Hands on: ZTE Open review

The first Firefox phone takes a bow

What is a hands on review?
ZTE Open

Early Verdict

Firefox OS isn't even in its infancy yet, but it's clear that Mozilla, operators and manufacturers have one thing in mind for the OS - budget handsets for developing markets. The ZTE Open is a colourful, cheap option, although it's hardly iOS- or Android-beating.

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

The ZTE Open is the first handset to appear featuring Mozilla's open, HTML5-based Firefox OS.

We won't be seeing Firefox OS in the UK, US or Australia yet though - Firefox OS is being touted as very much a smartphone OS for developing markets.

ZTE Open

As such, the Open will have a very low price point - when asked if it would be less than USD $200, the Mozilla representative told us it would be far lower, and networks themselves would make it cheaper still.

As you can see, the Open features a bunch of standard apps - all HTML5-based - including Twitter, Bing, Pinterest, Wikipedia and Facebook. Mozilla says it's easy for web developers to adapt web apps for the platform.

Here's the Firefox OS start screen featuring phone, messaging, web and camera buttons. You swipe from the right to get to the main app menu screens.

ZTE Open

The Open's 3.5-inch display isn't that impressive, having quite a low resolution (HVGA or half VGA 480 × 320), while the device is centred around an ARM Cortex-A5-based MSM7225A chip manufactured by Qualcomm - the clockspeed of which could be either 600 or 800Mhz.

However, the OS was snappy enough on the device, putting aside fears from earlier builds that Firefox OS wasn't up to the job.

ZTE Open

Mozilla has designed a Marketplace for Firefox OS, which it wants to be completely open for developers to take advantage of. There are also other default apps including Music and Video hubs.

ZTE Open

In terms of a camera and connectivity, you get a 3.2MP fixed focus camera, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and an FM radio.

ZTE Open

As you can see, there's also a headphone jack and USB charging port at the top of the device.

ZTE Open

Qualcomm has been working with Mozilla to ensure the Open has "tight integration" between software and hardware and that it's a "good telephony experience".

ZTE Open

Like an iPhone, there is just a single physical button to move back to the start screen, while you also get volume adjustment on the side.

ZTE Open

Firefox OS pulls in contact info and pictures from Facebook - the contact card enables you to jump straight to someone's Facebook profile.

ZTE Open

ZTE Open

Firefox OS also has notification support and, like Android, you can quickly adjust settings here, too.

ZTE Open

Acatel also has a phone coming out for Firefox OS, called the OneTouch Fire, while other handsets will follow from LG and Huawei.

ZTE Open

Early Verdict

Firefox OS isn't even in its infancy yet, but it's clear that Mozilla, operators and manufacturers have one thing in mind for the OS - budget handsets for developing markets and the ZTE Open is a colourful, cheap option. We probably won't see the OS on high end handsets any time soon, but that's no bad thing - while Firefox OS is likeable and flexible, it's hardly iOS or Android-beating in terms of feature set.

ZTE Open

ZTE Open

Contributor

Dan (Twitter, Google+) is TechRadar's Former Deputy Editor and is now in charge at our sister site T3.com. Covering all things computing, internet and mobile he's a seasoned regular at major tech shows such as CES, IFA and Mobile World Congress. Dan has also been a tech expert for many outlets including BBC Radio 4, 5Live and the World Service, The Sun and ITV News.

What is a hands on review?

Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee.