KaiOS

Last updated

KaiOS
KaiOS logo.svg
KaiOS official logo
Developer KaiOS Technologies (Hong Kong) Limited (with TCL as largest shareholder) [1]
Written in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++
OS family Linux (Unix-like)
Working stateCurrent
Source modelSource-available (except for the binary blobs)
Initial releaseOctober 2017;7 years ago (2017-10)
Latest release January 2023;1 year ago (2023-01)
Marketing target Feature phones
Available in 88 languages [2]
List of languages
Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali (Bangladesh), Bengali (India), Bodo, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dogri, Dutch, English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Kannada, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Khmer, Konkani, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Maithili, Malay, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Norwegian, Oriya, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Punjabi, Romanian (Moldavia), Romanian (Romania), Russian, Sanskrit, Santali, Serbian (Latin and Cyrillic alphabet), Simplified Chinese, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong), Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Zulu
Package manager KaiStore
Platforms ARM
Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)
Default
user interface 		Graphical
License Proprietary, Linux kernel patches under GPLv2,
B2G under MPL [3] [4] [5]
Preceded by Firefox OS, Nokia Asha platform
Official website www.kaiostech.com
Nokia 8110 4G "banana phone" Nokia 8110 4G.png
Nokia 8110 4G "banana phone"

KaiOS is a mobile Linux distribution for keypad feature phones based on the Firefox OS open-source project. [6] It is developed by KaiOS Technologies (Hong Kong) Limited; a company based in Hong Kong, whose largest shareholder is Chinese electronics conglomerate TCL Corporation. [7] [1] KaiOS runs on feature phones or wireless home phones made with low-power hardware and low power consumption (and therefore long battery life). KaiOS supports modern connectivity technologies like 4G LTE, VoLTE, GPS, and Wi-Fi. KaiOS runs HTML5-based apps, supports over-the-air updates, and has a dedicated app marketplace called KaiStore. [8] Some applications are preinstalled onto the phone, including Facebook and YouTube. [9] As of 1 April 2020, there are 500+ apps in KaiStore. The mobile operating system is comparatively lightweight on hardware resource usage, and is able to run on devices with just 256 megabytes (MB) of memory. [10]

Contents

History

The operating system was first released in 2017, and is developed by KaiOS Technologies Inc., a Hong Kong–based [11] company headed by CEO Sebastien Codeville, with offices in other countries. In June 2018, Google invested US$22 million in the operating system. [12] That same year, India-based telecom operator Reliance Jio also invested $7 million through its sister concern, Reliance Retail for a 16% stake in the company. [13] [14] In May 2019, KaiOS raised an additional $50 million USD from Cathay Innovation, and previous investors Google and TCL Holdings. [15]

In market share study results announced in May 2018, KaiOS beat Apple's iOS for second place in India, [16] while Android dominates with 71%, albeit down by 9%. KaiOS growth is being largely attributed to the popularity of the competitively-priced JioPhone. [17] In Q1 2018, 23 million KaiOS devices were produced. [18]

In March 2020, Mozilla and KaiOS Technologies announced a partnership to update KaiOS with a modern version of the Gecko browser engine, and more closely aligned testing infrastructure. This change should give KaiOS four years worth of performance and security improvements and new features, including TLS 1.3, WebAssembly, WebGL 2.0, Progressive Web Apps, new video codecs like WebP, AV1, and modern JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) features. [19] [20]

Devices

Jio Phone Jio Phone.svg
Jio Phone

Devices that are installed with KaiOS include (KaiStore may not be included, if device vendor removed it): [21]

All KaiOS devices have T9 keypads, except the Jiophone 2 and Ghia GQWERTY, which have QWERTY keypads.

