The month after the tough deadlines for Mobile World Congress has meant a lot of Jolla Tablet and continuous software development work, as well as preparations for building the Sailfish OS alliance. Before we get into that, and in the spirit of transparency, we have some necessary news to share:
We’ve been working very hard all year to get the Jolla Tablet ready. We have progressed very well in many areas, but as there are still many open items remaining, we are forced to postpone the delivery start of the Jolla Tablet.
Several important parts, like the new user interface design is already in good shape. Also the new camera/media stack based on gstreamer 1.x and the camera adaptation now work for the tablet, new interface implementation is getting ready to be merged to the main codebase, after which we’ll get to test the new UI end to end. Some parts, for instance the Android app support and the support for multiple devices (tablet & phone) in the Jolla store backend and client need a lot of work still. Just to mention a few items. All in all, the Sailfish OS 2.0 software development is progressing steadily, but it still requires a lot of effort in many areas.
On the hardware side we’ve had some implementation challenges with the original display. Since we want to offer you the best possible hardware, we chose to switch to a new display. This display is better than the original with a more balanced color spectrum. The display change also causes a slight delay in the tablet production.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and disappointment this might cause.
New shipping target for Jolla Tablet: end of July 2015
We aim to start shipping the Jolla Tablet before the end of July 2015 in the order of the Indiegogo contributions. Actual delivery times may vary depending on your region. If you’re a Jolla Tablet contributor, you’ll receive an email about the next steps very soon.
Jolla Tablet for developers: pilot program starts in June
In June 2015 we will start a special pilot program for developers. In this pilot, selected Sailfish OS developers will get the opportunity to use the Jolla Tablet e.g. in the course of developing their apps for the Jolla Tablet. Moreover, these selected Sailfish OS developers will be given early access to the Jolla Tablet SDK (Software Development Kit).
We’re currently planning the pilot, and we will personally contact the eligible developers during the first week of May. Please stay tuned!
Software update Äijänpäivänjärvi soon available to everyone
Our software development team has been working rigorously to get the next Sailfish OS update Äijänpäivänjärvi out to the early release phase. We will continue rolling out the new release first for early adopters very soon and it will be available to everybody in a few days. This release will include e.g. landscape mode for Maps, Split keyboard in landscape mode with a setting to disable it, IMAP idle/push support for mail accounts, and resolution independent icons, to mention a few.
Sailfish OS alliance developments
After the announcement of the Sailfish OS alliance in Mobile World Congress 2015, our sales and business development teams have been utterly busy with partner negotiations especially in Asia. Definitely exciting developments on this front! We’ll come back to this very soon.
What’s next?
Our aim is to keep providing continuous updates about the Jolla Tablet development. We have some interesting topics in the pipeline for the coming month, including a post about a Jolla Tablet survey we did among the contributors, and further updates on software and hardware developments. Also, look out for the Äijänpäivänjärvi software update in the very near future, as well as some news from the business side of things!
On behalf of the whole Jolla Team,
Juha
Please let us know new display model name
Hi coderus,
We are publishing a tablet hardware update post soon here on the blog, and there we’ll explain the HW progress in more detail.
Any news/idea on when the hardware post will be?
Soon(tm)? How soon is soon?
Out of curiosity, what are the differences between the old and new displays? Different manufacturer/technology? Or is the new one just an updated version?
I sure hope it’s not a Pentile display…
Hi DefiantCatgirl,
The key difference from the user point of view is the more balanced color spectrum. We are also publishing a tablet hardware update post soon here on the blog, and there we’ll explain the HW progress in more detail.
Any news on the new screen?
If I’m reading your post right than the Tablet hardware will be ready end of Mai or beginning of June.
So the most delay is comming from doing SFOS 2.0 software. I assume that also the SFOS 2.0 release for the Phone will be delayed than.
As you need to work hard on the 2.0 release can we still expect one or two more updates of SFOS 1.x series?
I like the Jolla “spirit of transparency” and do understand that doing it right is not that easy. And we all expect a lot from SFOS2.0 😉
Maybe in the mean time we will get new inside articles like the “Hardware adaptation team – Day Zero: bootstrapping” or “Design insights: How we design Sailfish OS” ?
Hi AxelD,
Thanks for your comment and questions. The hardware and software tracks are separate and both of them do have an affect on the delay (as said in the blog). ’Sailfish OS 2.0’ is a term we use for the evolution of the OS, and many related features will be on the phone already during the Spring. We will also continue the monthly updates to Sailfish OS.
And lastly: yes we will put out ‘behind the scenes’ type of articles, aiming to keep all of you updated on how we progress!
Thank you for the update. The new schedule is not very good since if you go on vacations, the delivered tablet may go back to Finland.
Hi al1guillet,
You have a possibility to delay your shipment if you are on vacation etc. When we get closer to shipping we will send you an email with instructions on how to complete your order. The shipment will not happen before you have done that.
Good to know. I’ll be patient, you folks just keep on going and finding good solutions to the problems. Keep the aim and quality high;)! Might be worth to consider the schedule for the delivery again if there will be another delay. You get to August and half of the Europe is not at home or office. Or perhaps one could get it delivered to the beach?
Glad to hear that you’re planning a pilot program for developers. How do you decide who is “eligible developer” and who is not?
Hi skvark,
We will share more information about the pilot program in the first week of May. Please be patient!
Thank you for the update, I was prepared for some delay anyway, but knowing there will be a delay is better than waiting impatiently.
The end of July (or August) is a bit of a problem since it is vacation time for many people, myself included. I almost would prefer shipping for the beginning of September.
