Jolla Opens Pre-Orders For Award-Winning Jolla Tablet

Jolla, a mobile device company based in Helsinki, Finland, has announced that pre-orders are now open in limited quantities for the highly anticipated Jolla Tablet running Jolla's operating system, Sailfish 2.0, and powered by an Intel Baytrail processor.

Back in November we covered the early stages of Jolla's Indiegogo campaign. At the time, the company had just launched the campaign, but it took mere hours to fulfill its needed goal of $380,000. By December 9, when the window to back Jolla had closed, the company had gone on to secure over $2.5 million to complete the project. Backers were told the shipments of the tablets should be expected in November 2015.

The Jolla tablet features a 7.85-inch display, with a 2048 x 1536 resolution and pixel density of 330 ppi. The processing power is provided by a 1.8 GHz quad-core Intel Baytrail processor, and it comes paired with 2 GB of memory. The Jolla Tablet comes equipped with two cameras, one front facing 2MP camera, and a rear facing 5MP camera.

Communication is handled by an 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi controller, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. The device also features an accelerometer, light sensor, gyroscope and a compass.

One of Jolla's differentiating factors is that it runs on its own independent operating system. The company calls its OS "Sailfish 2.0" and bills it as a highly secure platform with no backdoors, and lacking the ability for third parties to monitor your activity. The company values privacy, and it made that one of the tablet's selling points.

Sailfish 2.0 is an independent platform, but it has the ability to run Android apps nonetheless. The company's smartphone shares a similar function. In addition to running Android apps, Jolla Tablet has the ability to multitask. The company said it can display all running applications on one screen, making it easier to see what apps are active, and facilitating switches between applications. Sailfish 2.0 features a gesture-based control system, that the company said makes navigating the OS effortless and fast.

In March, Jolla attended Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, where it showcased a prototype Jolla Tablet running a build of Sailfish 2.0 to conference attendees. Jolla said it has received many inquiries about where to purchase the tablet since showcasing it. Today it is finally able to offer an answer to that question.

Jolla has announced that a limited number of Jolla Tablets are available for pre-order today, and that the devices are expected to ship as early as October, which is a month before backers were originally expecting their tablets. It seems the extra capital was a blessing for Jolla, as its Indiegogo backers can expect shipments to start in the coming weeks for their own devices.

Two versions of Jolla Tablet are available to order on Jolla's webstore: a 32 GB version, and a 64 GB version. Jolla said prices will vary by country, but only provided European pricing of 267€ (VAT 24% incl.) and 299€ (VAT 24% incl.) respectively.

Follow Kevin Carbotte @pumcypuhoy. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.