Skip to main content

Hands on: The latest version of Firefox OS is lukewarm, but still heating up

MWC 2025
Read our complete coverage of Mobile World Congress

Mozilla has big plans for Firefox OS, but it didn’t impress us the last time we used it. In fact, it made us hate phones. Undeterred, a phone running the latest edition of the software – version 1.3 – was sought out at Mobile World Congress, to see if there had been some improvements. However, rather than finding just one phone, we found two, including one all set to be sold directly by Mozilla in the near future.

It’s named the Flame, and it’s a reference phone, built to help developers create and perfect their software. Any manufacturers keen on the phone can license it, rebrand it, and sell it on as their own. It’s a popular strategy in the mobile industry, used to great effect by companies such as Nvidia and Intel. The Flame’s specs are still being finalized, although Mozilla confirmed it would be sold globally.

Recommended Videos

By Firefox OS standards, the device we saw was well equipped, with a 4.5-inch 480 x 854 pixel touchscreen, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, and a 5-megapixel camera. The phone has 1GB of RAM, which can be throttled back to 256MB, helping developers test out their apps on a single device, rather than needing access to several.

Installed on the Flame was version 1.3 of the OS, up to date with the very latest features. There are three major alterations. First on the list is Adaptive Search, a feature seen on previous versions of Firefox, which has evolved to become all-encompassing across the device. It’s now accessed by swiping down on the screen, anywhere in the OS, and provides search results based on Web, store and local content. As before, it searches logically, so if you’re looking for information on a band, it won’t just look for their website, but a Spotify page, Wikipedia entry, YouTube videos, and more.

Firefox on the Flame is exactly what a smartphone OS should be – smooth and quick.

The slide-down-the-screen movement to access Adaptive Search isn’t the only new gesture in version 1.3. Swiping left or right from the screen’s edge switches between previously used apps, webpages or other content. On the Flame, with its powerful processor, this worked well. On slow phones, it may not be such a pleasure. Sadly, the new multitasking option wasn’t installed on the other new Firefox phones on display, such as the Huawei Y300 (which actually runs version 1.1 of Firefox OS) and the ZTE Open C, because it’s not quite ready for general use.

Mozilla is also introducing a degree of customization to Firefox OS, so owners can mess around with the home screens, and add their own ringtones. Doing anything more complicated than changing the wallpaper on the first version of the OS was almost impossible, so this is a marked improvement.

Firefox on the Flame is exactly what a smartphone OS should be – smooth and quick. It did still crash after opening a multimedia app though. However, it’s a developer phone, so this can be forgiven. How about the the experience on a regular Firefox OS phone, would that still be below standard? ZTE has launched a successor to the Open, named the Open C, and the good news is, the phone is a vast improvement over the Open; but then it should be, as it has much better specs.

It has a 4-inch, 480 x 800 pixel display, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200, and 512MB of RAM. The old Open had an Etch-a-Sketch, a wood-burning stove, and the memory of an aging goldfish. The spec bump works wonders on Firefox OS, with apps opening and closing without issue, games playing perfectly, and email and messaging operating without a hitch. A few stutters when flicking between home screens did occur, but were barely noticeable.

So, problem solved? Well, not quite. Firefox OS’s natural home is on very cheap hardware, but the Flame and the Open C aren’t going to be absolute bargain basement devices this year. At its own MWC event, Mozilla announced plans to release a $25 smartphone for emerging markets, reaffirming the direction this OS is headed. Firefox OS is getting better, and version 1.3 on the Flame and the Open C works very well. However, for it to succeed at a really low price point, we’ll have to wait for the better hardware to get cheaper, or the software to get more refined on devices with slow processors and little RAM.

Using Firefox OS on a proper phone improved the experience a lot, and has reignited our excitement for the growing OS. At a separate event, Mozilla teased the upcoming release of a tablet and a smartwatch or similar wearable using the software, so the next product we test could be something other than a smartphone. If, along with these new products, the updates continue to improve the experience, Firefox OS may have a chance to worry the big players after all.

Highs

  • Genuine improvements over version 1.1
  • Gesture controlled multi-tasking is fast and effective
  • Much needed customisation options included

Lows

  • The speed improvements may be down to the hardware used
  • North America ignored on current release schedule
  • Still some instability issues
Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
I desperately want a foldable iPhone, but iOS still isn’t ready for it
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 sitting on a table.

If there’s one thing that causes many iPhone enthusiasts to look enviously at the world of Android smartphones, it’s the much wider array of designs and form factors available. While Apple refines its designs every few years, it has rarely done anything that most folks would consider radical.

Perhaps the most significant departure from traditional smartphone designs has been the return to the foldable phones of yesteryear. Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 have piqued my interest more than ever, but even before those came along, there have been other handsets that have made me wish that Apple would think differently about its hardware designs. And while I don't doubt Apple's hardware for a foldable iPhone could be great, I think the real struggle lies with making iOS useful for a foldable.
Apple’s foldable plans

Read more
The latest iOS 16 beta just added back one of my favorite features
Battery percentage on iPhone 12.

The notch on the iPhones changed some things forever. It changed the way the iPhones looked. It changed the way we unlock our phones. But it also removed one of the features that we didn't know we needed until it was gone. We are talking about the battery percentage level, which used to be shown in the iPhone status bar. Well, guess what? It is making a comeback in iOS 16 beta 5.

The latest iOS 16 beta adds the feature of showing battery percentage in the status bar within the battery icon. For reference, the feature has been absent from all the iPhones with Face ID because the presence of the notch didn't give Apple enough space for adding the battery percentage – up until iOS 16 beta 5. To recall, iOS 15 and previous versions used a battery icon to show the battery level. Since iOS 15 is still the current stable version of iOS, most people are using it. And it doesn't clearly display the battery percentage left on your iPhone.

Read more
Latest iOS 16 beta addresses rising safety concerns for message editing
Close up detail of a man iMessaging on an iPhone.

Apple has just released the fourth developer beta of iOS 16, and among the usual collection of bug fixes and performance improvements, the company has also taken some significant steps to help curb the potential abuse of its new iMessage editing feature.

When Apple unveiled iOS 16 at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, it announced the update would bring the capability of editing and unsending iMessages sent through the Messages app. While this isn't an entirely new feature -- services like WhatsApp and Facebook have allowed folks to take back their sent messages for years -- Apple's implementation raised concerns among some domestic safety advocates.
What's changed in iOS 16 beta 4
With the release of the fourth developer beta of iOS 16, it appears Apple has taken those concerns to heart. The time frame to unsend a message has been reduced from 15 minutes to two minutes -- the exact change that attorney Simpson Tuegel recommended. In a letter she sent to Tim Cook, the survivor advocate pointed out that "a sender of such a message, in most situations, will immediately realize the error," so two minutes should be more than sufficient. More importantly, she adds, someone who intends to use iMessage "for bullying and harassment will face much greater risk if they know their messages become 'permanent' after two minutes."

Read more