Hasta La Gadget!

Yes, the ZTE Open is hauling its laggy self to America by way of the manufacturer’s eBay store. Early adopters who want to get a head start with Firefox OS, or regular buyers looking for a cheap device that can handle things like Nokia HERE maps and social networking integration, will be able to Buy It Now for $79.99 (or £59.99 in the eBay UK store). They’ll receive the unlocked, global variant of the Open, which is “not optimized for specific networks,” and they’ll get it in the orange color scheme that will be exclusive to eBay. There’s no sign of the fixed-price listing on the auction site as yet, and we’re not sure exactly when it’ll go live, but people are already bidding on an official-looking import from Hong Kong, for which the price currently stands at $51 including P&P.

Update: We originally reported that this phone would “exclusively” be available on eBay, but that’s only half true — it looks like the exclusivity solely applies to the orange-colored variant in the US, so we’ve fixed the article to reflect that.

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Source: ZTE, Mozilla

Spanish open hardware phone platform manufacturer Geeksphone, which created the first developer preview devices for Mozilla’s Firefox OS (aka Peak and Keon), has announced it’s now taking pre-orders for a new beefed up consumer version of its Peak smartphone that it’s called Peak+.

Geeksphone’s original two developer-focused devices sold out a few hours after going on sale – doubtless helped by their low prices of $194 and $119 respectively. The Peak+ looks likely to garner similar levels of demand, thanks to a similarly low pre-order price, although there is now more competition for Firefox devices — with Telefonica selling the ZTE Open in Spain (and elsewhere) for as little as €69/$90. (Albeit, the more expensive Peak+ does offer beefier, mid-range specs vs the very budget ZTE Open.)

Geeksphone has created a pre-sale reservation list for consumers wanting to buy the device for a “one-time, limited promotional price” of €149/$196 (excluding taxes) — after which it will be sold at a “standard price” via the startup’s online store, from September. Geeksphone would not confirm exactly how much the phone will ultimately retail for, saying only it would be “slightly higher”. 

On paper, the Peak+ is a slightly beefier version of the original Peak, with double (1GB) the RAM and the latest version of the Firefox OS (v1.1). Other specs are the same as the original Peak, including its dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm 8225 chipset, 4.3” qHD IPS multitouch screen, 8-megapixel rear camera (with flash), 2 megapixel front camera, and tri-band UMTS / HSPA, plus a 1800 mAh battery. But Geeksphone says it has improved battery management and graphical performance.

It also says it has “enhanced” the external materials and inner construction for “a more polished finish and pleasant touch, as demanded by our users”. Storage wise, the Peak+ has 4GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 32 GB via MicroSD. It will also come with 25GB of cloud storage (from Fiabee).

Geeksphone said the vast majority (93%) of buyers of its earlier developer devices came from outside its home country. Demand was apparently especially high in Germany, France and Japan. Several other Asian and Latin American countries were also said to be very keen on the devices.

Mozilla’s Firefox OS is aiming to provide an open alternative to Google’s Android OS, especially at the budget to mid-tier smartphone handset price range, and has signed up considerable carrier support for the initiative. This contrasts to Canonical’s high end approach, with its circa $600 Ubuntu Edge smartphone — currently seeking $32 million in crowdfunding backing to build an open source-based smartphone that can double as a PC.

Update: A Mozilla spokesperson has been in touch requesting a “correction” that the Peak+ is not a Firefox OS phone, but rather is “based on Boot to Gecko technology” — aka Mozilla’s original codename for the Firefox OS Linux-based open source software project.

“We want to clarify that this new phone that was announced is based on Boot to Gecko technology with pre-release software, but is not a certified or supported Firefox OS device,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

This is basically an issue of brand control. It’s worth noting that Mozilla has been criticised by others in the open software movement for the lengths it goes to to defend its branding. And Firefox OS is a key new brand for Mozilla, which it’s clearly keen to protect and control.

As to why Geeksphone’s Peak+ does not have Firefox OS branding, TechCrunch understands the Firefox OS branding scheme is currently only available to carrier-backed devices. We’ve reached out to Mozilla for clarification on what mobile makers have to do to achieve Firefox OS certification/branding and will update this post with any response.

Betting on Mozilla’s mobile operating system? There’s a good chance, then, that you’re kicking around a Geeksphone, one of the few devices known for running Firefox OS. Owners of the company’s Keon and Peak handsets can now manually upgrade their devices to Firefox 1.1, which — according to enthusiasts on the Geeksphone forums and Twitter — speeds up boot times, patches an assortment of bugs and tacks on minor navigational and display improvements. Naturally, users interested in trying the build will have to download and flash it themselves. Unsure how to proceed? Check out the Geeksphone forums link at the adjacent source link for tips.

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Source: GeeksPhone, Twitter

We knew good and well it was coming, and now we’ve both a date and a launch partner to hone in on: that’s “tomorrow” and “T-Mobile Poland,” respectively. After going big (as opposed to home) at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Mozilla has just announced that the Firefox OS-powered Alcatel One Touch Fire will ship tomorrow in Poland for 1 zloty (practically free, for those curious) in combination with “a very attractive tariff.” Market launches in additional European countries will follow in the fall, with German handsets to be marketed via Deutsche Telekom’s second brand congstar. DT’s subsidiaries in Hungary (Magyar Telekom) and Greece (COSMOTE) will also initiate sales of the handset this fall, but pricing in those regions has yet to be revealed. As for word on a US release via Sprint? Still waiting, sadly.

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Via: Mozilla

Source: Deutsche Telekom

We’ve crossed paths with Firefox OS before, but today marks the first time we’ve played with handsets running the final build of Mozilla’s mobile software. The Alcatel OneTouch Fire and ZTE Open you see above are the same hardware we saw at MWC earlier this year — in fact, the latter just launched in Spain on Telefónica for €69 ($90) contract-free including €30 ($39) of airtime for prepaid customers. We took both phones for a brief spin and immediately noticed a slight improvement in performance. Unfortunately, there’s still a significant amount of lag in the UI, especially when scrolling through web pages and navigating the app tray. Websites also take a while to load, even when connecting over Wi-Fi. Then again, what do you expect for €69? Check out the gallery below and hit the break to watch our hands-on video.

Note: the ZTE Open we handled was destined for Movistar (a Telefónica brand) and is launching today for €69 (not €63 as mentioned in our video).

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