
Firefox OS 2.0 starts emerging from its cocoon - Garbage
http://www.cnet.com/news/new-features-and-appearance-for-firefox-os-2-0-emerge/
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CodeGlitch
As a huge Mozilla fan, I really do hope that Firefox OS takes off at least in
a small way. I hear that the Firefox browser isn't being used so much on
Android (people are tending to stick to the default Chrome browser). Mozilla
really do need to get into the mobile market.

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kibwen
According to the Play Store, mobile Firefox is in the "50,000,000 -
100,000,000" installs category. For a platform where Chrome is the default
browser (as opposed to Windows and IE), that ain't too shabby.

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.fi...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox)

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bananas
Well it'd be good if the HTML5/H264 video player wasn't a piece of crap and it
integrated with Android intents etc properly...

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padenot
Would you mind be more precise so we can fix it?

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bananas
Yes:

steps: Open mp4 file in Firefox 28 on Android.

actual behaviour: Shows in tiny partial window inside browser. Content is
small, laggy, impossible to control, cannot be made full screen.

expected behaviour: opens with default android media player interface or asks
which interface to use as per intents system.

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toggle
I'm really excited about this. I recently installed Firefox OS 1.4 on my
cheapo ZTE Open (it came with 1.0), and the difference is huge. I thought I
heard somewhere that they are shooting for 2.0 in July.

Ignore everything this article says about the Geeksphone Revolution, though.
Geeksphone has dropped the ball so many times with that device; they seem to
be pretty incompetent, to be honest. Some owners have said that the
Revolution's build of Firefox OS deviates pretty far from the official one --
who knows if you'll be able to get 2.0 on it easily.

~~~
Touche
So what is the best phone to get with Firefox OS then? Even if that means
flashing it yourself? Galaxy S 3 maybe? Nexus 4 or 5?

~~~
fabrice_d
If you are not in a hurry, I would wait for the reference device (codename
'Flame') that will ship in the coming months. It's not as high end as a Nexus
5 but FxOS runs superbly there (it's a dual core with 4.5" screen).

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w0ts0n
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJZZvXzTtCo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJZZvXzTtCo)

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Groxx
A little context next time, please.

Link is to a video of Firefox OS running on a Nexus 4.

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donbronson
The mobile ecosystem could really use a platform that is web friendlier.
Firefox OS will have web developers becoming mobile developers overnight. That
said, I wonder if those developers will understand the performance differences
of a desktop vs a mobile device. If they don't, the performance of Firefox OS
apps will be awful and Firefox will be blamed by the end user.

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dscrd
I'm having more and more doubts about mobile operating systems, or perhaps
mobile UI paradigms where the user has unlimited freedom.

I just tried, for experiment's sake, a dumbphone (Nokia 515) instead of my
high-end large screen Android phone. And somehow I like it, not because of
what it can do but mostly because what it cannot, and what kind of shackles it
imposes on me.

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techwatching
Is there any likelihood that FFOS will ever be more than a niche player? From
where I'm sitting it looks like Android & iOS are the big players, Windows
Phone is the plucky upstart, and then there's dark horses and complementary
products like Tizen and so on. With all of the big brands out there, where
does FFOS propose to carve out a niche?

~~~
dbpatterson
They've always said they are aiming to target cheaper less powerful phones.
Right now the bulk of the world is using cheap phones probably running Symbian
or something similar. Whether they actually will be able to target that group
is up for debate, but that's been their (stated) plan.

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TazeTSchnitzel
They're serious about it, too. They're getting it to work under 128MB:

[https://wiki.mozilla.org/FirefoxOS/Tarako](https://wiki.mozilla.org/FirefoxOS/Tarako)

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fabrice_d
<disclaimer>I work for mozilla on fxos</disclaimer> And that works really well
considering the price point and the hardware. Another benefit of working to
make things good on this very low end device is that we made a number of
performance improvements that benefit also other devices.

Something important to note compared to android is that android phones in this
range are stuck with gingerbread and no official play store.

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untilHellbanned
Glad to see Mozilla pushing ahead, putting the Brendan Eich story behind them.

I bought the ZTE Open and am rooting for them.

~~~
mattl
I bought one as well. Can you root mine too, please?

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briantakita
This is why PhoneGap is relevant. One codebase, many platforms.

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orkoden
... crappy experience everywhere.

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briantakita
There are many apps that have a good UX that use Phone Gap. A good or bad UX
has more to do with the programmer. But then...

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends
on his not understanding it.”

― Upton Sinclair

\---

Edit: I removed by sarcastic response. I sometimes have kneejerk sarcasm to
FUD now, since FUD is pretty much BS.

The FUD & BS grows the more unquestioning people become. I believe native vs
web is in a context where most people believe native is the _only_ way to have
a good UX. I see it as an opportunity to get ahead while the competition is
asleep at the wheel. I'm not afraid of saying this because you won't believe
me anyways ;-)

I don't know why I'm explaining all of this. I really should just keep my
mouth shut.

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GFK_of_xmaspast
Would you say that it's ok for it to come out of the closet now that Eich's
gone.

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sutro
Copy-and-paste - great. Now how about reply all to MMS?

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72deluxe
I'll just get my Siemens S65 out of the drawer and do that for you. (Yes, that
is a phone from 10 years ago . . .)

Seems continued reinvention of the wheel is popular! In fairness, it seems a
great effort but I am not sure millions of OSes is a great idea, particularly
not for developer effort.

