Firefox OS update 1.1 announced with new features, performance upgrades and more

Mozilla has announced the first update for smartphones running Firefox OS, bringing them to version 1.1. The update will add new features, support for new languages and major performance upgrades. The company detailed the new software additions in a blog post.

Among the new additions is push notifications API, which will let developers add a notification feature to the apps and reduce overall battery consumption; keyboard enhancement which will now autocorrect words that are accidentally misspelled; music search, which will add new search functionality in music player; support for more than 15 languages, and finally, MMS support that will enable sending and receiving of pictures, audio and video files via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

Other major improvements in the new Firefox OS update (v1.1) are contact management enhancements which will add Gmail and Hotmail contact import; dialer suggestions; performance improvement for faster app loading time and smoother scrolling; calendar upgrade that will add direct event creation and calendar event reminders, and finally, Firefox browser downloads that will make saving images, audio and video from the browser easy.

The blog post also claims that the latest Firefox update will now be available for developer devices while the update will land the ZTE Open and Alcatel One Touch Fire soon.

The updates come alongside Mozilla's announcement to release more Firefox OS smartphones in more markets around the globe. The company announced that the second round of Firefox OS smartphone launches are expected by year's end in countries like Hungary, Serbia, and Montenegro.

Commenting on the expansion plans, Jay Sullivan, Mozilla Chief Operating Officer said, "The positive market reception of the first Firefox OS smartphones demonstrates that people like the user experience and openness we're building with Firefox OS. We continue to enhance Firefox OS to deliver the best experience for the many people around the world buying their first smartphones. We are looking forward to seeing the response to the next round of Firefox OS launches."