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Geeksphone's Firefox OS smartphones go on sale tomorrow
- nodata 14y ago115 euros off contract, including VAT? Not bad.. can't find details on sd card support though.
- Jhsto 14y agoAccording to Geeksphone's own website (http://www.geeksphone.com/ http://www.geeksphone.com/) it does have a microSD card slot.
- zobzu 14y agoyep, it does have one
- robinwauters 14y agoKEON: ------- CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 7225AB 1Ghz. UMTS 2100/1900/900 (3G HSPA). GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (2G EDGE). Screen 3.5" HVGA Multitouch. Camera 3 MP. 4 GB (ROM) and 512 MB (RAM). MicroSD, Wifi N, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Radio FM, Light & Prox. Sensor, G-Sensor, GPS, MicroUSB. Battery 1580 mAh. PEAK: ------- CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 8225 1.2Ghz x2. UMTS 2100/1900/900 (3G HSPA). GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (2G EDGE). Screen 4.3" qHD IPS Multitouch. Camera 8 MP (back) + 2 MP (front). 4 GB (ROM) and 512 MB (RAM). MicroSD, Wifi N, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Radio FM, Light & Prox. Sensor, G-Sensor, GPS, MicroUSB, Flash (camera). Battery 1800 mAh.
- tobiasu 14y agoQualcomm, that means no datasheet. Too bad, it certainly looks interesting for the price.
- felipebueno 14y ago"...but will there be buyers?" Yes. I'm definitely buying a Peak and a Keon. =)
- logn 14y agoYes I want one too. The only hitch is dealing with the actual providers in the US, my current contract, and how much they want me on a plan that rips me off. But I'd imagine this will be a moderate hit with developers who end up making apps, which ends up selling more phones. I've never liked the Android or iPhone development environments.
- untog 14y agoThis highlights the different strategy Firefox OS is taking- completely sidestepping North America and Europe, and putting out cheap devices in emerging markets. We'll see if it works out, but it seems like a very clever strategy to me. There is no way Mozilla is going to outcompete Apple and Google in marketing, but there are many people out there in world still using dumbphones that could upgrade when given the right opportunity.
- pyre 14y agoI would be interested in a smartphone that doesn't require a Google account (or an Apple account) to function.
- untog 14y agoGet an Android phone and don't sign into your Google account (and flash a ROM that has it all removed, if you'd like). There are APKs available of non-Play Store stores that should let you find alternate map apps, etc..
- JoshTriplett 14y agoI've done that, but I'd still like to get a few apps from the official Play store, and I haven't found any other way to download and install them.
- tagawa 14y agoI've found http://f-droid.org/ http://f-droid.org/ to be an increasingly viable alternative Android app store. All open source so obviously the choice is comparatively smaller, but it seems to have pretty much everything I need.
- marssaxman 14y agoI have never signed in to any google account on my Galaxy Nexus. It works OK but I don't really install apps - it's too much of a hassle to track down the APKs.
- paul9290 14y agoWhat are other developers doing and or using to create innovative streaming audio/video web apps for Firefox OS? We have a flash fallback for streaming for Firefox desktop, but we havent had a chance to look at Firefox OS.
- untog 14y agoFirefox OS supports h264, so could you not just use <video> tags?
- anonymfus 14y agoAnd Firefox for Windows supports it too since version 20.
- paul9290 14y agoThanks you guys for the tip! Can the h264 codec be used to stream audio, specifically MP3s?
- anonymfus 14y agoI was partially wrong. It's need to enable media.windows-media-foundation.enabled setting in about:config, so it's still don't suitable for real use. MP3 in audio tag would work.
- Jhsto 14y agoIn theory, you could use WebRTC to stream data from phone to phone as P2P connections. I've also been toying around with a Spotify streamer, which uses websockets to stream data from open.spotify.com to client side using binary websockets. I managed to create it natively without using any client side JS libaries, so as soon as binary websockets will be supported on phones, I'll be able to stream music to my phone. The music is playable trough HTML5 music player and currently works on mobiles with a workaround, where the music is first piped to a file and then referenced in DOM. Sadly, the hosting service took my servers down because of DMCA and for the same reason I've kept the source code private. It is written in node.js
- mokkol 14y agoThis weekend I was at a Firefox OS workshop in Madrid. They gave me a Phone for free to play/hack with. I think they will have a big chance. The phones are very good for the price and Firefox OS works alright. They have to fix a lot of bugs but they are on the right track. And it is so easy to make apps, to put them on your phone or market.
- untog 14y agoWhere did you find out about that event? I'd be interested to attend a future event.
- mokkol 14y agohttps://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/03/firefox-os-app-workshops/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/03/firefox-os-app-workshops/
- masterj 14y agoI'll be attending the upcoming workshop in Bogotá. Looking forward :) Did they give you one of the geeksphones or something else?
- ubersoldat2k7 14y agoWell, I won one in the last FirefoxOS App Day (or whatever it was called) and I still haven't received mine. Sad, because the product I ported to it sank to the depths.
