Nokia’s making all the headlines this week with the unveiling of its gorgeous N1 Android Lollipop tablet. And although those two (along with Intel) make a dream partnership in many minds, it’s not the only Finnish manufacturer making waves on the tablet scene.
In just over 120 minutes, Finnish smartphone manufacturer Jolla has smashed an Indiegogo target to pieces with its Sailfish OS, Intel-inside, Jolla Tablet or “the world’s first crowdsourced tablet”.
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Read more: Nokia N1 is the company’s swanky $249 Android Lollipop tablet
That’s right — Android’s nowhere to be seen on this device.
Sailfish is Jolla’s OS based on a Linux kernel (like Android). It’s more intuitive though, and can display multiple opened apps at once, perfect for heavy multitaskers and power users. And it’s rather stunning — aesthetically, it looks like a polished meld between iOS, Android Lollipop and Firefox OS.
Internally, the Jolla Tablet sports a 1.8GHz quad-core Intel processor, 32GB storage and 2GB RAM. Additionally, it has a 4300mAh battery to keep the 7.9″ IPS 2048×1536 screen lit up, and the 5MP camera snapping away on its back. For video calling, there’s a 2MP camera up front.
Size-wise, the tablet’s just 8.3mm but it weighs in at a slightly hefty 384g — around 80g more than the Nokia N1 but 40g lighter than the Nexus 9.
Incredibly, the project has exploded its way onto US$888 000 at the time of writing, with Jolla initially asking for just a third of that. The company reached its US$380 000 target in just two days.
And at just US$189 a pop for early backers, it’s easy to see why. Currently the tablet is available for US$209.
Jolla claimed that users will receive the tablet in May 2015, but will only be available within the EU, Norway, Switzerland, USA, China, India Hong Kong and Russia.
Is this the “third OS” tablet we’ve all been hoping for? We’ll have to wait until May next year for a definitive answer, but for now, things are looking good for the future of Jolla and Sailfish.
