Showing posts with label your. Show all posts
Showing posts with label your. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
5 Tips for Buying Your First Car
If youre just starting out, your first car will probably be your largest purchase to date. That makes it the most important financial decision of your life. So youll want to make sure to choose a car that fits your budget, without sacrificing quality or safety. Here are five things to consider when buying your first car.
1. Be realistic
Most people dont buy a luxury car the first time around. Youll want to set a realistic budget to meet your monthly payments.
Or, if you can afford it, you can pay for the entire car upfront with cash. If youve managed to save enough or are lucky enough have a windfall to spend, you can avoid car payments and just calculate your budget for fuel, insurance, and maintenance. Either way, think about whether you need any extra features, like an extended warranty or special detailing, and skip those options if you find them unnecessary or cant afford them.
2. Shop for auto insurance
Most states requires auto insurance. Typically, theyll require just liability insurance, which covers damages and injuries to the other driver if youre at fault. But you might want to go with comprehensive coverage if youre buying a newer vehicle, to cover yourself in case of damage. Base your decision on the following:
- Level of coverage: Decide what level of coverage you need, whether its minimum coverage, basic, extended, or premium. Depending on what level you choose, you can have lower deductibles, or coverage for a rental car, towing, glass repairs, and so on.
- Financial strength: Sources such as A.M. Best can help you gauge whether a given insurer will be reliable when its time to make a claim.
- Price: Make sure you compare quotes across carriers to get the best deal possible. A recent study by NerdWallet found that American drivers on average overpay for car insurance by $368 each year. Rates also can vary among carriers for the same location, so it pays to compare. To make it easier to learn which insurance company is likely to give you the best price, use features such as NerdWallets comparison tool, which gives you free estimates without collecting personal information.
- Service : Note your own interactions with insurers, as well as information from your state insurance agency and other customers (if they post online complaints, for instance), to gauge the level of service you can expect from the company.
- Look for discounts : While the level of insurance you select should depend on your financial situation, location, and vehicle, its better to go a little overboard than the other way around. That said, ask about any discounts, such as those for automatic payments or for driving below a certain mileage threshold, or any good student discounts.
3. Find a co-signer
If youre in your early 20s or younger, you might need a co-signer to get a car, because its possible that your current credit history wont qualify you for a loan on your own. Having a co-signer might also help you get lower interest rates and better terms. But remember that if you get a co-signer and you fail to make your payments, the co-signer will be legally responsible for the cost, so make sure you have enough to make your monthly payments. A co-signer also might have to share legal liability if you get involved in an accident.
4. Double-check used cars
Used cars are cheaper for a reason: They tend to have more wear and tear. So it pays to be extra careful when choosing one. Be sure to check the following:
- Research the vehicles history via Carfax or a similar source.
- Carefully read the dealers return policy.
- Check if the mileage disclosures match the odometer reading on the car.
- See if the car has any recalled parts or safety defects by checking the NHTSAs online database by using the cars vehicle identification number. (Every car has a VIN.) If you see that there were recalls made on parts of the car, ask the seller for proof of the repairs.
- Have the car inspected by an independent mechanic before buying.
5. Bring a second set of eyes
Whether youre intimidated by the thought of a high-pressure salesperson or youre worried youll lose self-control, strongly consider bringing someone with you. A mechanic friend would be a great choice, but even an experienced car-buyer like a parent could be highly useful. He or she can help you remember details about the car, figure out whether youre getting a fair offer, and spot pros and cons you might miss.
Final word
Your first car should be a reliable vehicle that doesnt break the bank. With this in mind, set a realistic budget and stick to it. Also shop for insurance beforehand, so you know whether you can actually afford a given car. Keep safety in mind as well, especially when shopping for a used car.
Finally, bring a family member or friend with you to limit the chance of making a poor decision. Doing that will also make the purchase less intimidating, which should make things a lot easier!
Read more from NerdWallet:
- Comprehensive Auto Insurance: Is It Worth It?
- Allstate vs. Geico vs. Progressive vs. State Farm: Which is the Best Insurance Company for You?
- Esurance vs Allstate: Reviewing Top Insurance Providers
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Saturday, June 13, 2015
Turn up your speakers for this Shelby powered Sunbeam Tiger and friends
Most of us are never going to be like Jay Leno and drive a new car every day. However, its possibly affordable to collect a handful of vintage rides, especially if you look a touch off the beaten path. In recent video, Petrolicious highlights Hans Abrahams, who is doing just that. He has three 1960s, European classics that love to be driven.
The absolute star of the trio is a 1966 Sunbeam Tiger. In the cabin, it has the meaty growl of a muscle car, but outside it has a little of the raspiness of period European cars. Abrahams says its mostly original except for its Ford 289-cubic-inch (4.7-liter) V8 with Shelby parts, producing around 273 horsepower. He says i ts a bit difficult to maintain and hard to keep cool, but when you hear it, you know the trouble is worth it.
