5 ms·

Firefox OS Update Adds New Features, Performance Improvements

111 points by conductor 13y ago

saidajigumi 13y ago
Ah, good. The end of this post provides a link to Mozilla's page on purchasing the ZTE OPEN unlocked developer/early adopter hardware[1]. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Developer_phone_guide/ZTE_OPEN https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/...
- 01Michael10 13y ago
  I just impulse bought one so can mess around with some app development on Firefox OS.
possibilistic 13y ago
It's times like this when I really wish I wasn't on Verizon and locked into their proprietary wireless protocols. I would love to buy this hardware and check out FFOS.
- untog 13y ago
  You can buy one and just use it on Wi-Fi. To be honest, you wouldn't want it to be your daily phone yet. It's not there, but it's on the way.
mrbill 13y ago
Now if they would just fix the "update/reboot/update/reboot" endless cycle on the software that came on the ZTE Open... It wants to repeatedly reapply the same update over and over.
- msujaws 13y ago
  Maybe https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Developer_phone_guide/ZTE_OPEN#Revision_01 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/... will help you?
xenophonf 13y ago
I just finished building Boot2Gecko's emulator-x86 after reading about the ZTE Open on HN a few weeks ago. I'm really excited by Firefox OS - so much that I can't wait to ditch my iPhone for one of the B2G dev kits.
- soapdog 13y ago
  Hi, You don't need to build B2G on your own. The only thing you need to try things out is the Firefox OS Simulator extension available at: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-simulator/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-si... this works only on Firefox of course. I wrote a free quick guide for developing apps for Firefox OS that walks you through this steps, you can fetch it in EPUB, PDF and MOBI from: https://leanpub.com/quickguidefirefoxosdevelopment/ https://leanpub.com/quickguidefirefoxosdevelopment/ Feel free to reach out for us if you need anything. PS: I am a Mozilla Rep.
  - xenophonf 13y ago
    That takes all of the fun out of it. BTW this weekend I will be updating the build docs for people wanting to compile B2G targets under Ubuntu Server 13.10-beta2.
    - soapdog 13y ago
      Thanks for updating those docs! :-D
mattl 13y ago
My ZTE Open arrives today
d0ugie 13y ago
Sounds great, just as long as Mozilla doesn't jump the gun and brazingly decide to implement WebP support before having waited at least five or six years. Due diligence baby, the name of the game, also etiquette, over at bugzilla.
reidrac 13y ago
"Once your phone has fastboot enabled, you will then be able to build and install new Firefox OS/B2G builds on it [...]". Please, make ZTE to push updates or at least provide a binary build to download and install.
pbiggar 13y ago
Does anyone know if Firefox OS is being auto-updated to devices like desktop Firefox is? Auto-shipping a new release every 6 weeks would give them a real leg up against android and ios.
- uulbiy 13y ago
  In theory it is being auto-updated every X weeks (not sure if it's 6). There is also a setting to update immediately when a new release is available which is on on the developer phones. In practice there is a bug[1] and this functionality is currently not working. [1]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/968919 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/968919
dingdingdang 13y ago
So.. they sell these from UK ebay store, can they be used in UK/Europe?
- uulbiy 13y ago
  What exactly do you mean "it can be used"? Do you mean "can it be delivered"? The answer to both questions is yes, you can order from the UK store and it will be delivered and it will work.
  - dingdingdang 13y ago
    I mean: "does it work with local carriers here if I put a generic sim in it from o2.co.uk", I take your answer to mean yes? Which, if the case, is superb, I do not much care for the IOS or Android ecosystem (though much less for the former than the latter) so having Mozilla backed phone would suit me very well!

111 points by conductor 13y ago

Ah, good. The end of this post provides a link to Mozilla's page on purchasing the ZTE OPEN unlocked developer/early adopter hardware[1]. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Developer_phone_guide/ZTE_OPEN https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/...

01Michael10 13y ago
I just impulse bought one so can mess around with some app development on Firefox OS.

possibilistic 13y ago

It's times like this when I really wish I wasn't on Verizon and locked into their proprietary wireless protocols. I would love to buy this hardware and check out FFOS.

untog 13y ago
You can buy one and just use it on Wi-Fi. To be honest, you wouldn't want it to be your daily phone yet. It's not there, but it's on the way.

mrbill 13y ago

Now if they would just fix the "update/reboot/update/reboot" endless cycle on the software that came on the ZTE Open... It wants to repeatedly reapply the same update over and over.

msujaws 13y ago
Maybe https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/Developer_phone_guide/ZTE_OPEN#Revision_01 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/... will help you?

xenophonf 13y ago

I just finished building Boot2Gecko's emulator-x86 after reading about the ZTE Open on HN a few weeks ago. I'm really excited by Firefox OS - so much that I can't wait to ditch my iPhone for one of the B2G dev kits.

soapdog 13y ago
Hi, You don't need to build B2G on your own. The only thing you need to try things out is the Firefox OS Simulator extension available at: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-simulator/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-si... this works only on Firefox of course. I wrote a free quick guide for developing apps for Firefox OS that walks you through this steps, you can fetch it in EPUB, PDF and MOBI from: https://leanpub.com/quickguidefirefoxosdevelopment/ https://leanpub.com/quickguidefirefoxosdevelopment/ Feel free to reach out for us if you need anything. PS: I am a Mozilla Rep.
- xenophonf 13y ago
  That takes all of the fun out of it. BTW this weekend I will be updating the build docs for people wanting to compile B2G targets under Ubuntu Server 13.10-beta2.
  - soapdog 13y ago
    Thanks for updating those docs! :-D

mattl 13y ago

My ZTE Open arrives today

d0ugie 13y ago

Sounds great, just as long as Mozilla doesn't jump the gun and brazingly decide to implement WebP support before having waited at least five or six years. Due diligence baby, the name of the game, also etiquette, over at bugzilla.

reidrac 13y ago

"Once your phone has fastboot enabled, you will then be able to build and install new Firefox OS/B2G builds on it [...]". Please, make ZTE to push updates or at least provide a binary build to download and install.

pbiggar 13y ago

Does anyone know if Firefox OS is being auto-updated to devices like desktop Firefox is? Auto-shipping a new release every 6 weeks would give them a real leg up against android and ios.

uulbiy 13y ago
In theory it is being auto-updated every X weeks (not sure if it's 6). There is also a setting to update immediately when a new release is available which is on on the developer phones. In practice there is a bug[1] and this functionality is currently not working. [1]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/968919 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/968919

dingdingdang 13y ago

So.. they sell these from UK ebay store, can they be used in UK/Europe?

uulbiy 13y ago
What exactly do you mean "it can be used"? Do you mean "can it be delivered"? The answer to both questions is yes, you can order from the UK store and it will be delivered and it will work.
- dingdingdang 13y ago
  I mean: "does it work with local carriers here if I put a generic sim in it from o2.co.uk", I take your answer to mean yes? Which, if the case, is superb, I do not much care for the IOS or Android ecosystem (though much less for the former than the latter) so having Mozilla backed phone would suit me very well!