The part that I do not like about your announcement is that the Tablet SDK is meant only for some “choice developers”. I do not have complex applications developed, just a few utilities, but I would like to be able to test them in the new environment and update them to fix incompatibilities as soon as possible.
Moreover, having access to a new OS release (SDK) on time (in advance from the user release may be able to attract more developers). You may dream of having big firm software released for SailfishOS, but the reality is that the developer base is mostly hobbysts/open source enthusiasts, and you should avoid this tiered approach with them.
New or old display, just make sure it’s readable in at least modest sunlight.
Also I hope you have learned from the phone delivery cock-up and have more streamlined postage procedure in place this time 🙂
Glad to see you Sailors finally decide to start a pilot program for developpers.
IMHO, making the platform attractive for devs is the key point to further success.
Question, does/will the tablet (and/or phone) have the capability to use color calibration profiles? And support using the Apps such as from X-Rite (https://www.xrite.com/colortrue) and will have OS level support so all applications will benefit from that?
Hi Drizzt321,
Unfortunately this is not in our plans at the moment. Also such application would probably require a native Sailfish implementation/app and action from the app owner. However this is noted now by our R&D as a new request, so we will see later on what will happen. Can’t promise anything for now.
By the way, these kind of requests would be better to raise in together.jolla.com where we have many other ideas discussed as well. If the community will cast a lot of votes, it will give us better guidance what all is needed. Doing It Together!
Thanks! It’s just an interesting thought as a way to help differentiate yourself, and perhaps make a play for certain media space where color calibration & consistency between devices could be important.
If you update the display, please consider an input technology such as AnyPen or Precision Plus to allow Stylus-like input. That would increse productivity a lot.
In reference to the hardware changes post MWC2015; I’m interested to know if the USB port will be updated to USB 3.1; mostly for the (now) Integrated DisplayPort output. However… given the ~1.8GHz processor speed I’m thinking the Atom in use is likely the Z3745 or Z3745D. While the Atom x5-Z8300’s release date and murmured pricing makes it a possible candidate for inclusion; not to mention having a burst speed in the ~1.8ghz range; the listed I/O only references USB 3.0.
Assuming then that Integrated USB/DisplayPort likely won’t be available in the first generation tablet; can Jolla answer whether or not Miracast support is in the works?
Hi Zerias,
Thanks for your questions! Quick answers to these:
– USB 3.1 is not going to included in the Jolla Tablet
– The processor is Intel Z3735F processor; quad core 1.83GHz with an Intel HD Graphics GPU, read more here: https://blog.jolla.com/jolla-tablet-hardware-adaptation-team-day-zero-bootstrapping/
– Miracast: we have plans to investigate this after the basics are in place, likely during the second half of this year. Read more here: https://together.jolla.com/question/64176/request-jolla-tablet-miracast/.
The delay is actually a big disappointment. 2 months delay for a display replacement?
I planned to take the tablet with me on holidays, beginning of July. So what do I have to do now?
But now that it is delayed, Jolla should look again at all the enhancement requests on hardware side and add some more cunning features to make up for the delays. Software updates are more easy than hardware updates AFTER the release, so please concentrate on hardware to make the device (more) competitive!
@mirakels it is not as easy as you think to make changes. If you do changes, you have to go through product validation again. Jolla does not have their own factory, so I am pretty sure they are not pleased they have to postpone production, but if the new displays cannot be had in time for the may production slot, probably they have to wait for the factory to have a new free slot, which may be two months later. They changed the diplay because they had to, not because it was a nice upgrade that really felt cool to have. They selected a display with better characteristics (so they say… 🙂 not that I don’t believe them) to keep prospect customers happy.
They may have software difficulties, as well, so the extra two months of delay may get some good use.
And for those of us with a Jolla phone, we may get the new UI sooner than July, hopefully. That said, delays can happen; if you want a product on time, backing a project on Indiegogo is not the way to go, buying a product off the shelf is the safest bet.
Indiegogo is an “investment platform”, and with investments, you may be lucky or you may not be; If all the problems will be a two months delay, I will consider myself lucky.
I’m quite sad to have missed the Indiegogo campaigns (volunteering with no internet access). With this delay, would it be possible to jump in somehow and pre-order?
If you want, you can take over my first sailor preorder including lastucase, shipping, micro-sd and 64gb perks. DM me on twitter @teunwinters
Is there any chance to order the tablet soon before end of July ?
Hi Oliver,
We’re planning this now and will announce details soon. Stay tuned!
How will this be announced? Will we get an automatic email notification from our Jolla account? I missed out on the Indiegogo campaign but am keen to order a tablet?
Hi Alan,
We’re currently planning the tablet’s availability later, and we’ll share more info soon here on the blog.
Can we please get an update, as the shipping-date comes clother? For long time we didn’t heared about the tablet manufacturing, so everything ok? 🙂
Yes, ‘in the spirit of transparency’ it would be nice to get some updates on progress, specifications and release schedule!
Hi Dulog and mirakels! We’ve published an update about the situation earlier this week. In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a link to the blog post.
please give us some more news regarding the progress of the tablet,it’s been way too long since last post.
It is very clear now that Jolla has a major problem with the tablet. Jolla this problem will only get bigger if you remain silent, because we your funders are becoming very agitated due to your lack of respond. Said something PLEASE!
we need more information，a man from China
Hi iamyinweijian, if you are a contributor, you should have received information about China to the same email address you used on Indiegogo. It should be different than the one you used for commenting here as we couldn’t find your contribution with that. If you haven’t, please send our Care team a ticket at: https://jolla.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=44886.