Next up, is Abrahams 1965 MGB that is a bit of a monster in its own right. It lacks the Tigers oomph under the hood, but its loud enough to blow out Petrolicious microphone. Its still a very cool little roadster.
Finally, there is a 1967 Volvo Amazon 123GT, Abrahams daily driver, that might secretly be the best of the lot. While it probably wouldnt win a race with its two siblings in Abrahams garage, its the most livable and still sounds absolutely amazing. At full chat, its like a hive of angry hornets live under the hood.
Scroll down and turn up the speakers to listen to this European power trio.
Monday, April 6, 2015
How your next phone could stop the spread of infection Worlds first antibacterial touchscreen kills germs on grubby fingers
Your smartphone and tablet may look clean, but recent research found thousands of germs living on touchscreens that are capable of spreading sickness bugs and diarrhoea.
Read more »
To combat this filthy problem, Corning - the company behind the super-strong Gorilla Glass phone screens - has created an antibacterial display that kills bacteria on contact.
The display is fitted with antibacterial agent ionic silver and is the world’s first antimicrobial glass, capable of killing up to 99.9 per cent of germs.
Plus, unlike current antibacterial sprays, the silver doesn’t fade and can’t be wiped off.
The glass is on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas and is currently being tested by various manufacturers.
It could one day be used on windows, workplace furniture, smartphone displays, tablets, calculators, and more.
‘Corning’s Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass inhibits the growth of algae, mould, mildew, fungi, and bacteria because of its built-in antimicrobial property, which is intrinsic to the glass and effective for the lifetime of a device,’ said James R. Steiner, senior vice president and general manager, Corning Specialty Materials.
Corning also claims it was able to added the antimicrobial feature without weakening the glass, and because the display is also scratch-resistant, microbes cant live in the cracks.
Gorilla Glass is currently used in Samsung Galaxy handsets, as well as Googles Nexus 7 and 10 tablets and the Sony Bravia NX and HX series of televisions.
Ionic silver is currently used in hospitals and has other medical uses. For example, silver has been incorporated into creams, plasters and dressings and as an antibiotic coating on medical devices.
The silver ion is what’s called ‘bioactive’ and can kill bacteria on contact. It is safe for human use and has a low toxicity.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Dark matters the reason your smartphone photos are better than ever
If 2013s going to be remembered for one thing in the smartphone world, its as the year where cameras got good. Almost any device youd care to name now has a shooter that takes more-than-decent photos in daylight.
That leaves only one battleground where smartphone cameras dont fare so well – in the dark. On some of the biggest phones of the year, the main boasts havent been about processing power or even the number of megapixels in the camera; but rather how good they are at taking photos once the sun goes down.
The HTC One, for example, was launched in March with only a 4MP camera, but one with much larger pixels (what HTC calls Ultrapixels). The reasoning behind that was clear: larger pixels means less noise, better light-gathering and all-round superior low-light performance.
Nokia, as well, has been focused on low-light performance, with both the Lumia 925 and Lumia 1020 featuring innovations like optical image stabilisation and oversampling to improve the phones low-light performance.
Even Apple put a wider lens and better flash into its iPhone 5S, innovations that are almost exclusively geared towards taking better photos in the dark.
These approaches are a little different from those taken by other manufacturers: Sony is a prime example, with both of its 2013 flagships, the Xperia Z and Xperia Z1, sporting cameras that were big on the megapixel count, but suffered badly compared to the competition once things got dark.
The number one reason why proper cameras – DSLRs – are so much better at taking photos in the dark is that theyre a lot bigger. The cameras sensor, the little rectangle that sees the outside world and turns light into electrons, is orders of magnitude larger in a professional full-frame camera like the Nikon D3S, or even a more enthusiast-level mirrorless camera like the Sony NEX C-3.
That matters because the bigger the sensor, the more light that hits it, and the brighter the picture is. Its like leaving a Post-It and an A3 sheet of paper out in the rain – far more waters going to hit your giant sheet of paper.
The end result is that low-light photos, like the one taken above, look great with a large-sensored DSLR, but are a poor-detailed mess on smartphones. In addition to just not being bright enough, theres another problem that plagues smartphone photos taken in the dark: noise.
To compensate for the small sensor size, smartphones often increase the sensitivity of their sensors, a value often referred to as ISO – the higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive the sensor is to light.
However, higher ISOs also generate noise, random pixels that light up or change colour, making the photo look grainy and downright horrible. Its not unlike turning your speakers up past where they were meant to – everything turns into a muddy mush.
Bigger (and more expensive) sensors can generally go up to much higher ISO settings without noise, which is one of the reasons DSLRs can shoot much better in low light. Whereas an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy can dial up to around ISO 3200, the very best DSLRs go all the way to 204,800, and even more pedestrian mirrorless cameras hit an ISO around 25,600 with ease.
