Calling all gadget nerds: Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox web browser, is working on a new mobile OS to go toe-to-toe with the smartphone establishment of iOS and Android. Firefox OS, as they're calling it, will be built using open web standards, which Devindra Hardawar at VentureBeat calls Mozilla's "big selling point for the platform." But a new ecosystem is worthless without any apps to back it up, and that's why the company is enticing developers with two limited-release preview phones: The Keon and the Peak. Both come in orange or white and will be built by Spanish hardware-maker Geeksphone.
The Keon is being touted as "a light and versatile" device that runs on meager hardware specs (1.1 Ghz Snapdragon processor, 512 MBs RAM, 3 megapixel camera – see a full run-down here). It's low-specced "by design," says Darrell Etherington at TechCrunch, likely to establish "a profile for a device that can easily appeal to a developing market." In other words, you probably don't want to build a resource-hogging "Instagram for video!" application for it.
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