LG launches Firefox phone in Brazil | Hacker News Reader

LG launches Firefox phone in Brazil

news.cnet.com

123 pointsdaleharvey35 comments

Niche marketing: a segment neglected/underserved by big players, with strong communication ties within it, that can spread to related markets.

Portuguese is the main language of Brazil, and adapting to those speakers and customs may lead to Portugal and the other seven Portuguese-speaking nations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language I expect it might also lead to Spanish speaking countries better than does English. BONUS: Brazil's developer community was strong enough to produce Lua - other non-English speaking countries with a similar claim include Japan (Ruby) and the Netherlands (Python). (Though to be fair, internet collaboration overshadows local community.)

Counterpoint: the popularity of Google's Orkut in Brazil didn't lead to other markets... so it might be a tricky strategy to pull off.

Interesting tidbit - Google started devrel for Android in Portuguese - https://www.youtube.com/user/androiddevelopers/search?query=...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusophone

Hey you forgot France for the OCaml language. I'm learning its improved clone F#, it's a very pleasant language.

I'm happy for Mozilla, but I hope OEM's start experimenting with another native open source OS like Ubuntu Touch, too.

Agree. We need more phones that let people install whatever applications they are building, without locking in centralized app stores, or by forcing to use some technology that dont let people get into the phones internals..

A simple, open and hackable OS.. where you can create a simple main() in c and go from there.. then you can embed Lua or webkit+JS if you like to...

Its too much to ask?

I think the Firefox OS actually allows multiple stores and is far less locked down than, say iOS.

> without locking in centralized app stores,

in that statement i was looking at iOS, for sure

> or by forcing to use some technology that dont let people get into the phones internals

That one was created especifically with FirefoxOS in mind..

and before anyone ask: NO, Emscripten doenst count.. its pure madness this is being pushed like if it were some sort of solution to all of our problems; it can be done, but doenst mean its a good idea..

They should have opened for AOT compiled languages from day 1. Its OK to promote JS + HTML5 as primary target, but marginalizing native will only make this platform a no-go for a lot of very good applications out there.. and even if they can convince people to port to JS , or by going the Emscripten way (something very unlikelly) even than.. the apps will behave like crap.. cause JS, despite all the effort to make it fast, and despite being very fast, and its not there yet.. also the Web itself its not there yet..

Its a cool and romantic vision, but the question is if this will stand against iOS and Android in terms of quality and usability.. if they bet all their chips in HTML and JS only.. i think that is unlikely to happen.. and being in the low end of the phone industry chain; its a pretty harsh place to be

> marginalizing native will only make this platform a no-go for a lot of very good applications out there

Not marginalizing native, not going with JS+HTML5 for the whole interface, also makes it completely uninteresting.

You can't win market-share away from Android unless you target a different market (which is quite difficult, as Android and iOS are everywhere) and/or you're newsworthy. Notice the complete failure of Windows Phone, even with Nokia and Microsoft's muscles behind it. And at least Firefox OS is newsworthy in the sense that (1) it's building a whole OS interface around the web, which makes us web developers happy and (2) the browser is the best sandbox, so in regards to malware you can eliminate the need for "curated" marketplaces.

> NO, Emscripten doenst count.. its pure madness this is being pushed like if it were some sort of solution to all of our problems

Apps compiled with Emscripten run everywhere and they run fine in both Chrome and Firefox. Emscripten is targeting asm.js. On Firefox, asm.js is AOT compiled by the browser. Performance is pretty good too. Many Android developers don't seem to mind writing games in Java, so where's the problem?

> the Web itself its not there yet

Well, that's one the goals of Firefox OS. To push the web forward. As part of its mission statement, Firefox OS will introduce new APIs that will be then pushed for standardization. It's a win-win for everybody.

> stand against iOS and Android in terms of quality and usability

Quality and usability aren't the only things that matter.

> being in the low end of the phone industry chain; its a pretty harsh place to be

That's also the only place where a new operating system has any chance of winning any marketshare whatsoever. It's a seriously ignored market after Nokia dropped the ball.

>A simple, open and hackable OS..

lets hope that like 20+ years ago, somewhere some young Linus is making it right now ...

A Firefox phone is going to be on sale here in Uruguay soon too (sold by Telefónica Movistar):

http://firefox.movistar.com.uy/Content/Images/invitacion_Fir...

http://firefox.movistar.com.uy/Register

Is the LG Fireweb available anywhere outside of Brazil? I was thinking of getting a ZTE Open to play with Firefox OS, but am a bit deterred by reports of how poor its build quality is.

ZTE Open is still 1.0.1, LG Fireweb runs Firefox OS 1.1. If you can get a Fireweb, don't waste your time with the ZTE.

Fully agree with you.

When will it be possible to install a newer FFOS version on the ZTE Open?

