Does anyone know which is the cheapest phone that can be hacked to run Firefox OS? As in, is there a port to any of the , for example, the chinese Mediatek SoC-based phones - some of those sell for less than $50, retail. Vast majority sell for less than ~$100. They usually come with Android ICS/JB, but if even one of them has been hacked to run FFOS, i'd sure like to give it a try.
I know that existing Android ROM hacking communities have made some progress too, but I personally use a phone that explicitly supports FirefoxOS (Geeksphone Keon) which I am pretty happy with. I'll probably switch to the new reference device (the Flame) once it is available, although I'm really interested in the $25 Spreadtrum model too.
conversely, are there any expensive phones that can run it yet? i would love to try it on my rooted HTC Jewel (Sprint EVO 4G LTE). currently running CyanogenMod nightlies.
Is there anything particularly remarkable about this release? The release notes make it sound like it really offers nothing more than some bug fixes, and very minor new functionality.
It will be a sign of things to come to see how many releases are supported on the first-generation Firefox OS phone that I have (ZTE Open). This doesn't mention it, and a quick Googling doesn't show any positive signs... anyone know?
I am quite sure that backwards compatibility won't be an issue. As you may know Firefox OS is aimed at low-end phones, so I don't think they plan on ending support for first generation phones… ever?. The only issue is the manufacturer, which has to take care for the Firmware updates for his own handsets. ZTE doesn't look very eager to give its users constant updates.
I guess it will take some time for ZTE to provide 1.3 for their phones, because v1.3 is in pre-release stage for the moment. ZTE took quite some time to provide v1.1, but then 1.2 followed quite quickly [1].
Trunk builds of Firefox OS (version 1.4ish) work fine on my ZTE Open. I doubt they'll see consumer release though. I hope they do but I'm not confident in carriers pushing it.
2# this is not marketed as a substitute to iPhone or even Android. It's mean for people that can't afford high end phones. People that if the choice is a $25 phone without contacts sync or a $100 phone with sync they will take the former.
3# A lot of people are working hard on this project improving it every day. Dismissing it like that for a quite minor thing, yes minor, seems quite childish to me.
The ES6 spec draft is in its final stages of being revised. At this point there shouldn't be any substantial developer-facing changes except to a few final things that are being ironed out (mainly modules).
The features that are being shipped in Firefox are ones that are stable in the draft spec and not expected to change. At the point of spec stability, these features need to be actually tested in broader distribution to help find any potential compatibility corner cases, similar to the issues found with Array.prototype.values [1].
"New Array methods have been implemented: Array.prototype.keys"
Dafuq.
Yes I'm aware how Arrays are just objects in JS but please stop bastardizing the Array data type even further. This is also part of ES6 so I don't blame Mozilla for implementing it.
Arrays in javascript are not what you might think. They are defined by the spec to be maps where certain keys (those that are string representations of Uint32 numbers) are treated differently, and a magic property length which is always one more than the largest such key.
They are not necessarily dense - there can be gaps, and any kind of relationship to a contiguous block of memory is purely at the discretion of the implementation.
I presume that your complaint is really about calling such a thing an array, because a 'keys' method is certainly not a further bastardization of what was already in the spec.
What do you mean by bastardizing? I'm not sure when I'd ever use Array.keys, but it seems like it could be potentially useful -- and more importantly, totally in the spirit of JavaScript.
[+] [-] ghoul2|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rhelmer|12 years ago|reply
Right now the least expensive phone you can buy right now that FirefoxOS definitely works on (that I am aware of) is the ZTE Open.
There isn't any official effort from Mozilla to port to existing devices that I know of, but there is a porting guide if you want to get your hands dirty: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Porting
I know that existing Android ROM hacking communities have made some progress too, but I personally use a phone that explicitly supports FirefoxOS (Geeksphone Keon) which I am pretty happy with. I'll probably switch to the new reference device (the Flame) once it is available, although I'm really interested in the $25 Spreadtrum model too.
[+] [-] zz1|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pekk|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] leeoniya|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mcpherrinm|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gkanai|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Pacabel|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fabrice_d|12 years ago|reply
New features in apps and some other big changes (like the use of async panning and zooming in the graphics stack) are not covered in this document.
I guess we'll have more user-oriented release notes soon.
[+] [-] ChrisAntaki|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] soapdog|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zurn|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zz1|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] makmanalp|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reirob|12 years ago|reply
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/01/upgrading-your-zte-open-to...
[+] [-] yetfeo|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sleepyhead|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] duiker101|12 years ago|reply
2# this is not marketed as a substitute to iPhone or even Android. It's mean for people that can't afford high end phones. People that if the choice is a $25 phone without contacts sync or a $100 phone with sync they will take the former.
3# A lot of people are working hard on this project improving it every day. Dismissing it like that for a quite minor thing, yes minor, seems quite childish to me.
[+] [-] zz1|12 years ago|reply
Please add your vote to the issue.
[+] [-] cromwellian|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Benvie|12 years ago|reply
The features that are being shipped in Firefox are ones that are stable in the draft spec and not expected to change. At the point of spec stability, these features need to be actually tested in broader distribution to help find any potential compatibility corner cases, similar to the issues found with Array.prototype.values [1].
[1] http://www.esdiscuss.org/topic/array-prototype-values-breaks...
[+] [-] gojomo|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cpeterso|12 years ago|reply
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Firefox_OS_Si...
[+] [-] zz1|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zymhan|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frik|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nroose|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pekk|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kryptiskt|12 years ago|reply
FirefoxOS, Mozilla's, no VC funding.
Ubuntu, Canonical is funded by Shuttleworth.
Android was a startup once upon a time before Google bought it, but that was before iOS was out.
The only actual VC-funded entry is the one you omit, Jolla.
[+] [-] lillycat|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rubiquity|12 years ago|reply
Dafuq.
Yes I'm aware how Arrays are just objects in JS but please stop bastardizing the Array data type even further. This is also part of ES6 so I don't blame Mozilla for implementing it.
[+] [-] kybernetikos|12 years ago|reply
They are not necessarily dense - there can be gaps, and any kind of relationship to a contiguous block of memory is purely at the discretion of the implementation.
I presume that your complaint is really about calling such a thing an array, because a 'keys' method is certainly not a further bastardization of what was already in the spec.
[+] [-] Benvie|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gkoberger|12 years ago|reply