The Indian smartphone market, in recent times, could be compared to the India of the ancient ages where Romans and others didn't mind bankrupting themselves to grab whatever the country could offer. Now there are a lot of handset makers who are well established in the country and looking for similar gains.
We already have a host of smartphones manufacturers in India like Samsung and Sony who are (more or less) dictating the terms. But there are other Indian makers like Micromax, Karbonn and Lava who are not far behind. However, the choice of OS still remains to be the Google-based Android.
However, leaving aside Android for the moment, what other choices do we have in terms of mobiles operating systems? While iOS still remains to be a costly alternative, none in the country has taken that big a liking for the Windows Phone platform until now. So what does Jolla brings with its Sailfish OS into the picture?
Not long ago, Jolla showcased the Sailfish OS to the world. This was after it announced that it had signed its first carrier deal with Finnish operator DNA. The company at that time detailed the OS' enhanced multitasking features, effortless interaction and a number of other new personalization options.
So what exactly are we getting from a Jolla phone under the hoods? What kind of features does it have incorporated inside? We take a closer look at the top 5.
Jolla Sailfish Features: Primarily Open Source
Similar to Android, the Jolla-based Salifish OS is basically an open source offering. The OS is based on Mer, which is an open source operating system for phones, tablets, TVs and other connected devices. It will also be supported by multiple chipsets.
Jolla Sailfish Features: Effortless Multitasking
As revealed via the company earlier, the OS is said to feature "effortless multitasking." This will allow users to switch between running applications directly on the homescreen. You can even end a call, pause a song without needing to enter the application. Users can press and hold the app tile, and that will display the options available for that particular title.
Jolla Sailfish Features: Pulley Menu
Jolla has also integrated a certain "Pulley Menu" feature into the Sailfish OS. Apparently, that will provide mobile owners easy ways to interact with their Jolla device. So instead of pulling down the menu (like Android and iOS), Jolla's OS allows users to display menu items. This helps in sharing photos or videos to social networks and other specified actions.
Jolla Sailfish Features: Improved Lockscreen
Sailfish, as revealed earlier, has been working on a lockscreen that will be easy to deal with by users. So instead of displaying the battery life and signal indicators in the top bar, indicators will be present on the lockscreen. This will allow you to work on whatever is shown on your display.
Jolla Sailfish Features: Support for Android Apps
Jolla has made it quite clear that if developers or contributors wish to add support to the open standards of the operating system, they can share it with the community to help build the Sailfish OS. "Many Android applications will run on Jolla devices unchanged. If you want to take advantage of all UI and other features of Sailfish OS and make your applications fast, you can port your applications to native QT/QML," the company also said earlier.
