Mozilla Announces Two Firefox OS Phones

However, they are not for consumers. These Firefox OS (formerly Boot to Gecko) phones are being made by a Spanish company GeekPhone for the purpose of allowing developers to create apps for the new platform.

Currently there are two phones the Keon and Peak which both house 4 GB of ROM, 512 MB of RAM, a MicroSD slot, 802.11n wireless networking, light and proximity sensors, GPS, an accelerometer, as well as a camera flash. The lower end Keon has a 1GHz Qualcom Snapdragon S1 processor, 3.5-inch screen, 1,580mAh battery and a 3-megapixel camera. While the higher end Peak has a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 4.3-inch screen, 1,800mAh battery and an 8-megapixel camera.

Some of the comments I have seen regarding this announcement are complaining that specs are not that great. However, there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • As of now these are being made for developers to create Apps for the Mozilla OS. These phones may have greater ‘power’ once they are released to the consumer market.
  • The Mozilla OS may not be as resource hungry as say Android, Windows OS or iOS (Apple).
  • Given the ‘lower end’ specs it could make the phones less expensive. Great for people who want a smartphone, but may not want or need all the bells and whistles that come with the current smartphones. These are the people who don’t want to spend a car or rent payment (or more if you don’t want to enter into a contract) for a new phone.

Also, there are concerns Mozilla may be too late into the Smartphone Market (sort like Microsoft is with the Tablet Market). Too early to tell now, the biggest factor once these do become available in the consumer market is going to be price and the actual specs. This is where Microsoft has really been hurting in the Tablet Market with the Surface.

via Tom’s Hardware