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LG Launches Its Firefox OS Phone Fireweb for $200
SmartAboutThings writes "LG has launched the Fireweb Firefox OS smartphone in a joint event with the Telefonica Vivo carrier. The Fireweb Firefox OS smartphone will be available for around $200 and will join the Alcatel One Touch Fire which Telfonia is launching in Brazil, starting today. Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay are the next countries to get it. The Fireweb smartphone is LG's very first Firefox OS device and it increases the small number of OEMs that have released Firefox OS devices on the market. The smartphone has a 4-inch screen with a 480 x 320 display, a 1GHz Qualcomm processor and 4GB internal storage that can be expanded with the microSD card slot by up to 32GB. It has a 5-megapixel cameras that comes with both autofocusing and an LED flash, which is a first for Firefox OS phones."
Hopefully an OEM releases a Firefox OS phone with beefier hardware, but you can't argue with the price.
Because I got a Moto X for $199 (no contract)
Because the much more powerful Moto X is only $199 (without contract) at Republic Wireless
480 x 320 display, are you kidding me? Looks like a phone launched 3 years ago.
480 x 320 display? I am not necessarily crazy about having the highest resolution screen (my phablet has a "puny" (by Slashdot standards) 960x800) but 480 x 320 is a bit too little even for me.
The CPU is very poor, also, for $200. The same phone for $80 is almost reasonable. However, Samsung has Android phones with better specs for the same price.
The hardware is significantly worse than that of the Nexus 4 from a year ago which was available for $299. Personally I'd expect either better components or a significantly better price.
The CPU is very poor, also, for $200. The same phone for $80 is almost reasonable.
Blame Brazil's prohibitive import duty. It might be $80 of phone and $120 of tax.
(tumbleweed)
And our QA department was finally getting settled into a somewhat stable set of devices and OSes to test against - suckers.
A 480x320 resolution screen? Is it Braille?
Phones in Brazil are more expensive than in the US.
In Brazil the price for the nexus 4 would be between 300 and 600 USD , according to this:
http://www.tudocelular.com/LG/precos/n2361/LG-Google-Nexus-4.html
According to this http://tecnologia.ig.com.br/2013-10-22/sem-alarde-lg-traz-primeiro-smartphone-com-firefox-os-para-o-brasil-por-r-129.html
The Fireweb phone costs about 205 USD. If acquired via contract , it goes down to 60 USD.
Apples to apples, oranges to oranges, on the right market....
http://shop.geeksphone.com/en/phones/8-peak.html
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 8225 1.2Ghz x2.
UMTS 850/1900/2100 (3G HSPA).
GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (2G EDGE).
Screen 4.3" qHD IPS Multitouch.
Camera 8 MP (back) + 2 MP (front).
4 GB (ROM) and 1 GB (RAM).
MicroSD, Wifi N, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Radio FM, Light & Prox. Sensor, G-Sensor, Compass, GPS, MicroUSB, Flash (camera).
Battery 1800 mAh.
It's a firefox phone, so it weighs 40 pounds and slowly increases the amount of batteryit needs until your region needs rolling blackouts to charge it.
$99 retail, or FREE with a 2 year contract with dataplan. Do that and you'll have an early adopter.
Otherwise, why isn't there finer-grained control over what information those applications can access?
What exactly did you have in mind? iOS already offers fine grained control over application access to things like contacts, your camera, location, etc. Also you are asked at the time the application wants to use each resource, not up front when you install the appâ¦
So just what do you have in mind that it does not do already? In fact iOS is very much designed around fine-grained access to system resources and sensor data.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You are looking at the wrong market.
The features you talk about (local applications, copying files to the phone) are , mostly for "power users".
This is a basic phone, with capabilities to interact with the web/cloud/etc..
The people who will be looking to this phone are those that aren't able (or willing) to spend the 300 to 600 USD that a Nexus 4 costs in Brazil, and still need to check their e-mail or interact with services (banking, government, etc...).
Also, keep in mind that income in Brazil is much lower that what you may be used to, and for some this phone could be the first real interface to the web that a lot of people would be able to afford. I would guess, that for a lot of people, even the 60 USD that this phone costs on contract will be steep.
