9 ms·

Firefox OS on Android Devices

232 points by ndesaulniers 11y ago

davidbanham 11y ago
It's a little slow on my Nexus 6, but really surprisingly usable. The fact that this is even possible is pretty great. I've been getting more and more frustrated with Android lately, but being able to do things like this is still a really great feature. Very neat way to get a feel for Firefox OS without the need for new hardware.
- piyush_soni 11y ago
  Probably even slower on my Nexus 5, took some time to show up, and crashed as soon as I clicked on the top search bar. Agreed it's a great thing that we can do it, but I guess I'll have to wait for Firefox OS to become really polished.
  - sdalfakj 11y ago
    I wouldn't hope too much. Firefox the browser crashes when I browse imgur on my Galaxy Nexus, so god knows what Firefox the OS will do.
drzaiusapelord 11y ago
> let you use Gaia (the user interface of FirefoxOS) on your Android device, as an alternative homescreen. So.. this is just a launcher? Not anything to do with actually running an OS, just pretty icons and such? Shame. I was really looking forward to some kind of dual-boot or co-exist setup. I guess FFOS is in the same place a lot of small and hobbyist projects are at - without the marketshare of android, you simple do not have drivers available for your platform and considering the closed nature of most SoC's, its impossible to write you own. Its kinda sad that smartphones didnt evolve like PCs. Drivers and specs have become proprietary trade secrets and that hurts us all. That said, a FFOS Android distro would be pretty nice, especially if it broke away from the Google world of google play services, play store, etc. Imagine CM but without all the suckitude. I could see that having a chance and the driver problem would be solved.
- cpeterso 11y ago
  > without the marketshare of android, you simple do not have drivers available for your platform Firefox OS uses Android's kernel and userspace so it has just as many drivers as Android.
  - mkesper 11y ago
    ...as AOSP. That at least doesn't include special drivers (e.g. cameras, FM radio).
    - cpeterso 11y ago
      That's a good point. I think the interesting thing is that Android drivers do exist for all these device features, so any ODM that has an Android device could respin it as a Firefox OS device.
    - soylentcola 11y ago
      Right. As more of an enthusiast than any sort of developer (I've flashed my share of third party Android builds but never tried to create my own) I've always understood this to be why anyone can't just port the latest version of Android to a given device. Drivers need to be baked in and without access to proprietary driver code, you're still beholden to OEMs unless your hardware is supported by AOSP. Am I close or way off?
- bsimpson 11y ago
  I haven't played with it, but if I had to take a guess, it should be functionally equivalent to FFOS (for apps, anyway). The closest parallel may be the iOS Simulator - it gives you access to the iOS APIs on your Mac. This _should_ allow you to run FFOS apps on your Android device. Since the userspace of FFOS all runs on web tech, if this has enough of the runtime to power the homescreen, it should be able to power the apps too.
- nolanl 11y ago
  You can dual-boot FXOS and Android using MultiROM. I wrote some instructions for Nexus 5 here: https://github.com/nolanlawson/nexus-5-triple-play#readme https://github.com/nolanlawson/nexus-5-triple-play#readme
tofupup 11y ago
why ... as a current firefox os user ... can't wait to get back to andriod.
- darklajid 11y ago
  As a user of a ~$800 Android flagship phone I can't wait for the day that I can leave this to rot to use my Flame (or install FxOS on this device, but .. yeah. Exynos, the worst of the worst thing you can buy today. Don't do it. Never do it). No use derailing the thread, this project is cool!
  - ionised 11y ago
    Same. I'm really looking for an excuse to leave Android entirely and iOS isn't desirable for me either. Firefox OS sounds ideal if it pans out well.
- MacsHeadroom 11y ago
  As a current owner of the current top of the line iOS, Android, and FirefoxOS devices. I would LOVE to ditch Android and iOS for FirefoxOS on high-end android hardware. Android shares more and more information with every app on your phone, with each update (ex. every app get your Google email address and all wifi networks, even with "no special permissions"). iOS is closed source and walled off. FirefoxOS is a refreshing change. For the first time there is a usable mobile OS that puts users in control of everything.
jharohit 11y ago
tried using on my LG G3. it's "runs" for now. But very slow and laggy at the moment,low res, etc.
chenzhekl 11y ago
The experience is really bad. slow and laggy on my Snapdragon 801.
bentcorner 11y ago
If anyone is interested in trying out Firefox OS, Multiboot is a great way to try it out (if your device is supported by multiboot). Truth be told, I don't know if running Firefox OS through multiboot has any caveats, but it worked for me when I tried it.
capnhooke 11y ago
One thing I really liked about this was the vertical scrolling of the home screen. I think it would be cool if Android did this with their home screens. That seems to be how we naturally read on our devices (webpages, news apps, email etc), so why should we have to horizontal swipe to change screens?
