This article is more than 1 year old

SEXY GOLD FireFOXY LADY hits Japan in transparent kimono today

Sunroof phone in curious big-market debut

Japan's Au mobile network has launched a transparent-cased Firefox OS phone, in an unusual move for the free software community into an already well-established market.

Mozilla's mobile OS is focused on the world's emerging markets, and particularly places such as South America where the operators - led by Telefonica - are keen to have an alternative to Apple and Android. Hence, the move into the bleeding edge Japanese market is a surprise.

The cool-looking Fx0 phone isn’t the bargain-basement Firefox OS device we’ve seen before. It runs a web server, and is the first 4G LTE Firefox phone, based on the mid-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 system-on-chip processor: a quad-core 32-bit ARMv7-a Cortex-A7 clocked at 1.2GHz, with support for CAT 4 LTE.

The clear case, with gold gubbins inside, is the work of big-name designer Tokujin Yoshioka and is supposed to reflect the “openness” of the Firefox OS.

Sadly, what you get to see through the plastic is a 2370mAh battery, a slot for a micro SD card of up to 64GB, and an eight megapixel camera.

There is also a 2.1 megapixel front camera which can shoot 1080p movies and a 1280 x 720 screen. LG - makers of the handset - quote a battery life of 1,010 minutes continuous talktime, and either 820 hours on 3G standby, or 720 hours on 4G.

The phone weighs a little under 150g and measures 70x139x10.5mm.

There is NFC which allows two Fx0s to be joined together and create a Wi-Fi network between them. Custom software called iWnn IME for Firefox OS has been developed by OMRON software.

The Fx0 goes on sale in Japan on 25 December, free on a two-year, 3,800 yen (£20) a month contract. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like