Firefox OS hasn’t exactly broken into the mainstream, despite making inroads in some markets in Latin America and Europe. Its dream of breaking the iOS/Android duopoly remains a long way off.
Indeed, Mozilla is now looking to Google’s Android OS to give new users an insight into what it’s like to use a Firefox OS device.
From today, all you need to do is download the beta version of Firefox OS directly to your handset and click your way through the installation process.
I installed it on the BlackBerry Priv I have here and it went completely smoothly. Once you’re done, hitting your home button should ask you which launcher you want to use – you’ll want to select Firefox to test this out.
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How long it’ll remain on your phone is another question. For me, I find the oversized icons, less efficient notifications and terrifying lack of any app I’d want to install a bit off-putting. You may feel differently.
Perhaps the best thing about Firefox OS is the extensions system and how easy it is to customize individual parts of the phone with single add-ons. None of the ones I tried would install on the preview version for me though.
Apps, on the other hand, should install just fine as they’re HTML5-based, along with the rest of the OS.
If you’re feeling brave, or just want to remind yourself how good you already have it, you can try out Firefox OS on Android on the link below.
➤ Firefox OS 2.5 Developer Preview, an experimental Android app [Mozilla Hacks]
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