- _davidd_ 11y ago
  It does this now in Android M
  - ChronosKey 11y ago
    That's for the app drawer only isn't it?
    - on_and_off 11y ago
      yep, only for the app drawer and I don't think that this new drawer design is final (or at least I hope so).
  - hbosch 11y ago
    One quibble: this interaction is for the All Apps drawer/card, not the home screen(s) a.k.a. "widget panels".
- minusSeven 11y ago
  I believe it is customizable by applying different themes.
- the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
  > so why should we have to horizontal swipe to change screens? Because you change screens and you don't scroll. As the swipe motion is over more than 80% of the screen that would not work from top to bottom, only scrolling feels natural.
- Bjartr 11y ago
  You can definitely get vertically scrolling launchers on Android.
amolgupta 11y ago
Did not work on Nexus 5 with M-Preview build.
pjmlp 11y ago
From the technical point of view, it is a cool project. From the business point of view, I don't see any value over the existing options.
- oblio 11y ago
  From a business point of view Firefox didn't make much sense either. After all, we had Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera as perfectly viable browsers.
  - arm 11y ago
    Firefox existed before Safari.
  - Aissen 11y ago
    I'm pretty sure Firefox predates Safari: https://www.google.com/search?q=firefox+launch+date https://www.google.com/search?q=firefox+launch+date https://www.google.com/search?q=safari+launch+date https://www.google.com/search?q=safari+launch+date
    - fzzzy 11y ago
      "The Firefox project went through many versions before the version 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox#Release_history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox#Release_history
  - rplnt 11y ago
    Opera was still paid at that time.
  - M8 11y ago
    And still doesn't. Who could expect Google to start funding Mozilla?
    - dao- 11y ago
      Google didn't donate money to Mozilla (not large-scale anyway), it paid for being the default search engine just like it pays Apple and Opera, for instance. Very traditional business deal.
TryToCatch 11y ago
at 2015 firefox aka mozilla is a waste of time and a good way to waste productivity and firefox os is one of the great example. they made open source a business and they use it .. bad ass
- annoying_tech 11y ago
  You could explain this a little bit more?
  - TryToCatch 11y ago
    in less: "Firefox is like: share about us, talk about us, contribute us, do anything for us because we are the real guy of open-web, social, secure, fast, faster, fastest, open-source …." copied from this post https://medium.com/@rakibtg/excuse-me-mozilla-do-not-impose-it-e268fa94705 https://medium.com/@rakibtg/excuse-me-mozilla-do-not-impose-...
teekert 11y ago
Nice way to get a feel but it is very laggy on my MotoG gen 1. I'd love to switch but... Whatsapp... Yeah, I hate it but it is THE thing among my friends. Same thing goes for Ubuntu Phone. Definitely a shame multibooting is not easier then it is now.
- MacsHeadroom 11y ago
  >I'd love to switch but... Whatsapp... Good news, there's a FirefoxOS app for that. http://www.connecta2.im/ http://www.connecta2.im/ See also: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/whatsapp-alternatives-firefox-os https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/whatsapp-alternatives-f...
746F7475 11y ago
So is Firefox OS just Android fork? Because if not then this isn't as much "Firefox OS on Android" as it is "Firefox OS like home screen for Android"
- Yoric 11y ago
  No, Firefox OS is built on top of the same Linux kernel as Android, and can use the same drivers as Android, but that's pretty much the only common stuff.
  - mdwrigh2 11y ago
    Last time I looked, Gonk used a significant amount of Android code as well that wasn't drivers[1]. That being said, they are fairly significantly different at a few levels. [1]: https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/widget/gonk/libui/ https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/widget/gonk/l... is pretty much all taken from Android.
    - zz1 11y ago
      Gonk being the Linux level of Firefox OS, the parent comment is right.
      - mdwrigh2 11y ago
        Sure, Gonk is below the application level, but it isn't the kernel nor is it drivers.
      - kllrnohj 11y ago
        No, because Linux is a kernel and Gonk is more than a kernel. Parent is both technically incorrect as well as semantically incorrect. FirefoxOS uses a large amount of Google-written Android code.
- wodenokoto 11y ago
  The way that I understand it is, that since Firefox OS literally runs on Firefox, you really only need to install Firefox in order to run the OS. So in this case you are running Firefox OS on Firefox on Android. That is obviously not ideal, but fine for testing.
alexnewman 11y ago
I love firefox on my phone. This is unusable on my 1 + 1
trendroid 11y ago
I enjoyed the experience but now I want to get rid of it. How do I uninstall it?
- throwaway41597 11y ago
  Look for the original Android settings app on the launch screen and do the regular uninstall from the application list.
  - trendroid 11y ago
    I was looking for b2gdroid when I wrote my question. Forgot that the app is called 'Fennec fabric' for some god knows what reason.

