Mozilla shuts down Firefox OS for smartphone

Mozilla has pulled the plug on its struggling smartphone OS business. The company announced that it will stop developing and selling Firefox OS smartphone. The move comes because Mozilla wasn't able to offer "the best user experience possible" on smartphones. However, the company said that it will continue exploring how Firefox OS can work with other connected devices and IoT.

Smartphones running Firefox OS hasn't been a huge hit and failed to gain any traction in the market. Only a small number of Fire OS powered smartphones have been released, but failed to withstand competition from hundred of cheap Android phones.

Mozilla Firefox OS was introduced in 2013 with the launch of GeeksPhone and Peak.  Over the time it came out with several low-budget smartphones like Spice Fire One Mi-FX 2, Alcatel OneTouch Fire C, Alcatel Orange Klif, Intex Cloud Fx and Firefox U105. One notable Firefox OS device is the Fx0 manufactured by LG.

Firefox OS is based on Linux and is built around the same technologies used in Mozilla Firefox web browser. It runs on only web apps and barely features any native apps.

The news comes after the Firefox OS showed slow growth in the worldwide smartphone market, which is dominated by Android and iOS. As per IDC, Firefox OS sits in the other category which accounts for only 0.4 percent of the global smartphone market.

Source

Spice Fire One Mi-FX2 with Firefox OS now available for Rs. 2,799 in India

Last year in August, Spice launched the first ever Firefox-powered smartphone, the Fire One Mi-FX1 for the Indian market. The handset was priced at an affordable Rs. 2,299 and was targeted to first time smartphone buyers.

Now, Spice Mobility has launched its second Firefox OS-based handse, Fire One Mi-FX2 in India. It is priced at Rs. 2,799  and is available via Saholic in Tangy Orange, Midnight Black and Ash Silver colors. The handset does not bring many hardware upgrades over its predecessor except a better camera and 3G network support.

Spice Fire One Mi-FX2 sports 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touch screen display with 320x480 pixels screen resolution. It is powered by an 1GHz processor paired with 256MB RAM.

The handset comes with 512MB internal storage and microSD card slot for storage expansion. It runs Firefox OS 1.4 and offers dual-SIM support.

Camera features include 2-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash and 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. On the connectivity front it supports 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS. A 1100mAh battery fuels the Spice Fire One Mi-FX2.

Alcatel announce Orange Klif smartphone with Firefox OS 2.0

France based handset manufacturer Alcatel in partnership with French operator Orange unveiled its latest Firefox OS smartphone called Orange Klif at MWC 2015, Barcelona. 

The Firefox OS is based on HTML5, has Adaptive App Search or the Single Window Search and also has Firefox marketplace to download applications.

The Alcatel Orange Klif features 3.5-inch (320 x 480 pixels) HVGA capacitive touch screen display. It is powered by an 1GHz dual-core MediaTek processor paired with 256MB RAm and 512MB internal storage. There is also a microSD card slot to increase the storage.

The handset comes equipped with 2-megapixel rear camera. Connectivity options include Dual-SIM, 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. It is backed by a 1300mAh battery.

Alcatel Orange Klif comes in only Black colour and is priced at $40 (Rs. 2,470) and will roll out in 13 African and Middle Eastern countries starting Q2 of 2015.

Alcatel Onetouch Announces Pixi 3 Series Smartphone And 'Affordable' Smartwatch

Alcatel One Touch announced its Pixi 3 series of smartphone alongside the Alcatel One touch Watch ahead of CES 2015. Both the devices will be showcase in CES 2015 Las Vegas.

Alcatel's new series of smartphone - the Pixi 3 can run on three mobile platforms - Android, Firefox or Windows Phone depending on the users choice. The series will come in four screen size variants - 3.5-inch, 4-inch, 4.5-inch and 5-inch. The 3.5-inch display variant will feature 3G connectivity, the rest of the lineup will include 4G LTE connectivity. There is no word on the specification yet. However, the Pixi 3 series will fall in the lower budget segment.

Alcatel not only announced the Pixi 3 series of smartphone but also announced the One touch watch. Alcatel claims that the watch will be priced at cost lower than its competitors. The Watch is a metal, circular Android Wear device. The smartwatch will feature a  number of sensors and apps to monitor user's daily activity. The watch will connect to  Android smartphones for music, photos, notifications and more. There are no more details yet.

More information will be available after the official launch of the devices. So Stay Tuned.

Fx0 (FX Zero) - First Firefox OS Smartphone Officially Announced In Japan

At a press conference in Japan, KDDI and Mozilla officially announced the world's first Firefox OS running smartphone dubbed fx0. The handset is manufactured by LG.

The phone is designed by Tokujin Yoshioka [Japanese artist and designer] and touted to have advanced functionality and design encompassing Mozilla mission values of openness, freedom and transperency in mind with a futuristic feel.

Firefox has worked with KDDI to create the Web of Things (WoT) that connects with all types of devices [PC, smartphones, Tablets] using web technology and enable new innovative and custom experiences to be created across the connected devices.

“We are very pleased to bring the first Firefox OS smartphone, based on Web technology standards, to the Japanese market today,” said Takashi Tanaka, President of KDDI. “KDDI hopes to build the new era of the Web through Web of Things, enabling everyone to create custom connected Web experiences.”

The device supports 4G LTE and features a 4.7-inch HD IPS 720p display and is powered by a  Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2GHz paired with 1.5GB RAM and 16GB internal storage [microSD card support upto 64GB]. The device runs the latest Firefox OS 2.0 out of the box.

Camera features include an 8-megapixel rear camera and 2.1-megapixel front facing camera. Connectivity options include 3G, NFC, WebRTC. The handset is backed by 3500mAh battery. The fx0 LG L25 measures 70( width ) × 139( height ) × 10.5( depth ) mm and weighs 148 grams.

KDDI has dedicated a website http://au-fx.kddi.com/ to encourage developers to build apps for Firefox platform.

The Fx0 will be available in Gold colour variant. The device will go on limited sale in Japan on December 25 and is priced at 49680 Japanese Yen ($410; Rs 27,000) and will be available nationwide on January 6. [Check out more images in source link]

Source : Buzzap, Firefox OS Site

Alleged LG L25 Specifications Leaked

Yesterday @UpLeaks, posted sketches and couple of screenshots of LG L25 running Firefox OS. And now the leakster has leaked alleged specs of the device.

According to @UpLeaks, the LG L25 will feature a 4.68" display with 720p resolution and a pixel density of 313ppi. The device will be powered by  a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU and 1.5GB of RAM, while internal storage is 16GB. Camera features include 8-megapixel rear camera and 2.1-megapixel front camera. Connectivity features include LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0.

By looking at the specs it seems like the most powerful device running the firefox OS platform. We already know that the device will be available for Japanese carrier KDI. Information about the price and global availability of the device is yet to be revealed.

Source : @UpLeaks via GSMArena

LG L25 - LG's first Smartphone running Firefox OS Leaks

 Korean electronic giant LG, is reportedly working on a new smartphone running Firefox OS dubbed the LG L25. @upLeaks posted a couple of sketches and screenshot of the interface [For image, check source] on its twitter account of the device.

The new LG L25 is very special and unexpected addition to the current line of  LG smartphones , as it represents a new element in the portfolio of LG products .

No other specs were revealed except that the device will be available for Japanese carrier KDDI. The device will not be available in Global market.

We already know the devices running Firefox OS, are budget oriented, so don't expect anything innovative from this device.

There is not much to tell about the LG L25 as of now. If the rumors are to be true, we will be hearing more about this mobile in the future. Stay Tuned.