4 ms·

Mozilla Launches Firefox OS Simulator 3.0

124 points by Lightning 13y ago

tallowen 13y ago
Just to clarify the simulator is now version 3.0, not the OS itself. Here is a link from Mozilla explaining whats new in the new version of the simulator: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/05/firefox-os-simulator-3-0-released/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/05/firefox-os-simulator-3-0-r...
tcdowney 13y ago
Now if only their developer phones were easier to get a hold of. I was totally ready to impulse buy a Keon last week, but I missed the initial rush on them.
skizm 13y ago
Is there any way to get your hands a dev phone without being a mobile app developer rockstar (I assume they give them away to these guys/girls)? Alternatively is there a method to get your hands on the OS and load it on an android phone to play around with? The simulator is great and all but I love seeing the finished product on an actual phone.
- dagurp 13y ago
  http://www.geeksphone.com/ http://www.geeksphone.com/ Went on sale about a week ago. I think they're sold out though
  - LukeShu 13y ago
    They put a few more up every day. Each day they go through the cycle: - shop is down, has a white page saying that the shop will be up again "in the following hours" - the shop goes live - the shop sells out - the shop is up, but says "Out of stock" on product pages
- johansch 13y ago
  I think they are afraid of showing real-world performance to soon...
  - fabrice_d 13y ago
    Everything was developed in the open from day 1. We are not hiding anything there. If you get a Keon from Geeksphone, you'll get a good idea of how it performs on low-end hardware similar to the one that will be sold by the first carriers. And it's pretty good I think. (disclaimer: I'm a Mozilla employee working on b2g)
- cji 13y ago
  If you can't snag a developer phone, there is support for building it for a limited number of android handsets. Compatible devices: https://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/... Installation: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Installing_on_a_mobile_device https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/...
- doublec 13y ago
  It runs ok on a Nexus S http://bluishcoder.co.nz/2013/04/22/running-firefox-os-on-nexus-s.html http://bluishcoder.co.nz/2013/04/22/running-firefox-os-on-ne...
antihero 13y ago
Wow, it looks like a really slick OS. I think it'll be neat seeing web-apps as first class citizens - it never made sense to me why we have to use Objective-C or Java just to make some UI or whatever.
- clauretano 13y ago
  Somewhere, a former Palm webOS engineer is reading your comment and crying.
- drothlis 13y ago
  And you can even test your FirefoxOS apps with the Selenium WebDriver API! Mozilla's talk about testing FirefoxOS, at the Google Test Automation Conference last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X41eqcmC2Dk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X41eqcmC2Dk Writeup: http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/548910/9c5d6bd1bd69f34c/ http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/548910/9c5d6bd1bd69f34c/ Demo of automated UI test using Appium to test an app on the FirefoxOS simulator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J0aXDbjiUE#t=34m30s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J0aXDbjiUE#t=34m30s
- vidarh 13y ago
  Having to deal ludicrously overcomplicated environments is what's kept me from writing apps for my own use for my Android phone. I recently took to the decidedly suboptimal choice (on Android) of "simply" writing js/html apps with localstorage as a workaround, so an OS that is designed to actually make apps written that way a first class citizen will be awesome.
ndesaulniers 13y ago
If you're interested in seeing the code for it, it's made with love and open sourced up on github. Please try it out and leave us some constructive criticism in our issue tracker: https://github.com/mozilla/r2d2b2g/issues?state=open https://github.com/mozilla/r2d2b2g/issues?state=open
zo65aLVnK 13y ago
is Firefox OS based on Android?
- Mikeb85 13y ago
  I think it has some lower-level Android bits, I don't believe it has Dalvik though...
- bru 13y ago
  Did you even look up your question on a search engine before asking it? The dedicated Wikipedia page has all the information you are looking for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS (spoiler: no it is not)
  - lucian1900 13y ago
    Correction: yes, it is; it uses Android kernels.

124 points by Lightning 13y ago

Just to clarify the simulator is now version 3.0, not the OS itself. Here is a link from Mozilla explaining whats new in the new version of the simulator: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/05/firefox-os-simulator-3-0-released/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/05/firefox-os-simulator-3-0-r...

tcdowney 13y ago

Now if only their developer phones were easier to get a hold of. I was totally ready to impulse buy a Keon last week, but I missed the initial rush on them.

skizm 13y ago

Is there any way to get your hands a dev phone without being a mobile app developer rockstar (I assume they give them away to these guys/girls)? Alternatively is there a method to get your hands on the OS and load it on an android phone to play around with? The simulator is great and all but I love seeing the finished product on an actual phone.

dagurp 13y ago
http://www.geeksphone.com/ http://www.geeksphone.com/ Went on sale about a week ago. I think they're sold out though
- LukeShu 13y ago
  They put a few more up every day. Each day they go through the cycle: - shop is down, has a white page saying that the shop will be up again "in the following hours" - the shop goes live - the shop sells out - the shop is up, but says "Out of stock" on product pages
johansch 13y ago
I think they are afraid of showing real-world performance to soon...
- fabrice_d 13y ago
  Everything was developed in the open from day 1. We are not hiding anything there. If you get a Keon from Geeksphone, you'll get a good idea of how it performs on low-end hardware similar to the one that will be sold by the first carriers. And it's pretty good I think. (disclaimer: I'm a Mozilla employee working on b2g)
cji 13y ago
If you can't snag a developer phone, there is support for building it for a limited number of android handsets. Compatible devices: https://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/... Installation: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Installing_on_a_mobile_device https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/...
doublec 13y ago
It runs ok on a Nexus S http://bluishcoder.co.nz/2013/04/22/running-firefox-os-on-nexus-s.html http://bluishcoder.co.nz/2013/04/22/running-firefox-os-on-ne...

antihero 13y ago

Wow, it looks like a really slick OS. I think it'll be neat seeing web-apps as first class citizens - it never made sense to me why we have to use Objective-C or Java just to make some UI or whatever.

clauretano 13y ago
Somewhere, a former Palm webOS engineer is reading your comment and crying.
drothlis 13y ago
And you can even test your FirefoxOS apps with the Selenium WebDriver API! Mozilla's talk about testing FirefoxOS, at the Google Test Automation Conference last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X41eqcmC2Dk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X41eqcmC2Dk Writeup: http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/548910/9c5d6bd1bd69f34c/ http://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/548910/9c5d6bd1bd69f34c/ Demo of automated UI test using Appium to test an app on the FirefoxOS simulator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J0aXDbjiUE#t=34m30s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J0aXDbjiUE#t=34m30s
vidarh 13y ago
Having to deal ludicrously overcomplicated environments is what's kept me from writing apps for my own use for my Android phone. I recently took to the decidedly suboptimal choice (on Android) of "simply" writing js/html apps with localstorage as a workaround, so an OS that is designed to actually make apps written that way a first class citizen will be awesome.

ndesaulniers 13y ago

If you're interested in seeing the code for it, it's made with love and open sourced up on github. Please try it out and leave us some constructive criticism in our issue tracker: https://github.com/mozilla/r2d2b2g/issues?state=open https://github.com/mozilla/r2d2b2g/issues?state=open

zo65aLVnK 13y ago

is Firefox OS based on Android?

Mikeb85 13y ago
I think it has some lower-level Android bits, I don't believe it has Dalvik though...
bru 13y ago
Did you even look up your question on a search engine before asking it? The dedicated Wikipedia page has all the information you are looking for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS (spoiler: no it is not)
- lucian1900 13y ago
  Correction: yes, it is; it uses Android kernels.