I have a thing for the weird and occasionally wonderful. The Turing Phone sits in the first category, and I am sincerely hoping that it will fall into the second category. Google, and by extension, its Android partner ecosystem weren’t afraid to try new things in the early years, and there was a lot of hardware and software innovation came off the back of it. There were misses, for sure. But it also drove the Android platform forward at a faster rate than it appeared Google themselves were ready for.
If you haven’t heard about the Turing Phone by now, then head over to their site for a quick look. We aren’t going anywhere. It has a number of unique selling points – the case is made of Liquid Metal(™) – that alloy made otherwise known as Liquidmorphium, comes with its own Gaming Bluetooth Earphone, uses the “Turing Imitation Key” for end-to-end sucurity, and has a mirrorlike finish. There are other aspects to the phone as well: it doesn’t have a headphone socket for a start, and it doesn’t use Micro USB, which will make things interesting when it comes time to ship its product in the EU (remember that ruling which stated all phones should use a common standard by the end of 2017?).
Well, the interesting thing is that it was originally going to use Android Lollipop as it’s OS, but Android Police released an email advising that Turing Robotic Industries, the company that makes – or will make – the Turing Phone has decided to switch to Sailfish OS. The current anticipated shipping date will be this April, although Turing Robotic has previously pushed back the shipping date since it was originally due to ship on December 18th of last year. The email advises:
Dear Turing Fans,
You will be pleased to know that we have ironed out the final development tasks before we deliver the Turing Phone to your hands. We fully expect the Turing Phone to be delivered in the month of April 2016.
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.
The Sailfish OS is an evolved continuation of the Linux MeeGo OS previously developed by an alliance of Nokia and Intel. MeeGo mobile software platform was created through the merging of Moblin and the Maemo OS originally developed by Nokia.
This essentially means you have one of the world’s fastest mobile device running the fastest mobile OS with the capability of running your favorite apps in a secure environment.
TRI will also be hosting its first Turing Developers Conference (TDC) during Q2 2016.
We can’t wait to get the phones out to your hands. Thank you so much for your continued patience and support for the Turing Project.
Turing Phone Team | Turing Robotic Industries
I have to admit to being more than a little interested in this new Turing Phone. It has a lot of interesting ideas packed into one frame, not least the look of the thing (I know that’s a little shallow, but hey). It may not sell in Samsung Galaxy numbers, but there may be a nice for it, a la the BlackPhone by Silent Circle.
source: Android Police