ATM I have lost every little inch of confidence for Jolla. The phone will be closed, no hacking possible, a consumer device. A "developer version" will be released, so what? The Galaxy Nexus covers all that - and more. Heck, the Galaxy SII/III can be used for devs and hackers.
I have seen so much just gone up in smoke regarding smartphones, I have no faith left. But now I know why.
The basics, it IS all about the ecosystem. A smartphone is a tool that interacts with the ecosystem. That is all it is. Without an ecosystem a smartphone is nothing, it's just a bloated dumb phone. There is one exception form this basic rule, and that is the N900, a smartphone that is just as much PC as it is a phone. If only Jolla could make such a device (dual/quad core, 4+ inch screen, HW keyboard), but no, they have to **** it up instead.
....
And in comes Jolla. They want to be an "alternative". Well, I don't want an "alternative", I don't want yet another closed system. WP7 and later WP8 will satisfy my needs for communication, and if not then Android will, I may even go iOS, but not after S40. I don't want a "developer device", I have no need for that. The only alternative for me would be a fully open device, a modernized N900 with HW keyboard (E7 form factor), full HW stack (USB2go, HDMI, FM rx/tx etc etc). THAT is the alternative I want.
Firstly, I think you have absolutely ridiculous expectations and secondly, I don't think you "get" what Jolla are trying to do.
On the expectation part, you do realise that Jolla are a tiny start-up with about 100 employees (Nokia have over 100,000 employees, Apple over 20,000 employees, even RIM have 10,000)? Even with 10,000 employees, do you think it's even remotely possible to build and test an entire device, OS and features from scratch and bring the product to market in one year?
As for what Jolla are trying to do, they have made it perfectly clear that they are trying to bring a true flavour of Linux to a phone. Whether it's x86/ARM or dual/quad core is completely irrelevant. What we're talking about here is delivering a more open, more powerful, PC like experience to a mobile device. If we get that, on any kind of remotely decent hardware, I will probably buy it. The alternative is a dying platform (Harmattan) or a platform that is vapourware (Tizen).
Firstly, I think you have absolutely ridiculous expectations and secondly, I don't think you "get" what Jolla are trying to do.
On the expectation part, you do realise that Jolla are a tiny start-up with about 100 employees (Nokia have over 100,000 employees, Apple over 20,000 employees, even RIM have 10,000)? Even with 10,000 employees, do you think it's even remotely possible to build and test an entire device, OS and features from scratch and bring the product to market in one year?
As for what Jolla are trying to do, they have made it perfectly clear that they are trying to bring a true flavour of Linux to a phone. Whether it's x86/ARM or dual/quad core is completely irrelevant. What we're talking about here is delivering a more open, more powerful, PC like experience to a mobile device. If we get that, on any kind of remotely decent hardware, I will probably buy it. The alternative is a dying platform (Harmattan) or a platform that is vapourware (Tizen).
Well, as ridiculous as my expectations may seem, that is my expectations for any "alternative" to existing top of the line products. I may go for lower specs, no problems, but then the already existing S40 line of Ashas seems like a much better "alternative". Remember, Jolla is going for a closed device, it will not be open in any sense of the word. Sure they use an OSS core, Mer, but Android is also running on an OSS core.
Just "different" means nothing to me if that "different" include a closed OS on a mediocre device on a non existing ecosystem. Why would anyone buy such a device? It will be like a bad copy of Bada (another closed system running on a almost non existent ecosystem). It would be worse, it will be like the cheapest Bada device out there. There is absolutely nothing inspiring about such things.
My whole point is you have to do things right, or no one will purchase it. The recipe is simple:
1. Create an ecosystem, music, cloud services, mail, movies, maps etc etc or something completely new.
2. Create apps for that ecosystem on existing devices (Android, iOS, WP, Symbian, S40 dumb phones. PC, tablets)
3. Create a device that utilizes that ecosystem out of the box + a nice API for apps.
OR
1. Create a bad *** device, a HW monster like the N900 (almost was) with top of the line browser and connectivity to utilize other ecosystems. This is preferably done with open source. The pieces already exist, Alien Dalvik for instance.
The recipe is simple. I didn't say the execution is simple or cheap. But that is what it takes. Either you create an ecosystem, or you leech from other ecosystems. If your solution involves no ecosystem, it's already DOA. I believe a bad *** HW monster is viable. It doesn't need to look good, there is no need for 8mm thickness or exotic materials. A brick like the N900 will do just fine, as long as the internals are top.
The second half of that message is "and details will come later", so there's more to it than that. Am I the only one having deja vu?
I think we all can agree that the way 'developer mode' was implemented in Maemo6/Harmattan was not ideal in any way. Including system not seemingily tested in open mode at all.
Besides that, nobody noticing
Originally Posted by
- Jolla intends to donate as much of its code back to the open source community and this way develop the ecosystem. We do not want to own the ecosystem but lead it.
I think we all can agree that the way 'developer mode' was implemented in Maemo6/Harmattan was not ideal in any way. Including system not seemingily tested in open mode at all.
Besides that, nobody noticing
..this?
Originally Posted by
Jolla intends to donate as much of its code back to the open source community and this way develop the ecosystem. We do not want to own the ecosystem but lead it.
Exactly what kind of ecosystem are we talking about here?
I don't like the way these Jolla people talk. Too much is left for the imagination and it can be interpreted any way you want.
again medfield has not been tested on a mobileplatform and is a heavy risk for a small player success with an untested cpu.
That's funny because you can already buy some. Plus it has already been tested (see links by other posters). And what's more, it's reasonnably heavily marketed (tube + TV ads by orange). Add to that the perfectly standard powerVR GPU (same as many arm soc), and it seem a pretty viable option for any non flagship phone. It might not be compatible with Jolla strategy (probably high end phone), but you should stop the fud about intel low power offering.
I doubt you are ever going to find the device you are looking for in the smartphone market. Fact is, to get carrier buy-in, you are going to need to be closed to a certain extent. It is because that's what they want. That is just the reality of the market.
Originally Posted by
Sure they use an OSS core, Mer, but Android is also running on an OSS core.
An important difference in this is that Android = Google while Mer != Jolla. Mer is a project that can benefit from Jolla's involvement, yet can have priorities that aren't necessarily Jolla's.
I think it is far too early to say that what Jolla is doing won't work for you because we are light on the details. Your rant on ecosystems is a case in point. What kind of ecosystem is Jolla going to have? No one really knows yet. They say that they think they have an answer to that, but we don't know what that answer is. It would be a strong assumption to think, considering the quick start that they are looking for, that they'd glom onto someone else's ecosystem while also building on top of the Maemo/Meego ecosystem, but it is an assumption based on available information.
While I don't have strong expectations, it is worth keeping an eye on, because I don't see a better option out there right now.
I share my pessimism about Jolla. If these are the same people that brought us laggy and stuttering n900 and N9, they will have no chance in competing against current line ups. They need a leader that will push them to the limits that they have not known before, and I am. It sure they can do it. In terms of fluidity and usability, N900 and N9 are in the third division. Why do we think that they have what it takes to jump to the premier league ?
