First Firefox Mobile OS Phones Announced

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First Firefox Mobile OS Phones Announced

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 2, 2012 @05:12AM from the in-the-beginning dept.

judgecorp writes "The first devices running Firefox Mobile OS, originally known as Boot to Gecko, have been announced. TCL and ZTE are making the phones, which will show up on Brazil's Telefonica Vivo network. Other operators are planning to give the phones a try. From their blog: 'Device manufacturers TCL Communication Technology (under the Alcatel One Touch brand) and ZTE today announced their intentions to manufacture the first devices to feature the new Firefox OS, using Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm Incorporated, the leader in smartphone platforms. The first Firefox OS powered devices are expected to launch commercially in Brazil in early 2013 through Telefónica’s commercial brand, Vivo.'"

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oh great by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-02 05:15 · Score: 5, Funny

now you need to upgrade your phone every six weeks instead of two years...
lovely.
1. Re:oh great by squiggleslash · 2012-07-02 06:16 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yeah, but on the other hand while you may be stuck with your iPhone 4, I'll be using my fPhone 23. Uh, wait, hold on, sorry fPhone 24.
  Crap, need to reboot the phone, I've used up all its memory again...
  
  --
  You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
2. Re:oh great by chrb · 2012-07-02 06:36 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  You jest, but one of the interesting things about Boot 2 Gecko is that all the apps are just localled cached web apps, which means that they get "updated" seamlessly without having to interact with an app store or package manager. You get all of the updating advantages of a web app like Google Docs or Gmail, in that installation and upgrading is completely invisible to the user. Even the included apps (the launcher, the dialler, photo viewer, web browser, etc.), which would be native on any other platform, are all just web apps loaded from a particular URL - you can access the same URL using Firefox on a desktop PC, or from an Android phone running Firefox Mobile, and those apps will run. It's the cross platform solution that eliminates the need for native code (think Phone Gap).
  Mozilla is aiming to produce a platform that will make apps just an extension of the web. And to standardize everything that they need to do, so that other platforms can implement their APIs. Is it possible for everything? Perhaps not. Does it feel like we are throwing away decades of work on native code? Perhaps, but the web stack of HTML and Javascript is the only cross-platform, globally accepted solution we have. Google tried to add native code to Chrome - it's impressive, it works, but nobody's using it. We had Java applets on the web, but those are effectively dead now. There are projects now that can compile from native code to Javascript - see this amazing demo of Sauerbraten in Javascript running with accelerated WebGL. It's not difficult to imagine a world where Javascript is basically the common bytecode, and with bridges to native APIs it becomes possible to access all hardware, do anything, from a web app that is running on any platform, be it iOS, Windows, Android, Linux, etc.
  As I wrote in another comment: the current situation with apps is a bit of a throwback - can you imagine if viewing a web site required you to install it through an app store? And for an author, updating their web site required them to push their site to Dell, who would then approve it and push it out to people with Dell computers? But you need a different web site for people with Asus computers, and you have to push your Asus-build site to them for approval and redistribution? It's crazy, if that were the situation with the web it would've never taken off. Making apps more like the web, or expanding the web to consume apps, whichever way you look at it, is a good thing.
Do we need another mobile OS? by rodrigoandrade · 2012-07-02 05:18 · Score: 3, Insightful

Serious question.
Besides the heavyweight iOS and Android, there are Bada, Symbian, Tizen, Windows Mobile/Phone, RIM...
Ah crap, full list here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_operating_system
Do we really need another OS with a .0001 market share?
1. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by h4rr4r · 2012-07-02 05:20 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yes, any other stupid questions?
  More competition is better, without it you get the stagnation that desktops have been since the 90s.
2. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by jader3rd · 2012-07-02 05:31 · Score: 2
  
  Why not just make a mobile version of a website?
3. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by gman003 · 2012-07-02 05:37 · Score: 2
  
  Yes, because that 0.0001% could grow into 10%. That means it drives the 40% vendors to innovate (or at least, to copy *their* innovative ideas).
  Or because that 0.0001% could have needs that just are not met by another OS. There's probably some people who would like a smartphone with a full set of IPA characters on a hardware keyboard, or a smartphone with 5.1 TOSLINK audio outputs, or maybe one that runs on an Itanium processor. Would I (or any reasonable person, really) want those? No. But someone probably does (yes, even the Itanic phone).
4. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by wiedzmin · 2012-07-02 05:37 · Score: 3
  
  At some point iPhone wasn't even a blip on the RIM's radar...
  
  --
  Bow before me, for I am root.
5. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by cpu6502 · 2012-07-02 05:37 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Not an OS. Just the Firefox browser running like an OS. "Is this going to be yet another platform for developers to code for?
  "No..... We don't want this work to lead to applications that only run atop one platform, or only run in Firefox. That's an important difference between what we're doing and proprietary mobile stacks today: we don't seek a competitive advantage for Mozilla, we seek a competitive advantage for the Web." Read more here: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/b2g/faq/
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
6. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by ArhcAngel · 2012-07-02 05:38 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Funny...This comic seems to be getting a lot of use lately.
  
  --
  "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
7. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by Amouth · 2012-07-02 05:54 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  that's only because RIM's radar was broken - everyone elses radar saw it coming before Apple even confirmed it's existence.
  
