[News] Lay-offs canceled at Jolla

Sailors at Jolla to get back on board

Lay-offs of 70 employees at Jolla have all been canceled, and Jolla is currently recruiting back their key resources. The aim is to continue with about half of the amount of Sailors compared to the situation before the lay-offs.

End of the year is perfect time for some good news, and this is not the only one. Teaser included

[News] Jolla to continue Sailfish OS development

Financing round for series C closed, Jolla bypasses 3rd death valley

Summarizing a very interesting community meeting and a later press release by Jolla. Antti Saarnio, Head of Jolla, shares positive news on Jolla's financial situation. Juhani Lassila, Head of Communication, shares us some more details on both the meeting outcome and the press release.

News update: Debts on hold at Jolla

Debt restructuring and Sailfish OS 2.0.1 update 

As part of Jolla's debt restructuring process, The Court in Finland has set Jolla's debts to temporary hold until the starting of the actual process is decided. In the meanwhile, Jolla is looking forward for financial round for December, and preparing the next system update for their Sailfish OS mobile operating system. Juhani Lassila, Head of Communications at Jolla, seems positive on financing.

It's not the delays, it's that the world is slow

Open letter to Jolla community: Through the tough times

Antti Saarnio, Head of Jolla shares reasoning for Jolla's  current financial issues and explains the problems in the crowdfunded Jolla Tablet campaign. The main issue behind all the problems is that Jolla is still waiting for the world to discover Sailfish OS as an alternative option to Android and iOS.

[news] Jolla financial trouble, debt restructuring

Jolla office, Tampere, Finland

Financing round delayed, Jolla files for debt restructuring

November 20, 2015, Tampere, Finland. Additional to the lay offs of many employees, Jolla has filed for debt restructuring in the court of Helsinki. Jolla's current goal is to get their product, Sailfish OS mobile operating system, tailored to new manufacturing partners and get the company back to its feet.

[news] Jolla financial difficulties, employees laid off

Translated news via Aamulehti, Finland

Tampere, Finland, November 19, 2015: Jolla in economic difficulties, more than half of the employees laid off.

News was originally shared in Finnish by Aamulehti and confirmed by Juhani Lassila, Jolla Oy.

[video] Jolla Tablet review: Hardware, UI

Part 2: Jolla Tablet hardware quality and Sailfish OS 2.0 user interface 

After more than a hundred replies to the question on the desired focus of our Jolla Tablet review, I decided to split the rest for nice length. This part 2 focuses on the hardware quality and introduces the basic interface and the pre-installed apps on a first time booted Sailfish OS 2.0.0.10.

I did pass the tutorial app with a little trick...

Lack of openness: Sailfish OS 2.0 Saimaa

The real Sailfish OS 2.0 rolling out

Sailfish OS 2.0.0.10 Saimaa is rolling out to Early access customers on October 22, 2015 and for everybody on November 3, 2015. Already the name suggests something big, and maybe more open, as Saimaa is the biggest lake in Finland.

Update: This is not a full review as it was intended to be, as I run into lack of openness right in the beginning.

[news] Sailfish India launch set to 2016

Sailfish India: Intex, Snapdeal, Jolla, TimesInternet

October 22, 2015: Antti Saarnio, head of Jolla Oy (developer of Sailfish OS mobile operating system), joined BRICS meeting of the communications ministers in Moscow, Russia. The meeting discusses on co-operation between BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Sailfish India launch takes place on Q1/2016

Sailfish OS update 1.1.9.30 Eineheminlampi

Minor Sailfish OS system update (Early Access)

Current version Sailfish OS 1.1.9.28 can be updated to 1.1.9.30 by Early Access customers starting today. This update corrects some configurations needed in advance before the next release: Sailfish OS 2.0.0.10

News update: Sailfish OS secure phone

Sailfish Secure - new privacy oriented phone

Finland, October 19, 2015:
SSH Communications Security is co-operating with Jolla Oy to provide a new secure phone into the privacy concerned markets. The first customers are expected to be found on public sector, followed by privacy concerned businesses and organisations. Schedule for launch is yet difficult to estimate due to possibly long testing period.

