Most people only know of few popular phone operating systems like Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows phone. But there are other phone operating systems we may not be conversant with and this article is going to introduce you to such phone operating systems you may not have heard of. In this era of smartphones, some developers have created their own phone operating systems and I want to look at some of those mobile OSes here. Some have come to stay, and some will definitely fade away into obscurity.
Phone Operating Systems:
Bada: Bada is a mobile phone operating system from Samsung. Bada OS was released in 2010 and the first mobile device to run on it is called ‘Wave’. Though Samsung has announced earlier this year that they will discontinue the development of Bada in favor of another phone operating system called ‘Tizen’.
Tizen: Tizen was created by Intel and Samsung as an open-source mobile operating system. Though Tizen has a lot of similar features like other existing mobile OSes like Android, its main components are the Linux kernel and Webkit runtime. Tizen is targeted at a variety of platforms like tablets smart TVs, mobile phones and in-vehicle entertainment.
Tizen released version 2.1 in May 2013 code-named Nectarine. Not much is known about Tizen as no known smartphone is currently running on it now.
Ubuntu Mobile: Ubuntu mobile is one of the little known phone operating systems. Ubuntu mobile just like Android are based on Linux and as such users can be able to dual boot their smartphones into Android OS or Ubuntu mobile OS. The mobile OS has the same general look-and-feel with the desktop version of the OS with actions being based on gestures.
Ubuntu mobile is based on HTML5 and QML and this will most importantly allow porting desktop web apps to Ubuntu mobile. There are currently few known carriers that support Ubuntu mobile. These carriers include Deutshe Telekom, Chine Unicom, SK Telecom Verizon and SK Telecom, among others.
Sailfish OS: Sailfish OS is one of the little known phone operating systems developed by Jolla. After being layed off by Nokia, some ex-developers of Meego OS decided to form their own company and few months later Sailfish OS was born.
Sailfish OS is a Linux-based mobile operating system developed for smartpones. The OS will be able to seamlessly switch between screens by mere gestures. The OS will have a couple of different features, one of which is compatibility with Android apps thanks to the built-in Alien Dalvik layer from Myriad Group known for running Android apps on the Nokia N9 and API-level compatibility with Ubuntu.
The first known smartphone to run on Sailfish OS is called Jolla its already out of stock as its been on pre-order ad will be available once the first production run is complete. The Jolla smartphone has a 4.5-inch Estrade display, a dual-core chip with LTE capacities 16GB of internal storage with a microSD card slot a user replaceable battery and a back panel and will be shipped by the end of this 2013.
Firefox OS: Firefox OS is a mobile phone operating system from Mozilla aimed at lower-end mobile devices. This phone operating system is open source and used GPL or simply put based on HTML5 and JavaScript which means this phone can run any webapps created with these languages.
Smartphones running on this OS are not to be compared to the likes of Nexus 4 and iPhone 5 but rather it was designed to run on low-end and low-cost hardware so as to improve smartphone usage experience in emerging markets. Though the interface looks like that of Android and iOS, but has rows and columns of icons with a dock at the bottom of the screen and also has a notification center.
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Some phone makers like ZTE, Geeksphone and Alcatel are already making smartphones based on this OS. Keon and Peak by Geekspower are the first two phones running on this OS already and have been in the market for awhile now.
I hope you find this article informative as it is aimed at other phone operating systems we may not know much about other than the popular Android, iOS and Windows OSes we already have.
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Hello Nwosu Mavtrevor,
Thank you for sharing about these mobile OS ! I was unknown about Salifish And Tizen. I hope they will not be always little known…after then iOS and Android, these are the best OS for Mobiles !
I knew only 3 of them. Even I have never heard the name of the other 2. Thanks for introducing us with them. Great share!
I think the future of smartphones is bright as there will be new innovations to bring about a tighter competition in the mobile technology market.
Which two were you no aware of before reading this post?
Yes ! many few people know of these phones ..some of these would be launched in the coming months –Sailfish and Ubuntu …Firefox O.S is the one i didn’t know of ..thanks for sharing the information .
-pramod
I am definitely looking forward to seeing these phones when they are finally released.
Hi Nwosu
I have used most of them except tizen and sailfish. Beside that Bada was a good OS, but when Android gain the mass attention then Samsung shut that down. Now it is coming is star and low budget phones from samsung. Ubuntu is another a great mobile OS with new and creative ideas.
Thanks mate for sharing them with us. Keep up the good work, would love to read more from you
Have a great day ahead :)
Regards
Ubuntu Mobile edition is cool. I tried it on my Nexus 4. Working smoothly. No hassles.
It’s interesting how this article says Firefox OS will probably be better for developing nations than iOS and Android, while Android team tends to remark that Android has such vastly larger market share BECAUSE it’s so popular in developing nations.
This is great i will appreciate if you can give a comprehensive list of the features you experienced with it.
That is because the OS will be launched in emerging markets where people pay for their data plans by the megabyte, the apps being based on HTML5 means the overall app sizes will be much lower than usual.
Thanks Ashi for your contribution, and yes Samsung was smart enough to see the trend Android is going and decided to build most of their high-end phones on Android and low-end phones on Bada or Tizen.
I heard firefox os is fun, cant wait to hold firefox os as mine
Heard only of ubuntu earlier. :P
Learnt some new names here. Thanks for sharing those!
thanks for this great post, i never knew Bada was a mobile operating system or even ubuntu has a mobile version…. very informative post
Always picking up stuff on the tech front here Nwosu. So much easier to make an informed decision with your phone when armed with the facts.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Thanks
Nwosu Mavtrevor
I had known only Ubuntu and firefox OS, others were completely unknown for me. Really very helpful and interesting post for me
I know Windows, Android, firefox, symbian and Ubuntu out of all other mobile OS. Tizen and Sailfish OS have good look. Thanks for letting us know about this.
Mobile phone is playing a big role in our community now a days. Due to apps and software which are supporting this device is enhancing its importance between the community. The shared well known sources regarding mobile operating system are inspired.