Firefox OS 1.1: in detail and future

As you know, approximately 1 month ago the Firefox OS version 1.1, exclusively for developer phones.

A week later, she was released for the ZTE Open and Alcatel OT Fire in other countries. For some reason, in Venezuela we only received it a week ago (coincidentally we were complaining for two days on Twitter), and immediately installed it on my Alcatel OT Fire (those who read my review, they know it's not completely mine hehe).

Today I come to talk in detail about the improvements in this version 🙂

Previously the partner elav our mentioned the improvements announced by the guys at Mozilla, but it seems to me that no comparisons with the previous version have been made yet, so we will talk about that today.

What has changed?

To be a small update (about 30-40MB, I assume only Gaia, a tiny part of Gonk and the Gecko subversion were updated), if it represents a considerable change compared to the previous one. Here are the changes that have become more noticeable to me on a daily basis.

What do you think of the appearance changes? I like them very much. The new style of multitasking mode (to switch applications) I find it more original, as well as the new minimalist style of the search bars (I would say they look more like «Australis»).

I also noticed that they added more animations to applications, making them more enjoyable. And I love the little changes to the mail app. I have my doubts regarding the search bar on the main desktop, but we'll see where this leads.

I have noticed other very small details, such as that now a short sound by pressing the button Home. I don't know if it could increase battery usage, but I'd rather disable it (not something that is easily heard anyway).

They fixed a small visual glitch on the keyboard, but one appeared in the mail app and I find it annoying. Relocate button usb connection on the main page of the Settings menu is a nice change, less taps.

Although, the option is still in the same submenu as before, I do not understand why.

And what do you think of the new features? They were necessary 🙂 The auto-correction on the keyboard is quite good, although it does not allow the user to define additional words.

I like the new Applications manager, it is very similar to the menu of Android, and it's something I'll talk about in the performance section more in depth.

The ability to send MMS I don't care, it's something that I never used (although it is good), but I really appreciate being able to choose more than one recipient to send messages (my mom can't live without this, less on christmas and new year's eve 😛).

Be able to add contacts from SD / GMail card and Outlook, priceless.

There is also an unexpected detail: the music / video player has been redesigned (in case we are on a web page).

I mean, now the player HTML5 it is more powerful. We can mute the audio without lowering the volume, or watch minimized videos on pages like YouTube (previously it was only possible in full screen). AND… *drumroll*… We can download audio / video from pages!

Of course, those that follow the basic structure: http://www.página.dominio/ruta/al/archivo.extensión. We should be able to download any format playable by the system (WAV, MP3, MP4, etc.) only by holding down for a few seconds when watching a video / listening to an audio.

Are there performance improvements? Is it smoother? Does it fly? Yes, more or less, and no. Let's say that this section must be taken with care and more detail than the previous ones. Let's talk about performance and consumption.

Although consumption seems to be the same (or in any case slightly less), if you notice a good performance improvement. The fluidity of the system, like the animations, slides through the Settings and all that is greater.

If I had to put a number on it, I would say 10% more fluid when moving on screens, and up to 30% faster when opening applications (this checked from the "Show loading time" option in the developers section).

If you had previously noticed a lag in the system when loading pages, listening to music, among other things ... Let me tell you that either it doesn't exist anymore, or it appears in very specific cases.

I explain. I have been able to navigate comfortably, or play / send messages while listening to music, without problems. In fact, the applications of YouTube and Grooveshark are going great, except in the case that we are watching a video and reviewing comments at the same time. And when I mean to play, I talk about Cut The Rope, which by the way, now worked without problems.

Regarding consumption: in the case of CPU It must be almost the same, since there is still no support for WebGL, and therefore, the GPU of the telephone (in the ZTE Open and Alcatel OT Fire, it is the Adreno 200 Enhanced, quite solvent in general). "Almost the same" means "almost to the max" most of the time.

In the case of RAM consumption, remains as in the previous version. I know this because I did the test by restarting the device and connecting it by USB to use the ADB (same as in my previous analysis).

Of the 256MB of RAM, 70MB reserved for the system, 180MB in use, leaving the user a few 40MB. Internal memory consumption for applications does not appear to have increased.

I take this opportunity to remember that although Kernel de Firefox OS is based on that of Android, the Dalvik VM for Java, so that keeps RAM consumption lower.

I mentioned that now there was a "Application manager" in the menu of Settings. From there we can stop, uninstall or clear app data / cache, whether of the system or the user (of course the system ones cannot be uninstalled).

I played brave and tried to stop the boot screen or the system, but nothing weird happened (I know, if they say you're dying to jump off a rooftop, you jump in to see if it hurts ...).

The permission options of each application also appear, so I suppose that both sections of the menu will be joined soon.

That manager can be useful in case an application behaves strangely, or perhaps we want to stop it altogether (those that have background processes).

Prophecies and conclusions

No, I am not here to tell you that the world is going to end on February 31, 2020. But I have seen some things circulating on the net and it would be good to mention them here. Things to do with future releases, a lot of speculation, and a wish list.

• The arrival of WhatsApp. Controversial no, the following. They have said no, then someone spread the rumor that yes, then it was denied again. But I don't see why not. Of course, the protocols used by Whatsapp they could be exposed and the clone war would begin. Meanwhile, we can use ConnectA2, which is available to everyone in the Marketplace.
• app maker. Almighty and imminent. It is clear that it will come. If I had to guess when, taking into account compatibility with FirefoxOS 1.2+ y Firefox 26 +I would say early next year. It is seen that it will be a very important tool for application developers, and even to achieve a more stable and friendly system.
• Speech recognition and speech synthesis. I remember coming across a video about this on Twitter. It was a test device with Firefox OS using WebRTC-based speech recognition and synthesis: SpeechRTC. It supported 4 languages: English, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese. Overall, it seemed to work fine, and we might even have it soon in Firefox OS and in Firefox for desktop. Can see it here.
• Daala, the new video codec. This if you must have read it, an efficient and open source video codec. I would not rule out that it was supported on Firefox OS within a couple of versions, if it is fit for that time.
• Peripheral support. In Moz Summit 2013 tests were carried out with PlayStation 2 controls, Leap Motion, LEDs and other things on Firefox OS. It is not a priority, but it is good to know that it is being worked on.
• Support for integrated keyboards and via Bluetooth. By pure chance I came across a Dev on Twitter which was porting Firefox OS to HTC Desire Z, and got the keyboard working with a few patches. Days later, boom, upload an experimental support photo of Bluetooth keyboards. Will we see new devices with a QWERTY keyboard? Hope so.
• Support for GPUs and more resolutions. With Mozilla's ambition to achieve that FxOS reaches more devices, the possibility of supporting powerful GPUs and more screen sizes / resolutions is being considered. I agree, but don't overdo it or we'll end up with pure phablets.
• New style of multitasking. I see it unlikely, but this is the kind of thing that one likes to see. Since the "swipe from edges" gesture is not used in Firefox OSWhy not use it to switch between apps? That must have thought here.

If I had to guess, I would say that of those prophecies the closest are: GPU support (the guys from Mozilla have talked about the issue and it's a priority), app maker (We know that it will come, it remains to be seen if I got the date right), Whatsapp (they say no, but if more manufacturers dare, they too sure), And keyboard devices (low end + keyboard = good sales, not everyone is used to touchscreens).

If you have something to add, you can leave it here in the comments 🙂 Also, tell me what else you would like to see about Firefox OS here at DesdeLinuxLet's see if I fulfill your wish 😉 Greetings.