  --
  '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
8. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by pmathew · 2012-07-02 05:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  If they play their cards right it wont be a .0001% . We need an OS out of the clutches of microsoft, google and apple,from somebody we trust more with our personal data . So far Firefox is the Mr. Clean and that is a brand image it has worldwide . Also using a standard compliant language (html) for development they will attract a lot of developers as learning curve may be small ( I hope so) . RIM recognized the need for momentum with apps when they started designing QNX based blackberry OS but they chose the alternative of android emulation i guess. But somehow i feel that choice of Mozilla is better . With Regards to Bada Tizen et al , i dont think anybody other than avid tech readers may have heard of them however good they may be . But even a layman may be willing to try something from makers of firefox . Branding is what makes selling a tad lot easier . And if quality is good people should stick .
9. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by h4rr4r · 2012-07-02 06:15 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yes, it was. MS Monopolized the market, then sucked out all the profit. This meant that hardware vendors did not have the money to take risks.
10. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by David_Hart · 2012-07-02 06:17 · Score: 2
  
  No... The market will eventually weed it down to 2 or 3 major players, iOS, Android, and ???? What's prompting the entrance of additional contenders are the strategic miss-steps of phone stalwarts Nokia and RIM. In addition, the cell phone market still has high margins, unlike the rest of the tech market. I'm surprised that Dell and/or HP hasn't announced their own phone lineup.
  Personally, I think that Nokia will make a comeback with Win8 and it will take the 3rd position and RIM will likely evolve to provide phone management tools for the enterprise.
11. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by hairyfeet · 2012-07-02 06:18 · Score: 2
  
  To the Moz devs all that matters is they ape Google, just as they've done with FF aping Chrome. I mean what's next guys, Mozvision eyewear? This is as sad as Canonical putting out Ubuntu Netbook edition long after that ship had done sailed, anybody trying to get into mobile OSes now is frankly batshit insane.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
12. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by Billly+Gates · 2012-07-02 10:10 · Score: 2
  
  I support Mozilla because I do not want tablet makers deciding what browser I run and having webkit take over the market. The only reason IE 9/10 are somewhat decent browsers is because MS got its ass whopped on a silver platter by both Mozilla and Google.
  Windows RT will be IE trident only with FF and Chrome negligated to the desktop mode only on x86. If MS gets rid of the desktop in Windows 9 you are screwed and it is no more Comodo Dragon for you!
  Apple is evil too and is doing the same with Safari as Chrome for IOS is just a Safari skin with a limited no JIT version of javascript provided by Apple. Firefox shouldn't have to make its own OS to keep its browser relevant but no one will write laws or their representatives about this issue to change this. Even if I do not run Firefox anymore I sitll want them to be relevant as to enforce all the other browser makers to play nice. Still I can see Apple CSS with iStore integration, and Chrome's newest ajax requires Dart on Android, and all sorts of other horrors, but I hope I am wrong.
  
  --
  http://saveie6.com/
13. Re:Do we need another mobile OS? by ifiwereasculptor · 2012-07-02 22:33 · Score: 2
  
  Javascript is forbidden. You are running a special neutered version of it with a Firefox skin on safari.
  Making a mistake is something we all do at one point or another, but the blind, confrontational confidence you seem to exhibit in your misinformation is a mark of the highly stupid. Relevant excerpts below:
  
  Part of the point of Firefox is to provide alternate capabilities, rather than reuse the built-in ones. Firefox for Android uses same Gecko engine as Firefox 4 for desktop. That’s how it can support features that Android’s WebKit doesn’t, like SVG and ES5. (Of course, WebKit supports some features Gecko doesn’t, which is why it’s great to have a choice.)
  
  Uses the Jaegermonkey JIT, which is getting faster all the time. It runs JavaScript much faster than the Android 2.1 browser, and is even faster than the Android 2.2 browser on the WebKit’s own SunSpider benchmark.
Commitment? by bill_mcgonigle · 2012-07-02 05:19 · Score: 5, Insightful

I didn't learn from TFAs what Mozilla's commitment is to this. It seems like a good idea, but Mozilla has such a long history of abandoning really good ideas when they turn out not to be easy.

--
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OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Definitely interested by thetoadwarrior · 2012-07-02 05:39 · Score: 3, Interesting

My experience with Android has been less than stellar to put it kindly and I don't quite feel up to paying for an iphone so this will definitely be something I look at. Plus it would be nice to support someone who isn't interested in locking me in or stealing all my data to sell me stuff.
WebOS achilles heel? by vivek7006 · 2012-07-02 05:43 · Score: 4, Informative

The last OS based on HTML (WebKit to be more specific) was WebOS, and was deemed slow because of that http://nyti.ms/KOMpBx. Wouldnt a HTML5 based OS face the same hurdles?
The first lawsuits have been announced as well by kaizendojo · 2012-07-02 05:49 · Score: 2

Apple, Samsung, Oracle.... LOL
What problem does this solve? by cwgmpls · 2012-07-02 06:33 · Score: 2

Android phones are already more than affordable. It is the data plan costs that make smartphone ownership out-of-reach for many people. This phone won't solve that problem, and will probably make it worse as they will primarily be used as give-aways to entice people into an over-priced 2-year data contracts. What problem does this new OS solve?
How to I set $X? by DeadlyBanana · 2012-07-02 06:47 · Score: 2

I can't imagine how unruly the about:config will be for a whole OS