232 points by ndesaulniers 11y ago

It's a little slow on my Nexus 6, but really surprisingly usable. The fact that this is even possible is pretty great. I've been getting more and more frustrated with Android lately, but being able to do things like this is still a really great feature. Very neat way to get a feel for Firefox OS without the need for new hardware.

piyush_soni 11y ago
Probably even slower on my Nexus 5, took some time to show up, and crashed as soon as I clicked on the top search bar. Agreed it's a great thing that we can do it, but I guess I'll have to wait for Firefox OS to become really polished.
- sdalfakj 11y ago
  I wouldn't hope too much. Firefox the browser crashes when I browse imgur on my Galaxy Nexus, so god knows what Firefox the OS will do.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago

> let you use Gaia (the user interface of FirefoxOS) on your Android device, as an alternative homescreen. So.. this is just a launcher? Not anything to do with actually running an OS, just pretty icons and such? Shame. I was really looking forward to some kind of dual-boot or co-exist setup. I guess FFOS is in the same place a lot of small and hobbyist projects are at - without the marketshare of android, you simple do not have drivers available for your platform and considering the closed nature of most SoC's, its impossible to write you own. Its kinda sad that smartphones didnt evolve like PCs. Drivers and specs have become proprietary trade secrets and that hurts us all. That said, a FFOS Android distro would be pretty nice, especially if it broke away from the Google world of google play services, play store, etc. Imagine CM but without all the suckitude. I could see that having a chance and the driver problem would be solved.

cpeterso 11y ago
> without the marketshare of android, you simple do not have drivers available for your platform Firefox OS uses Android's kernel and userspace so it has just as many drivers as Android.
- mkesper 11y ago
  ...as AOSP. That at least doesn't include special drivers (e.g. cameras, FM radio).
  - cpeterso 11y ago
    That's a good point. I think the interesting thing is that Android drivers do exist for all these device features, so any ODM that has an Android device could respin it as a Firefox OS device.
  - soylentcola 11y ago
    Right. As more of an enthusiast than any sort of developer (I've flashed my share of third party Android builds but never tried to create my own) I've always understood this to be why anyone can't just port the latest version of Android to a given device. Drivers need to be baked in and without access to proprietary driver code, you're still beholden to OEMs unless your hardware is supported by AOSP. Am I close or way off?
bsimpson 11y ago
I haven't played with it, but if I had to take a guess, it should be functionally equivalent to FFOS (for apps, anyway). The closest parallel may be the iOS Simulator - it gives you access to the iOS APIs on your Mac. This _should_ allow you to run FFOS apps on your Android device. Since the userspace of FFOS all runs on web tech, if this has enough of the runtime to power the homescreen, it should be able to power the apps too.
nolanl 11y ago
You can dual-boot FXOS and Android using MultiROM. I wrote some instructions for Nexus 5 here: https://github.com/nolanlawson/nexus-5-triple-play#readme https://github.com/nolanlawson/nexus-5-triple-play#readme

tofupup 11y ago

why ... as a current firefox os user ... can't wait to get back to andriod.

darklajid 11y ago
As a user of a ~$800 Android flagship phone I can't wait for the day that I can leave this to rot to use my Flame (or install FxOS on this device, but .. yeah. Exynos, the worst of the worst thing you can buy today. Don't do it. Never do it). No use derailing the thread, this project is cool!
- ionised 11y ago
  Same. I'm really looking for an excuse to leave Android entirely and iOS isn't desirable for me either. Firefox OS sounds ideal if it pans out well.
MacsHeadroom 11y ago
As a current owner of the current top of the line iOS, Android, and FirefoxOS devices. I would LOVE to ditch Android and iOS for FirefoxOS on high-end android hardware. Android shares more and more information with every app on your phone, with each update (ex. every app get your Google email address and all wifi networks, even with "no special permissions"). iOS is closed source and walled off. FirefoxOS is a refreshing change. For the first time there is a usable mobile OS that puts users in control of everything.

jharohit 11y ago

tried using on my LG G3. it's "runs" for now. But very slow and laggy at the moment,low res, etc.

chenzhekl 11y ago

The experience is really bad. slow and laggy on my Snapdragon 801.

bentcorner 11y ago

If anyone is interested in trying out Firefox OS, Multiboot is a great way to try it out (if your device is supported by multiboot). Truth be told, I don't know if running Firefox OS through multiboot has any caveats, but it worked for me when I tried it.

capnhooke 11y ago

One thing I really liked about this was the vertical scrolling of the home screen. I think it would be cool if Android did this with their home screens. That seems to be how we naturally read on our devices (webpages, news apps, email etc), so why should we have to horizontal swipe to change screens?

