Mozilla has revamped its Firefox OS mobile software project after concluding that ultra-affordable $25 handsets aren’t enough to take on the biggest powers of the smartphone world, CNET has learned.
You can make a smartphone for $35. You can’t make a decent smartphone for $35. It’s good Mozilla recognises this.
I got a ZTE Open C for 29€ and it is amazingly fine.
TFT Screen is 800×480 and has just 256k colors, but newer verisons of FirefoxOS (2.2+) run just fine on the 1.2Ghz Qualcom dual core SOC, 512mb RAM, 4GB emmc.
FirefoxOS is much better than I thought. A lot of apps are missing, but the basics are there and web pages work well as replacements. Even simple games like Cut The Rope work really well and are much much smaller than their Ios/Android cousins.
I have one as well, and fine is the word. It isn’t really good, but isn’t really bad, specially because you can install Android on it if you want to, which also runs fine.
My biggest problem with Firefox OS at the moment is the complete lack of encryption features and, worse, the lack of encryption features on the roadmap… I guess privacy isn’t really that important for Mozilla. Shame. 🙁
Every non-Android phone OS has the same difficulties being preinstalled by OEMs as Desktop Linux has on desktops. Oh, and sales.
How well did the Meizu MX4 sold anyway?
The smartphone OS war is over, the market has settled. Not surprised, it’s being 5 years since Android 2 launched.
Not if Microsoft has anything to say about it, but who knows how well that will go for them …
Don’t know how it is there but Winphones are really starting to take off in my area and no wonder, many of the phone stores are offering the Lumia 630 for just $30 with no contract, and they give you the $30 back in the form of a prepaid visa when you keep the service over 30 days!
the wife ended up getting her one and she just loves the thing, she struggled with my android and HATED the iPhone as she felt she was always having to do things its way instead of how she wanted, but the Winphone? I didn’t have to help her a bit, its sooo intuitive that she just “got it” and the quad core really zips along and keeps the phone really responsive.
So I wouldn’t count MSFT out, not when they have phones that nice and that cheap, not to mention their pledge to get all the current Lumias Winphone 10 for free takes the “will the carrier bone me?” out of the equation. I had to unlock my phone and download a new third party ROM because the carrier never bothered to update past 2.3.6 even though the phone is capable of running 4.2 (probably 4.4 but no drivers yet, thanks HTC) so that is one headache the wife won’t have to deal with
Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with 7.0 onwards.
6.5 and earlier had a solid market, and HTC and others where happily skinning to get their differentiation.
Android offered that skinning and more just as MS decided that it was all tiles all the time. Oh, and no backwards compatibility for apps.
Talk about giving their market share both barrels.
And partnering up with Nokia didn’t help, as it was Symbian (and expectations regarding Maemo/Meego) that was keeping Nokia afloat. But Elop lit that ship ablaze to make sure there was no turning back…
MS doesn’t need (or want) partners for Windows Phone. They are making their own ‘iPhone’ with total control of the hardware and software.
MS will build market share by selling a great product at extremely low prices.
I’d say it has barely begun. In five years time the market will probably be totally different again.
I think not. Everyone from banks to TV stations (for streaming) to transportation companies (for buying tickets) to sports apps (Strava, Polar etc) to game devs making the latest cool game has determined their focus, and it’s iOS and Android. Maybe they have a WinPhone app in some cases, maybe they have a site which doesn’t offer full features compared to the app, but if you want it all, you go to Android or iOS, or maybe WP if you are sure all the apps you want are there. Every other OS vendor is screwed. They are making smartphones that are basically media players with cameras and a browser.
In an ideal world, you would download a jar that runs everywhere, and this is what Android was supposed to be. But companies don’t think that way. Why should they? Just so someone else can EEE their product?
PS: And yes I know that iOS and Android overtook Symbian and WinMo and changed the market, but this is because those had app ecosystems which where fragmented among third-party sites and discovery and purchase was relatively hard. Now, good luck beating the ecosystem of Apple and Google.
PPS: Then there is Google Music, Google Play Movies, Google Books, ability to redownload purchased apps on the new phone for free, easy Chrome bookmark sync. The bonds are numerous. So much for FOSS being freedom. The vendor gives (see Android 1.x, Enigma1), the vendor takes away (see latest Android, Enigma 2). Even if all the code is GPLed, they can always pull a PlayServices trick and close new things they add. Mandatory ISO standards for everything (even APIs) would ‘ve been freedom.
