It’s a very similar project to /e/ in terms of privacy and degoogling but in other aspects it is different. I particularly like their “springboard” launcher, reminds me of the Nokia Z-Launcher, Nokia Fastlane and the swipe UI from the N9 - all great concepts that unfortunately were probably ahead of their time.
At the moment it looks like the Kickstarter is not doing very well, but maybe if /e/ could announce an official partnership with them, e.g. “Volla OS powered by /e/” it could help their project and also increase the visibility of /e/. After all, with Fairphone apparently not working the /e/ project there are not many viable potential partners for /e/ left.
But /e/ marketing is better. With /e/ we clearly understand that it’s about privacy. And /e/ defines itself as european. It’s better than Volla with ‘quality made in Germany’ which is a boring slogan, we hear it all the time.
It would be helpful if there was a working version of /e/ for the Pinephone, which is already available.
If I look at that campaign, there is only a limited number of backers for this Volla project atm.
/e/ is Android-based, and Volla is Linux-based. Although Android is based on Linux behind the scenes, they are entirely different development platforms, and are generally incompatible with eachother. Volla is more aligned with Purism than /e/, although I would rather support Purism over Volla, since they are building the phone from the ground up, using completely open hardware.
Actually Volla’s pages state very clearly that Villa OS is based on AOSP, i.e. Android.
I think you’re getting mixed up with Volla’s efforts to support Ubuntu Touch, Nemo Mobile and Sailfish OS on the phone - those are more typical Linux OSes, although they still use the lowest levels of Android (Linux kernel and Binic drivers + libhybris) on most phones and probably the Volla phone as well.
@madbilly Yes, you’re right. I got thrown off by all the pictures of Ubuntu Touch and assumed it was a re-skinned/re-branded distro of Ubuntu Touch. I see now that their focus is on an AOSP version initially, and that the other Linux-based options are stretch goals. My mistake, thanks for the correction.
Sure. Looks like these guys are hunting too many hares : hardware, and several OS to increase their visibility, instead of concentrating on their main object, their Android version, which is pretty close to /e/ in its philosophy.
Hi @Onesimos, yes the focus seems a bit wide - they should have only talked about the Volla OS. I think the mention of other options was just to get more people interested.
Honestly I like the launcher and UX philosophy a lot, I would happily have that instead of Bliss launcher. Maybe they can develop this further and release it as an app. @kalman it’s looking even less likely to happen now, there are only a few days left
Let’s hope they learn from the experience.
Cheers
If you read their updates they’ve said they’ll continue the project even though it didn’t succeed on kickstarter. I hope this means they’ve got more financial backing and will now go away and refine their ideas, maybe partnering with /e/ for the deeper ungoogling stuff whilst maintaining a separate launcher (I like the look of the Volla laucher compared to Bliss).
I am considering buying a Volla Phone with Volla OS (ASOP), not that it is better than /e/ but I like the idea of a new phone. In oktober 2020 it will be sold for €359,-… I have some time to make my decision and hope that /e/ will find a manufacturer and can sell a new /e/ phone as well.
