The Turing Phone, a fancy Android phone promising to be extra secure and which sports an unusual casing and design, has just announced that it’s switching from Android… To Sailfish OS.
Many of you have asked numerous times through our Facebook fan page as well as emailed us about our OS development. We can now confirm that TRI has chosen to drop Android and use Jolla’s Sailfish OS. Sailfish OS is now running perfectly on the Turing Phone and we have started the final OS software testing phase.
Sailfish OS runs exceptionally fast on the Turing. You will not have to worry about performance issues with Turing’s Snapdragon 801 because Sailfish OS has been optimized to run fast on your Turing Phone. The Turing Phone will still be able to run Android Apps on the Sailfish OS without issue. An Android application store will be available for you to download your favorite apps.
This seems like an… Odd choice, to say the least. The device’s preorders have been filled months ago, so users expecting a fancy Android phone will now be getting a Sailfish phone. And while I applaud the idea of more non-establishment phones and operating systems, it seems a bit dishonest (is that too strong a word?) to shift platforms on products already sold on the promise of a different platform.
On top of that, Sailfish is, by no means, in any way, shape, or form, or by any stretch of the imagination, a full-on replacement for Android. The operating system itself is unfinished, often unstable, lacks any form of applications more serious than crappy puzzle games, and the Android compatibility is slow and buggy, at best. I’m not so sure Turing buyers who’re expecting Android will turn out to be thrilled with Sailfish.
That being said, it’s a little bright spot for the very much troubled Jolla, and that’s something we can all be happy about.
All this is likely to get them is a list of refund demands.
As of 2016-02-02 15:25 GMT-6, the Turing website still says Android. If I had preordered, I would be really disappointed by this decision.
This comment makes me wonder whether you are talking about the same SailfishOS I am using daily for almost a year now. To put it mildly, my experience differs.
totaly agree !
The operating system itself is unfinished, often unstable, lacks any form of applications more serious than crappy puzzle games, and the Android compatibility is slow and buggy, at best
I can imagine one is disapointed about the latter choice, but this is utter nonsense. Android apps in general run fine on Jolla phones, not “buggy and slow”. Sailfish OS “being unfinished and unstable” is also far from any experience I am aware of.
Indeed. Sailfish is way better than anything Android can offer interface wise.
please ignore this comment
Edited 2016-02-03 02:07 UTC
Hope this deal brings some money to Jolla, so I can gar my money for the tablet back…
While I am still pissed off about the tablet disaster, I can’t agree with what Thom said about Sailfish-OS.
Yes there are very few native apps, but the OS itself is stable and Adroid Apps do run smooth.
And I still love having a real Linux under the surface and ssh to the device… 🙂
I’m with you on the tablet refund… I would still rather have the tablet than my money back…
But maybe I could pick up a Turing phone with Sailfish instead. I really dislike Android, went from the Note 3 to the Note 4 and have a Note 12.2. And yes I’ve used stock Android as well, and I think they are all horrible. Give me some native wayland and Linux utilities instead of this crap slapped over a Linux kernel.
Yay, some choice in the mobile market!
Hardly, seeing as how it isn’t even out yet. I, for one, would be extremely careful of pre-orders especially with Jolla involved at any level.
Choice in the mobile market is great, and this looks like a really well made phone, but non-removable battery and no micro sd card means I won’t be buying one.
Also, that’s a really awful website, just terrible.
I will definitely consider this phone more with Sailfish than with Android. Remember, the focus of this phone is on security.
I am tired of dealing with Android for several reasons, not the least of which is the security update situation. If they do a good job with the initial security configuration, and keep OS updates coming in a timely manner, then this might be a winner (for me).