Following the arrival of the ZTE Open, the ZTE Open C is the latest smartphone to run on Mozilla’s web-based Firefox operating system. It features a bigger screen, more power and still falls under the ‘affordable phone’ bracket.
Available in six colours, the Open C upgrades to a 4-inch screen with an improved 480x800 resolution and includes a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 dual-core processor with 512MB of RAM to help take care of running multiple apps at the same time.
There’s 3G support to provide the internet connection and a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera to take care of your pictures. To keep the Open C running all day, a 1,400mAh battery gives up to eight hours of playtime.
Like ZTE’s first Open smartphone, the web-based operating system gives you access to apps and delivers all key smartphone features like calling, texting, listening to music and gaming.
Among the new additions to the latest version of Firefox OS include the ability to search results from the web, Mozilla Marketplace store and locally stored content like photos all at the same time. Taking a leaf out of Android’s book, there’s now a greater way to customize homescreens and even add ringtones.
Primarily, the Open C is aimed at emerging markets but it will available as a sub-￡100 phone in the UK. It has the specs of a budget, low-end phone so it’s not going to appeal to those who want a great camera photos like you can with the iPhone 5S or take it underwater like the Sony Xperia Z2. What it does do is showcase an exciting new approach to making a smartphone.
Summary
The Open C continues to show Mozilla’s intentions to take on Apple, Google and the rest by making an easy to use smartphone that does many of the things you’d expect it to and doesn’t cost hundreds of pounds to own.
Ebay likes:
The Mozilla Appmaker tool lets you build your own apps easily and can then be installed onto the phone’s desktop ready to be used.
Watch out for:
The ZTE Open only has 512MB of storage which is not much room to store content like photos, video and music. Luckily there is microSD card support up to 32GB.