Edited 2015-05-24 01:09 UTC
IMHO both Google and Apple have fundamentally flawed approaches. a) Apple is reliant on massive carrier subsidies and b) Android is a fragmented mess.
MS has a potentially brilliant two-pronged attack plan. a) Windows Phone is offering an iPhone-like ecosystem at a bargain price and b) Cyanogen OS is a polished Android fork.
WHAT? Google and Apple have “fundamentally flawed approaches?” 53.2% and 41.3% market share, respectively, in January of this year tell a different story.
Compared with these two OSes, the fundamentally flawed approach is Windows Phone, which like BlackBerry, could come out with the most innovative device in YEARS and watch it collect dust on the shelf as people avoid it solely because of the brand. In 2011, an exclusive contract with the then-largest smartphone manufacturer by market share was Microsoft’s attack plan, and that lead to instant death of said manufacturer.
The other element to this two-pronged attack, an Android fork, would make it the first successful Android-based phone in Western-markets without Google Play Services. We’ve seen companies attempt this strategy time and time again with no success … BB10, Jolla, Amazon Fire Phone, Nokia X, which, with all of their corporate backing, *might* total 1% of the market today.
We are fast approaching a decade since iPhone 1. The market has settled. The enterprise market has been captivated by iPhone and Samsung KNOX. Microsoft in the mobile space should focus on quality applications for iPhone and Android and spend R&D on achieving first-mover status in the next arena.
Edited 2015-05-24 12:33 UTC
Another ignorant rant from somebody who thinks that De Moines is the centre of the universe.
The market war has moved to the developing world where iOS is getting slaughtered, Android is losing ground and WP is gaining significant momentum.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/19/russia_plans_fork_sailfish_…
unclefester Windows Phone is running into issues in third world countries.
Symbian from nokia kept nokia a float by being open source with very little secrets to governments.
Android with the way Play Services are being handled then IOS with its update and store to governments is secret spice mix of trouble that NSA and other parties could be messing with. Windows Phone is another OS that the NSA could be messing with the update servers.
Virtually every Android phone sold in China is a fork using local apps such as QQ.
This is exactly the same problem.
Why China great firewall prevents lot of access from inside China to out side so OS using features outside china that could be NSA effected will have trouble.
Android is flexible enough to have some presence everywhere. Windows Phone and IOS being closed is kinda doomed in lots of markets completely.
The end of the age of the closed source OS being usable in many countries is coming.
My apologies for clicking the first link in the search engine that shows relevant Android and iOS market share statistics. Let’s add “global” to that search and see what we find:
http://9to5mac.com/2014/10/31/android-vs-ios-market-share-3q-2014/
Oh look, Windows Phone dropped from 4.1% of the global market to 3.3% in a year. That “developing markets” strategy we’ve heard since the Nokia deal in February 2011 has yet to produce double digit market share for Windows Phone, despite the perfect storm of a market opening from the total collapse of BlackBerry, Symbian, and the feature phone.
By the way, I live in Ecuador (where I’ve yet to see anything outside Android or iPhone), so take that for what it’s worth.
Really how did this bullcrap get a Score of 5.
http://dream.reichholf.net/wiki/Enigma2
Enigma2 is still open source.
Yes you can put it on PC if you like http://www.openpctv.com/
http://www.jollausers.com/2015/05/sailfish-os-to-become-russias-off…
Funny enough Google closing stuff up and taking Iron handed method to Android is now seeing the BRICS countries look to Sailfish OS instead.
Mandatory ISO standards for everything (even APIs) would ‘ve been freedom.
kurkosdr is a person who does not know history.
Lets forget ECMA-234. Wait lets not and show how much of a idiot kurkosdr is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_Programming_Interface_for_…
Even if something gets passed as a ISO standard you have no true assurance of compatibility.
Of course most people are not aware Windows API went through standard conformance process. Only reason its not cross platform is 1 party Microsoft did not play ball. Yes it only takes 1 party with backing to under mine a Standard.
