Mozilla cuts the rope on mobile Firefox OS support in May

The struggle to keep alive an underdog operating system in the mobile space is ever-present. Jolla is under immense financial stress partly because of that struggle.  It’s one that’s preventing Microsoft from going anywhere. Some companies, like HP, dare not to give it the time of day.However, Mozilla has actually succumbed to ...

Continue reading »

The post Mozilla cuts the rope on mobile Firefox OS support in May appeared first on Pocketnow.

Firefox OS lives on, as leak reveals internal product concepts

How many mobile operating systems can the market sustain? Right now we’ve got two major players, a third with a lot of potential (and serious backing), a fourth that just can’t seem to die, and a fragmented assortment of hangers on, none yet to achieve real mainstream success. 2015’s been especially hard on those upstarts, and in recent weeks we haven’t just seen Sailfish OS hit hard times, but Firefox OS throw in the towel, with

Continue reading »

The post Firefox OS lives on, as leak reveals internal product concepts appeared first on Pocketnow.

Mozilla sunsets Firefox OS smartphones, gives rise to Focus ad blocker

Mozilla imaged an entirely new development medium for those who were interested in the Firefox OS 2.5, but weren’t willing to take the complete dive: by packaging an easy-to-install Android launcher and sending it right to you. Turns out it’s not going to be of much use to those devs anymore. In fact, the platform is now dead.At least on the smartphone side. Mozilla senior vice president of connected devices Ari ...

Continue reading »

The post Mozilla sunsets Firefox OS smartphones, gives rise to Focus ad blocker appeared first on Pocketnow.

Developer preview of Firefox OS 2.5 is an Android app

It’s been a long time since Firefox OS has been relevant. Last time we wrote on it, it was on a fairly tacky and transparent gold-colored phone. While Firefox OS is based on Linux, the R&D team at Mozilla have been building bridges to make the operating system more accessible to existing devices rather than (the lack of) proprietary ones.The official version 2.5 download for Firefox OS ...

Continue reading »

The post Developer preview of Firefox OS 2.5 is an Android app appeared first on Pocketnow.

Tizen overtakes BlackBerry for fourth place in Q3 2015 mobile OS ranks

BlackBerry made a controversial move when finally jumping on the Android bandwagon, and while the financially struggling Canadian company insists it remains committed to its own proprietary platform, throwing in the OS towel altogether seems the right call nowadays.It started looking that way a long time ago, to be honest, as BlackBerry OS not only fell considerably behind the two market leaders holding the industry in a dangerous duopoly situation, but also lost contact with the bronze medalist.Needless to highlight ...

Continue reading »

The post Tizen overtakes BlackBerry for fourth place in Q3 2015 mobile OS ranks appeared first on Pocketnow.

Alternate smartphone platforms: where are they now?

They say variety is the spice of life. It’s also one of the driving factors behind innovation. As long as there are a set of standards that are reasonably agreed upon, devices on various carrier networks, built by different OEMs, and even running different operating systems can co-exist in a technological ecosystem that promotes innovation without hurting interoperability.Unfortunately, with only two or three players of any significance in the game, we’re left with a false sense of innovation, and technological progress is stifled. Just look at a few recent examples:The Apple ...

Continue reading »

The post Alternate smartphone platforms: where are they now? appeared first on Pocketnow.

Will HTC release a Firefox OS smartphone?

When you’re not a major mobile operating system, getting attention from hardware manufacturers can be tricky. To a degree, that’s true for Firefox OS, but it’s still managed to find some love from big names: Sony’s experimented with the platform, ZTE’s delivered Firefox OS phones, and we just saw LG build that cool ...

Continue reading »

The post Will HTC release a Firefox OS smartphone? appeared first on Pocketnow.