- scrapcode 14y agoWhy is there so much boast over this fellas age? Didn't this just happen...
- pnathan 14y agoBoy, I better get hopping on my FF OS app. :D
- jareds 14y agoThe first thing I thought when I looked at this was that with CyanogenMod this could be a great secondary phone I could use to keep track of Android accessibility as well as learn android programming. Then I looked at the Android 4.2 hardware requirements and it looks like it won't have enough ram to provide a good experience. I won't get one of these until Firefox OS has enough accessibility for blind users to be used on a daily basis.
- fabrice_d 14y agoWe have accessibility coming for Firefox OS. It still need some work, but I've seen text to speech working really well last week on a target device (with 256MB of RAM).
- tellarin 14y agoBetween Firefox OS devices and Jolla (http://jolla.com/ http://jolla.com/) Sailfish OS ones, the next months will be pretty interesting. Can't wait to play with both of them. It would be even more awesome if they strongly cooperated somehow, though.
- rustc 14y agoAny details about shipping costs? And will non-EU countries also have to pay the VAT fee? (Hosting companies do not charge VAT for non-EU customers.) 91 euros seems to be too tempting. :)
- ccozan 14y agoYou pay VAT only if you are from EU. Exports do not carry VAT, but you pay customs fee.
- SwellJoe 14y agoI'm pretty excited about Firefox OS, honestly. While I loved my first two Android phones (G1 dev phone, and Nexus One), I've hated my third (HTC Sensation). I can blame HTC Sense for some of the disappointment, but I think Android has become less stable over time. It restarts the desktop (dashboard, or whatever the "main" screen is called) regularly, maps crashes all the time, and sometimes the network just stops without warning or error. I've occasionally rebooted the phone to find I've missed hours worth of calls and text messages and Google Talk messages. I'm also becoming frustrated with Google's evolution toward walled gardens, an end to privacy, and away from the open (and anonymous, when needed) web. Reader to Google+ is one indicator. CISPA is another. I consider Firefox a good foil against that evolution, and I've started switching back to Firefox for my primary browser. In time, Google will have less control over my online life, because the trust I once had toward Google is fading. I don't believe Google really believes in "Don't Be Evil", anymore, and so I have to protect myself, and push back against Google's dominance. However small my efforts may be to GOOG's bottom line. (And I still hold GOOG stock. Ethically, I'm not sure where I stand on that.)
- RyanMcGreal 14y agoI can't speak for your experiences with the HTC Sensation, but my Samsung Galaxy S3 running Android 4.1.1 has been remarkably stable, especially compared to my previous phone, an HTC Legend running Android 2.2. As for broader issues you raise about openness vs. the walled garden, I'm also excited to see alternatives like Firefox OS, Ubuntu Phone and so on take shape.
- criley 14y agoI have a Note II running 4.1.1 and I experience the OP's "deluge of texts/notifications hours after the fact" issue. It's very frustrating to get pinged with 10+ notifications at once that came in over the past hours. To be fair, it's wifi related, but to be more fair: every single iOS device gets texts and notifications from the identically same wifi network without any issue.
- untog 14y ago
- kibwen 14y agoAs an ignorant American who knows zip about smartphones (still carrying around an ancient dumbphone, desperate for an upgrade) what would it take to actually receive calls on one of these? Do Verizon et al just let you waltz into a store with a phone and buy cell service?
- wmf 14y agoVerizon or Sprint, no. T-Mobile, yes. AT&T can technically sell you a SIM card but the people in the store probably do not know how.
- miles_matthias 14y agoSprint is one of their announced partners, that surprises me.
- bsimpson 14y agoSprint uses SIM cards for LTE, but more importantly, you can mix and match platforms and cellular technologies. Remember when Android added CDMA support to launch on Verizon? I'm sure the Firefox team would love to be supported by as many carriers as possible.
- ben1040 14y ago>Sprint uses SIM cards for LTE Well, yes and no. Their LTE implementation uses SIM cards, but their devices don't have a physical SIM slot and instead just have an internal chip that isn't user-accessible. The only exception to this that I'm aware of is the iPhone 5.
- fabrice_d 14y agoCDMA support is being worked on: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=726098 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=726098
- jff 14y agoI have just showed up at the local AT&T store and asked for a prepaid SIM. Walked out 10 minutes later with a re-fillable month-to-month account that I used for testing.
- wpietri 14y agoI'm really excited to see this get to market. The number of developers who already know enough JavaScript to get something done is large. And Mozilla is interested in advancing the open web, not building a closed ecosystem. I hope there are plans for FFOS tablets in the future. At ~$200 for a decent tablet, they're cheap enough that you can start using them as single purpose devices. The kitchen grocery list. Outside of every meeting room, showing the room calendar. By the door to tell you whether or not to bring an umbrella and which bus to catch. On the wall, as artwork. Basically, any place you might previously have hung a sign. Having them be hackable by any webmonkey would be perfect.
