Finnish MeeGo Startup Jolla Reveals First Phone Hardware With Customisable Shells, €399 Price-Tag, Coming At Year's End

Monday, May 20, 2013

Jolla, the Finnish MeeGo startup comprised of ex-Nokians building their own mobile hardware and Sailfish OS, has finally taken the wraps off its first handset, revealing what the hardware will look like on its website. The design is a clean looking, elegant slab, with the most stand-out feature being the coloured shell on the back and wrapping around to half the sides of the phone.

The shell colours, which appear to be user-customisable, can influence the theme colours of the Sailfish UI. This is a feature Jolla is calling “the other half”.

The phone will cost €399 and is slated to ship at the end of the year. Jolla notes:

Expected availability by end of 2013 subject to demand in your local market. Sales will start in European countries with more countries to follow. If you join the Movement and get the pre-order number to buy the phone when available, you'll pay no more than 399€; including applicable VAT in Europe, but excluding shipping costs, duties and any local taxes.

Specs wise, the device has a 4.5″ Estrade display, a dual-core chip, 4G, 16GB internal memory plus a microSD card slot, an 8MP auto focus camera, a user-replaceable battery. The device is powered by Jolla’s Sailfish OS but can also run Android apps.

The hardware reveal is also the start of Jolla’s pre-order sales campaign, announced last month. Jolla is due to hold an event in Helsinki today — dubbed the Jolla LoveDay — to promote the handset and encourage fans to pre-oder the device, having kept the design tightly under wraps up to now.