The ‘European’ Jolla Phone is the Anti-Big-Tech smartphone
“There are Chinese parts as well – we are completely open about it – but the key is that, since we assemble the software ourselves and install it in Finland, we protect the integrity of the product,” says Pienimäki.
What makes Sailfish OS different from competitors like GrapheneOS and e/OS is that it is not based on the Android Open Source Project, but Linux. That means it has no relationship with Google—there’s no need for the company to “unGoogle” the software; which means there is a greater sense of sovereignty over software (and now hardware). However, it is capable of running Android applications, although the implementation is flawless. Another common criticism is that it’s not as secure as options like GrapheneOS, where the entire operating system is sandboxed.
There is a good chance that some Android applications in Sailfish OS will face problems, which is why in the startup wizard the phone will ask if you want to install services such as MicroG—an open source software that can use Google services on devices that do not have Google Play Store, making it easier for people from traditional smartphones without a technical background. You don’t even need to create a Sailfish OS account to use Jolla Phone.
Jolla’s effort is not the first to push the anti–Big Tech narrative. A wave of other hardware and software companies are offering a deGoogled experience, whether it’s France’s Murena and its privacy-friendly e/OS operating system or Canadian GrapheneOS, which recently announced a partnership with Motorola. At CES earlier this year, Swiss company Punkt teamed up with ApostrophyOS to release its software on the new MC03 smartphone. Jolla follows a broader European trend to reduce reliance on US companies, such as how French officials abandoned French-made video conference software Zoom earlier this year.
Murena CEO and founder Gaël Duval wrote in a statement emailed to WIRED that the company believes it has a different mission than the Jolla Phone as it tries to bring the existing mobile app ecosystem—removing Google’s endless data collection and third-party trackers—without the average person’s learning curve. “We want to make privacy available to the everyday person without the need for technology or a development background,” he said.
The phone
A common problem with these niche smartphones is that they end up costing a lot of money in terms of specs. Take the Light Phone III, for example, a low-tech anti-smartphone that doesn’t enjoy the benefits of economies of scale, resulting in a staggering price of $699. The Jolla Phone is in the same boat, although the specs-to-value ratio is slightly more respectable.
It is powered by a midrange MediaTek Dimensity 7100 5G chip with 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, and microSD card slot and dual SIM tray. There’s a 6.36-inch 1080p AMOLED screen, two main cameras, and a 32-megapixel selfie shooter. The mobile’s 5,500-mAh battery is fairly large considering the size of the phone, although the phone’s connection is slow, sticking to Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4.
