Will these phones with alt OSes have any takers?

If you’re looking for phones beyond the mainstream OSes like Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Blackberry, then there are a handful of options.  We’ve been hearing about newer mobile OSes like Jolla Sailfish, Firefox, Tizen, Ubuntu and so on for a while now. And finally after much chatter and waiting, phones running on these newer OSes have started popping up. Some of these phones have already hit the market—though not on a grand scale—and the others will be available for in the first half of the next year.

ZTE Open
The ZTE Open claims to be world’s first smartphone to run on the Firefox OS, which is positioned as a cheap alternative to Android and uses HTML5-based apps. Keeping in mind that the OS has been especially crafted for entry-level smartphones, the ZTE Open comes with a mediocre set of specs and looks. Under the hood, it gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor clocked at 1GHz coupled with 256MB of RAM. But what’s interesting is that the smartphone is available purchase in India. Given the specs though we think that that the price tag of Rs 8590 is a tad hefty for this phone.

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The ZTE Open, now available in India on eBay

A quick look at the specifications:

• 3.5-inch display with 320 x 480 pixels of resolution 
• 3G, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1
• GPS with A-GPS
• 3.2-megapixel rear camera
• 512MB of internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

Jolla
The Finnish firm Jolla has built its first smartphone that runs on the Linux-based OS called Sailfish. The first batch of the smartphone has already sold out and the Jolla website has ended the pre-booking for the smartphone. The Jolla looks quite stylish sporting a 4.5-inch IPS qHD display. It is powered by a Qualcomm dual-core processor that clocks at 1.4GHz. The Jolla is priced at €399 (Rs 34,230 approx).

The first Jolla smartphone

Here’s a quick look at its specifications:

• 4.5-inch IPS qHD display with 960 x 540 pixels of resolution
• 3G, Wi-Fi, NFC
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONAAS
• Bluetooth v4.0
• 8 megapixel rear camera, 2megapixel front-facing camera
• 16GB onboard storage, expandable via microSD cards slot

Fireweb
The smartly named  Fireweb is the most recent smartphone from LG’s kitty and the phone runs the Firefox OS 1.1. LG has powered the device with a single-core Qualcomm processor clocked at 1GHz. Vivo Brazil, which is officially selling the phone, is offering Fireweb for $207 (Rs 12,750 approx) through pay-as-you-go for new customers or $59 (Rs 3,635 approx) for regular customers. There is currently no word yet on when it will be seen in the Indian market.

Take a look at the Fireweb in action:

Here’s a look at some of Fireweb’s key highlights:

• 4-inch display, 480x320 pixel resolution
• 5-megapixel primary camera, autofocus, LED flash
• 4GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB

Geeksphone Peak+
The Peak+ from Geeksphone—upgraded version of the Peak—is another smartphone that runs on the Firefox OS 1.1. The Peak+ was put up for pre-order at a price of €149 (Rs 11,580 approx), but the official page states that it’s now out of stock. It is an updated version of the previous Geeksphone devices like peak and Keon It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 8225 processor that clocks at 1.2GHz and 1GB RAM.

Geeksphone’s Peak+

Here’s a quick look at some of its key highlights:

• 4.3-inch qHD display
• 3G, Wi-Fi n
• 8 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front-facing camera
• 4GB onboard storage, expandable via microSD card slot

The Peak and Keon are some of the oldest devices that run on Firefox OS from Geeksphone. The Peak comes with almost similar spec sheet as the Peak+ but packs in half the RAM. On the other hand, the Keon has a smaller 3.5-inch HVGA display with 512MB RAM and a 3 megapixel camera. Both phones are currently out of stock on the company’s official website.

Keon…one of the first Firefox-based phone

Canonical’s Ubuntu Touch for phones and smartphones is still in progress and available only  for developers. However, most likely we will not see Ubuntu phones until next year.

Samsung is also reportedly gearing up to release its first Tizen mobile OS based phone. We’ve earlier seen the Redwood, which is allegedly the first Tizen-based phone from Samsung. Though there is no word on when the Tizen-based Samsung phone will be out, the company is offering developers $4 million to populate app store for this platform.

The number of phones running on these alternative OSes is bound to increase, and we certainly hope they make their way into the Indian market. However, the question is will there be any takers for these phones?