To get around the problems of noise at higher ISO levels, manufacturers – in particular Nokia – have been turning to clever software tricks. Thanks to the 41MP sensor in the Lumia 1020, Nokia are able to employ oversampling, a trick that essentially combines pixels, reducing the overall megapixel count of the camera, but in turn cutting out those rogue pixels that cause noise.
According to Juha Alakarhu, Head of Imaging Technologies at Nokia: "With oversampling, we can avoid many of the problems that traditional cameras have, and we not only overcome the problems but make things much better".
Another factor in capturing good low-light images is the quality and size of the lens. For light to actually get to the sensor in the first place, it has to go through the optics, and for low-light photography, one number is important above all others: the aperture size. This number, measured as an f-stop (where, bizarrely, smaller is bigger), determines how wide the aperture on the lens goes at maximum, and therefore how much light goes through to hit the sensor.
Again, aperture size is something phone manufacturers are pushing hard. Whereas the iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S2 both featured aperture sizes of around f2.7, the iPhone 5S goes all the way down to f2.2 – and Nokia goes even bigger, with even its midrange phones like the Lumia 720 sporting a f1.9 lens. Thats close to the performance of full-sized cameras, where even the best lenses, costing thousands of pounds, rarely get beyond f1.4.
In addition to the aperture size, theres something else manufacturers can play with: optical image stabilization. The reason many hardcore photographers use tripods to capture images in the dark is that by increasing the exposure time (how long the shutters open for), you increase how much light hits the sensor.
Sadly, long exposures also mean one other thing: blur, from our ever-fallible shaky human hands.
Optical image stabilization is a means of staving off blur: by essentially giving the lens a bit of suspension, minor shaking can be eliminated, and slightly longer – and brighter – exposures can be taken. Although optical image stabilisation has been a staple in high-end camera lenses for around a decade, its a relatively new (and welcome) addition to the smartphone world, with Nokia adding it since the Lumia 920, and the HTC One following close behind.
However, optical image stabilisation, being a physical process, adds bulk to phones – one of the reasons the camera is so prominent on phones like the HTC One and Lumia 925. Thats the reason why many manufacturers are now looking to a software solution to low-light photography – post-processing.
Just as Photoshop can fix red-eye and a wonky horizon, software can also fix the noise: its just a matter of processing power. With phone processors now routinely quad-core monsters like those packed into the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Lumia 1520, processing power is abundant – and image processing, historically a task out of reach of mobile devices, is now pretty simple.
Nokia has been "building its own propriety imaging algorithms", and its now even added support for the lossless RAW image format, which is far more friendly to post-processing on computers. Hopefully, that means upcoming smartphones will hit higher ISO levels with less noise, all meaning theres a better chance of you getting a half-decent selfie in the next bar you choose to frequent.
Across the board, then, theres no indication of the low-light improvements slowing down. Although some things – like the size of the aperture – are almost as good as they can physically get, theres constant improvement across the board, all minor changes that promise major rewards in the near future.
According to Nokia, "The overall image quality is the combination of all these things coming together, and we continue to work hard and push the boundaries in all of these areas".
But with the best cameras still costing thousands of pounds, not to mention being larger than a whole flock of iPhones, the challenge is reducing these breakthroughs down to a size – and more importantly, price – where they can be crammed into our pockets.
Read more »
That leaves only one battleground where smartphone cameras dont fare so well – in the dark. On some of the biggest phones of the year, the main boasts havent been about processing power or even the number of megapixels in the camera; but rather how good they are at taking photos once the sun goes down.
The HTC One, for example, was launched in March with only a 4MP camera, but one with much larger pixels (what HTC calls Ultrapixels). The reasoning behind that was clear: larger pixels means less noise, better light-gathering and all-round superior low-light performance.
Nokia, as well, has been focused on low-light performance, with both the Lumia 925 and Lumia 1020 featuring innovations like optical image stabilisation and oversampling to improve the phones low-light performance.
Even Apple put a wider lens and better flash into its iPhone 5S, innovations that are almost exclusively geared towards taking better photos in the dark.
These approaches are a little different from those taken by other manufacturers: Sony is a prime example, with both of its 2013 flagships, the Xperia Z and Xperia Z1, sporting cameras that were big on the megapixel count, but suffered badly compared to the competition once things got dark.
The number one reason why proper cameras – DSLRs – are so much better at taking photos in the dark is that theyre a lot bigger. The cameras sensor, the little rectangle that sees the outside world and turns light into electrons, is orders of magnitude larger in a professional full-frame camera like the Nikon D3S, or even a more enthusiast-level mirrorless camera like the Sony NEX C-3.
That matters because the bigger the sensor, the more light that hits it, and the brighter the picture is. Its like leaving a Post-It and an A3 sheet of paper out in the rain – far more waters going to hit your giant sheet of paper.
The end result is that low-light photos, like the one taken above, look great with a large-sensored DSLR, but are a poor-detailed mess on smartphones. In addition to just not being bright enough, theres another problem that plagues smartphone photos taken in the dark: noise.
