

Review of Firefox OS and Mozilla Keon - nissimk
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/03/my_month_with_firefox_os/

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oftenwrong
I think a smartphone with an eink screen would do well in this developing
market. It would have longer battery life and would be readable in direct
sunlight.

I really want an eink smartphone, preferably with FFOS.

~~~
hayksaakian
The problem I've noticed with e ink is refresh rate. Dragging and scrolling
look bad on some of the e ink device I've read about (android devices)

~~~
chestnut-tree
There is a hack for the Nook e-reader that enables a fast refresh rate. Here's
a before-and-after demonstration video on YouTube (four taps on the screen
enable the fast refresh)

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6pBPsyno5PY)

Given that fast refresh rates are possible on e-ink screens, I wonder why
e-readers don't have this feature enabled by default. Does it damage the
device? Drain the battery? Or shorten the lifespan of the e-reader?

~~~
arianvanp
Well it will obviously drain the battery, as e-ink displays only consume
electricity on refresh. the 'ink' is either black or white, and changing the
state is what costs electricity. Once the state is changed, it doesn't consume
any more electricity. So increasing refresh-rate when scrolling increases the
amount of current needed to flow through the system, and will indeed drain
battery life.

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kibwen
Every few days I'll hit up Geeksphone's site, and _every time_ both phones are
out of stock. Tried it again just now:

<http://shop.geeksphone.com/en/#buy-it>

I'm not sure whether this indicates high demand or a lapse in Geeksphone's
manufacturing pipeline.

Are there any developers here who've managed to get their hands on one? Any
thoughts?

~~~
turshija
I got mine last week (Peak), and havent played with it yet. Installed updates
that phone offered, and few apps, and thats it ... Although the hardware on
Peak is better then Keon, the entire OS feels very sluggish, slow, and buggy
... Maybe I should try installing some nightly versions to test if it got
optimised a bit ... Anyway, I like the phone, but I wont be using it as a main
phone since it doesn't have Gmail app and I'm used to Gmail on Android for all
of my emails ...

~~~
zobzu
I have both Keon and Peak and the Keon works a lot better. They're fixing
stuff daily to reach parity or better on the Peak AFAIU

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litwack
I understand that the goal of Firefox OS is to reach the worldwide billions
without smartphones, but is it feasible for them to achieve lower handset
prices faster than Android given that MediaTek and SpreadTrum SoC-based
devices are selling for >$65 in China?

~~~
untog
The experience is key. There are lot of really, really awful cheap Android
phones out there.

Not to overlabour the point, but I find the idea of HTML/JS apps interesting
in this context as well- many people looking to make an app might not have
powerful machines that can run Eclipse (and certainly not OS X) and compile
apps with any kind of speed. HTML/JS could be a great 'light' development
environment.

~~~
gw
You can write and compile Android apps directly on an Android device.

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aide.ui>

~~~
untog
Compile? OK. Write? Can't imagine a worse experience.

~~~
gw
Your imagination may have omitted the possibility of using a Bluetooth
keyboard.

~~~
untog
Bluetooth keyboards do not exactly proliferate the developing world.
Presumably you'd want to throw an external monitor into that mix, too.

~~~
gw
What exactly do you propose Firefox OS apps to be written on in developing
countries? Computers that aren't powerful enough to run Eclipse would likely
be no better (in price or productivity) than an Android tablet with a cheap
Bluetooth keyboard.

~~~
untog
Computers that aren't powerful enough to run Eclipse are already in use by
people in the developing world. Very few of them have an Android tablet with a
cheap Bluetooth keyboard.

