‘Jolla Launcher’ Community Alpha testing begins next week [not a question]
asked 2014-06-19 15:03:22 +0300
We are proud to tell that we’ve reached a new milestone in the development of bringing the Sailfish OS experience to Android devices. The product will be officially called the ‘Jolla Launcher’, and our invitation based Alpha phase testing will start next week.
Initially, the Jolla Launcher is designed to give Android device owners the opportunity to try out the smooth Sailfish OS experience in a simple and risk-free way. As a launcher, it is designed to work on top of your Android OS, providing you the effortless gesture-based swipe user interface and highlights of the essential tools that make Sailfish OS stand out from the competition.
The Alpha testing phase is targeted mainly for Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 devices. The Jolla Launcher Alpha can also be installed on many other devices running Android 4.3 or later.
We are now calling our community members to sign up for the Alpha testing group. If you’re interested to join, this is what you should do:
- Send an email to jolla-launcher@jolla.com from your Google account
- Include the following information: your name, and which device(s) your using
- Wait to receive the Google Play installation link and further instructions
Note that your email address is only used for the purposes of i) registering you to the Community Alpha, ii) keeping you informed of the progress of the testing. We will remove the email address from our database after the end of the Community Alpha.
Please do this no later than June 27, 2014.
Requirements for signing up:
- You have a Nexus 4 (or 5) device, or some other device which runs Android 4.3 or later
- You have a Google account
- You're willing to give feedback and report issues via together.jolla.com
Jolla Launcher is planned to go to the next phase after some thorough testing and possible tweaking, after which we will launch it to wider audiences. Stay tuned for further announcements!
Update on 24th of june: ----------------------------
The interest towards Jolla launcher Community Alpha testing has been much higher than we anticipated, and the number of people that signed up have exceeded by far the number of alpha testers that we can handle now. We thank you for the great interest, and we will start to enable download links to first few hundred alpha testers tomorrow.
As the demand was so much higher than what we can sufficiently handle now, we have decided the following:
- We will continue with Beta testing on August, and all the people that have been signed up so far will be able to join at Beta testing phase.
- Registration will be open until 27th of June like we said, but in practice you can now register yourself for Beta testing phase that starts on August.
We are sorry for the inconvenience for those that can not fit in now, but our aim is to deliver the Launcher to all of you as fast as we can with the current resources that we have.
Great news!
Time to get my Nexus 5, HTC M8 and S5 all charged up. Now just need the HADK and I'm one happy camper.
Keep sailing forward!
Michael ( 2014-06-19 15:18:16 +0300 )editHow about an Android tablet, like Nexus 7?
sremes ( 2014-06-19 15:32:02 +0300 )editHave a friend would like to test it on a huawei p6 with 4.2.2 , possible or not ? Thanks
mvdm ( 2014-06-19 16:05:42 +0300 )editdone!
My Nexus 5 is ready and waiting ..... :)
Hazy ( 2014-06-19 16:21:55 +0300 )edit@Harri Hakulinen Thanks for your answer i understand you miss a tester ;-) and enthousiastish one ;-))
mvdm ( 2014-06-19 16:29:58 +0300 )editKeeping it 4.3 and above makes it really limited. Is the plan to keep it only for 4.3 and above? Well at least i got android 4.4.2 installed on my Desire Z
Whippler ( 2014-06-19 16:54:48 +0300 )editPlease, drop the "google account" requirement. And just put the APK somewhere were people can download it without the need for accounts. Even amongst Android users there are those who want to stay clear of the googles and the likes.
Fuzzillogic ( 2014-06-19 19:20:18 +0300 )editIt is really weird to read that you need a google account and that it is uploaded to google play (I read that from "receive the Google Play installation link")
chemist ( 2014-06-19 19:36:22 +0300 )editThis is excelent. I was waiting for this application since long.
mips ( 2014-06-19 20:43:39 +0300 )editI think the reason for doing this via Google Play is because that allows for a (very) basic kind of closed alpha/beta testing. Making this downloadable as an APK, at this point, would let that APK spread very quickly, including to people who own devices on which this launcher might not work all that well yet. That would cause a lot of "this doesn't work jolla sucks omg" reactions, which is probably not what anyone would want.
nthn ( 2014-06-19 20:59:48 +0300 )edit@nthn Downloading apk's from play store is often enough the only way to obtain certain apps and get the on Jolla. (Yes I do have a google account just for that. No I do not want google services on my jolla.) Thus, apk's can be downloaded regardless. Also not that installing apk's requires the "allow installations from unknown sources" to be enabled, which will not be your typical user, but instead the more adventurous ones. So just get rid of those annoying limitations and let them test it without hassle.
Fuzzillogic ( 2014-06-19 21:34:49 +0300 )editOh yes, I forgot about that option. In that case, maybe it is a good idea to just make an APK available.
nthn ( 2014-06-19 21:57:54 +0300 )editHmm just gave my nexus 5 to someone else, since I'm using the Jolla on a daily basis...
bilgy_no1 ( 2014-06-19 23:37:55 +0300 )editWhat if google blocks it on google play store and just makes up an excuse for it?
aironeousb ( 2014-06-20 05:41:07 +0300 )editMy HTC New One M7 is ready for installation!
AbelF ( 2014-06-20 05:47:16 +0300 )editBummer about not supporting 4.2.2. I was really looking forward to testing :-(
bmwebb ( 2014-06-20 08:47:46 +0300 )edit
_htc_2014 ( 2014-06-20 14:06:09 +0300 )editenter code hereМой HTC one m7 и LG nexus 5 ждут=)