After Alcatel and ZTE jumped into the
Firefox OS pool with the
ZTE Open and One Touch Fire devices respectively, it now seems that more manufacturers want to join hands with Mozilla, the latest being LG, Huawei and Sony.
CNET managed to spot LG and Huawei devices running on Mozilla's Firefox OS at the Telefonica booth at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona. Unfortunately, there were no details on the specs, pricing, availability or even the names of these devices.
Sony however, disclosed in an official press release pertaining to the Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z launches, that the company in partnership with Telefonica, will be exploring the "development of a handset running Mozilla's Firefox OS open source mobile platform"
"Telefónica and Sony Mobile Communications ("Sony Mobile") today reinforced the strength of their commercial partnership in a multi-year agreement that confirms the operator's ranging support for Sony Mobile's 2013 Xperia Android device portfolio, as well as laying out a joint technical collaboration to explore the development of a handset running Mozilla's Firefox OS open source mobile platform.
It went on to say, "Under the terms of the agreement, Telefónica and Sony Mobile will further strengthen their partnership and investigate emerging technologies such as the Firefox OS platform to extend Sony's premium product portfolio to a wider customer base."
Bob Ishida, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Head of Products Business Group, Sony Mobile Communications further said, "Our engineers are now working with Firefox OS Mobile and HTML5, evolving technologies which show great potential. In addition, we continue to work with our operator partners, including Telefónica, on a development project with an ambition to bring a product to market in 2014."
Although this hasn't been confirmed, the Firefox OS handset from Sony will most likely be included in the Xperia family.
But unlike Sony, LG and Huawei, ZTE and Alcatel flaunted their entry-level Firfox OS-powered smartphones at the MWC.
The ZTE Open features a 3.5-inch screen with HVGA display and is powered by a Cortex A5 1GHz processor with 256MB of RAM and 512MB of internal storage. It has a 3.2-megapixel rear camera on-board. Connectivity options include Bluetooth, A-GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities. ZTE Open packs in 1,200mAh battery. Pricing of the device is unknown as of now.
The Alcatel One Touch Fire has a 3.5-inch HVGA TN display, a 1GHz processor, 256MB RAM, 512MB storage and a 3.2-megapixel camera.
There are also the usual connectivity options including WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, FM radio and UMTS 900/2100 and 850/1900/2100 (up to 7.2Mbps for download and 5.76Mbps for upload). Underneath the removable 1,400mAh battery, you'll find a microSD slot that'll take anything up to 32GB (a 2GB card is included), as well as a slot for a Mini-SIM card. The device is slated for a June 2013 launch.
Image Courtesy: CNET
MWC 2013 in pictures