LG’s Firefox Fx0 transparent phone hands-on (Video)

Firefox OS has been around for some time now, but it’s lacked really stand-out hardware. A big part of that is how the platform is positioned, and with a focus on developing markets and budget-priced handsets, it’s been hard for any phones to really shine. But then late last month we saw the launch of a Firefox phone that couldn’t help itself but to be eye-catching: the LG-made Fx0 for Japan.Now, Japan is a long way to go to check out a smartphone – even one with as snazzy a design as the Fx0. But luckily for us, this ...

Continue reading »

The post LG’s Firefox Fx0 transparent phone hands-on (Video) appeared first on Pocketnow.

Alcatel launches triple-platform smartphone, round-screened affordable smartwatch

It’s been a long time coming, but smartphones that share the same hardware across disparate operating systems are finally starting to go mainstream. Sure, models like the HTC HD2 have managed to run nearly every OS under the sun thanks to a dedicated dev community, but we’re talking commercial support here: like how HTC introduced that Windows Phone version of its One M8. Now Alcatel Onetouch is the latest ...

Continue reading »

The post Alcatel launches triple-platform smartphone, round-screened affordable smartwatch appeared first on Pocketnow.

Japan’s first Firefox OS phone may be best-looking yet

Upstart smartphone platforms have their work cut out for them. The market has become increasingly a three-man race, with Android, iOS, and Windows Phone succeeding while past players like BlackBerry fade into the background. Getting a foot in the door there is a huge obstacle, and platforms like Sailfish, Ubuntu, and Firefox OS continue to struggle to do so. Among them, Firefox OS has had the problem of being largely targeted at users who needed quite basic phones, and much of the hardware that’s ...

Continue reading »

The post Japan’s first Firefox OS phone may be best-looking yet appeared first on Pocketnow.

Firefox OS goes after first-time smartphone users with sub-$40 model in India

What comes to mind when we talk about an extremely budget-priced smartphone? Something like the Nokia Lumia 530? Maybe the Motorola Moto E? Aggressively low prices can be key to adoption in markets where smartphones are still making inroads upon the populace, as we see in recently industrialized nations like India. There, you might pay the equivalent of $145 for that Lumia 530 or $120 for that Moto E – cheaper than many ...

Continue reading »

The post Firefox OS goes after first-time smartphone users with sub-$40 model in India appeared first on Pocketnow.

ZTE starts sales of latest Firefox OS phone early on eBay

ZTE is one OEMs that’s been eager to embrace new platforms, and last year we saw it get started with Firefox OS hardware. Back at MWC in February we learned of its next efforts, as the company announced the Firefox OS 1.3-running ZTE Open C . We didn’t have much in the way of a firm release date at the time, and not being a particularly high-profile model to begin with, it managed to slip off our radar in recent months. But now the ZTE Open C is back in a big way, as ...

Continue reading »

The post ZTE starts sales of latest Firefox OS phone early on eBay appeared first on Pocketnow.

Firefox OS 2.0 teased in new preview images

Back in February during the Mobile World Congress, Mozilla was busy talking about what’s next for its Firefox OS, an alternative to mainstream smartphone platforms we saw debut on its first hardware last year. The company talked about changes to how apps would launch, re-worked gesture inputs, and basically an overhaul to the platform’s interface as we knew it. It’s still a while before we’ll see any new phones running this Firefox OS 2.0, but this week we catch a bit of an early preview, with the publication of a ...

Continue reading »

The post Firefox OS 2.0 teased in new preview images appeared first on Pocketnow.

Sony continues with the Firefox OS love, creates widget framework

Firefox OS didn’t really make any big waves when it arrived last year, but despite an underwhelming start, the platform has some nice momentum to it, and with some crazy low-cost handsets on the way in 2014, its chances are looking up. Quite a few OEMs have shown interest in Firefox OS to one extent or the other, a list that includes Sony. While Sony hasn’t released any stand-alone Firefox OS device, last winter we saw the company release an experimental ROM for its ...

Continue reading »

The post Sony continues with the Firefox OS love, creates widget framework appeared first on Pocketnow.