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Still A Firefox OS user, will I migrate to Android ?

D 22 mars 2016     H 09:00     A Genma     C 6 messages   Logo Tipee

Still A Firefox OS user

Currenlty I’ve a Sony Z3C Devices under Firefox OS, the last version of the Dogfood updates. Since Mozilla has announced that it will stop the development of Firefox OS for smarpthone (Read Firefox OS on smartphone is not dead !), and announced that the development will continue by community, I’m asking myself. Firefox OS will continue for IOT (Internet of Things). The Firefox OS for smartphone will change is name to B2G (Boot 2 Gecko) and will continue in a community supported version. I’m in doubt. Will community be strong and succeed where Mozilla has not ?

So I’ve taken a look on Android.

Sony & Android

First the Sony Z3C was sold with Android installed. Firefox OS on it is just a hack. Sony still continue to support this phone and upgrade Android on it. A beta version AOSP (Android Open Source Project) based on Android 6.0 marshmallow (not available for my country) are available for early adopter.

It suggests that this phone is not a obsolete model.

What do I need ?

Does Android respond to my needs ? Surely. I’ll have missing applications & functionnality I don’t have under Firefox OS. Like SDcard encryption, GPG support, a Tor browser, the VPN support.

So will I go on Android ?

Having an Android phone will allowing me to have and use all these funny & essential apps that everybody have on its phone. There’s an app for that.

But I don’t trust Google. I don’t trust its marketplace and android apps. How many apps based on Framework ask for too many permissions like access to SDcard, Contact, Mail without needing these access. Just because they are build on a Framework, these apps needs theses permissions... And when I read some news about the SilverPush framework that allows accessing your microphone, and some apps are made to spying you via this microphone...

I think NO. Android is finally not for me. Ok, some people can tell me I can switch to an alternate marketplace like FDroid and a Cyanogen version.

What do I really need ?

Actually my smartphone is more phone than smart. I used it to check my Twitter account (data are public), some train/bus timetables (next train at...)

My phone is a phone. It’s a small screen, have no keyboard. I don’t have a tablet. I have a PC for writing some blog posts, surfing the web and others stuffs. My phone is not for productivity.

Firefox OS, in its actual version, answer to most of my needs (email, agenda, some surf). And above all, I trust Firefox OS like I trust Mozilla. If I’m a Mozillien, it’s not by chance. It’s because I believe in Mozilla MOTO and manifesto. It’s another long story but for me, switching from Firefox OS to Android will be like switching from Firefox the browser to Chrome. A kind of treachery against myself and against Mozilla who has provided me so many good things (Firefox the browser, a web standards, Firefox OS...)

Conclusion

Each time I’m ready to try to download all I need to install Android on my Phone in order to replace Firefox OS, I’m finding some really good reasons to not do so. I must be strong, cool head, not yielding to some geeky trends. And above all, still think at my privacy and freedom. And when I see all the things Mozilla does about privacy, promoting encryption (for example), continue to use Firefox OS, to believe in its community, in Mozillien, is probably the best choice I can do.

6 Messages

  • "ZTE Open C was sold with Android installed" : this sentence is to awake, provoke and test the vigilance of this blog’s reader ! ;-))

    In Firefox-OS’s Gonk, there are some drivers, Hal, firmware, and the open part of Android : the press says that Android is at least as much clever than IOS, but that Google could decide to enclose future AOSP ; I hope not ; I agree that a smartPhone is a phone, not a tablet nor a PC !

    I see also that Orange has quickly jumped from FxOS-Klif to Orange-Rise :
    http://www.nextinpact.com/news/98708-orange-sassocie-a-google-pour-smartphone-a-bas-cout-en-afrique-et-au-moyen-orient.htm

    AOSP-compatible phones should be eligible to future FxOS, as Sony-Z3C, and some Alcatel-phones. And phone -is- a thing.


  • Hi !
    (Are you from Toulouse I knew someone with the same nickname there ?)

    I had a zte open C and fx0 for a few months

    Finally, after Mozilla’s decision, I have moved not to Android but to replicant
    http://www.replicant.us/

    I bought à S2 phone from technoethic and it really is a good phone
    it can do everything I need :)

    ++
    Jean


  • Currently owning a Sony Z3c, I’m quite happy with it with Cyanogen Mod. It’s based on AOSP 5.1.1, and I haven’t installed any Google app. The biggest problem is to install other apps, because many developpers provide their applications only through the Play Store. There are other markets such as F-Droid or Aptoid, but they are not as convenient :
     not up-to-date apps
     not many apps (F-Droid)
     no easy way to check if there is no malicious content included in the apps

    Another solution is to use a website that downloads the APK from the Play Store, copy it on the phone and install it.

    Once again, I realize that Google has the user-friendliness on its side. If you want to be emancipated from the GAFA, you have to be geek, or to resign yourself to lose some functionalities/friendliness... This applies to mobile OS, but also to desktop OS, (web)applications...


  • (english article, english comment ;))

    CyanogenMod use some closed source code from Google. And they have partnership with Microsoft (to integrate Cortana in an in-depth level of the system).
    So yeah in my opinion we can’t trully trust them.

    And Cyanogen and AOSP depends so much on Google. There is a lot of example where Google closed an app source code (like the calendar), and it became "freezed", with no big evolution.
    Googled needed Open Source at the beginning to deploy Android and grow it faster.
    Now it’s a danger. As we’re seeing with windows phone, it’s hard to create a whole new system. And the best advantage of Android is the app number (even if it’s more than enough in some cases).
    The best OS for running android apps is android (or an android-based OS).
    So it’s a danger from Google. If they close everything, it will be really hard to create an alternative.

    Cyanogen, Sailfish, Firefox OS were/are based on Android, at least for the kernel.

    So Cyanogen is in danger too, and creating an independent system is important.

    And you just can trust the community making Firefox OS, as it’s people and not society, and you can take part of that project.


  • Moi aussi je reste un utilisateur de Firefox OS et ne peux m’imaginer utiliser un système privateur sur un outil qui en sait tant sur nous. J’espère que d’autres espoirs émergeront avant que mon téléphone ne rende l’âme mais à ce jour je ne sais pas vers quoi je pourrais me tourner.

    Je comprends ton envie d’améliorer ton anglais en rédigeant des billets dans cette langue mais fais gaffe aux traductions littérales d’expressions françaises, il y en a qui piquent aux yeux.


  • Hello,
    Great article. I am currently on Android, not really by choice. I think if you have a Firefox OS, don’t change the OS for now. It is not dead ! I think there are good Android alternative (Omni Rom, Cyanogen, the F-Droid). However, Firefox OS might be better for the use you make of it. I find Android better than Firefox OS only for fancy things, such as games, heavy apps...

    Now, I want to help you with your English.
    First a few mistakes :
    "actual version" -> Current version Actual means "réel, véritable". "actually" is often used by French people instead of "currently".
    "Firefox OS, in its actual version, answer to most of my needs" -> answers because Firefox OS is the subject and is singular.
    "I’m finding some really good reasons to not do so" -> not to do so
    " I must be strong, cool head" -> cool headed, or "I must keep my head cool." In your sentence, "head" is used as an adjective.
    "continue to use Firefox OS" -> continuing Your sentence is too long and so it can confuse a bit. Cut it in shorter sentences, and it will sound more English.

    Then, I think you makes too long sentences. Always remember that English are lazy. So they rarely make sentences as long as yours. I hope this will help you improving your English level, which is not bad !

    Have a nice day !