To compensate for the small sensor size, smartphones often increase the sensitivity of their sensors, a value often referred to as ISO – the higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive the sensor is to light.
However, higher ISOs also generate noise, random pixels that light up or change colour, making the photo look grainy and downright horrible. Its not unlike turning your speakers up past where they were meant to – everything turns into a muddy mush.
Bigger (and more expensive) sensors can generally go up to much higher ISO settings without noise, which is one of the reasons DSLRs can shoot much better in low light. Whereas an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy can dial up to around ISO 3200, the very best DSLRs go all the way to 204,800, and even more pedestrian mirrorless cameras hit an ISO around 25,600 with ease.
To get around the problems of noise at higher ISO levels, manufacturers – in particular Nokia – have been turning to clever software tricks. Thanks to the 41MP sensor in the Lumia 1020, Nokia are able to employ oversampling, a trick that essentially combines pixels, reducing the overall megapixel count of the camera, but in turn cutting out those rogue pixels that cause noise.
According to Juha Alakarhu, Head of Imaging Technologies at Nokia: "With oversampling, we can avoid many of the problems that traditional cameras have, and we not only overcome the problems but make things much better".
Another factor in capturing good low-light images is the quality and size of the lens. For light to actually get to the sensor in the first place, it has to go through the optics, and for low-light photography, one number is important above all others: the aperture size. This number, measured as an f-stop (where, bizarrely, smaller is bigger), determines how wide the aperture on the lens goes at maximum, and therefore how much light goes through to hit the sensor.
Again, aperture size is something phone manufacturers are pushing hard. Whereas the iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S2 both featured aperture sizes of around f2.7, the iPhone 5S goes all the way down to f2.2 – and Nokia goes even bigger, with even its midrange phones like the Lumia 720 sporting a f1.9 lens. Thats close to the performance of full-sized cameras, where even the best lenses, costing thousands of pounds, rarely get beyond f1.4.
In addition to the aperture size, theres something else manufacturers can play with: optical image stabilization. The reason many hardcore photographers use tripods to capture images in the dark is that by increasing the exposure time (how long the shutters open for), you increase how much light hits the sensor.
Sadly, long exposures also mean one other thing: blur, from our ever-fallible shaky human hands.
Optical image stabilization is a means of staving off blur: by essentially giving the lens a bit of suspension, minor shaking can be eliminated, and slightly longer – and brighter – exposures can be taken. Although optical image stabilisation has been a staple in high-end camera lenses for around a decade, its a relatively new (and welcome) addition to the smartphone world, with Nokia adding it since the Lumia 920, and the HTC One following close behind.
However, optical image stabilisation, being a physical process, adds bulk to phones – one of the reasons the camera is so prominent on phones like the HTC One and Lumia 925. Thats the reason why many manufacturers are now looking to a software solution to low-light photography – post-processing.
Just as Photoshop can fix red-eye and a wonky horizon, software can also fix the noise: its just a matter of processing power. With phone processors now routinely quad-core monsters like those packed into the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Lumia 1520, processing power is abundant – and image processing, historically a task out of reach of mobile devices, is now pretty simple.
Nokia has been "building its own propriety imaging algorithms", and its now even added support for the lossless RAW image format, which is far more friendly to post-processing on computers. Hopefully, that means upcoming smartphones will hit higher ISO levels with less noise, all meaning theres a better chance of you getting a half-decent selfie in the next bar you choose to frequent.
Across the board, then, theres no indication of the low-light improvements slowing down. Although some things – like the size of the aperture – are almost as good as they can physically get, theres constant improvement across the board, all minor changes that promise major rewards in the near future.
According to Nokia, "The overall image quality is the combination of all these things coming together, and we continue to work hard and push the boundaries in all of these areas".
But with the best cameras still costing thousands of pounds, not to mention being larger than a whole flock of iPhones, the challenge is reducing these breakthroughs down to a size – and more importantly, price – where they can be crammed into our pockets.
The airbag for your MOBILE Honda creates emergency device that gives your phone a soft landing when you drop it
If you’ve ever dropped your smartphone you’ll know that sinking feeling as you pick it up to find it’s dented, scratched or even ruined.
Read more »
Inspired by this, Japanese car maker Honda has created a smartphone case with built-in airbags designed to prevent these kind of costly accidents.
Dubbed Case N, the phone accessory acts like a protective shell and if the handset is dropped, the six airbags immediately deploy.
However, the invention is just a concept and Honda doesnt have any plans to sell the device.
In a video for the concept, a Honda employee is shown looking forlornly at a picture of his cat through a scratched iPhone screen.
This gives him an idea and the engineer starts testing various inventions designed to protect his phone from being damaged when dropped – including dropping it from the top of a building.
He eventually comes up with the idea for the Case N and tests out various prototypes.
The final version is held up to the camera and as he drops the phone with protective case, slow-motion footage shows the airbags deploying.
