Sailfish OS and the Nokia N9: The Peak We Already Reached and Forgot
Let’s just say it up front. Nokia was ahead of its time. Like, really ahead. And the Nokia N9? That phone was a glimpse into a future that never came. You held it in your hand and thought, "This is how phones are supposed to feel." No buttons. Curved glass that melted into the frame. A swipe-based interface that didn’t just look cool, it made sense. It was elegant, fast, intuitive. It didn’t yell at you. It didn’t nag. It just worked with you. That phone ran MeeGo, a Linux-based OS that dared to be different. And different, in this case, meant better.
MeeGo Was the Future. In 2011.
MeeGo nailed mobile multitasking before anyone else did. You could switch between apps with a swipe. No need for a home button. No convoluted gestures. Just a clean, minimal interface that never got in your way.
It was sleek. It was smart. It was open. It was what Android wishes it could’ve been in its early years. And it came from Nokia, a company that was simultaneously trying to survive and innovate. Spoiler: innovation lost. Microsoft showed up, slapped Windows Phone on everything, and MeeGo was dead before it had a chance.
But some people refused to let it go.
Sailfish OS Picked Up the Torch
Enter Jolla, a crew of ex-Nokia devs who couldn’t accept that MeeGo was gone. They built Sailfish OS, a direct continuation of everything MeeGo stood for. Swipe-based navigation? Still there. Actual multitasking? Yep. Privacy-respecting, Linux-based, and still beautiful to this day.
It’s not a flashy OS. It doesn’t scream for attention. But it respects the user. It lets you run Android apps if you need to, but it has its own clean native experience that honestly feels better than most of what’s out there today.
Using Sailfish feels like waking up from a ten-year UX coma.
Now Imagine the N9, But Running Sailfish Today
We don’t even need new ideas. Just bring that phone back with modern internals. Keep the unibody design. Keep the curved AMOLED screen. Skip the camera bumps and edge-to-edge gimmicks. Just give us an updated N9 with a pure Sailfish experience.
That would be peak smartphone design paired with peak mobile software. No bloat. No spying. No nonsense. Just a beautiful object that feels good in your hand and makes sense to use.
Something quiet. Something thoughtful. Something that doesn’t constantly try to sell you something or distract you. A phone that respects your time, your data, and your sense of beauty.
Why It Still Matters
Because design matters. Because openness matters. Because not everyone wants to live inside the same two walled gardens. Sailfish is proof that another way is still possible. It may not have the market share, but it has the heart. And for some of us, that’s enough.
We already reached the peak once. Maybe it’s time to climb back up.