14 DAY TRIAL // Owners of Firefox OS smartphones will soon receive an updated version of the mobile platform, Mozilla officially announced today.
The update will be pushed to handsets as Firefox OS 1.1 and will provide users with support for new languages, various new features, and a variety of performance improvements.
According to a recent blog post from Mozilla, there are hundreds of enhancements that have been included in the new platform version, though not all of them have been detailed as of now.
The upcoming Firefox OS 1.1 release will include MMS support, which means that users will be able to send and receive pictures, audio, and video files via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).
Furthermore, there’s a Push Notifications API for devs to take advantage of, which should reduce battery consumption.
The adaptive app search is now front and center on the home screen, keyboard improvements (autocorrect), support for over 15 new languages, and better browser downloads.
Following the upgrade, users should also enjoy faster application performance, with shorter load times and smoother scrolling, as well as new music search functionality.
There are also enhancements to the Contact Management capabilities of the platform, email, and Calendar, Mozilla announced:
- Gmail and Hotmail contact import: it’s now even easier to get your contacts onto a Firefox OS phone. We’ve now added the ability to import your existing contacts from either Gmail or Hotmail, in addition to the existing Facebook or SIM card import options.
- Add to contacts: You can easily add any phone number or e-mail address to your contacts that is listed in your call log, SMS messages or e-mail. Simply long tap the relevant information to directly create a new contact or add information to existing contacts.
- Dialer suggestions: Start entering phone numbers or names into the Dialer to quickly find a specific contact.
- Draft Mode: Automatically save in-progress e-mails offline so you can finish and send them later.
- Download audio and video attachments: Save audio and video e-mail attachments in addition to image files to your gallery.
- Sending image attachments: Attach and send Gallery images directly within the e-mail application.
In the Calendar, users will be able to create new calendar events easily, through simply tapping the desired time slot. Furthermore, they can also set reminders to be notified on Calendar events.
No specific info on when Firefox OS 1.1 will start arriving on existing devices has been provided as of now, but Chris Lee, director of Product for Firefox OS, says that this will happen soon.