Two Firefox OS developer phones hit the market

[Shawn Knight]

The first mobile phones running Mozilla’s Firefox OS are shipping today from a small Spanish company called Geekphone. The two budget handsets, the Keon and the Peak, are geared for developers that want to create apps for the new open-source mobile operating system.

The Keon includes a 3.5-inch multitouch display, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 7225AB processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, tri-band UMTS/HSPA radio, a 3-megapixel rear camera, GPS receiver, proximity sensor, accelerometer and a 1,580mAh battery.

The more powerful Peak ships with a 4.3-inch qHD IPS multitouch display, dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 8225 processor, 512MB of system memory, 4GB of flash storage, tri-band UMTs/HSPA radio, an 8-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, GPS receiver, proximity sensor, accelerometer and a larger 1,800mAh battery pack.

Neither handset is overly impressive spec-wise but that’s all part of the plan as Firefox OS is targeting lower income markets like Brazil. Pricing reflects the target audience as the Keon smartphone retails for 110 euros including VAT ($143) while you can expect to shell out 179 euros including VAT ($234) for the Peak. For comparison, the recently released HTC One retails for $575 in the US with Apple’s iPhone 5 starting at $649 unlocked and contract-free.

Keep in mind once again that these handsets are designed with developers in mind. Consumer-oriented smartphones running Firefox OS aren’t expected until later this year when some larger carriers deliver them to market. Either way, Firefox has a lot riding on the success of these two handsets.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/52330-two-firefox-os-developer-phones-hit-the-market.html

 

[Jad Chaar]

I cant believe these things sold out in two hours.

 

[Puiu]

They look ok and the specs are good enough for a cheap smartphone. let's hope that the apps will be there when it launches.
another strong competitor in the smartphone OS market is what we need right now.

 

[Jad Chaar]

They look ok and the specs are good enough for a cheap smartphone. let's hope that the apps will be there when it launches.
another strong competitor in the smartphone OS market is what we need right now.

Well, that is where Windows Phone comes in. But they are struggling to make any headway. I think this OS will join Palm in the graveyard. It has more potential though.

 

[waterytowers]

I think Windows Phone is already in the grave.

I will be interested to see how this goes since a phone using web technology for everything could make sense if web apps get access to the hardware through web friendly interfaces. It would be nice to be able to develop a single HTML based app to work on all platforms rather than the native app mess that currently exists.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Every app I have used on iOS that is built on HTML5 is clunky and slow. Native is just better. For example, Facebook ditched HTML5 for their app for both iOS and Android since it was so slow.