The parody video also shows the airbags deploying if the phone is removed forcefully from his pocket, preventing it from being stolen.
Although the Case N is just a concept, and Honda has said it has no plans to ever produce the product, a similar design was seriously suggested by Apple.
As discovered by PhoneArena in March, an Apple patent was released for a case that tracks how close a phone is to hitting the ground, using built-in accelerometers.
As the phone, and case, reaches the floor, gas-powered thrusters fire in the opposite direction to slow it down.
Facebook Paper unveiled as Flipboard rival to make your news feeds more engaging
Facebook has announced its own Flipbaord rival, with Paperformally unveiled as a way to transform your social interactions and news preferences into a magazine-style application.
Read more »
Syncing with your Facebook account, the new Paper app will turn your Facebook news feed into a ‘full screen’, ‘distraction-free’, magazine-style layout that will bring images to the fore and generally make all your content more visually appealing and engaging.
On top of this, users will be able to customise their Paper accounts with a selection of curated themes, which will bring in a range of content on topics such as sport, science and food.
Although the social giant has confirmed that larger, more respected and reputable news sources will be easy to locate within your Paper feed, it has suggested that “emerging voices” will also be brought to the fore in a bid to support the new up and comers.
Having announced the Paper app alongside a teaser video, Facebook has revealed users will be able to navigate between articles through a seamless collection of swipe navigations. With images able to be expanded and viewed full screen, video content will also feature.
Set to launch as a US exclusive, Paper by Facebook will be rolled out as an iPhone app next Monday, February 3. There is currently no word on a planned Android Paper release or UK introduction.
Friday, June 13, 2014
EU roaming charges lowered in time for your summer holiday
From Monday, using a smartphone in any European Union country will cost a third less as part of data roaming price cuts introduced by the EU regulator.
Just in time for the masses to embark on their summer holidays, the EU has cut roaming fee costs by 36 per cent as part of an effort to show the value of the European Union to its countries’ citizens.
“The EU has to be relevant to people’s lives,” said Neelie Kroes, the EU’s telecoms regulator as part of the roaming data price cut announcement.
The price cuts were announced in March last year, but are finally coming into effect from Monday, July 1, perfectly timed for the summer exodus.
The EU has been steadily lowering roaming charges since 2007, with current prices marking an 80 per cent decrease during that time.
Kroes aims to make data roaming charges extinct for all of the 27 countries part of the European Union. However, many doubt that this can be accomplished in the 18 months remaining in her position as the EU’s telecoms regulator.
“The latest price cuts put more money in your pocket for summer, and are a critical step towards getting rid of these premiums once and for all.”
From Monday, July 1, internet browsing in any EU country will cost 45 cents (38p) per megabyte, down from 70 cents (60p). Call costs fall from 29 cents (25p) to 24 cents (21p) per minute, and to receive a call users will now pay 7 cents (6p) rather than 8 cents (7p) per minute.
Although, as normal, users won’t pay to receive text messages, sending one will cost 8 cents (7p) per message, down from the previous 9 cents (8p).
The data roaming price drops also tie in with the addition of Croatia to the European Union on Monday, July 1, meaning anyone travelling there will also benefit from the price cuts.
Read more »
Just in time for the masses to embark on their summer holidays, the EU has cut roaming fee costs by 36 per cent as part of an effort to show the value of the European Union to its countries’ citizens.
“The EU has to be relevant to people’s lives,” said Neelie Kroes, the EU’s telecoms regulator as part of the roaming data price cut announcement.
The price cuts were announced in March last year, but are finally coming into effect from Monday, July 1, perfectly timed for the summer exodus.
The EU has been steadily lowering roaming charges since 2007, with current prices marking an 80 per cent decrease during that time.
Kroes aims to make data roaming charges extinct for all of the 27 countries part of the European Union. However, many doubt that this can be accomplished in the 18 months remaining in her position as the EU’s telecoms regulator.
“The latest price cuts put more money in your pocket for summer, and are a critical step towards getting rid of these premiums once and for all.”
From Monday, July 1, internet browsing in any EU country will cost 45 cents (38p) per megabyte, down from 70 cents (60p). Call costs fall from 29 cents (25p) to 24 cents (21p) per minute, and to receive a call users will now pay 7 cents (6p) rather than 8 cents (7p) per minute.
Although, as normal, users won’t pay to receive text messages, sending one will cost 8 cents (7p) per message, down from the previous 9 cents (8p).
The data roaming price drops also tie in with the addition of Croatia to the European Union on Monday, July 1, meaning anyone travelling there will also benefit from the price cuts.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Firefox OS could your next smartphone cost just £15
Android accounted for 81% of worldwide smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2013 and iOS mopped up most of the rest according to a study by IDC.
With that in mind it could be easy to think that Mozillas new Firefox OS is doomed to fail; after all, how can it hope to compete with the sales figures of Apple and Google, especially when veterans like BlackBerry and big names like Microsofts Windows Phone are struggling to make much of a dent in global sales?