This is the best I got:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/975002

I know ZTE Open offered in Spain (via Movistar) got an OTA v1.1 upgrade some days ago (some users are reporting problems).

So... hopefully we'll get an upgrade soon. Who knows, it might even work! :)

EDIT: my frustration is not with Mozilla but with ZTE support that so far has been terrible :(

Anytime you want. It just requires you to build B2G (Firefox OS).

https://blog.non.co.il/index.php/zte-open-phone-upgrading-to...

The author has even provided an image that you can flash in that article.

You need to root the device exploiting a vulnerability (CVE-2013-2094 if I'm not mistaken).

ZTE "Open" is not that open I'm afraid.

EDIT: no longer true, ZTE enabled "fastboot".

As far as I know this is no longer true - there's an official firmware image that enables fastboot:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/...

However I've not yet actually tried this on my ZTE Open.

> I was thinking of getting a ZTE Open to play with Firefox OS, but am a bit deterred by reports of how poor its build quality is.

It's not that bad overall, especially when you consider that it's a $79 phone.

I'm glad it's cheap. It's meant for development and testing, not daily use. I have one, and while I think it shows huge potential, I would not rely on a Firefox OS phone as a daily driver yet.

Just in case you want to buy it anyway: Due to taxes and whatnot, the LG Fireweb is selling for R$ 449 (US$ 200) in Brazil without a contract. As a comparison, a contract-free Samsung Galaxy S4 sells for R$ 2000 (US$ 920) and a 16GB iPhone 5 sells for R$ 2300 (US$ 1050).

Source: Click on "Pré" (prepaid, the only contract-free version) at http://www.vivo.com.br/portalweb/appmanager/env/web?_nfls=fa...

find it ridiculous how the article mention 1/4 of the price and don't mention the contract. not as ridiculous as how everyone is allowed to actually advertise that way, but still bad.

I got a ZTE Firefox OS phone (Ordered on eBay). Hopefully its just the hardware that is the reason for sluggish behavior.

I had Google G1 when it initially came out. I felt G1 performed lot better in late 2008(?) compared to how ZTE Firefox Phone worked.

Way too sluggish.

The price difference between those two is massive though, if this is accurate: http://news.cnet.com/t-mobile-g1-details-price-and-launch-da...

$80 no contract vs $179 with two year contract.

Prices of components has gone down significantly. Price comparison would not hold out.

BTW the point I am trying to make is currently only available phone to developers (At least in US) gives a impression that Firfox OS is not worth the trouble. If Mozilla want to build dev support they need to sell a decently performing phone from their website and create positive impression with performance and usability.

Sure, the price of components has come down. That doesn't mean $179+contract wasn't a relatively expensive phone, though.

First, I agree with you, it doesn't send the right message to US devs. Openness aside, it doesn't do much to incentivize developing for it. I'd very likely buy a Nexus 4-level device and love it and develop for it. I don't know what Sony has scheduled, but maybe that would fit? If not, if you know of any on the horizon, I'd love to hear about it.

Second, the target market really isn't the US. Making a premium phone the flagship device wouldn't be representative of the low-end of the market, which is what they're really targeting, and is much bigger than the US anyway. The ZTE Open is pretty representative of their target audience, possibly more powerful than most. General OS performance is improving last I heard, but devs should target that level of device anyway.

Then get a nexus 4 and compile and flash b2g on it.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox_OS/...

I may just do that, thanks! I don't think the Nexus 4 was on that list last I checked.

Can we have a webOS phone next please LG, given that you now own this?

come on telefonica, chile next!

oh, look what google turned up - http://www.emol.com/noticias/tecnologia/2013/10/09/623757/te...

T-Mobile (Congstar=Telekom) also one rolling out here for 90€

https://www.congstar.de/handy/alcatel-one-touch-fire-weiss-o...

Looking forward to it , scared of Google now ! Although Android is good, but privacy is more of a concern.

Snap , just read somewhere the firefox browsers also got internal backing from Google :/

It is not "internal backing", there's a search referral deal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation#Google

Mozilla Corporation is wholly owned by the Mozilla Foundation, which is driven by its mission and is not controlled by any other entity: https://www.mozilla.org/mission/

I believe in Mozilla independence and sincerity, its a good foundations and we need many more like it in the world..

But because mozilla is so dependent of the Google money, they can use it to "blackmail", to push some decisions down the mozilla throat, or even worse, to cut the payment in a blink wherever they want and if fits their strategy.. so mozilla are in a pretty dangerous position, given that theres a conflict of interests, since Google have created Chrome..

i think maybe thats why they are trying to go with FirefoxOS? another source of revenue and financial independence?

I believe Mozilla is not really dependent on Google money for that matter. MS is trying to get in with their Bing search engine too.

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