ZTE Open Firefox Phone Review

Posted on Sep 3 2013 - 12:25pm by Victoria Heckstall

ZTE Open

ZTE, a smartphone giant in China, launched the Firefox phone in August of 2013. While this is the first Firefox phone that ZTE has released they have plans to release more in the future.

According to an article on IT World.com the first batch of these phones has already sold out. This could be because the phone was reasonably priced for most people’s budgets. It could also be related to the fact that many Linux users are willing to use this Firefox phone, despite already having a mobile phone.

Features of The Firefox open phone

The start screen of the open Firefox phone contains buttons for the camera, messages and Internet access. In order to reach the screen that shows the main app menu, the user simply swipes their finger to the screen’s right side. Applications that come already installed on this phone are HTML5 based applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Wikipedia and Bing as well as hubs for both video and music. Web developers will be happy to know that they can easily adapt any web application to work on the Firefox open phone. The newly designed Marketplace by Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, is meant to be a field for developers to openly use.

Other features of this phone include FM radio, Bluetooth technology, built in WiFi and the 3.2MP camera. Found at the top of the phone is its USB charging port and headphone jack. In an effort to provide the best experience possible for users of the Firefox open phone, Qualcomm and Mozilla worked together to make the phone’s hardware and software integrated. The contact cards that let users keep track of the phone numbers of friends, families and co-workers allow them to directly connect to the person’s Facebook profile if they have one. The built in notification support lets the user know when they have a new email, text message or voice mail.

The Firefox open phone comes with a 1GHZ processor and 512MB worth of storage integrated into the phone as well as 256MB worth of RAM. Its screen measures at only 3.5 inches

Firefox open phone Made For Newbies

The Firefox OS has been put into the new Firefox open phone because the OS is geared towards those who have never owned a smartphone before. This is why its OS is so easy to use and supports the applications used the most widely by people all over the world. The Firefox open phone boasts a simple layout on the home screen than can guide those who have little to no experience with a smartphone. At the bottom of the home screen users will find a tray with several shortcut icons. There are icons to launch the Firefox browser, make a phone call and access the user’s text messages. The large thumb up icon at the bottom of the screen is there to allow users to submit phone feedback to Mozilla.

A CNET review of the Firefox open phone states that one of the reasons the Firefox OS design is so simple is that it will allow smart phone providers to customize the phone before selling it. For example, if Verizon Wireless purchases the Firefox open phone they would want to customize it differently than Sprint Wireless would if they purchased the phone also.

Conclusion

Though the ZTE Firefox open phone is easy to use and very affordable for most people only time will tell whether it can compete with the iPhone and other major brands of smartphones on the market today in terms of popularity among consumers.

About the Author

Victoria Heckstall is a professional writer who has been writing online since 2011. She is also the owner of Young Work At Home Moms where she shares advice with others who want to work from home.