Company Rock Finals 2015

Jolla Cruise Band, Company Rock Finalist 2015
Photo by Juha Paakkari

Announcing the giveaway winners

Company Rock event in Finland gathers rock and blues players from enterprises to an annual contest, rocking for fun and for fame until the coveted victory. Jolla Oy joins 10 other finalists with their Jolla Cruise Band, and you're welcome to join rocking with them if you're in Helsinki soon. Let's see where they are heading!

The First Jolla Tablet unboxing

Jolla Tablet Unboxing (includes LastuCase)

Chung Hoi Ching, customer in Hong Kong, received her Jolla Tablet already on October 8th. She was one of the lucky very early birds placing her perk on the Indiegogo campaign already during the very first minutes.

Few more are arriving to different countries between October 9-15th. While the rest of the tablets are once again postponed, here's a photo show on what the lucky ones are receiving in just few days:

A lion's share

How much is that?

A very old story retold with some sugar added from the latest updates on a shipping schedule

The "unlike" cover image tries to represent current attitudes while new and old Sailors are waiting for their precious tablets. There sure are other opinions as well, but this story only has four animals.

Why the status bar has NOT to go

Guest writer: Francesco Vaccaro
Photo from a train station
after MWC15, Barcelona

The title clearly recalls this post by Jaakko Roppola, Senior Designer at Jolla. Now, I'm a huge fan of him, I love his vision. I was lucky enough to have a brief conversation with him at the Jolla office in Tampere and I actually like his point of view in that post, but I'm also a fan of underdogs - otherwise I would not be here. I like to see the other side of the coin, so let's see why in my humble opinion the status bar still has something to say.

Jolla Tablets starts shipping

First contributors receive their tablets in a week

October 6th 2015, Jolla Mobile dispatches the first few Jolla Tablets from the warehouse towards the campaign contributors. Shipping takes 5-7 business days in most cases. Latest Sailfish OS update released to public is 1.1.9.28, soon to be updated to 2.0.x.x

Update: The first ones arrived to their destinations already on October 8th. On the next day, several contributors in different countries have received their tablet, including U.S. (a brand new continent for Jolla). However, this first batch is quite small, and later tablets are unfortunately delayed

Shipping Schedule
List of postpones

Opinion on Sailfish OS 2.0 user experience

Honest opinions after updating from Sailfish OS 1.0 to 2.0 user interface

Posted by user hippy on TJC, this opinion shares a well written user experience on some of the changes Jolla made when trying to compromise smartphone and tablet PC user interfaces into one software. I mostly agree with everything said, and so does many others:

System update 1.1.9.28 Eineheminlampi available for all

Sailfish OS 1.1.9.28 Eineheminlampi for everybody

Released to public on September 24, 2015, this is the same as the 1st Early Access release from September 9th. Early access stage was very active, providing more than 90 bug reports. Two of them were serious enough to be added to the release notes. In general, a lot of users are claiming this is a step away from "unlike", but still welcoming some of the new features

[Test Review] Jolla Tablet Case by Dirk van Leersum

Wood, stone and... carbon fiber!

We received this prototype of Jolla Tablet carbon fiber casing by Dirk van Leersum, and we put it into some serious test with Jaakko Roppola and a prototype of Jolla Tablet.

We were after a simple answer: Does the case really protect Jolla Tablet, and especially the 7.85" display on it?

Gestures on Jolla's Sailfish OS 1.0 vs 2.0

Comparing gestures in the main user interface

When Jolla advanced on Sailfish OS user interface development from version 1.0 (November 2013-September 2015) to Sailfish OS 2.0, there were some radical changes. On this article we put the new against the old. Less or more fingertips needed? More intuitive? Let's find out!

