The 2013 Mobile World Congress (MWC) saw the announcement of new operating systems for smartphones Firefox from Mozilla and Ubuntu Touch from Canonical. These new operating systems are set to enter a world that has been dominated by Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS so far. As Feature phones head for their way into oblivion and Samsung and Nokia fight it out on who will dominate the Feature phone market, manufacturers are keen on making Budget smartphones. With more and more new smartphones being made for the budget category and a majority of phones available on the Android platform, phone manufacturers are looking for innovative ways to set their phone apart from the any other Android smartphone and new operating systems are a good way to do so. Let’s see how these new OS fare against the Android.
How different are these OS?
Since it’s unveiling in 2007, Android, a Linux based operating system designed for touch screens, has become the most widely used operating system for both budget as well as high end smartphones. The OS works on ‘direct interaction’ with the icons. It has an extensive market of third party apps available on Google Play which also makes it highly popular.
Ubuntu is also a Linux based operating system developed by Canonical, a British company, mostly for desktops. Having seen the global rise of smartphones, the company has overhauled the design of its most appreciated OS and customized it for mobile phones. Contrary to Android’s direct interaction, Ubuntu Touch comes with a new user interface that utilizes all four edges of the screen to interact with ‘Apps’ via gestures. It also has the capability to support split screen multi-tasking and can work with native and web based (HTML5) apps like Facebook, Twitter and Evernote as seen on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 tablets at the MWC. But, at this stage, Canonical is unlikely to launch an app store, a questionable decision considering the overwhelming successes App Stores from Google and Apple have enjoyed.
Firefox OS for smartphones is a HTML 5 based operating system built on an open source platform by Mozilla. This OS has a generated a lot of buzz since it promises the ability to convert websites and make them function like Apps on phones. These apps will run using the Firefox browser engines and therefore the OS will work with less power, demand less powerful hardware, thereby costing less. An app store has been announced for this OS- the Firefox Marketplace which already contains Mozilla’s most popular apps for desktops. The ZTE Open is likely to be the first phone to be powered by Firefox OS and you can expect it to be launched by mid-2013. There is also speculation that Sony will also move to Firefox as its OS but the company has not made an official statement so far.
Which one will be better?
The Ubuntu seems to have an edge over Firefox since Linux fans would want to try the touch optimized OS on smartphones, while Firefox is pitched as an alternative to Android. A lot of new operating systems have been attempted to replace the Android and many are stuck in the pipeline because just a new user interface is not enough to compete with Android. A competitive OS has to bring something to the table that Android is not, and that too at a price comparable to that offered by Android i.e. free. The OS should be less power hungry so that it costs less to make, where Firefox seems to have the advantage. But Firefox might not have a novel look and feel to it and is likely to only attract fans who love their browser. This is where, Ubuntu Touch might be able to make a mark.
But both these OS would also have to offer a lot more of apps and not just clones of those on Android and iOS to attract genuine customers. Android’s excessive number of apps- some of which are quite useless is the chink in its armour and someone (Read Ubuntu) with a good security or less vulnerable offering can exploit this weakness of Android to their advantage. With a lack of an App Market, Ubuntu really needs to offer some really unique native Apps with less advertisement and better security measures to win over Android users.
If we compare hardware requirements, Firefox is less demanding. This means that phones could be powered by as little as a 800MHz processor with 256 MB of RAM- ultimately competing with prices of low end Android phones. Ubuntu on the other hand would have a bit of a challenge as the minimum hardware requirement for Ubuntu is going to be much higher. In such a scenario, Ubuntu will be wishing to carve itself a niche with the backing of Linux enthusiasts.
At this point in time, it looks like Firefox will pose as a good challenger to Android in the budget phone market as long as it can back itself up with a good range of Apps to choose from, a difficult but not an impossible task.
How different are these OS?
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| Source: efytimes.com |
Ubuntu is also a Linux based operating system developed by Canonical, a British company, mostly for desktops. Having seen the global rise of smartphones, the company has overhauled the design of its most appreciated OS and customized it for mobile phones. Contrary to Android’s direct interaction, Ubuntu Touch comes with a new user interface that utilizes all four edges of the screen to interact with ‘Apps’ via gestures. It also has the capability to support split screen multi-tasking and can work with native and web based (HTML5) apps like Facebook, Twitter and Evernote as seen on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 tablets at the MWC. But, at this stage, Canonical is unlikely to launch an app store, a questionable decision considering the overwhelming successes App Stores from Google and Apple have enjoyed.
Firefox OS for smartphones is a HTML 5 based operating system built on an open source platform by Mozilla. This OS has a generated a lot of buzz since it promises the ability to convert websites and make them function like Apps on phones. These apps will run using the Firefox browser engines and therefore the OS will work with less power, demand less powerful hardware, thereby costing less. An app store has been announced for this OS- the Firefox Marketplace which already contains Mozilla’s most popular apps for desktops. The ZTE Open is likely to be the first phone to be powered by Firefox OS and you can expect it to be launched by mid-2013. There is also speculation that Sony will also move to Firefox as its OS but the company has not made an official statement so far.
Which one will be better?
The Ubuntu seems to have an edge over Firefox since Linux fans would want to try the touch optimized OS on smartphones, while Firefox is pitched as an alternative to Android. A lot of new operating systems have been attempted to replace the Android and many are stuck in the pipeline because just a new user interface is not enough to compete with Android. A competitive OS has to bring something to the table that Android is not, and that too at a price comparable to that offered by Android i.e. free. The OS should be less power hungry so that it costs less to make, where Firefox seems to have the advantage. But Firefox might not have a novel look and feel to it and is likely to only attract fans who love their browser. This is where, Ubuntu Touch might be able to make a mark.
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| Ubuntu Look Image Source: cnet.com |
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| Firefox Look Image source: mozilla.org |
At this point in time, it looks like Firefox will pose as a good challenger to Android in the budget phone market as long as it can back itself up with a good range of Apps to choose from, a difficult but not an impossible task.
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