But Firefox OS isnt just another smartphone operating system. Its fundamentally different in creation to any of the major players and Mozillas tactics and aims are somewhat different too.
The goal of Firefox OS is primarily to create a truly open ecosystem, one where all apps can run on other operating systems and on almost any hardware. In other words: do away with the walled gardens that weve all become so accustomed to on phones.
Other smartphone platforms require apps to be developed specifically for them, so if a developer wants to put an app on multiple device types then it has to be manually ported each time.
It also means that if a user ever abandons one operating system for another they wont be able to access their apps anymore. Theyll have to find and buy them all again and thats if theyre even available.
Firefox OS handles apps more like the internet handles web pages. Rather than proprietary tools theyre built using open web standards like HTML5 and JavaScript, so they can run on just about any computing device that has access to Firefox, meaning Android phones and PCs alike can make use.
In other words theyre platform agnostic and as both Firefox OS and its apps have low hardware requirements you can access them on very affordable devices, designed to make the mobile web more open with minimal barriers to entry so the maximum amount of users can get involved.
Its a lofty goal, but if Firefox OS wasnt so ambitious and so different it would have little hope of attracting any attention at all in the congested smartphone market - although its worth noting that this project is as much about offering something new to the developing markets as it is trying to break the smartphone stranglehold in the more mature areas.
Firefox OS is also about trust and community development. As a truly open source OS its very transparent, allowing tech-savvy users to see how their personal data is handled, while both individuals and organisations are free to build on and modify Firefox OS to improve it and make it available for other platforms.
Firefox OS has another trick up its sleeve too and its called adaptive app search. Its a search screen which is used both to find apps and documents that are already installed on your phone and web apps that you might be interested in, essentially combining a web search with a search of your phone storage.
Simply type a word out and it will bring back all the relevant results from both local and online content. Web apps can then be used immediately or downloaded to your phone and the results will even adapt to your location when relevant, ensuring you always get the best results possible.
This web-facing approach doesnt mean any phone running Firefox OS has no similarities to your Android or iPhone.
It still uses a lock screen, home screen and notifications bar and handsets which run Firefox OS come with a camera complete with style filters, a music player and FM radio.
On top of that theres the obvious suite of software: maps, the Firefox web browser, Firefox Marketplace for apps, an email app and built in integration with Facebook and Twitter to make users coming from other smartphones should feel right at home.
But even with all the positive aspects of Firefox OS its not really ready to take on Android and iOS. Both of those operating systems have been around for years and gone through numerous changes, while Firefox OS is only on version 1.2.
It also has far fewer apps than either of the big two and so far its only available for a handful of phones, most of which are pretty low end.
So its not likely to tempt too many consumers on these shores in its current state, but then its also not easily available in many of the more developed smartphone nations yet and thats a very conscious decision from Mozilla.
Smartphones are enormously popular in the UK, for instance, where 62.2% of the population has one according to a study by Statista. Disposable incomes are higher too, so expensive flagship phones are in great demand and the super-cheap aspirations of Firefox arent being touted beyond finding some hardware available on eBay.
As such its incredibly unlikely that Firefox OS could make much headway in this area, with users entrenched in iOS and Android and looking for high end handsets.
Its a similar story in the US and other wealthy nations, which is why Firefox OS is not available in them for the most part either. But there are some parts of the world where its a very different story.
In Peru, for example, smartphone penetration stands at just 17%, according to a study by Ipsos Peru, leaving the vast majority of its 30,475,144 strong population without a handset and likely to be more open to an iOS and Android alternative.
This is true when you consider the availability of very affordable phones such as the ZTE Open and could soon be available for phones which cost as little as $25, which puts it in direct competition with the feature phone price range.
In case you havent guessed, Peru is one of the places where you can currently buy Firefox OS phones, showing Mozilla is instead trying to capture new and developing markets where the fact that its so new wont be such a problem and the fact that its affordable will be a huge advantage.
With Firefox OS running on just 128MB of RAM its going to be an appealing option for both customers and manufacturers, who can squeeze the OS into increasingly cheap handsets.
In an interview Mozillas Head of Engineering, Jonathan Nightingale, told us that "our CEO talks about how were going to have 2 billion people joining the web for the first time and weve got about two billion on the web now, so the two billion coming in is going to look really different.
"A lot of people are asking whether Firefox OS is designed for the emerging market and whether thats our segment. Certainly, thats an important place for us to be. Were non-profit, were mission driven so we look at it and think, if those people are coming online, theyre not going to be doing it on a $700 smartphone. We have a real opportunity to introduce something there."
By focusing on developing markets Mozilla is also working towards its goal of bringing the web to more people, as it will get internet enabled phones into the hands of those who may never have owned a smartphone or computer before.
