MWC 2013: Rise Of The Firefox OS | TechTree.com

MWC 2013: Rise Of The Firefox OS

New mobile computing platform announced, along with two handsets: ZTE Open and Alcatel's One Touch Fire.

 

MWC is not about mobile phones alone: You can expect obnoxiously sized phablets, tablets, and even a few OS launches at the event. Mozilla, on its official blog, has announced Firefox OS that will run on "the world's first Open Web Devices".

Support has been pledged by 18 operators worldwide, to ensure that the OS gets a firm footing in the ever-so-competitive mobile platform space. You can check out the list of operators on Mozilla's blog post.

Apart from deep social media integration — including support for services such as Facebook and Twitter, location-based services, the handsets will also come with the Firefox Web Browser and Firefox Marketplace support. As is already known, the Firefox OS supports HTML5 video, so Adobe Flash support won't generally be required. To get a sneak peak of apps you can expect on this platform, visit the Marketplace on Firefox for Android Aurora.

Firefox Marketplace

As far as handsets are concerned, Alcatel, Huawei, LG, and ZTE are all tipped to offer smartphone that will run the OS. All handsets, Mozilla says, will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. In fact Alcatel as well as ZTE have unveiled the first handsets at MW 2013.

First up is ZTE's 3.5" handset, dubbed as the ZTE Open. While details about this phone are scant, engadget.com reports that this nifty phone packs in a Cortex A5 processor and a 3.5" HVGA touchscreen display. Other key specs mentioned have been listed below:

  • 3.5" HVGA screen with pixel dimensions of 320x480 (165 ppi).
  • Cortex-A5 processor clocked at 600MHz or 800MHz.
  • 256 MB of RAM.
  • 512MB internal storage.
  • microSD card support.
  • 3.2 Megapixel snapper.
  • Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, A-GPS.

Up next is Alcatel's One Touch Fire running the Mozilla Firefox OS, the handset sports a 3.5" HVGA screen, similar to that on the ZTE model. Slated for a June 2013 release, the phone packs in a 1 GHz processor, RAM and a 3.2 Megapixel camera.

Here are its specs as mentioned in the official press release:

  • 3.5'' HVGA TN display.
  • Light, orientation  (G-sensor), and Proximity sensor.
  • 3.2 Megapixel main camera
  • Firefox OS.
  • 1 GHz processor.
  • 256 GB RAM.
  • Quad-band 2G (GSM 850/900/1800/1900), penta-band 3G (UMTS 900, 2100, 850, 1900, 2100)
  • 3.5mm audio jack, Wi-Fi, AGPS, Bluetooth 3.0.
  • Internal storage 512 MB (180 MB user accissible0; Micro SD card slot (supports up to 32 GB).
  • 1400 mAh battery with 12 hours 2G talktime and 7 hours 3G; standby time of 17 days (2G) / 12.5  days (3G).
  • Package contents: handset, Charger head and Micro USB cable, stereo headset, 2 GB Micro SD card.

According to Mozilla, handsets based on Firefox OS will surface first in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain, and Venezuela later in the year - followed by other nations soon.


TAGS: Mobile Phones, Mozilla, Firefox, smartphones

 
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