- r00fus 14y ago> And Mozilla is interested in advancing the open web, not building a closed ecosystem. This is definitely the problem with Chrome browser - I've seen a lot of enhancements to that product that seem of very little use for a browser sitting on a functional mobile/desktop OS but critical if it happens to be the only native app (ie, ChromeOS). Meanwhile, FF quietly just works for all of my needs and has gotten a lot better in the past several releases.
- jodrellblank 14y agoAt ~$200 for a decent tablet, they're cheap enough that you can start using them as single purpose devices. The kitchen grocery list. Outside of every meeting room, showing the room calendar. Did you see the Kindle Weather Display? It's basically that, just in monochrome, and a Kindle is $69. http://imgur.com/a/17Y89 http://imgur.com/a/17Y89
- miles_matthias 14y agoI hope this goes well. I got excited about using web technologies to build native mobile applications with WebOS, but am happier to see the non-profit Mozilla take charge on it. I also agree with other commenters that it's a great idea for them to attack the emerging markets rather than compete with the huge players in the US and Europe. Excited to see that revolution. I've always supported Mozilla's mission, but I'm still a Chrome user because I feel like it's a more polished consumer product, particular in the area of design. Every time I get that F the establishment motivation and open Firefox, I look at the tab structure and the separate url and search bars and close it again. Sad face.
- Yoric 14y agoIn case you wonder, the reason for which Firefox doesn't merge url and search bar is to protect user's privacy. If you prefer a Chrome-style UI, there are a couple of add-ons that provide just that.
- miles_matthias 14y agoI hadn't heard that it was a privacy issue. I'll have to check out those addons, thanks!
- nnethercote 14y agoThere's an add-on that merges the address and search bars: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/foobar/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/foobar/ > I've always supported Mozilla's mission, but I'm still a Chrome user because I feel like it's a more polished consumer product If you're not using Firefox, how are you "supporting" Mozilla's mission?
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- wuest 14y agoThis is exciting news. I'll probably end up with one of these as well as a Jolla (the Sailfish phone) in the near future.
- rglover 14y agoSlightly related: does anyone know when the first Ubuntu phone is being released (specifically, in the US)?
- pilgrim689 14y ago"Ubuntu will be ready for smartphones at retail in Q4 2013." http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/contact-us http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/contact-us It'll be interesting to see it go head-to-head with Android. I think it has potential simply because of how popular Ubuntu is, whereas Google has yet to release a proper desktop operating system.
- soapdog 14y agoI have two Geeksphone Keons in here and I've been speaking at events about Firefox OS. I develop mobile apps and web for both Android and iOS and I find that developing for Firefox OS is very refreshing. The OS gets out of your way and you're free to create your own vision for an app. You're not restricted to a walled garden and don't need to use the Firefox Marketplace if you don't want to. Your app can be on the device or hosted on your server and have an offline mode using appCache. For those that want to know more, take a look at the developer hub at: https://marketplace.firefox.com/developers/ https://marketplace.firefox.com/developers/ All you need to develop is a copy of Firefox with the the Firefox OS Simulador add-on installed. The rest is just HTML/CSS/JS. The hardware is exposed using the webAPI which can be seen at https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI. :-D PS: I am a Mozilla Rep.
- johnrob 14y agoWow, this sounds like much less cruft compared to iOS or Android development.
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- contingencies 14y agoTranslation: "No mammoth Java/Eclipse requirements". Hail!
- jodrellblank 14y agoI have two Geeksphone Keons in here And how are they? Are they stable enough for everyday use? Are they nice to use?
- soapdog 14y agothey are very good to use and surprising enough given the price and low specs. not all apis are implemented yet so I would not recommend using it as your primary phone just yet. I use mine as primary phone during weekends and am happy. It still needs polish, bugfixes and more apps but developing for it is pretty fun and I like the architecture
- lnanek2 14y agoHardware isn't very thrilling. Even the better spec'd peak is qHD vs. current Android flagships' 1080P screen resolution, a processor generation back, 4GB ROM vs. 32GB and 64GB internal memory, no LTE. The Keon model is a step further back yet. That does let them offer a very affordable price at least, and probably meant much cheaper to get an ODM since there isn't anything new about the hardware. LTE isn't as important outside US and with fewer contract subsidies the price is more important. They might manage some low end sales this way and get some developers to pickup an extra developer device. I think the bigger OEMs avoid this sort of thing because there isn't much profit margin, but it might be enough for a small company to get by. You can't really get huge sales unless you are in stores, but you can get some.
- mike-cardwell 14y agoIt seems to me that this release is about getting phones into the hands of developers, not normal consumers.
- jodrellblank 14y agoThe FireFox OS project is aiming for the dumbphone/featurephone market. Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QnIskIc3EY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QnIskIc3EY
- bcj 14y agoPhones are now available. I just ordered a peak.
- zokier 14y agoBased on these specs I guess my good old Galaxy Nexus should have no problem running FirefoxOS? I'm really hoping it'll be ported to existing devices too.
- codfrantic 14y agohttps://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Firefox_OS_build_prerequisites#Have_a_compatible_device_or_use_an_emulator https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/... Galaxy Nexus is specified as a Tier 3 device. :)