Hasta La Gadget!

The Spanish had first dibs on ZTE’s Open smartphone, but earlier this month we were told Americans and Brits would eventually be able to buy the Firefox OS device through ZTE’s local eBay storefronts. Well, the pages are now live, so in exchange for $80 or £60 (delivery is free), you can get yourself an unlocked Open in the eBay-exclusive orange hue; and, if the stock figures represent all ZTE has to hawk, it appears this initial batch will sell out before too long. We wouldn’t say the handset’s performance is good enough to disguise its miserly specs, but having a new mobile OS to poke around in for well under a Benjamin? Let’s just say that we’re having a hard time suppressing the impulse-buy urge.

[Thanks, Steve]

Filed under: Announcements, Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: ZTE UK eBay store, ZTE US eBay store

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.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: ZTE, Mozilla

Firefox 23 has finally axed support for the "blink" HTML tag, joining the likes of Chrome, Safari and Opera. Bye bye, blink text, we’ll miss you. Kinda.

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Firefox 23 was launched today, Mozilla has added a new feature that caters to the social aspect of browsing the internet. Recently Mozilla had announced Firefox social integration partners which included Facebook, Cliqz, Mixi and msnNow. They’ve now added an integrated share button in the browser’s toolbar which allows users to share interesting content directly from Firefox. It only works with Cliqz or Facebook Messenger for Firefox right now. Users will also be able to share content either through private message or email.

Mozilla says that more services will soon feature support for the integrated share button, it says that other websites will start supporting its social API soon as well. Mozilla says that there is endless potential for integration of social services related to music, sports, news, finance and even e-mail. It looks forward to integrating more social sites, services and apps into Firefox. Making a web browser “social,” can be a slippery slope, take the infamous Rockmelt web browser for example, which has recently been acquired by Yahoo. Their social web browser wasn’t exactly able to generate a substantial user base. There is a difference though, Rockmelt’s selling point was its social features, whereas Mozilla is providing new social features to a rigid user base that appreciates its web browser.

Firefox Gets An Integrated Share Button original content from Ubergizmo.

Back in April, the Geeksphone Firefox smartphone sold 1000 units in a day, and has since seen fairly regular demands for the smartphone. The Geeksphone Peak+ runs Firefox OS version 1.1, and is now available for pre-order from the Geeksphone website for €149, and will begin shipping out to those who nab their place in this batch in September.

The unique aspect of the Geeksphone Peak+ is that rather than targeting the developers and more technically-inclined that it has with its other Firefox OS handsets, this smartphone is being hailed as ready for the average consumer to use. As the name suggests, this is an improvement on the Peak handset, which has been available for awhile now.

The smartphone features a qHD resolution IPS display with multi-touch support. Under the hood, users will find a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 8225 1.2GHz dual-core processor, as well as 1GB of RAM, making this a solidly mid-range device. The cameras are standard 8-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front offerings, and internal storage is limited at 4GB.

There’s a microSD card slot for expansion, and connectivity is comprised of Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, GPS, and Wifi N, as well as an FM radio receiver. There’s the typical light and proximity sensors, as well as a g-sensor and compass. The wired connection slot is microUSB, and the battery is 1800mAh, which is about typical for the hardware that is being used, though there’s no mention of estimted battery life.

There’s support for 3G data networks, with UMTS 850/1900/2100 and GSM 850/900/1800/1900 EDGE both being offered. You can check out some of the other recent Geeksphone news – and Firefox OS news in general – in our timeline below.

VIA: GSM Arena
SOURCE: Geeksphone

Geeksphone Peak+ Firefox OS 1.1 handset available for pre-order is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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