Yes this here is the start of many under mined by Microsoft.
kurkosdr freedom from dirty tricks requires mandatory source code to core parts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format
Yes lessons of RTF by Microsoft. If you can extend and break compatibility with other implementations you can win. Please note Microsoft has attempted this with ODF that is a ISO standard by having MS Office export ODF containing alien OOXML spreadsheet formulas.
There are so many ways to under mine a ISO Standard. One way to attempt prevent ISO standard undermining this is have a open source reference implementation. Please html has a reference webbrowser that IE and Firefox are not 100 percent compatible with.
When you get to the end of this Open Source is the only option if you want no dirty tricks.
Countries need OS solutions that they can be sure don’t contain any dirty tricks.
So, the gist of your lenghty post is that, even when standards exist, they are not followed because there is no mandate for corporation to follow it. I say that there should be a law mandating that standards must be followed 100% (think how every car ECU is mandated to have software 100% compatible with OBD2).
Edited 2015-05-24 14:13 UTC
kurkosdr you want you head cut off right.
OBD2 has closed maker extensions.
(think how every car ECU is mandated to have software 100% compatible with OBD2).
So this is bull crap and a very stupid idea to spread around kurkosdr. Even that the Standard is mandated this still has not prevented it from being extended in incompatible ways. Yes how to brick a cars ECU is connect a different vendor software.
So really feel like paying the 1500 dollars to replace ECU when someone goes and follows the advice you just gave kurkosdr because the result was a bricked ECU.
Yep OBD2 is another example of how a mandated standard without open requirement to display what is hiding behind it can result in deadly traps for poor end users.
If it has value, it’s in the closed bits. That’s how the latest Android and Enigma2 work. For example, Hbb is not open in Enigma2, and they keep just enough bits closed to prevent open solutions like OpenPLi to work right in their boxes.
Complete statement parts about Enigma2 is out of date garbage kurkosdr. For a time frame of exactly 8 months there was a issue. Result was that OpenPLi project dropped support for Dream Multimedia hardware and has not resumed it because there user base does not require it. And since then projects like openatv have provided images instead.
Really if value of the Enigma2 was in closed source parts projects like OpenPLi would not have been able to go screw it and just use other vendor provided parts.
http://openpli.org/download/ Notice the 5 other hardware vendor options.
http://openpli.org/news/openpli-stops-actively-supporting-dream-mul…
Interesting enough openpli runs perfectly on other makers boxes.
But openpli is not the only source replacement firmware for Dreambox hardware for example https://github.com/openatv/ that supports all the current boxes.
Yep there is nothing that secret about Dreambox hardware. There was a issue with Dreambox not updating their git for while that cause openpli to drop support back in 2013 but that was resolved by the start by the end of 2013. But we are 2015 now and that issue has been resolved.
http://git.opendreambox.org/ every binary blob bit to start up dreambox hardware is in the git kurkosdr.
Closed source extensions for dreambox work perfectly in open source built version.
kurkosdr yes you might have a card over android but its engmia2 does not have the problems android has.
It’s all about market share. If there are users and profit to make from it, there will be support.
It’s not like there are no .NET developers willing to distribute their apps more easily to Windows Phone/Desktop/Laptop/XBOX in one go instead of porting the code to Android or iOS.
They do this only because of ROI index.
You want apps for ffos in html5…
Most games and high performance apps can’t be written in html5.
Your OS is flawed by design because you insist on clinging to that old dream of an homogeneous world where only web apps exist.
The world has proven again and again that it would rather use native excecpt the app is rather simple.
Why are you still trying? Just give up already…
Memo to geeks. Most people don’t care. They use phones for calls, texts, emails , photos etc.
memo for unclefester:
Fact’s don’t agree with you:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/270291/popular-categories-in-the…
It’s still a considerable amount, given that only 50% mobile users download apps.
Edited 2015-05-24 07:23 UTC
Jeezus. How may times do you need to be told that iOS is irrelevant outside a handful of markets?
That is where Mozilla focus should be.
There is no point in a HTML5 only OS, when every other OS out there offers native performance + HTML5, best of both worlds.
Well to be fair Firefox has asm.js for native performance, but even though that works relatively well on PC it’s a huge resource bloat for mobile..
Even on PC it is a resource bloat, given how my fan goes up in such demo pages.
Great technology yes, but just feels like a workaround when one can just deploy directly native code.
Edited 2015-05-24 16:48 UTC