Partnerships

As of February 2018, KaiOS Technologies has partnered with Mozilla, Airfind, Avenir Telecom (Energizer), Facebook, Google, Bullitt, Doro, HMD Global, Micromax, NXP, Spreadtrum, Qualcomm, Jio, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Orange S.A. [46] [9] [47]

Release history

version announcednew features mobile phones
1.0March 2017First KaiOS smart feature flip phone with Gecko 37 [48] Alcatel OneTouch Go Flip (OT-4044)
2.0July 2017Major core upgrade to Gecko 48
2.5.0November 2017 [49] Services and 3rd party apps Nokia 8110 4G
2.5.1July 2018 [50] KaiStore, KaiAccount, and advanced features, WhatsApp
2.5.1.1September 2018Minor system updates
2.5.2December 2018KaiAds and SIMbased cust. Nokia 2720 Flip, Nokia 800 Tough
2.5.3July 2019Major service upgrades, location service enhancement
2.5.3.1February 2020Minor system updates, notification enhancement
2.5.3.2May 2020Device Financing Program, Dual SIM LTE support Gigaset GL7
2.5.4August 2020LF 1.6 integration, North America requirement Nokia 6300 4G, Nokia 8000 4G
3.0September 2021Major platform Upgrade, Gecko upgrade [51] from version 48 (2016) to version 84 (December 2020). [52] Older apps require that their developers adapt the apps to this OS version and publish an update to the store. WhatsApp not available anymore for KaiOS v3. Nokia 2760 Flip
3.1March 2022 [53] Minor system updates Nokia 2780 Flip

Jailbreak

With the release of the Nokia 8110 4G, an active community (colloquially known as Banana Hackers) around both KaiOS and the phone arose and released the first version of a jailbreak. This gave users the ability to use apps outside KaiStore including old Firefox OS apps on KaiOS devices, as well as flashing their devices with community-created ROMs, such as GerdaOS. [54] [55]

Some models can also be rooted, giving the user further control over the device. [56]

Related Research Articles

Alcatel is a French brand of mobile handsets owned by Finnish consumer electronics company Nokia and used under license by Chinese electronics company TCL Technology. The Alcatel brand was licensed in 2005 by former French electronics and telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent to TCL for mobile phones and devices, and the current license expires at the end of 2024. Nokia acquired the assets of Alcatel-Lucent in 2016 and thus also inherited the licensing agreements for the Alcatel brand.

In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by using a different radio interface and core network improvements. LTE is the upgrade path for carriers with both GSM/UMTS networks and CDMA2000 networks. Because LTE frequencies and bands differ from country to country, only multi-band phones can use LTE in all countries where it is supported.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firefox OS</span> Mobile operating system by Mozilla (2014 - 2017)

Firefox OS is a discontinued open-source operating system – made for smartphones, tablet computers, smart TVs, and dongles designed by Mozilla and external contributors. It is based on the rendering engine of the Firefox web browser, Gecko, and on the Linux kernel. It was first commercially released in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jolla</span> Finnish technology company

Jolla Oy is a Finnish technology company; vendor and developer of Sailfish OS. Headquartered in Tampere, Finland, Jolla has its own research and development offices in Helsinki, Tampere and Cyberport, Hong Kong. Jolla was founded in 2011 by former Nokia staff of the MeeGo project team to use the MeeGo opportunities and its "endless possibilities".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PureView</span> Nokia camera technology

Nokia PureView is the branding of a combination of technologies used in cameras of Nokia-branded smartphones and previously, in phones by Microsoft Mobile. PureView was first introduced with the Nokia 808 PureView.

Firefox OS is an operating system for use on certain specific mobile devices. This page lists and compares hardware devices that are supplied with a Firefox OS operating system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Series 30+</span> Software platform

Series 30+ is a software platform and application user interface used for Nokia-branded, then HMD-branded mobile devices since 2024. The platform was introduced by Nokia in September 2013, first appearing on the Nokia 108, and has been the main Nokia feature phone operating system after the end of the Series 30 and Series 40 platforms in 2014. Despite the similar name and user interface, the S30+ is technically completely different and unrelated to the S30.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LYF</span> Line of consumer electronic smartphones from Jio