[giveaway] Jolla Cruise Band, Company Rock, Apollo Live Club

Get your tickets to Company Rock 2015 Finals

Jolla Cruise Band advanced to Company Rock Finals. The band presents quite a group of rocking Sailors: Pauliina, Helleke, Juhani, Marc, Eric and Ville.

They were rocking hard on stage in Company Rock 2015 Semi-finals at Apollo Live club, Helsinki, tonight. Join the Finals on October 30th and go with the feeling when they'll rock even harder!

Customizing Sailfish OS - mce tools by Nokia

Below the deck: Introducing Linux terminal and MCE Tools by Nokia, available for Sailfish OS, Meego and Nemo mobile devices

Now that the user interface is changing from Sailfish OS 1.0 to Sailfish OS 2.0 it's time to introduce mce tools by Nokia. It's pretty easy to install Linux terminal on Jolla, and with mce tools you can tune up your user experience.

First impression on Sailfish OS 1.1.9.28

Guest post: Sailfish OS user experience by Janne Tamming

I start this topic introducing my experience with Jolla phone shortly. This will help you Review Jolla blog readers get better picture how I see things using Jolla phone daily, and how i see the brand new Sailfish OS (1.1.9.28 Eineheminlampi) on it.

System update 1.1.9 Eineheminlampi available for test users

Release notes: Sailfish OS 1.1.9.28 Eineheminlampi (Early access release) for Jolla phone and Tablet

This Sailfish OS system update is the first official release introducing the user interface of Sailfish OS 2.0, released to the users signed into the Early Access program. The Early Access group is testing the 1.1.9 release before it's shared for everybody.

Jolla Phone and Koor Wood skins

DIY project - Sleep Catcher case, and few other options for Jolla Phone

My wife saw Koor Wood skins for smartphones and she couldn't resist them. Luckily, this manufacturer has notified Jolla Phone as well. But still, she wanted to have a full case too to keep her Jolla safe, so we ended up with this DIY project. Looking forward to see what else Jolla fans might come up with these skins.

Test: compatible batteries for Jolla Phone

New official Jolla battery vs 2 new "compatible" batteries

and 2 used ones to add to the comparison. This post does not only share my test results, but hopefully also guides you in the sail for compatible spare battery for Jolla Phone. Unfortunately I didn't run into one 100% compatible yet - but on the other hand, even a new official Jolla battery failed on one test. There are also related safety issues, so please read before starting your own tests.

Jolla Tablet - latest features, minor delay

Hall Sensor (video), better USB port, and 4th display delay

Marko Saukko at Jolla shares another interesting update on the crowdfunded Sailfish OS Jolla Tablet, shipping soon.

There's been a new delay in the manufacturing, but Jolla is still promising shipping soon, and introduces the latest changes on the hardware. On the software side, one of the new features is still missing on 1.1.9

Sailfish OS 2.0 delays

Update on Sailfish OS update schedule

1.1.9.28 Eineheminlampi rolled out to public on September 24th. This release introduces the user interface of SailfishOS 2.0, still missing 1080p video recording, USB OTG, Partner Space and hall sensor code for Jolla Tablet. The next release after this will be Sailfish OS 2.0.x.x

Post updated on September 25th

System upgrade 1.1.7.28 Björnträsket available for all

Jolla smartphone system update:
Sailfish OS 1.1.7.28 Björnträsket

Finally released to public on August 31st, 2015, this is the same as the 4th Early Access release from few days back. Should you install it or not?

Jolla Tablet video with new display

Jouni Mikkonen, Jolla, presents Jolla Tablet

Originally shared by Kauppalehti, a Finnish business magazine, this Jolla Tablet video is the first to present the device in its final hardware. Check the colors now, on the fully laminated Retina display, and hear what Jouni Mikkonen, corresponding R&D at Jolla Oy has to say about it. In the end, some more news Kauppalehti shared in Finnish from a press conference today at Jolla.

