FirefoxOS

[doragasu]

Recently I got my hand on a ZTE Open phone, that comes with Firefox OS (FFOS) installed. The phone is really low end, it has a 1 GHz Cortex-A5 CPU with an Adreno 200 GPU, a 3,5" 320x480 screen, a poor 2MP camera (no flash and no front-facing camera) and what I consider is its biggest flaw hardware wise: only 256 MiB RAM. I got it for free, but I think you can get one for less than $60.

The first thing that bothered me is that despite its name, the phone is not that open: it does not come rooted and even worse, the bootloader is locked. Fortunately I was able to root it and unlock the bootloader. Otherwise I would be stuck with FFOS v1.1. Once the phone was unlocked, I was able to build and flash FFOS v1.4 (I also tried FFOS v2.1, but it's in alpha stage and was not stable enough, so I downgraded to v1.4).

The phone has some problems, partially due to the low hardware performance. The screen lags a bit sometimes, and the capacitive touchscreen accuracy could also be improved. But what really bugs me is that due to the low RAM, multitasking is very limited: If you open the Twitter client, and try following a link (that opens the browser), you'll have to reopen Twitter again because it will be killed for the browser to be able to work with the limited amount of RAM. This also happens with old low end Android phones, but with Android the problem is usually mitigated because when an app is killed, it saves its state and usually restores it when it's launched again. This is not the case with FFOS, and I think is something that should be implemented ASAP.

Setting aside the hardware problems, my first impressions on FFOS v1.4 are better than I expected. I like the UI, it's clean and most of the time it's also pretty. The lock screen can show widgets and notifications, etc. Other than the power/lock and volume buttons, it only has an additional button for navigation: touching it sends you to the home screen, and holding it shows the open apps and let's you switch to or kill them.

The application ecosystem is a huge step behind iOS and Android, but I found almost all the apps I needed: Twitter, Webogram (Telegram messenger), OpenWapp (WhatsApp), Reddit clients, XKCD viewer, XBMC remote, GAuth authenticator, navigation apps, etc. The only two apps/features I missed are an SSH client and a means to sync my contacts to a CardDAV capable server (the built-in calendar app is CalDAV capable though). Certificate management could also be improved, but this is something I find lacking also on Android.

Althoug I think that internally FFOS uses some apps packaged as APKs (like Android), all the user applications are 100% HTML+javascript+CSS. There is no java support, and I'm not sure if there's a way to develop native apps (but for sure if there is, it is not been promoted by Mozilla). The OS has a nice feature that allows you to "convert" to an app any web based app. E.g. there is no Owncloud app in the FFOS Marketplace, but you can load your Owncloud page in the browser and add a shortcut to the home screen that starts it fullscreen, showing an app-like behaviour. If you have the code available, you can even add a manifest file, pack it as a zip and install it on your phone, making it an offline-capable app.

The veredict: I really like FFOS, and it works better than I expected. Version 1.4 works fine, and the redesign that comes with version 2.0 is even nicer. Once I find a way to sync my contacts using CardDAV (or any other alternative that can work with OwnCloud) and find a reliable SSH client, I'm considering flashing FFOS to my Nexus 4 and saying Bye bye to Android.

Anyone else using FFOS? What are your impressions?

 

[Kelsey's grammar]

Is it possible to remove Android from an Android device and flash another OS?!  I am really interested in this because I recently lost my Windows phone and am looking for another device.  I use a port of Android on my other phone, but only for the tethering ability.  If not for that, I would have never gone Android.

 

[klapse]

You have to unlock the phone to get an upgrade of the DEFAULT OS?  256MB RAM? I hope they get it right with their next phone.

 

[doragasu]

As long as your Android phone has an unlocked bootloader (or can be somehow unlocked), it should be possible to install FFOS. But installing it on a non supported device can be tricky.

You have to unlock the phone to get an upgrade of the DEFAULT OS?  256MB RAM? I hope they get it right with their next phone.

That's exactly the same that happens with most Android phones: you buy an Android and when the phone manufacturer/carrier stops upgrading, you have to unlock the phone and install non official builds if you want to be up to date. My phone ROM was Movistar (an spanish carrier) branded, and they only updated up to version 1.1 (although they state 1.3 version update is under way).

Most FFOS phones have very low end hardware because they are targeted to emerging markets. FFOS doesn't want to compete right now with iOS and Android in developed markets (it would be suicide). They are optimizing the OS for low end cheap phones. There's even a $25 FFOS phone under way (I'm kind of skeptical about them selling it at this price, at least on developed countries). Anyway, if you want a high end FFOS phone, just buy a supported Android (e.g. Nexus 5) and flash it.

 

[RuneIV]

I want to buy the FirefoxOS reference device the Flame but has been hesitating due to the impression that the site from where you can buy them seems less than thrustworthy.

Other than that the specs of the device are way better than the ZTE Open and plenty powerful for my taste.

 

[doragasu]

1 GiB RAM and 1,2 GHz dual core sure will make FFOS fly (as it is optimized for low end hardware). If you buy it, please make sure to post here your thoughts.