Android may be the king of mobile operating systems now, but its reign is likely to be challenged soon. Windows Phone and iOS are not the only competitors; newer operating systems such as Tizen OS and Firefox OS are beginning to emerge as threats to Android’s dominance. Among these contenders, Firefox OS is considered the leading candidate to dethrone Android’s supremacy. So, what exactly is Firefox OS? In this article, we will discuss the details of this emerging operating system and its potential impact on the industry.
Firefox OS is an operating system developed by the non-profit organization Mozilla Foundation, known for its famous browser Firefox and Thunderbird application. The system is based on current popular technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript. Several operating systems rely on similar backgrounds as Firefox OS, such as WebOS and Chrome OS. WebOS, despite already being discontinued, continues to inspire the popular mobile operating systems, while Chrome OS is widely used in inexpensive Chromebook laptops and will soon expand its reach to tablets, much like Android. This development will provide the possibility of a classic battle between Mozilla and Google.
Firefox OS’s user interface appears as a combination of Android and iOS. It utilizes the Everything.me launcher on its homescreen. Everything.me is at first made for Android devices and then developed for Firefox OS. The launcher displays a few pages containing shortcuts and a dock at the bottom, much like iOS. However, the launcher contains a feature called Smart Collections, which blends similar apps into a folder. Since Firefox OS’s applications are based on HTML5 and JavaScript, developers do not have to make dedicated apps for the system. They need to modify their mobile websites to fit Firefox OS’s display.
The lock screen of Firefox OS can feature a specific wallpaper, with a slider at the bottom that can open the smartphone or camera immediately. The lock screen displays a clock, date, and notifications. ‘Smart Collections’ feature on the launcher enables Firefox’s OS to combine different applications of the same type into a single folder. However, it does not yet support widgets.
Firefox OS’s notification bar style does not differ much from Android, with a shortcut to the Settings and four quick toggles below the notification area: Wi-Fi, Background Data, Bluetooth, and Airplane mode.
To determine an operating system’s performance, two factors are essential, hardware and software. There aren’t many Firefox OS smartphones on the market, so it is currently rather difficult to determine the actual performance of the system. The ZTE Open C is one of the smartphones currently using Firefox OS. The handset uses a Qualcomm MSM8210 Snapdragon 200 chipset with a dual-core Cortex-A7 1.2GHz processor, Adreno 302 GPU, and 512 MB of RAM.
The device’s chipset is the same as that used by Sony Xperia E1 and Nokia X2. The ZTE Open C performed a touch below Motorola Moto E, scored better than Nokia Lumia 630, according to the testing of JavaScript Benchmark conducted by GSM Arena. Mozilla presented its test results a year ago, demonstrating that Firefox OS’s asm.js is much faster than Android’s Dalvik. However, since Android is about to transition to ART runtime, it is unclear if asm.js is still faster or not.
Firefox OS’s camera app is relatively standard compared to other operating systems. The app separates photo and video modes and can store geo-tagging information. If the device supports it, the camera can also perform continuous autofocus. One unique feature of this app is that many previous photos taken immediately appear on the left side of the screen. Clicking on the photo will open the gallery application. There is no particular shortcut in the camera app to access the gallery.
In conclusion, it is yet to be seen whether Firefox OS will be the operating system that will challenge Android’s dominance. However, it does pose a considerable threat, and with its user-friendly interface, developer-friendly system, and potential for HTML5-based apps, it may have a decent chance. As mobile markets keep evolving, the competition between the systems will only get stronger, and only time will tell who the dominant operating system will be.
