Huawei takes the Firefox OS plunge with the Y300 (pictures)
Huawei's first Firefox OS phone went on display at Mobile World Congress, joining earlier models from ZTE, Alcatel, and LG Electronics. Here's a look.
Stephen Shankland
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Huawei has followed ZTE, Alcatel, and LG Electronics into the Firefox OS market. Here's the home screen of the Y300, the first Huawei model with Mozilla's browser-based operating system.
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Huawei Y300 running Firefox OS
The top of the Huawei Y300 has a notification bar. Shown here across the bottom of the screen is a toolbar for quick adjustments for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and more.
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Huawei Y300 running Firefox OS
To the left of the Huawei Y300 home screen is a search bar that locates Web sites and Web apps. It's a standard feature of Firefox OS.
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Huawei Y300 running Firefox OS
Firefox OS is a browser-based operating system, meaning that apps are written with the same technologies used to produce Web pages. But for conventional browsing, it's got a version of Firefox, too.
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Huawei Y300 running Firefox OS
The Huawei Y300 isn't particularly thin, but Firefox OS isn't geared today for top-end phones.
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Huawei Y300 running Firefox OS
The Huawei Y300 Firefox OS phone's volume rocker is on the right edge.
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Huawei Y300 running Firefox OS
The back of the Huawei Y300 has a 5-megapixel camera and an LED flash.
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Huawei Y300 running Firefox OS
Firefox OS lets people install apps through the Firefox Marketplace as well as through search. This is what it looks like on the Huawei Y300.
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Huawei Y300 running Firefox OS
A long-press on the home button shows a task manager that lets you swipe among thumbnails showing various open apps.
