Finnish smartphone maker Jolla makes India debut with device running on Sailfish OS, available exclusively on Snapdeal for Rs 16,499

After announcing the same in July this year, Jolla Ltd, a smartphone company by ex-Nokia employees from Finland, has made its entry in the Indian smartphone market. For the launch, the company has partnered exclusively with Indian e-commerce major Snapdeal.com. As part of the partnership, Jolla has launched its smartphone (of the same name) running on the independent operating system Sailfish OS exclusively on the Snapdeal site.

Founded in 2011, Jolla develops mobile devices and Sailfish OS, an open mobile operating system. 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 device is available for $472 (Rs 28,476) abroad, the company has competitively priced it at Rs 16,499 in India. Snapdeal is also offering the first 90 customers to purchase the smartphone a 'VIP Box' free of cost. According to the company, this box contains three NFC enabled cases worth Rs 7,000.

Sami Pienimäki, co-founder and CMO of Jolla, said, "We are excited to announce the availability of the Jolla smartphone and Sailfish OS in India, offering a new alternative to the smartphone market."

"The most widely used mobile OS is rapidly colonising the digital world, removing any sort of differentiation and turning the once exciting smartphone business into a hardware battle. Jolla smartphone with its open and independent Sailfish OS is bringing excitement and freedom back to the smartphone industry," he added, probably taking a pot shot at search giant Google's Android mobile OS.

Here is a look at the specifications of the device.

It sports a 4.5 inch IPS qHD touchscreen display (960×540 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 competitors are offering the same (or better) at much lower prices. A few examples are Motorola's new Moto G offering that is available for Rs 12,999; Obi Mobiles' octa-core smartphone Octopus S520 available for Rs 11,990; and Xiaomi's Mi3 and Redmi Note that have been priced at Rs 13,999 and Rs 9,999 respectively.