Its a strategy mirrored by the likes of Nokia, which has had plans to build phones that connect the next billion users to the internet and explains why its adding a version of Android (with the Nokia X) to its range to service this market segment which has access to 3G but no fixed landlines.
Other brands, such as Sony, Huawei, LG and Alcatel are all getting behind the open OS, committing to launching hardware with a smattering of devices in the market, with more to come. Its not a huge, sweeping effort to enter the market, but shows that there is at least some intrigue there.
So far things seem to be going according to plan for Mozillas new OS, as back in October it was reported by Telefonica that Firefox OS accounted for more than 12% of smartphone sales in Venezuela and almost 9% in Colombia.
Ultimately, once the OS matures (assuming it survives that long), theres every chance that it will spread to the UK and beyond and until it has matured you probably wont want it anyway.
Even if or when it does go global Mozilla doesnt necessarily need it to compete with Android and iOS.
As a non-profit organisation it doesnt need to be number one, all it needs is for enough people to be using Firefox OS that its a known entity and that developers are making a large number of applications for it, applications which can then be run on other devices, keeping the mobile web open and accessible, which are two of the key stated goals in Mozillas Manifesto.
Firefox OSs use of HTML5 should make it easier for developers to get on board too as many will already know HTML5 and wont have to learn a new programming language. In the words of Nightingale: "Theres 200,000 iOS developers, 600,000 Android developers and theres 8 million web developers out there. If youre not betting on HTML5, youre making a mistake."
But Firefox OS isnt even just about phones. Panasonic for example plans to use Firefox OS in some of its smart TVs, while in the future Mozilla wants to see Firefox OS and the principles of openness that come with it make their way to smartwatches, cars and anything else with an internet connection.
As Firefox OS is an open source system that other companies and individuals are allowed to adapt and use for their own purposes theres no reason it couldnt power stereos, fridges, vacuum cleaners and just about anything else in the future. In fact its ideally positioned to capitalise on the ever growing number of smart devices.
Theres no doubt that it has an uphill struggle, but by taking a different, altogether more altruistic approach to things Mozilla and its Firefox OS might just stand a chance, particularly in developing nations.
But with its focus firmly on the low-end of the market for now its unlikely to be making waves in the more developed nations for the next few years - then again, at such a low cost, its not unfeasible even now that you could pop online and buy an unlocked handset running the platform instead of upgrading to that hyper-expensive flagship model.
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With that in mind it could be easy to think that Mozillas new Firefox OS is doomed to fail; after all, how can it hope to compete with the sales figures of Apple and Google, especially when veterans like BlackBerry and big names like Microsofts Windows Phone are struggling to make much of a dent in global sales?
But Firefox OS isnt just another smartphone operating system. Its fundamentally different in creation to any of the major players and Mozillas tactics and aims are somewhat different too.
Firefox OS - App freedom
The goal of Firefox OS is primarily to create a truly open ecosystem, one where all apps can run on other operating systems and on almost any hardware. In other words: do away with the walled gardens that weve all become so accustomed to on phones.
Other smartphone platforms require apps to be developed specifically for them, so if a developer wants to put an app on multiple device types then it has to be manually ported each time.
It also means that if a user ever abandons one operating system for another they wont be able to access their apps anymore. Theyll have to find and buy them all again and thats if theyre even available.
Firefox OS handles apps more like the internet handles web pages. Rather than proprietary tools theyre built using open web standards like HTML5 and JavaScript, so they can run on just about any computing device that has access to Firefox, meaning Android phones and PCs alike can make use.
In other words theyre platform agnostic and as both Firefox OS and its apps have low hardware requirements you can access them on very affordable devices, designed to make the mobile web more open with minimal barriers to entry so the maximum amount of users can get involved.
Its a lofty goal, but if Firefox OS wasnt so ambitious and so different it would have little hope of attracting any attention at all in the congested smartphone market - although its worth noting that this project is as much about offering something new to the developing markets as it is trying to break the smartphone stranglehold in the more mature areas.
Firefox OS is also about trust and community development. As a truly open source OS its very transparent, allowing tech-savvy users to see how their personal data is handled, while both individuals and organisations are free to build on and modify Firefox OS to improve it and make it available for other platforms.
Firefox OS - Adaptation
Firefox OS has another trick up its sleeve too and its called adaptive app search. Its a search screen which is used both to find apps and documents that are already installed on your phone and web apps that you might be interested in, essentially combining a web search with a search of your phone storage.
Simply type a word out and it will bring back all the relevant results from both local and online content. Web apps can then be used immediately or downloaded to your phone and the results will even adapt to your location when relevant, ensuring you always get the best results possible.
This web-facing approach doesnt mean any phone running Firefox OS has no similarities to your Android or iPhone.
It still uses a lock screen, home screen and notifications bar and handsets which run Firefox OS come with a camera complete with style filters, a music player and FM radio.
On top of that theres the obvious suite of software: maps, the Firefox web browser, Firefox Marketplace for apps, an email app and built in integration with Facebook and Twitter to make users coming from other smartphones should feel right at home.
