GeeksPhone Keon is one of the two first developer preview devices specifically designed for Firefox OS. Let’s take a peek at what Keon and Firefox OS has to offer by reading our first impressions below.
GeeksPhone is a Spanish start-up company and producer of smartphones that was founded in early 2009 and used to make Android phones. Their most recent projects are the Developer Preview smartphones for Mozilla’s Firefox OS, namely the Keon and the Peak.
The GeeksPhone Keon is the lesser-powered model, sporting a Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 7225AB clocked at 1Ghz and 512MB of RAM. It has a 3.5-inch HVGA (480 × 320) so it’s a relatively tiny device. Although small, it’s one of the nicely-built smartphones we’ve encountered. The removable shell is made of durable plastic with a smooth rubber-like finish which feels great in the hands.
Running the whole show for the Keon is Mozilla’s Firefox OS which is built entirely using open web standards, where HTML5 apps can do “phone things” like make the phone vibrate, make a phone call or send a text message. It’s a Developer Preview version so it’s not complete yet but is regularly updated. Basic smartphone functions are already working though like phone and texting capabilities, WiFi, mobile data, and camera functions.
The UI looks clean and pleasing to the eyes and somehow looks like a marriage between Android and Meego. Navigating the UI is easy to understand and feels like a simplified version of the Android OS – swipe left or right to see the apps, swipe down to see notifications and shortcuts, use the home button to exit or see background-running apps.
Even if it’s just running a Developer Preview version on a not so beefy hardware the Firefox OS feels snappy and relatively smooth, so everything looks promising indeed. We’ll be publishing a thorough hands-on of the Firefox OS in the next few days so stay tuned.
since this has html5 apps.. will this work offline? or should we stay online?
Hi! Apps for Firefox OS will work online AND offline.
How did you get this phone? I want to get one as well! :)
Jolla has already announced their first Sailfish OS device which will be priced at around $500+ feels a bit too expensive for me. I’m hoping that FFOS devices will be cheaper than that.
This Firefox OS-powered device is being sold by Geeksphone.com (the hardware manufacturer) at EUR91 or around PHP4,800 (a little over US$100).
Telefonica, the first telco to launch Firefox OS devices promised that devices will be priced at US$100 or lower.
Seems really nice to me, the price is affordable and i think it will be great to develop with
Cant wait for FF to be released here. Another good alternative. Ill definitely buy one.
Mukhang maganda naman ang hitsura ng OS, mukhang mas magiging maganda yan siguro pag may mga added touchwiz na ng mga magmamanufacture nitong phone.
Oi, nalason na ba talaga ng samsung ang utak mo at tatawagin mong “touchwiz” ang general na UI/customization? ayos yan pards. parang colgate at pampers lang.
I think he meant Samsung’s touchwiz, not just a random custom rom
Lol, parang symbian
Wow! Sana below 7k ang benta nito.
Are those screenshots copy/pasted from other sites that already featured FFOS? at least have the decency to snap a picture while the device is booting!