll help fund the mobile's production and bag an exclusive "other half." Jolla doesn't explain what that means, but from the phone's split design I'm guessing it's the removable backplate, like fashion-forward Nokias of old.

Here's Jolla's launch video [warning: LOUD]:

Read more of "Jolla is first phone with new Sailfish OS, out this year for £340" at Crave UK