Firefox OS review: Burning bright

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Introduction

The mobile Firefox OS by Mozilla aims to put the user first, like its namesake web browser, and deliver affordable, capable, open-source phones to the masses. "We're out to make a difference, not a profit", says the project's homepage. A non-profit against corporate giants. A bold statement - but we guess it doesn't mean they are letting Google and Microsoft have it all.

There are a number of Firefox OS devices already on the market - both smartphones and tablets - from multiple vendors and carrier deals are in place. So the young OS is already past the baby steps, further along perhaps than any of the other alt-OSes (Sailfish, Ubuntu Touch, the Samsung-backed Tizen).
Mozilla's mission with Firefox OS is to make the web accessible to everyone. You may not be aware but in developing countries the web is most commonly available on smartphones rather than desktop computers.



That said, the main target of Firefox OS is developing markets. The first devices run on relatively low-end hardware, which is surprisingly affordable. The hardware platform of for this review is the ZTE Open C which goes for as little as $70, but our focus is on the OS itself rather than the piece of plastic and silicone, which runs it.
Firefox OS is not the only open-source OS in town, market leader Android is open-source too. But you have got to remember that's just the Android Open Source Project or AOSP. What most people call "Android" today heavily relies on a various proprietary Google Play Services, which are anything but open source. Google Play Services is the magic juice behind core functionality you've come to expect from Android - from contact syncing through maps to the app store.
Android-sans-Google is perhaps usable if you install an open-source app store, but the most popular forks of Android - Amazon's Fire OS and Nokia's controversial X series are both commercial and hence reliant on proprietary tech.
Firefox OS, on the other hand, is backed by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, best known for the Firefox web browser but also maker of Thunderbird and a vocal advocate of open standards. That's what keeps users from getting locked in corporate walled gardens.
The OS is built on well-known technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript and Mozilla is working with the W3C and browser makers to standardize the advancements that make Firefox OS possible.
The people-first approach of Firefox OS is bound to earn it some good karma but the market already chewed up and spit out one web-based OS. The legacy of WebOS can be seen in the interfaces of modern smartphone OSes, but WebOS itself is gone. Then there's ChromeOS too, which is confined to laptops but may soon make the jump to tablets with an Android-like UI.
Before we look out to the future of Firefox OS, we must first get properly acquainted with it. First introductions are made on the next page.

User interface

Firefox OS is based on web technologies but that doesn't mean it's like the early days of Chrome OS, just a floating browser window. In fact, Firefox OS looks like a mix of Android and iOS. We're reviewing version 1.3, the latest currently available version but keep in mind these are its Cupcake days (in Android speak) - most smartphone functionality is present, a lot is still missing. What's more important, new features come leaps and bounds. Firefox OS 1.4 is behind the corner, and there is already talk about the Firefox 2.0, which might bring a total revamp of the OS as we see it today.
The Firefox OS homescreen is based on Everything.me. Everything.me started life as an Android launcher but the Mozilla Foundation is an investor in the project and is using the base tech for both its Firefox OS and corresponding Android launchers.

Firefox OS homescreen
The launcher features multiple pages of shortcuts with a dock at the bottom. What sets it apart from the iOS launcher are the so-called Smart collections - it will automatically group similar apps into categories. Those folder-like groups go in the left-most page of the homescreen (actual folders are not supported).
You can hit the "I'm thinking of..." field and type in a query to view all relevant installed apps and web sources. For example, "movies" brings up IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and others. The interface will react to your search, too - the wallpaper will change to something appropriate (say, a movie poster).

Smart collections combine folders with app search functionality
Here's what makes this launcher the perfect fit for Firefox OS - it searches not only for apps you have installed, but also lists web sites almost as if they were apps. You can save searches as Smart collections to be readily available later.
Since native apps are built on the same HTML5 + JavaScript base, a well-designed mobile site will look and behave in Firefox OS just like a native app. And Mozilla is pushing for increased adoption of the new web technologies that enable the advanced features in Firefox OS, which will blur the distinction between a native app and a mobile site even further.
That promises a bright future, but the current reality is less than ideal. For our movie query we got results like The Hollywood Reporter and CNN Entertainment, which were either broken or nothing like an app. Unfortunately, Firefox OS phones will need to hit a critical mass before site owners put significant resources into OS-specific optimizations.
Still, we've seen plenty of people comment that they've abandoned Facebook's Android app and use the mobile site instead, so there is some merit to this approach. We shouldn't let a few bad examples taint the whole experience, again these are the early days.
Firefox OS has borrowed more from iOS than just the homescreen look. It also relies on a single Home button with on-screen Back buttons that are part of the app. This doesn't work too well because the logic is somewhat erratically applied.
The Back button is typically in the top left corner, but sometimes there's no Back button at all. Instead you need to hit a confirmation button (e.g. Done) or an X button in the top right corner instead. Depending on where you are in each app, going back to the previous screen may require some mental effort rather than just an acquired reflex of tapping a specific part of the screen.
Another gripe we have is that unlike iOS, the Back button is just a small < symbol in the top left and it can be hard to hit accurately. On iOS the target area for that button also covers the label next to it, making it a much bigger target.


And that's not all, some apps (like Mail) have the "hamburger" menu, which is perhaps familiar to Android users. It's comprised of three horizontal bars stacked vertically in the top left corner where Back usually goes. When you tap it, an additional menu panel slides in from the left. This panel can have a Back button, but it's only for the panel itself and not the app (in E-Mail, it's for navigating multiple accounts).
Another complaint we have about the consistency of the UI is that shortcuts don't always use the same icons.


The Firefox OS interface includes a lockscreen. It has a separate wallpaper and a slider at the bottom that either unlocks the phone (right) or launches the camera (left). It shows the date and time, plus recent notifications, but there are no widgets.
As you've probably guessed already there are no widgets on the homescreen either.

The lockscreen can display notifications
A notification area is a must for a modern OS and Firefox has one. It follows what has already become the de facto industry standard - a list of notifications, which you can swipe to dismiss individually or all at once with the "Clear all button". Interestingly, the event notifications are listed from top to bottom, while some recurring notifications start at the bottom.
When a new notification arrives, it's shown at the top row of the screen, similar to Android L notifications.

The notification area • new notifications appear on the top row of the screen
Also at the bottom are four quick toggles and a Settings shortcut. The toggles are Wi-Fi, Background Data, Bluetooth and Airplane mode, there's no way to change or rearrange them.
An app switcher is another essential part of the OS interface. It uses large cards that preview the contents of the app. There's a small X button in the top left to dismiss an app but you can also just swipe up to dismiss them. This switcher also needs work, right now the currently selected app takes up almost the entire screen. You can see tiny portions of another couple of cards to the left and right but not enough to tell what those apps are until you swipe to them.

The app switcher is not well-proportioned
One cool feature we found in the Developer options is to switch between apps directly by swiping from the left or right edge of the screen. WebOS had and iPad iOS has a similar feature. Note that here the gesture works with only one finger (it's four in iOS) and also doubles as a Back button in the browser (as in iOS).