LG launches Firefox phone in Brazil

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57608752-94/lg-launches-firefox-phone-in-brazil/

by daleharvey • 13 years ago

123 35 13 years ago

news.cnet.com

devx• 13 years ago

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

oscargrouch3• 13 years ago

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?

sandstrom• 13 years ago

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

VladRussian2• 13 years ago

A simple, open and hackable OS..

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

alphadevx• 13 years ago

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

andrewcooke• 13 years ago

come on telefonica, chile next!

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

micheljansen• 13 years ago

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.

reidrac3• 13 years ago

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.

reirob• 13 years ago

Fully agree with you.

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

chimeracoder• 13 years ago

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.

mauricioc• 13 years ago

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...

gcb1• 13 years ago

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.

kumarm2• 13 years ago

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.

Groxx3• 13 years ago

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.

6ren• 13 years ago

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.

archivator• 13 years ago

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

mixmastamyk• 13 years ago

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

hrvbr• 13 years ago

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

drill_sarge• 13 years ago

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

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

linux_devil2• 13 years ago

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

linux_devil2• 13 years ago

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

rhelmer• 13 years ago

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/

GFischer• 13 years ago

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

LG launches Firefox phone in Brazil

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