_davidd_ 11y ago
It does this now in Android M
- ChronosKey 11y ago
  That's for the app drawer only isn't it?
  - on_and_off 11y ago
    yep, only for the app drawer and I don't think that this new drawer design is final (or at least I hope so).
- hbosch 11y ago
  One quibble: this interaction is for the All Apps drawer/card, not the home screen(s) a.k.a. "widget panels".
minusSeven 11y ago
I believe it is customizable by applying different themes.
the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
> so why should we have to horizontal swipe to change screens? Because you change screens and you don't scroll. As the swipe motion is over more than 80% of the screen that would not work from top to bottom, only scrolling feels natural.
Bjartr 11y ago
You can definitely get vertically scrolling launchers on Android.

amolgupta 11y ago

Did not work on Nexus 5 with M-Preview build.

pjmlp 11y ago

From the technical point of view, it is a cool project. From the business point of view, I don't see any value over the existing options.

oblio 11y ago
From a business point of view Firefox didn't make much sense either. After all, we had Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera as perfectly viable browsers.
- arm 11y ago
  Firefox existed before Safari.
- Aissen 11y ago
  I'm pretty sure Firefox predates Safari: https://www.google.com/search?q=firefox+launch+date https://www.google.com/search?q=firefox+launch+date https://www.google.com/search?q=safari+launch+date https://www.google.com/search?q=safari+launch+date
  - fzzzy 11y ago
    "The Firefox project went through many versions before the version 1.0 was released on November 9, 2004." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox#Release_history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox#Release_history
- rplnt 11y ago
  Opera was still paid at that time.
- M8 11y ago
  And still doesn't. Who could expect Google to start funding Mozilla?
  - dao- 11y ago
    Google didn't donate money to Mozilla (not large-scale anyway), it paid for being the default search engine just like it pays Apple and Opera, for instance. Very traditional business deal.

TryToCatch 11y ago

at 2015 firefox aka mozilla is a waste of time and a good way to waste productivity and firefox os is one of the great example. they made open source a business and they use it .. bad ass

annoying_tech 11y ago
You could explain this a little bit more?
- TryToCatch 11y ago
  in less: "Firefox is like: share about us, talk about us, contribute us, do anything for us because we are the real guy of open-web, social, secure, fast, faster, fastest, open-source …." copied from this post https://medium.com/@rakibtg/excuse-me-mozilla-do-not-impose-it-e268fa94705 https://medium.com/@rakibtg/excuse-me-mozilla-do-not-impose-...

teekert 11y ago

Nice way to get a feel but it is very laggy on my MotoG gen 1. I'd love to switch but... Whatsapp... Yeah, I hate it but it is THE thing among my friends. Same thing goes for Ubuntu Phone. Definitely a shame multibooting is not easier then it is now.

MacsHeadroom 11y ago
>I'd love to switch but... Whatsapp... Good news, there's a FirefoxOS app for that. http://www.connecta2.im/ http://www.connecta2.im/ See also: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/whatsapp-alternatives-firefox-os https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/whatsapp-alternatives-f...

746F7475 11y ago

So is Firefox OS just Android fork? Because if not then this isn't as much "Firefox OS on Android" as it is "Firefox OS like home screen for Android"

Yoric 11y ago
No, Firefox OS is built on top of the same Linux kernel as Android, and can use the same drivers as Android, but that's pretty much the only common stuff.
- mdwrigh2 11y ago
  Last time I looked, Gonk used a significant amount of Android code as well that wasn't drivers[1]. That being said, they are fairly significantly different at a few levels. [1]: https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/widget/gonk/libui/ https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/widget/gonk/l... is pretty much all taken from Android.
  - zz1 11y ago
    Gonk being the Linux level of Firefox OS, the parent comment is right.
    - mdwrigh2 11y ago
      Sure, Gonk is below the application level, but it isn't the kernel nor is it drivers.
    - kllrnohj 11y ago
      No, because Linux is a kernel and Gonk is more than a kernel. Parent is both technically incorrect as well as semantically incorrect. FirefoxOS uses a large amount of Google-written Android code.
wodenokoto 11y ago
The way that I understand it is, that since Firefox OS literally runs on Firefox, you really only need to install Firefox in order to run the OS. So in this case you are running Firefox OS on Firefox on Android. That is obviously not ideal, but fine for testing.

alexnewman 11y ago

I love firefox on my phone. This is unusable on my 1 + 1

trendroid 11y ago

I enjoyed the experience but now I want to get rid of it. How do I uninstall it?

throwaway41597 11y ago
Look for the original Android settings app on the launch screen and do the regular uninstall from the application list.
- trendroid 11y ago
  I was looking for b2gdroid when I wrote my question. Forgot that the app is called 'Fennec fabric' for some god knows what reason.