Comment by Zigurd | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Zigurd | Hacker News Reader

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The Verge's reviewer didn't like it. I have yet to get my hands on one. It is strongly a "global gestures" UI. Some people like that as a way of enforcing consistency. That will have some possibly confusing effects on Android apps running in Myriad's compatibility environment. Also, the last time I looked at Myriad's technology, they were using their own Java VM, which means, at least,some kind of Dalvik to Java bytecode converter for apps as they are installed, or an SDK plugin to produce "Myriad-VM-ready" apps.

It looks pretty clean. It should appeal to the people who were buying Nokia's Harmattan and Meego devices. If Jolla can pick up a majority of the Qt apps that had been developed for those platforms and grow that developer community, they may have a chance.

It will take at least a year, and probably some more hardware to tell where Jolla is going and if it will be successful. There are several dimensions to measure that success: Can Jolla pick up many of the distribution channels, and their customers, in Europe that previously favored Nokia? Can they penetrate the China market, as they appear to be aiming to do?

For anyone finding the verge review- http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/11/29/5156446/jolla-smartpho...

> Nonetheless, that group is small whereas the software evolution required is large.

It's also open source and I'm sure they have a lot of goodwill within the community given their history, so that might alleviate the problem somewhat.

The Jolla UI looks and behaves similar to the Blackberry 10 OS, which is a good thing, and an improvement on Android and iOS.

I have a Blackberry Z30[1] and I don't think I could go back to the "old way" of using a smartphone. BB 10 feels like a true smartphone experience, as subjective as that is.

[1] http://ca.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-z30.html

Which means it could face the one of the same challenges as BB10 - these global gestures are very demo-unit-unfriendly. You go to a store and pick up a BB10 device and you're freaking lost with no visible buttons or UI to use.

A non-discoverable interface on a device this late to the party is not going to be good for market-share.

Fascinating insight. Reminds me of the Pepsi Challenge. In the famous Pepsi vs Coke taste tests[1], people picked Pepsi due to it's favorable first impression - it had a sweeter taste. In reality, most people prefer a less sweet beverage over the course of an entire can.

Maybe BlackBerry should attack the problem the same way Coke did, by conducting a (longer-term) OS interface challenge.

[1]http://www.slate.com/articles/business/rivalries/2013/08/pep...

Just making sure that cellphone vendors use devices properly imaged with a demo-oriented environment that returns to tutorial mode every time it idles would be a big help.

I remember that was my first experience with the Nokia N9 (spiritual and technical predecessor of the Jolla phone).

At the store, I picked it up, turned it around a few times to confirm that there are indeed no buttons, then tried tapping the screen all over but it stubbornly displayed only a screensaver.

Later someone told me that I was supposed to rapidly tap twice in one place (like a double-click on the mouse) to get to the home screen. Nothing in the unit's physical design or software suggested this.

The point is, once you figure out what to do, you really appreciate the comfort of such interface.

It is pretty discoverable through a tutorial which is offered for all new users. If you skip it - things can be initially harder.

I've checked out the two BB10 Blackberry devices at various cellphone kiosks - the first two times I got lost not knowing the gestures, the 3rd time I knew from reading online. After three kiosks, I still have never seen the tutorial. Obviously I would see it if I bought one, but first I need to decide to buy one.

That can't be good for BB.

I meant it's discoverable in Jolla. They offer a tutorial. There should be a way to view it again probably, in case you aren't using a completely new installation.

BB10 has a similar tutorial. As I said, it's never turned on in store demo units.

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