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Android too bloated for low-end devices, says Mozilla

Firefox a better fit

Android too bloated for low-end devices, says Mozilla
Phones running FireFox OS have only been available for developers for a matter of months, but Mozilla hasn't been backwards in coming forwards when it comes to stating just which platform the firm is looking to grab share from.

No doubt brimming with full confidence after the first two FireFox dev preview handsets sold out in certain areas, Mozilla co-founder, and CTO Brendan Eich has claimed the firm won't be "aiming high and trying to crash into Fortress Apple, into Fortress Google". 

Rather, Eich believes that devices running the FireFox OS can dominate the 'affordable market' that's currently occupied by low-end Android devices.

Loss of functionality

"Android 4 doesn't run on 256 MB of RAM... it really wants a gig [of memory]" explained Eich.

"The fallback is using older versions of Android, such as 2.3 Gingerbread, which reduces the functionality". 



Mozilla isn't the only company planning to move in on the low-cost Android market, however. Microsoft has also expressed a desire to directly compete with affordable Android phones. 

A large chunk of smartphone growth is expected to come from developing markets in the years ahead, with platform holders and OEMs alike increasingly keen to offer scaled down, cheaper versions of their handsets.

No sacrifice

Speaking to TechRadar, Microsoft's senior marketing manager Greg Sullivan explained that there are "so many sacrifices you have to make on an affordable Android phone relative to a $129 Windows Phone". 

"Frankly, I was pleased with how bad the experience on affordable Android phones [was], because ours is so great." said Sullivan.

"If people are willing to settle for two-and-a-half-year old software that won't get updated boy we have a real opportunity to show that they don't have to settle, we can raise people's expectations of what a $129 smartphone can do."

[Sources: The Verge]

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