Firefox OS

[IdortMasterRace]

General thoughts on Firefox OS? Was thinking about getting a cheap £30-40 dumbphone with Firefox OS on it for typical phone features, with some very basic email and internet browsing.

 

Anyone use it? How well does it work? Pros and cons?

[Tedster]

No clue. You're probably better off with a Windows phone, if I'm being honest.

[IdortMasterRace]

No clue. You're probably better off with a Windows phone, if I'm being honest.

 

Not happening.

[Tedster]

Not happening.

Why not?

[IdortMasterRace]

Why not?

 

Closed-source Microsoft stuff doesn't interest me. I'm trying to get away from Windows currently as it is.

[Tedster]

Closed-source Microsoft stuff doesn't interest me. I'm trying to get away from Windows currently as it is.

Okay, sorry that I can't help you with this. Good luck!

[IdortMasterRace]

Okay, sorry that I can't help you with this. Good luck!

 

No problem.

 

Another thing by the way is Firefox sync is a pretty big reason I want to use Firefox OS, I forgot to mention.

[orbifant]

General thoughts on Firefox OS? Was thinking about getting a cheap £30-40 dumbphone with Firefox OS on it for typical phone features, with some very basic email and internet browsing.

 

Anyone use it? How well does it work? Pros and cons?

 

I got one. The ZTE Open C runs FFOS 1.3 currently. But I will upgrade it to 2.1 the next weeks.

 

Currently pros:

• runs nice and smooth, most of the time
• WLAN, GPS, mobile Internet and camera work
• easy to use
• importing contacts was pretty simple
• does most of the stuff all the other smart phones can do

and some cons:

• button to unlock the phone does not react sometimes. I have to press it 3 to 4 times to get the display on again
• WLAN module stays off sometimes if I want to turn WLAN on
• some of the preinstalled apps worked bad or wont work at all
• you can not copy text or numbers

and some phone issues

• WiFi range isn't that great
• it takes a while for the GPS module to "find you"
• the camera has no focus and the images are... ok...
• battery runtime is about 5 days (some WLAN use, no mobile Internet)

Even if I have listed more cons than pros, I'm pretty happy with this phone (have to admit that my previous mobile was a Nokia 3110 evolve )

I really really hope that some of the issues I have with this phone will disappear after updating to FFOS 2.1

[Calidus]

Hmm, I got the first ZTE Open, running 1.3 on it through some complicated manner as its only 1.1 and 1.2 (beta..) officially. Wont see future FFOS on this thing thanks to ZTE releasing newer phones and ignoring the older one

 

Phone works fine for basic functions though, phoning and texting is all good, internet works. Mine doesn't seem to have GPS though, only real flaw with my phone. It acts as a backup anyway.

[vembutech]

Check this ;

 

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/os/devices/

[TAK]

.

[Auros]

As an owner of the first Alcatel One Touch Fire: depends on what you get. Forget about the Indian Branded devices with 128MB of RAM, you are gonna suffer the lack of RAM really fast. 256MB it's the bare minimum for a good experience (and so states the Mozilla Developer Network). I said good, not great, so keep that in mind.

 

Also, not all devices have gotten updates as expected. Unlocked ZTE Open for the US and UK had some annoying problems, I'm not even sure if the LG Fireweb has any updates. The OTF has gotten updates and faster, and there are also many builds (ROMs) of newer version if you wish to try. Beware, OTF starts to lag with v2.1 and up. 2.0 and under work just fine.

 

All this being said, the OTF is the best device on the cheap end (the easiest to get at least). The best of the commercial ones at least. You might be able to get a Geeksphone Keon or Peak on eBay, which are far better (those are reference devices for developers), and have got better support.If you spend a bit more, ZTE Open C (nowhere as bad as the original ZTE Open), the Geeksphone Revolution (this is their first commercial device, with support for both FxOS and Android) and Mozilla Flame are good for the price.

 

Also, you could get some Android device actually supported by the B2G repo and flash a build of FxOS over it. LG Optimus L5 or some Sony Xperia devices (ports by feherneoh at XDA) are good options.