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Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

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Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#21

Post by darklajid »

soapdog wrote: post #7

Don't go with ZTE Open, its the worst phone. Best advise wait for the new models that are being released this year. If you don't want to wait you can get the following models: * Geeksphone Revolution - the most powerful phone but its running on a x86 architecture and the port is done by Geeksphone, even though they released three new updates already there are still bugs. * Alcatel One Touch Fire - great phone and is…

Any idea where I'd follow the Flame release announcement? The Mozilla site [1] states 'Available for pre-order soon' and lists 'late April' as release date..

The manufacturer's site [2] seems - well - useless.

Any mailing lists/twitter accounts or whatever that I can follow to get my hands on that thing as soon as it comes out?

1: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Developer_pho... 2: http://www.t2mobile.com/

Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#22

Post by seba_dos1 »

4ad wrote: post #16
blazespin wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a Mozilla rep, you probably want to delete this post or at least remove your overtly critical language. Hardware manufactures invest a lot of resources trying to build for your platform. They are your customer. Insulting them is not good business..

His post is one of the most useful post I have read on HN for months. I don't have the slightest sympathy for the manufacturers who face difficulties when building phones. I do have sympathy for people who buy crap hardware (because that's all that exists) and suffer because of it. And I am especially annoyed when I buy crap hardware because all the reviews were fake, like you suggest them to be.

>(because that's all that exists)

Well, that's not true. Neo Freerunner and GTA04 both exist and Neo900 will soon join them. None of them needs any bizzare "rooting" and if you want to port some OS to them you're ready to go. All you need to have that's not openly available to everyone for free is a device.

Of course they all have some flaws, but as a consumer you do have a choice.

Also, GTA04 and Neo900 should both be perfectly capable to run Firefox OS.

Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#23

Post by AndrewDucker »

It's a shame there isn't a "Firefox OS" app for Android, that basically acts as if it _was_ the OS for the phone.

That way you could try it out without having to throw away your existing install/apps. There's no reason it couldn't be installed as the launcher, and take over running everything on the phone. I assume that that would be a fair amount of extra work though.

Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#24

Post by fabrice_d »

darklajid wrote: post #21
soapdog wrote: post #7

Don't go with ZTE Open, its the worst phone. Best advise wait for the new models that are being released this year. If you don't want to wait you can get the following models: * Geeksphone Revolution - the most powerful phone but its running on a x86 architecture and the port is done by Geeksphone, even though they released three new updates already there are still bugs. * Alcatel One Touch Fire - great phone and is…

Any idea where I'd follow the Flame release announcement? The Mozilla site [1] states 'Available for pre-order soon' and lists 'late April' as release date.. The manufacturer's site [2] seems - well - useless. Any mailing lists/twitter accounts or whatever that I can follow to get my hands on that thing as soon as it comes out? 1: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Developer_pho... 2: http://www.t2mobile.…

We just started handing them to core devs (and yes it's a really nice device). Once we'll have confidence that it's stable enough we will roll out to more people internally at Mozilla and then externally.

Just a few weeks away!

Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#25

Post by Thiz »

Guys, guys, one question…

Can I build apps for FirefoxOS without owning a phone? I mean just html/js/css using an editor and testing it on an emulator. That's the way I do android apps and I don't have a phone.

Can I? Can I?

I believe Firefox OS and html based apps are the future. I want to start building it now.

Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#26

Post by fabrice_d »

bwanab wrote: post #14

ZTE Open. The good: cheap, it tethers very nicely. The bad: almost everything else. I gave my android phone to my son when I decided to try FFOS as my only phone on the ZTE open. The hardware isn't good enough and it often lags. I can live with it since I almost always have my tablet which is wifi only. My biggest concern is that Mozilla hasn't done a good job of providing an update path. I can live without OTA updat…

We are working on fixing the update situation, see https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.b2g/2pnA...

Look at the push back I got from some people... but things will happen!

Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#27

Post by jgraham »

Thiz wrote: post #25

Guys, guys, one question… Can I build apps for FirefoxOS without owning a phone? I mean just html/js/css using an editor and testing it on an emulator. That's the way I do android apps and I don't have a phone. Can I? Can I? I believe Firefox OS and html based apps are the future. I want to start building it now.

Yes, there's a simulator that you can run on your desktop computer. See [1] for instructions on installing it.

[1] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-set-firefox-os-desk...

Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#28

Post by darklajid »

fabrice_d wrote: post #24
darklajid wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any idea where I'd follow the Flame release announcement? The Mozilla site [1] states 'Available for pre-order soon' and lists 'late April' as release date.. The manufacturer's site [2] seems - well - useless. Any mailing lists/twitter accounts or whatever that I can follow to get my hands on that thing as soon as it comes out? 1: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Developer_pho... 2: http://www.t2mobile.…

We just started handing them to core devs (and yes it's a really nice device). Once we'll have confidence that it's stable enough we will roll out to more people internally at Mozilla and then externally. Just a few weeks away!

Hey. That sounds amazing and I appreciate the answer. But ..

1) You state 'We just started handing them out', implying you are part of the process? Would you mind sharing your connection? Your profile doesn't say a lot. Are you with Mozilla?

2) So, my core question is still open: You hope for a release just a few weeks away? Where would I read about that, how would I keep tabs on this device's official launch (or open pre-order)? If you're deeply involved (as it seems, see 1), got any pointers for relevant "You can now order the device here" news channels?

Re: Ask HN: Best Firefox phone to get?

#30

Post by lotsofmangos »

blazespin wrote: post #13
soapdog wrote: post #7

Don't go with ZTE Open, its the worst phone. Best advise wait for the new models that are being released this year. If you don't want to wait you can get the following models: * Geeksphone Revolution - the most powerful phone but its running on a x86 architecture and the port is done by Geeksphone, even though they released three new updates already there are still bugs. * Alcatel One Touch Fire - great phone and is…

If you are a Mozilla rep, you probably want to delete this post or at least remove your overtly critical language. Hardware manufactures invest a lot of resources trying to build for your platform. They are your customer. Insulting them is not good business..

Users are the customer. You can keep the hardware companies as happy as you like by not offending any of them, but by being honest to the actual users about the strengths and weaknesses of various phones, you are far more likely to build a long term base.

edit - and any hardware companies you work with who are worth their salt will understand this and take any criticisms on board. The end-users will be far less polite.

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