Subtitles: Nederlands, Deutsch, English, Español, Italiano, Russian, Svenska, Armenian

Jolla Tablet Specs, Hardware

Jolla Tablet review: Hardware specifications

Review on Jolla Tablet tech specs. Display, Cameras, Connectivity, RAM, ROM, Intel processor details, Sensors (5), Audio and Video hardware, supported formats etc.

Update, October 28th: Fresh photos of the final hardware added

On the deck with developers, August 2015

Jolla Sailors plans to improve Sailfish OS

Jolla's sail plan is set to balance under fast blowing winds. Sailors hold on to the recent policy in keeping their followers up to date on their road map and logs, which were recently written again - once again. We checked it, and translated the all too technical post to sailors. Ahoy, step on the deck to see what's up:

Partner Space on Jolla Phone and Jolla Tablet

Followup post, Partner Space interface for current Jolla branded devices

We shared post "Introduction to Sailfish OS 2.0 Partner Space" a while ago, let's have another view sharing the changes coming up for current Jolla Phone owners and Jolla Tablet funders. Will they see external content provided by 3rd parties, or do they have options?

Positive feedback

Short post written in a great mood

Inspired by one nice G+ post, several great blog posts by Jolla Sailors, and all the winds blowing in this community right now, I felt like writing a thanks post.

Hoping to expand good mood around Sailfish OS and Jolla even further with this

Jolla Tablet - First batch out of factory

Jolla Tablet project in full speed, development update

Last week was very busy for Jolla, but few issues delaying the process by couple of days were catch up during the weekend by hard working Sailors. The first batch of Jolla Tablets is now complete and is told to look great!

Marko Saukko, Chief Engineer at Jolla shared technical details on the development process from the last week at Jolla blog, here's a version in (just a bit) less technical form.

UPDATE: developer loan devices shipped

Install Sailfish OS on Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro

[How-to] Renew an old Android Phone with a new operating system

Android phones capable of running Jolla's Sailfish OS, gesture based mobile operating system, are now added by Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro. Work is done by Sailfish OS porters, in this case especially Matti Lehtimäki

Do you have an old Xperia Pro laying around? Install Jolla's Sailfish OS on it, the operating system seems to run on this 512MB of RAM smartphone, and the hardware is quite well supported too. For other models, check the end of this post.

Worried about Stagefright Android bug?

If you have a Sailfish OS device, don't worry about MMS, but...

...manipulated media files watched using Android apps might still be a risk. Please use Sailfish OS apps.

But if you have any friends using Android devices, please warn them about this. Stagefright is a serious "remote code excution" bug, and on Android phones a simple MMS message received automatic can cause a problem to about 95% of Android phones out there.

Jolla Tablet shipping delayed

Update on Sailfish OS Jolla Tablet shipping dates

Developers (invited) will have their Jolla Tablet in the beginning of August.

Update: More precise information on the delay, more accurate shipping dates.

History of Sailfish OS 1.0 by Jolla

November 2013 - July 2015

Since the initial version Sailfish OS 1.0.0.5 Kaajanlampi, released on November 2013, there are 17 updates to this gesture based mobile operating system by Jolla Ltd.

Most of them were released to everybody, and the branch is soon changing to Sailfish OS 2.0 - but look at the amount of work already done:

Introduction to Sailfish OS 2.0 PartnerSpace

PartnerSpace, an exclusive zone for partners in the user interface

Jolla will bring a new view "PartnerSpace" into Sailfish OS user interface for 3rd party manufactured devices. This is an interesting m-commerce business model for Jolla and their partners

What is this, how does it work and who benefits from it? Who decides the content visible to the end customers there? Do we gain or loose having it there?

Facts: Intex Aqua Fish smartphones

Updated on February 14, 2016 

Not here yet! Sailfish OS, operating system developed by Finnish Jolla Ltd. is aiming to be the 3rd OS in mobile world. So where are the devices? After Mobile World Congress Shanghai, a lot of wrong information of upcoming Intex smartphones has been spreading to the world.