Firefox OS - Starting small
But even with all the positive aspects of Firefox OS its not really ready to take on Android and iOS. Both of those operating systems have been around for years and gone through numerous changes, while Firefox OS is only on version 1.2.
It also has far fewer apps than either of the big two and so far its only available for a handful of phones, most of which are pretty low end.
So its not likely to tempt too many consumers on these shores in its current state, but then its also not easily available in many of the more developed smartphone nations yet and thats a very conscious decision from Mozilla.
Smartphones are enormously popular in the UK, for instance, where 62.2% of the population has one according to a study by Statista. Disposable incomes are higher too, so expensive flagship phones are in great demand and the super-cheap aspirations of Firefox arent being touted beyond finding some hardware available on eBay.
As such its incredibly unlikely that Firefox OS could make much headway in this area, with users entrenched in iOS and Android and looking for high end handsets.
Its a similar story in the US and other wealthy nations, which is why Firefox OS is not available in them for the most part either. But there are some parts of the world where its a very different story.
In Peru, for example, smartphone penetration stands at just 17%, according to a study by Ipsos Peru, leaving the vast majority of its 30,475,144 strong population without a handset and likely to be more open to an iOS and Android alternative.
This is true when you consider the availability of very affordable phones such as the ZTE Open and could soon be available for phones which cost as little as $25, which puts it in direct competition with the feature phone price range.
In case you havent guessed, Peru is one of the places where you can currently buy Firefox OS phones, showing Mozilla is instead trying to capture new and developing markets where the fact that its so new wont be such a problem and the fact that its affordable will be a huge advantage.
With Firefox OS running on just 128MB of RAM its going to be an appealing option for both customers and manufacturers, who can squeeze the OS into increasingly cheap handsets.
In an interview Mozillas Head of Engineering, Jonathan Nightingale, told us that "our CEO talks about how were going to have 2 billion people joining the web for the first time and weve got about two billion on the web now, so the two billion coming in is going to look really different.
"A lot of people are asking whether Firefox OS is designed for the emerging market and whether thats our segment. Certainly, thats an important place for us to be. Were non-profit, were mission driven so we look at it and think, if those people are coming online, theyre not going to be doing it on a $700 smartphone. We have a real opportunity to introduce something there."
By focusing on developing markets Mozilla is also working towards its goal of bringing the web to more people, as it will get internet enabled phones into the hands of those who may never have owned a smartphone or computer before.
Its a strategy mirrored by the likes of Nokia, which has had plans to build phones that connect the next billion users to the internet and explains why its adding a version of Android (with the Nokia X) to its range to service this market segment which has access to 3G but no fixed landlines.
Other brands, such as Sony, Huawei, LG and Alcatel are all getting behind the open OS, committing to launching hardware with a smattering of devices in the market, with more to come. Its not a huge, sweeping effort to enter the market, but shows that there is at least some intrigue there.
So far things seem to be going according to plan for Mozillas new OS, as back in October it was reported by Telefonica that Firefox OS accounted for more than 12% of smartphone sales in Venezuela and almost 9% in Colombia.
Firefox OS - Onwards and upwards
Ultimately, once the OS matures (assuming it survives that long), theres every chance that it will spread to the UK and beyond and until it has matured you probably wont want it anyway.
Even if or when it does go global Mozilla doesnt necessarily need it to compete with Android and iOS.
As a non-profit organisation it doesnt need to be number one, all it needs is for enough people to be using Firefox OS that its a known entity and that developers are making a large number of applications for it, applications which can then be run on other devices, keeping the mobile web open and accessible, which are two of the key stated goals in Mozillas Manifesto.
Firefox OSs use of HTML5 should make it easier for developers to get on board too as many will already know HTML5 and wont have to learn a new programming language. In the words of Nightingale: "Theres 200,000 iOS developers, 600,000 Android developers and theres 8 million web developers out there. If youre not betting on HTML5, youre making a mistake."
But Firefox OS isnt even just about phones. Panasonic for example plans to use Firefox OS in some of its smart TVs, while in the future Mozilla wants to see Firefox OS and the principles of openness that come with it make their way to smartwatches, cars and anything else with an internet connection.
As Firefox OS is an open source system that other companies and individuals are allowed to adapt and use for their own purposes theres no reason it couldnt power stereos, fridges, vacuum cleaners and just about anything else in the future. In fact its ideally positioned to capitalise on the ever growing number of smart devices.
Theres no doubt that it has an uphill struggle, but by taking a different, altogether more altruistic approach to things Mozilla and its Firefox OS might just stand a chance, particularly in developing nations.
But with its focus firmly on the low-end of the market for now its unlikely to be making waves in the more developed nations for the next few years - then again, at such a low cost, its not unfeasible even now that you could pop online and buy an unlocked handset running the platform instead of upgrading to that hyper-expensive flagship model.
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