Missed the boat on a Xiaomi flash sale? Take heart, Finland’s Jolla just sailed into India

India has been a through and through Nokia country until recently when the smartphone revolution slayed the feature phone giant from Finland. It was only in the second quarter of 2014 that Nokia was dethroned for the first time as the top feature phone supplier in India by homegrown phone-maker Micromax. But now, a new star from Finland has just arrived with its smartphone, Jolla.

Keeping the price-sensitive Indian market in mind, Jolla is priced at INR 16,499 (US$270). That’s a tad higher than the INR 13,999 price tag on the extremely popular Xiaomi Mi 3 from China. But all those frustrated at repeated rejections on the gone-in-seconds Xiaomi flash sales may find the Jolla an attractive option.

The phone, available in Poppy red, Keira black, and Aloe (bluish-green) back covers, is being sold exclusively on Snapdeal from today.

Jolla features a distinct buttonless design, next generation gesture-based smartphone user interface, live multitasking, and full Android application compatibility.

Gesture-based, Android-compatible OS

The key differentiator for Jolla is its gesture-based operating system Sailfish, an open mobile operating system built on the heritage of Meego, an open source OS formerly developed by Nokia, Intel, and others. Jolla founders were part of the Nokia team before they started the smartphone company in 2011.

Via swipes and shortcuts using just one hand, Sailfish OS lets you interact with all your running apps and services at the same time. From one app, you can trigger a multitasking shortcut. From there, you can change music, write a message, or check your email – without switching apps. All the running apps will be displayed on one screen.

Besides native Sailfish OS apps, Jolla is compatible with Android and runs almost 85,000 Android apps.

It also comes with an unusual combination of hardware and software innovation, called ‘The Other Half‘. It has specifically designed smart covers – manufactured from scratch-resistant polycarbonate – which when attached to the phone will use preset themes and features like colors, fonts, sounds, profiles, and applications to deliver a different experience.

In a statement announcing the India launch, Sami Pienimäki, co-founder and CMO of Jolla says it is offering a “true new alternative to the smartphone market”:

The most widely used mobile OS is rapidly colonizing the digital world, removing any sort of differentiation and turning the once exciting smartphone business into a hardware battle. Jolla smartphone with its open and independent Sailfish OS, is bringing excitement and freedom back to the smartphone industry.

Watch out Xiaomi!

Ripe for disruption