Finnish mobile firm Jolla has been working to bring its community-powered Sailfish OS to the masses since 2013. It’s now launched its second smartphone in an effort to keep interest in its platform alive, but the new device has sold out in one day.
That’s partly because Jolla only manufactured 1,000 Jolla C phones and priced them at €169 ($190) a pop in Europe.
The device packs a 5-inch 720p screen and is powered by a 1.3 GHz Snapdragon 212 quad-core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. There’s also an 8-megapixel camera, a 2,500mAh battery, a microSD slot for extra space and dual SIM support.
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The idea is to deliver the latest version of Sailfish OS to these hardcore fans, and grant a select few access to beta releases so they can test new features.
But is it really worth the money, and more importantly, your time? Jolla has failed to reliably deliver on its promises – its crowdfunded tablet has faced delays and its platform hasn’t gained much traction. So while it’s tempting to back a David-sized challenger to the Goliath that is Android, it’s still unclear whether Jolla has the chops to win this battle.
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