LYF, also known as Jio LYF, is an Indian brand of smartphones, laptops, consumer electronics developed by Jio and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It manufactures 4G-enabled VoLTE smartphones which run on Android. It is a subsidiary of Jio, the telecommunication arm of Reliance Industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jio</span> Indian telecommunications company

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is an Indian telecommunications company and a subsidiary of Jio Platforms, headquartered in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. It operates a national LTE network with coverage across all 22 telecom circles. Jio offers 5G, 4G and 4G+ services all over India. Its 6G service is in the works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HMD Global</span> Finnish manufacturer of Nokia mobile phones, smartphones and tablets

Human Mobile Devices (HMD), formally HMD Global, is a Finnish independent mobile phone manufacturer. The company is owned by the Luxembourgish holding company Smart Connect GL. The company is made up of the mobile phone business that the Nokia Corporation sold to Microsoft in 2014, then bought back in 2016. HMD began marketing Nokia-branded smartphones and feature phones on 1 December 2016. The company has exclusive rights to the Nokia brand for mobile phones through a licensing agreement. The HMD brand was initially only used for corporate purposes and does not appear in advertising, whereas the name "Nokia Mobile" is used on social media. As it was launched, the abbreviation HMD stood for Hon Hai Mobile Devices. This was in reference to the main shareholder at the time of its creation: the Taiwanese group Foxconn. In January 2024, HMD rebranded to 'Human Mobile Devices', and will use their own branding on future devices alongside that of Nokia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia 3310 (2017)</span> Nokia-branded feature phone

The Nokia 3310 (2017) is a Nokia-branded feature phone developed by HMD Global. It was announced on 26 February 2017 at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 as a revival of the original Nokia 3310 that was produced from the early 2000s. An improved model with 3G support was released on 29 October 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia 8</span> Nokia-branded high-end Android smartphone

The Nokia 8 is a flagship Nokia-branded smartphone running the Android operating system. Announced on 16 August 2017 in London, England by HMD Global. The phone began sales in Europe in September 2017. Nokia 8 is the first high-end Nokia-branded device since the Nokia Lumia 930 in 2014. An improved version, the Nokia 8 Sirocco, was announced on 25 February 2018 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia 8110 4G</span> 2018 mobile phone released by HMD Global

The Nokia 8110 4G is a Nokia-branded mobile phone developed by HMD Global. It was announced on 25 February 2018 at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 in Barcelona, Spain, as a revival of the original Nokia 8110, which was popularly known as the "Matrix phone" or "banana phone". The phone is Dual SIM capable even though it is limited to 2G in one slot, while running both SIM cards. It runs on an operating system based on KaiOS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia 7 Plus</span> Nokia-branded upper midrange smartphone

The Nokia 7 Plus is a Nokia-branded upper-mid-range smartphone running the Android operating system. It was announced on 25 February 2018, along with four other Nokia-branded phones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia 2720 Flip</span> Mobile phone model

The Nokia 2720 Flip is a Nokia-branded flip phone developed by HMD Global. The 2720 Flip was created, as an updated version of the Nokia 2720 Fold, which debuted in 2009. It was unveiled at IFA 2019 together with the Nokia 110 (2019), Nokia 800 Tough, Nokia 6.2, and Nokia 7.2. It runs the KaiOS operating system, a web-based operating system based on B2G OS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia 800 Tough</span> Nokia phone

The Nokia 800 Tough is a Nokia-branded mobile phone developed by HMD Global. It was unveiled at IFA 2019 together with the Nokia 110 (2019), Nokia 2720 Flip, Nokia 6.2, and Nokia 7.2. It was preceded by the Nokia 2720 Flip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JioPhone</span> 4G LTE feature phone made by Jio