If you change Brazil for any number of nations that are developing their infra-structure but still need a cheaper mode of access to (the growing number of) services that are available online, you have a huge market ( India, Indonesia, Philipines, all of Africa, etc...).
Otherwise, why isn't there finer-grained control [in Android] over what information those applications can access?
There's an experimental control panel called "App Ops" buried in vanilla Android 4.3 that allows turning individual permissions on and off for individual applications. It's not the folder- or file-level capability system that I'd prefer, but it is a step toward what various Android mods have been doing all along, and Android 4.3 users can download App Ops from Google Play Store.
A 320x480 Android 4.0 phone is under $50 at Deal Extreme
Plus how much more to get it out of Brazilian customs?
The application needs to be running on local computer.
Offline web applications do run on the local computer. They just run inside the JavaScript virtual machine, just as Android applications run in the Dalvik virtual machine. For more info, put these keywords into your favorite web search engine: CACHE MANIFEST, localStorage, IndexedDB.
Cue all the Americans who don't understand how market prices work and that these phones aren't being targeted at them in the first place. "$200? It should be free! I can get a much better handset for $200! Who cares about Brazil!"
Why can't you just walk into a store and buy it?
Pardon me. You are correct, although it did not start out that way.
That is incorrect. It always asked you about access to GPS from third party apps. Over time they added more permissions (like contacts and photos) but right from the start the system was designed so that access to some resources was protected. It's only the scope that has changed.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The application needs to be running on local computer. User needs to have full control of files without any "cloud" integration or any "social network" integration.
You get all of those things with packaged open web apps; stored locally, runs locally, has access to local resources. It's just like any other app. No network connection, "cloud" or "social network integration" required. You can find out more on Mozilla's website.
Just give a simple and plain operation where user can copy files as wanted and where wanted.
The level of control you get with FFOS should easily exceed your expectations.
Remember, it's not about this low-spec phone or even about FFOS, it's about *standards*. Mozilla wins when they force big players adopt important new standards. Mozilla wins if they get Android or iOS, or WP to support packaged web apps. Mozilla wins when their efforts make any impact on the market that benefits consumers.
This isn't unprecedented. Mozilla won against IE in the same sense. They're well behind IE and Chrome in marketshare, sure, but that wasn't what mattered.
I'll pitch support behind them because they're working toward a better mobile future for everyone. They're not out to build their own gulag next to MS, Apple, and Google, they're out to force them to unlock the gates.
Really, it doesn't matter what OS you prefer, it's well-worth backing Mozilla here. Their success can only benefit you in the long run, even if you never touch a FFOS phone.
Required reading for internet skeptics
I will not ever ever ever pay more than 100EUR/$$$ for a phone, and I will keep using it for at least 4 years.
Seriously - 200$ for a glorified speaker-thingy?
It's a heck of a lot more phone than that thing and it was $250 (I got the one with the big storage, 8GB units were $200).
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
They ALL, ALWAYS have asked about gross GPS access. The discussion here was about "fine-grained control" over various kinds of location data.
The original post was not about location. It was about personal data, period, from a variety of sensors. Just what is finer grained than "your location"? How exactly would you break it out beyond that and ask the user in a way that made sense?
I have, all along, asked for examples of what you or anyone else is thinking of when they use the term "fine grained access", so far I have seen zero examples.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
i wouldn't give you $20 when i can get a phone for free from Obama
Maybe not me, but they can.
Because it looks awfully similar to the one a I bought a few months ago.
Google doubtless could come up with *some* way to upgrade older versions of Android
I thought that's what Google Play Services package was for: a way to offer new libraries even to users of devices whose manufacturers refuse to issue updates past FroYo. It takes bootloader access to upgrade the kernel, and a lot of manufacturers aren't very willing to give bootloader access to the public for implied-warranty or radio regulation reasons, or they're bound by agreements with major U.S. carriers.
and increasingly converting Android to closed source
In what way? Are you again referring to Google Play Services?
Any sign of a Firefox OS phone for a USA carrier yet?
Save Maine's economy: write stuff down. All comments are exclusively my own, not my employer.
I think it's a good choise if you have no much money to spend on a phone. Better than buying a low-end slower Android. The only particular is about the low resolution screen.. =(