Having five icons instead of four creates a very weird aesthetic, as the icon of the last app is always partially off-screen. The bottom row of icons includes the Phone and Messaging apps as well as the Firefox Browser, access to the Camera and a Radio app that’s only usable with a connected headset. Long-pressing on the home screen allows users to change their wallpaper with photos from the gallery. However, this gets old really fast when you have to constantly swipe to find your favourite app instead of being able to pin it directly wherever you want. The cleanness of the home screen, where users can’t pin app shortcuts, is quite refreshing at first. Next you’ll see a very predictable home screen coupled with a bottom row of icons for quick access to the phone’s basic functions.
From here you can either unlock your phone or go directly to the camera to snap a pic. The phone greets you with a simple lock screen that can display some notifications, the date and time, and your wallpaper. In fact, Firefox OS looks so much like previous versions of Google’s own mobile progeny that you can easily forget this is actually a brand new operating system.
Instead of taking risks Mozilla chose to be quite conservative in the design department and stuck to the “grid-of-icons” model that was popularised by Apple and quickly copied by Google with Android. If you’re expecting anything new or radically different from Firefox OS I’m sorry to say you’ll be quite disappointed. Note that I’ve broken this review in two sections, the first dealing with the OS itself with the second being reserved for ZTE’s hardware. So how do Firefox OS and the ZTE Open stack up against incredibly fierce competition from Microsoft, Nokia, Google and Samsung? Read on to find out.
We’ve seen bits and pieces of the nascent OS at different events around the world, not to mention the number of times we’ve seen it ported to existing Android devices, but now we finally have an official product on the market, backed by a Chinese OEM, ZTE, and a number of carriers around the world. So when an organization such as Mozilla, makers of the once uber-popular Firefox browser, decides to move way beyond its comfort zone and try to make a full-fledged mobile operating system, you know people will be paying attention.įirefox OS is the result of this long-term bet for Mozilla and, even though it’s still in its very early stages, it has its fair share of fans and enthusiasts. It’s what’s been happening in the mobile market for the last six years now and it’s what starting to happen, once again, to the computing market in general. It’s never easy, it usually comes with a lot of criticism and birthing pains, and if they make it to the other side, they’ll never be the same again. You have to respect a company or organization that tries to reinvent itself.