Jolla CEO: You will soon be able turn your Android device into a Sailfish device
talouselama.fi
talouselama.fi
You are just a consumer on Android. The founders call Google 'the third half of your brain', and when you use Android you realise you don't control that third half, it's controlled for advertising purposes (with access granted or taken for various government agencies). Ubuntu, Jolla or Firefox need to succeed on mobile because Android is actually worse than Windows 95, XP etc for user customisation and freedom. That's stock on a Nexus too, the custom versions from handset manufacturers are a whole different train wreck.
Nokia's reputation of old in Europe was based on the fact for a long time they were the only manufacturer to tell operators to [guess] themselves and sell relatively clean devices to end users. In the US they never did this, with the result that they never really got traction in that market. With MMS this started to change, to the point one device whenever you selected send message it actually went to the MMS option in the menu, and you'd have to scroll to text message, because the operators had asked to encourage MMS usage as they charged loads for it.
Nokia: I don't think that the things you say about their reputation is true (for German), in Germany Nokia phones had carrier crapware like all the other phones too.
Vodafone went as far as commissioning handsets directly from co-operative manufacturers and this changed the game completely as the message was heard that unless you play their game you aren't getting sold.
Only the deal Apple got from AT&T remotely affected this status quo. Android was originally designed for precisely the kind of operator customisation we're complaining about, as is Firefox OS, but it's only thanks to Apple (and I loathe the way iOS has gone) that we have any choice about this stuff at all. The fact it took them to stir things up is justifiably embarrassing to the telecoms industry.
I am re-asked every god damn day if I want to connect the Samsung whatever the fuck (tm) to Facebook, and I refuse, EVERY DAY. I have no words.
The marketers/business guys won, and the result is an utter trainwreck.
The sad thing is that even though the S4 is super powerful, basic tasks like opening up the contacts list or recent messages, still load sluggish!
Not sure if I like Jolla, but I just need to dump this Android bloatware fast.
I want wifi to be just like a cell tower. Are there other apps that can do that (and that aren't a nightmare to set up?)
I felt so blessed running Linux on my Thinkpad while all the other civilians got their Windows laden HP laptops from BestBuy, loaded with boatware, and by virtue of being a Windows box, susceptible to Ask-toolbars in IE and other half-legal and fully-illegal software. Hell, I am sure I am not the only one who is doing semi annual spyware removal exorcisms for family and friends PCs.
But now I feel like the sucker, having bought this S4 from AT&T. Maybe I should just allow Samsung MusicHub to connect to Facebook so I can see what it wants to do, probably virally market itself to all my friends.
Good luck Jolla!
No idea if this voids your warranty, but I buy phones upfront and unsubsidised anyway so it's less of a concern.
Or did Samsung get rid of that feature?
I think the big takeaway from this is that Mer will be compatible with a bunch more Android devices. This means you can then install Plasma Active on top of it, and have a pure FOSS mobile OS that actually performs well (Plasma Active seems to run quite slick on the first gen Nexus 7 anyways).
However, Mozilla also doesn't have the same influence, because of that, and makes pretty weak phones.
And if that's not enough for you, sure, go try something else, but the dramatics don't really help make your case.
The problem is not bundling in closed-source applications... the problem is removing (and thus stopping development) of the previously-default open source applications
Are Nova, Apex and Smart OSS? I looked at their web pages, but I don't see any link to the sources
basically: you still have freedom 0 (and possibly freedom 2, if you're willing to go against the EULA)... but, concerning freedom 1 and freedom 3, Android (as in AOSP) is stuck to something like version "4.*"
Nothing stops you from writing your own to-your-specifications launcher or SMS client or email client atop the openly-licensed Android stack (and leverage having an actually useful, widely-supported phone). People might even use your GNU-gold-starred alternative if it's more than barely functional, though the track record of said gold-starred software with regards to UX doesn't fill me with optimism. But I do wish you luck.
