Spice Retail has launched the first Firefox OS-powered smartphone, Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1 as it promised earlier this year. It has a 3.5-inch HVGA screen, powered by a 1GHz processor, 1.3-megapixel rear camera, 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 2G (EDGE) connectivity and dual SIM support. This is targeted at the masses looking for a larger than life phone statement but are deterred due to price sensitivity, says the company.
It should have an expansion slot, similar to the reference unit, but no word on RAM, Internal storage or battery capacity yet. If you don’t know, the Firefox OS is based on HTML5, has Adaptive App Search or the Single Window Search and comes pre-loaded with Facebook, Twitter and more apps. It also has Firefox marketplace to download more apps. It supports Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil and Bangla.
Spice Fire One Mi – FX 1 specifications
- 3.5-inch (320 x 480 pixels) HVGA capacitive touch screen
- Dual SIM (2G + 2G)
- 1 GHz Processor
- 1.3MP rear camera
- 0.3MP front-facing camera
- 2G (EDGE), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
- 1400 mAh battery
The Spice Fire One Mi – FX 1 is priced at Rs. 2,299 and would go on sale exclusively on snapdeal.com for a limited period starting 29th August. Later it would be available in major retail stores, Spice HotSpot stores and Saholic. Intex plans to launch is Firefox OS smartphone later this month. It comes with a free silicon cover and 1GB Free Data per month for a period of 3 months for Aircel customers.
Commenting on the launch, Prashant Bindal, Chief Executive Officer, Spice Mobility Ltd, said,
This is a step towards enabling the dreams of the small town masses of connecting with their aspirations through affordable smartphones. With the ultra-low cost Spice Fire One, we at Spice, aim to convert the feature phone users into smartphone users, thereby, aiding them with the power of internet. Our intentions are clearly to synthesize technology and style in our products and make them available at affordable prices. This partnership with Mozilla showcases our commitment to providing the best technological innovations first hand to our customers. This joint undertaking with Mozilla is a breakthrough in product offering and a brand new concept for smartphones.
Dr. Li Gong, President of Mozilla Corporation, said,
Just one year after the first Firefox OS device launched, Firefox OS smartphone is now available in 17 countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America. Our partnership with SPICE will be an exciting Firefox OS launch in India. Having one more strong partner as SPICE, we are confident that Firefox OS devices will realize a whole new category of smartphones with affordable price. Furthermore, we can ensure every user to enjoy the power of Web.
[Update: Spice has corrected the specifications of the smartphone. It has a 1.3-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera, and not 2MP and 1.3MP front and rear cameras as announced earlier.]