JioPhone is a feature phone marketed by Jio which runs the KaiOS operating system. It supports 4G LTE network and comes with KaiOS. It was announced on 21 July 2017 during Reliance Industries' annual general meeting of that year and released in August 2017. It was succeeded by the JioPhone 2 in August 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 "The BRICs broke the monopoly, and India's 'Hongmeng' took off". Technology-Info.net. 2 September 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019.
  2. ↑ "Languages". KaiOS.
  3. ↑ "Can I access the source code?". Support.KaiOStech.com. KaiOS Technologies. 6 August 2018. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019.
  4. ↑ "KaiOStech/gecko-b2g". GitHub.com. GitHub. 29 July 2020.
  5. ↑ "Terms of Service". KaiOStech.com. KaiOS Technologies. 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "KaiOS Source code". KaiOS. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  7. ↑ Das, DJ (10 October 2019). "DJ Das". Authors group. doi:10.1287/9ea64c20-808c-4b4f-9ae8-f0d23963a8af. S2CID   243202603 . Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  8. ↑ "Store". KaiOS. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  9. 1 2 "All you need to know about KaiOS that runs on Jio feature phone". Blogpoke.com. Blogpoke. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017.
  10. ↑ "KaiOS is on 30 million phones and now has Google apps, Facebook, Twitter". MobilityArena.com. Mobility Arena. 27 February 2018. Archived from the original on 3 April 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  11. ↑ "Official LinkedIn page of KaiOS Technologies, Inc". LinkedIn.com. LinkedIn . Retrieved 14 June 2020. The team behind KaiOS currently numbers more than 280 people and continues to grow rapidly. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Kai has offices around the world, including the U.S., China, India, and France."; "KaiOS is a Hong Kong based company.
  12. ↑ "Google invests $22 million in the OS powering Nokia feature phones". TheVerge.com. The Verge. 28 June 2018.
  13. ↑ "Reliance Retail buys 16% stake in KaiOS maker for $7 million". The Economic Times. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  14. ↑ Parikh, Prasham (24 April 2019). "KaiOS and Jio are ready to serve 4G goodness to the unserved". EOTO.Tech. EOTO Tech. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  15. ↑ "KaiOS raises $50M, hits 100M handsets powered by its feature phone OS". Social.TechCrunch.com. TechCrunch. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2021.[ permanent dead link ]
  16. ↑ "KaiOS is doing well in India, but it's pulling some big numbers in US too". www.AndroidAuthority.com. Android Authority. March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  17. ↑ "JioPhone's KaiOS surpasses iOS to become India's second most popular mobile operating system". BGR.in. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  18. ↑ "The second-largest mobile OS in India rhymes with iOS, but isn't iOS". www.AndroidAuthority.com. Android Authority. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  19. ↑ Shankland, Stephen. "Mozilla helps modernize feature phones powered by Firefox tech". www.CNET.com. CNET . Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  20. ↑ Itimu, Kiruti (11 March 2020). "Mozilla is Back to Officially Supporting KaiOS in the Future". Techweez. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  21. ↑ "Explore KaiOS • Devices". www.KaiOStech.com. KaiOS Technologies.
  22. ↑ "Alcatel GO FLIP™". www.AlcatelOneTouch.ca. Alcatel OneTouch Canada. 16 June 2017.
  23. ↑ "The Cingular Flip 2 is AT&T's newest clamshell phone". www.PhoneArena.com. Phone Arena. 27 June 2017.
  24. ↑ "Alcatel MyFlip (A405DL)". Shop.TracFone.com. TracFone.
  25. ↑ "Reliance Jio LYF 4G VoLTE feature phone: to run KaiOS, will have an app store too". IndianExpress.com. Indian Express. 20 July 2017.