I'm still using my google-sanctioned stock android, and I routinely use some sort of closed source software...
My point was more like: I'm using google-android now, out of convenience, but I stopped strictly seeing Android releases[1] as improvements (and thus I _might_ refrain to use KitKat... if I'll move to a google-less cyanogenmod or to Ubuntu or Jolla I still don't know)
Also, My intention was not to be rhetoric: I just found Stallman definitions of freedom useful in this context to understand what some people are complaining about
[1] as in "Android used on Nexus", compared to AOSP
If I was a Shuttleworth type character I would throw my money into creating a Google-free Android with full on replacements for Maps, Gmail, Calendar and the Play Store. Frankly, Microsoft should probably do this - throw away Windows Phone and produce a bundle of Android apps that give you top class maps and Exchange server integration.
There has to be a huge government market for secure phones. VoLTE will do a lot to enable secure voice by enabling implementation of more of the audio path in the smartphone CPU.
Secure phones, tablets, PCs, routers, etc. all seem like a market poised to take off, yet I don't see a move by the 1st tier Linux distros.
> ”There is no such culture in these parts of the world [Finland], but there are people that are installing new operating systems on their devices. In China it is mainstream. About half of the smartphone buyers are upgrading their older or cheaper devices with a better version of Android.”
> “For us it is a possibility to distribute our operating system especially in China. There are websites that already distribute [OS] software and the Chinese customers are doing it so we don’t have to teach them. We just have to get Sailfish to those websites – and to make sure that Sailfish will run on different kind of Android devices.”
Half of all smartphone buyers are flashing their devices with new operating systems? That seems astonishing.
The vast majority of users chose a cheap smartphone, not Android explicitly. Samsung and others do not even mention Android anymore, that for specsheets like the processor being used. China has this large number of Android devices which are non-Google, no Play Store, no Google Now, nothing.
Now Jolla comes in and acts as an alternative to Android. For whom? End users? 99% don't give a shit. Like asking which fuel injection systems your car uses.
So what does Jolla offer to manufacturers to choose it over Android? Even less restrictions than the open Android? Less cost? If so, it can't be price - will they adapt the OS for specific hardware for free as well?
Android compatibility. You want a KILLER feature? iOS compatibility. Enable devs to simply copy over their code and run their shit on Jolla.
With Android you can use the AOSP bits.
I would rather have a Jolla handset.
Jolla's apparent killer feature is that it runs Android apps, like, erm, Android. It's not really any more open or cheaper than AOSP.
The best chance they have to gain traction is to attract users. You can buy marketing until your budget is gone, but that only goes so far; word of mouth is almost certainly the best chance they have to expand their user base, improving their brand awareness, drawing new buyers.
For users, a far better user interface (still prefer the user interface of the N9 over android one), a new app ecosystem (work most android apps, plus jolla native/meego/mer ones, maybe will be a compatibility layer to run ubuntu touch/tizen ones, and as it is based on qt/qml, probably will be easy to port BB10 ones too. And of course, ports of linux apps in general (the N900 had a lot of them)
For Jolla is, of course, improving installed base, enabling people to try, or even improve the OS, and generate a critical mass of developers and fans that will make the rest of potential users to see with good eyes the phones with jolla built in.
Remember, part of android success was that people was able to install cyanogenmod in their old windows phones. If this is more efficient than android giving new life to old android phones could give enough visibility to the new OS.
Not really, no. Only a tiny fraction of Android users even know what cyanogen mod is, let alone install it on their phone.
That's not at all what made Android successful.
Its important to note that most of us don't like Google for moral rather then practical reasons. The best strategy might be to upstream Android to the Linux kernel and and develop a userland clone.
Jolla is Nordic people trying desperately to maintain a mobile industry. (Targeting existing consumers, who are well catered for)
I know which I'm developing for.
This is tragic.
All this effort gone into endless, pointless rebranding and new website designs instead of new code.