I've been following the news closely and contacted Jolla and Intex when needed to keep you up to date with the latest info below:

[News] Sailfish India ecosystem - Partnerspace user interface

Jolla announces big companies to build an ecosystem Sailfish India

Intex Technologies, a major player in the mobile handsets, consumer durables and IT products. Snapdeal, a huge online marketplace. Times Internet, India's largest media and entertainment group, have gathered together with Jolla Ltd. to take advantage on the growing e-commerce markets in India. How?

[News] After 1.1.7 Björnträsket comes 2.0

One more system update before the biggest update! 

Sailfish OS 2.0 is released soon for Jolla Phones, and of course the Tablet when it starts shipping. Early adopters are currently testing 1.1.7.24 Björnträsket, and the next update after that will be Sailfish OS 2.0

Update: 1.1.9 added in between, delaying Sailfish OS 2.0

[News] First license of Sailfish OS to India

Translated news via Taloussanomat, Finnish business magazine

We will have quite a few posts on different aspects today, so follow up! Let's start with this short translated overview on a huge press release, and add a fresh video by Jolla to get the sails up:

Intex Technologies in India is the first external manufacturer using Sailfish OS. They are launcing Sailfish OS 2.0 phones (yes, in plural) later this year.

System update 1.1.7 Björnträsket available for test users

Release notes: Sailfish OS 1.1.7.24 Björnträsket (Early access release) for Jolla phone

Jolla has released their next Sailfish OS system update to the users signed into the Early Access program. They have also shared the official release notes and the change log for this next Sailfish OS version. The Early Access group is testing the release before it's shared for everybody.

Update, August 27th: 4th release, Sailfish OS 1.1.7.28, rolling out for small group of regular users additional to Early Adopters

Intex smartphone with Jolla's Sailfish OS 2

Reference device, MWCS15
(image by ndtv.com)

New Intex smartphone unveiled tomorrow, in sale in few months

Mobile World Congress 2015, Shanghai: Intex, a phone manufacturer from India, showed their first Sailfish OS smartphone during MWC Shanghai today.

New Intex smartphone will be unveiled on Thursday, July 16th 2015. Sailfish OS is a mobile operating system designed by Jolla, company in Finland.

Jolla splits in two - end customer effect is minimal

Jolla's new company is not officially formed yet

This post is mostly for current Jolla Phone owners and for people who have funded the Jolla Tablet, waiting for its shipping.

Few answers by Jolla regarding direct effects to the end customers, after Jolla's mobile device business was announced to be moved to a new company.

Big news announced at #MWCS15

Soon: Mobile World Congress Shanghai, 15 - 17 July, 2015

Antti Saarnio, Chairman of the board at Jolla, is excited about the news coming up next week. What are we waiting for? Roadmap for Open Source Sailfish OS 2. Micromax delivering Sailfish OS devices. News from Russia. Jolla Tablet shipping confirmed for July. Some of these or something totally different?

Update: One of the news will be a new phone manufactured in India, and the news are big: "This should be the biggest announcement so far from Jolla", Antti Saarnio says

[news] New company for devices, Jolla changes CEO

Translated company news

Tomi Pienimäki is moving aside to another Finnish company, and a new company focusing on Jolla mobile devices business will be founded. Antti Saarnio will take the helm in operations at Jolla. The company will inform more on their licensing plans of Sailfish OS during next week at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai.

This post is translated from Finnish, originally posted by Perttu Pitkänen for Taloussanomat, a Finnish business magazine

[news] Sailfish OS was selected over Tizen in Russia

Projects on import substitution of infrastructural
software were reviewed on Moscow.

Confirmed by official source, Jolla beats Samsung on operating system area.

Just yesterday, we shared a post claiming that Jolla's Sailfish OS was selected as a winner over Samsung's Tizen operating system in the Ministry of Telecommunications in Russia.

This is now confirmed. This news also confirms that there are not yet decisions of support, but if Jolla's Sailfish OS will be supported (as expected after winning), the official document advices to include "The Russian Mobile device", in practice meaning the YotaPhone