  26. ↑ "[Exclusive] Reliance Jio and Lyf's 4G VoLTE feature phone". Techpp.com. 13 July 2017.
  27. ↑ "Jio phone booking - pre book Jio mobile online for 500 only". www.Jio.com. Jio.
  28. ↑ "JioPhone 2 at Rs 2,999: WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, all on new feature phone". The Economic Times . 6 July 2018.
  29. ↑ "The return of the Nokia 8110 - 'the banana phone'". www.KaiOStech.com. KaiOS Technologies. 7 June 2018.
  30. ↑ "The Nokia 8110 is back". MyBroadband.co.za.
  31. ↑ Leung, Eletta (5 September 2019). "Introducing the Nokia 2720 Flip and 800 Tough, powered by KaiOS". www.KaiOStech.com. KaiOS Technologies.
  32. ↑ The international version of HMD's Barbie™ Phone run Series 30+ (based on Mocor RTOS) instead of KaiOS, without internet features.
  33. ↑ "Doro's 7050 is the next great simple phone". UK.PCmag.com. 26 February 2018.
  34. ↑ "CAT B35 rugged feature phone launched with KaiOS, Google apps and 4G". www.Gizmochina.com. Gizmochina. 22 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  35. ↑ "Discover the Gigaset GL7 flip phone". www.gigaset.com. Gigaset. 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  36. ↑ Herget, Steffen (11 March 2023). "Radikale Minimalisten" [6 Tastenhandys mit KaiOS, S30+ und Android Go ab 70 Euro]. c't magazin für computer technik (in German). Hannover: Heise Medien. pp. 67–73. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  37. ↑ "Maxcom at MWCA 2018". www.Maxcom.pl. Maxcom. 25 September 2018.
  38. ↑ "Google WizPhone WP006 is a JioPhone competitor, but its launched in Indonesia". IndianExpress.com. Indian Express. 7 December 2018.
  39. ↑ "MTN launches R300 smartphone with WhatsApp". MyBroadband.co.za. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  40. 1 2 Leung, Eletta (13 June 2019). "KaiOS Technologies enters Brazil market through launch of Positivo P70S and Multilaser ZAPP". www.KaiOStech.com. KaiOS Technologies.
  41. ↑ Leung, Eletta (15 August 2019). "The first TECNO device running KaiOS is here: Meet the T901". www.KaiOStech.com. KaiOS Technologies.
  42. ↑ "myPhone Up Smart LTE". myPhone. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  43. ↑ "Điện thoại Bkav C85". Viettel Digital. 26 December 2023.
  44. ↑ "Viettel V6504 điện thoại cục gạch thế hệ 4G | by Tâm Viettel Lắk". YouTube. 8 September 2021.
  45. ↑ Viettel Digital (27 July 2021). "Mở hộp trải nghiệm điện thoại home phone V1207 Viettel". Youtube.
  46. ↑ "MWC 2018: Kai announces partnerships with mobile industry giants - KaiOS". www.KaiOStech.com. KaiOS Technologies. 26 February 2018.
  47. ↑ "Mozilla helps modernize feature phones powered by Firefox tech". www.CNET.com. CNET. 11 March 2020.
  48. ↑ "BananaHackers.net - Alcatel OT-4044".
  49. ↑ "KaiOS 2.5 will run on feature phones with Qualcomm, Spreadtrum chipsets with just 256MB RAM". www.FoneArena.com. Fone Arena.
  50. ↑ Nayan (29 December 2019). "New Nokia 8110 4G firmware update brings KaiOS 2.5.1/2.5.2". NokiaPowerUser.com. Nokia Power User. Retrieved 6 January 2020. Nokia 8110 4G, running KaiOS, received […] firmware version 17.00.17.01, with KaiOS 2.5.1.
  51. ↑ "New KaiOS update might make Nokia feature phones better". Nokiamob. 14 March 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  52. ↑ "KaiOS 3.0 mit aktuellem Gecko 84.0 wird verteilt". LinuxNews. October 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  53. ↑ "Nokia 2760 Flip". KaiOS. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  54. ↑ "I spent a week with a $17 KaiOS phone - here's what I learned". www.AndroidAuthority.com. Android Authority. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  55. ↑ "GerdaOS: a custom ROM to liberate the heart of Kai". Gerda.Tech. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  56. ↑ "BananaHackers.net - KaiOS DEVICES".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.