After Xiaomi & Obi Mobiles, Finnish smartphone maker Jolla set to enter India next month

Just yesterday, we had written about Obi Mobiles- a venture of ex-Apple CEO John Scully's Inflexionpoint- plans to enter the Indian smartphone market. The company had partnered exclusively with Indian e-commerce major Snapdeal.com to launch its flagship device Octopus S520 in the country.

Snapdeal has now announced another exclusive partnership. This time around, it is with Jolla, smartphone company from Finland, to launch its devices in the country. Founded in 2011, Jolla Ltd is developing mobile devices and Sailfish OS, an open mobile operating system.

As part of the partnership, Jolla will launch its smartphone (of the same name) running on the independent operating system Sailfish OS exclusively on the Snapdeal site. Based on the heritage of Meego, an open source operating system formerly developed by Nokia etc., the Jolla smartphone offers a distinct gesture-based user experience with its button-less design and Android application compatibility, among others.

While the exact India pricing has not been revealed by the company, it is available for $472 (Rs 28,476) abroad.

Sami Pienimäki, co-founder and CMO, Jolla, said, "Since late 2011 when we established the company Jolla, we have received a tremendous amount of interest from India. In particular we have found it very encouraging how much there is interest and trust for mobile heritage coming from Finland. Through this position, we are confident to reach those interested in a true alternative to the mainstream players."

Here is a look at the specifications of the device.

It sports a 4.5 inch IPS qHD touchscreen display (960x540 pixels resolution) and runs on the Sailfish OS. The device is powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm dual core processor and has 1GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 16GB that can be further expanded with a microSD card.

Jolla has an 8 megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash that can also record videos and a 2MP front facing camera for video calling. On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G LTE (depending on the market), as well as a microUSB port and a microSD card slot.

The dimensions of the device are 131mm x 68mm x 9.9mm and its weight is 141 gm. The company has provided a 2,100 mAh battery in the device, which it claims will provide up to 9 hours of talk time and 500 hours of standby time. It comes with GPS (with A-GPS support) and Near Field Communication (NFC).

Here is an introductory video of the device.

In addition, the company is also offering changeable 'The Other Half' smart covers with the device. Manufactured from ultra-durable and scratch resistant polycarbonate, each colour option packs a unique ambience with custom sounds, wallpapers and more. The smartphone automatically detects The Other Half smart cover and instantly adapts the look and feel of your phone with wireless NFC technology. The smart colours are available in Keira Black, Poppy Red and Aloe colour options as of now.

Although the device has decent specifications, we feel its pricing will play a big role in its acceptance among the price-sensitive customers in India. Especially since its competitors Xiaomi and Obi Mobiles have come up with aggressive pricing for their devices. While Obi Mobiles' octa-core smartphone Octopus S520 is available for Rs 11,990, Xiaomi's Mi3 and Redmi Note have been priced at Rs 13,999 and Rs 9,999 respectively.