Jolla Sailfish OS-powered smartphone launched, will rollout to 136 countries

"The launch does not mark the end to product development, it goes on in cooperation with the consumers," Jolla CEO Tomi Pienimaki said.

The Jolla handset's Sailfish operating platform is based on MeeGo software, which Nokia abandoned in 2011 when it switched over to using Microsoft Corp.'s Windows system. Earlier, Jolla had announced that its Sailfish smartphone operating system was compatible with Android's application and hardware compatibility.

Jolla bears a 4.5-inch Estrade (540x960 pixels) display, and is powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. It features an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera alongside an LED flash, while there is a 2-megapixel front-facing camera as well.

Other specifications of the Jolla smartphone include 16GB inbuilt storage that is expandable via microSD card (no maximum capacity mentioned), and a 2100mAh battery. It is also compatible with roughly 85,000 Android apps, and supports fast 4G Internet connections.

The Jolla smartphone will sport It also features changeable smart covers, and includes Nokia's HERE maps covering 180 countries.

It will first launch in Finland on Wednesday and then in 135 other countries.

Since May 2013, the first batch of Jolla phones were completely pre-booked by consumers from Finland as well as from many other countries in Europe and Asia.

Jolla was founded in 2011 after Nokia laid off thousands of workers as it lost market share to rivals. It has over 90 employees in Finland and Hong Kong.