It really seems like everybody and their aunt is “kickstarting” various ideas this day of age, regardless of experience or even viability of said concepts. Thus, it is unsurprising that so many project fail even before they get off the ground. But while it is hard to feel sorry for the latest smart toaster/cooler combo with Android, there are some other really ambitious projects, especially in the mobile realm, that many users generally want to see become a reality.
The Turing Phone definitely falls under the latter category. It started off as an ambitious effort towards creating a very tough device, both physically, with a hard exterior shell and waterproofing, as well as on a software level, by offering a unique set of high security features. The device even goes so far as to remove things like the USB port, 3.5mm jack and home button, as potential weak links in the build.
The latter point actually fits in nicely with the company’s follow-up decision to forgo Android altogether and go for the touch gesture friendly Sailfish OS 2.0 instead. It comes with the promise of Android app compatibility, as well as advanced security, achieved through running said apps in a separate layer and a unique decentralized authentication system, serviced by Turing Imitation Key.
This is all fine and well, but news on the Turing Phone died out last year and we came to suspect the project had tanked. However, this only came after a few thousand people had already backed the idea, some of which paying upwards of $600, so it is definitely a good thing that the company behind the phone did actually resurface again out of the blue, sending emails to backers.
