Moving to Firefox OS

I killed my Nexus 4 a little over a month ago. Despite my best efforts at a repair, I decided to cut my losses (that glass is expensive) and move to a cheaper phone. Here were my requirements:

  1. Cheap -- less than $75.
  2. Open -- I can easily flash new OSes.
  3. Works on T-Mobile.

This led me to the ZTE Open. A relatively underpowered phone that runs Firefox OS. Fortunately, the operating system and apps are somewhat constrained, which means it works fine most of the time for calls, texts, web browsing, and email.

It comes with fastboot enabled. This makes installing CWM a breeze. Likewise, flashing new Firefox OS builds is straightforward.

It has been my daily driver for close to a month now. Other than GMail and Google Voice not working well (if at all), it meets my needs. Although I wouldn't recommend the current version of Firefox OS to anyone that isn't comfortable fiddling with Linux a little, it has potential to be a nice, sleek Android alternative.

The next post will explain the various contortions you need to perform to get Firefox OS v1.4 to run on the phone. It takes some work, but is much better than the stock version.

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