Mozilla thinks outside the box, launches open source Mozilla Phone project
It looks like things are about to get heavier than ever in the smartphone world as Mozilla begins work on designing and building what may be the world’s first crowd-sourced mobile handset. Working closely with Aza Ruskin of Mozilla Labs, Yanko Design’s Billy May has been tasked with heading the design aspect of the project and this is where things get interesting. Anyone familiar with YD knows that May certainly has an eye for design but that doesn’t mean he should go it alone, right? In true Mozilla fashion, the company will begin designing its first ever handset – dubbed Mozilla Phone for the time being – with help and guidance from anyone and everyone. May and company have launched a new blog dedicated to the project where concepts will be tossed about, loved, hated and hashed out until various design elements and concepts get enough love to find their way to the finished product. The first design, posed by May, is basically a BlackBerry with OLED-driven keys that make ModeShift look like a rotary phone. While the design is a throw away, the concept is awesome – a mobile handset with a keypad that will truly and completely morph and shape itself around the task at hand. No, this design will never see the light of day – at least not any time soon – but concepts and elements will certainly be drawn from it and applied to new designs as the project progresses. If you love Mozilla products as much as we do, we highly recommend hitting the read link and getting involved. Of course first you should hit the jump for a few more shots of the Optimus Berryus.
[Via Yanko Design]
Holly shizzly! That keypad is sooo sick! There are some amazing things to come from this. most definitely!
Love the oled concept. That could be very handy. I would love to see different keys for media, net, messaging, phone, and camera. Looking forward to watching this unfold.
There’s a device with an OLED keypad already on an official carrier roadmap somewhere…
FireFox is the best browser on the market, beating big names like Apple, Google and Microsoft. If they roll-out a phone with a similar quality, oh man, outdated WinMo, proprietary Apple and half-a$$ed Android beware.
Simply outstanding. Those display keys that can be changed to a specific website/app are a goldmine….Mozilla really is in a different class. Just like Apple who hit it out of the park on it’s 1st phone, Mozilla will do the same. And winmo who has had years of practice still lacks. Shame.
Love the concept behind that keypad! integrate a well implemented touchscreen and UI and you’re on your way to a great phone.
Oops, I meant e-ink, not OLED. My bad. Doesn’t Art Lebedev own a patent for OLED keypads?
I love how the text or email is addressed to Some Broad.
An OLED keypad would be real nice. Although I really like the Lenovo phone that is being released in Asia only. Don’t know why the US can’t get no loving.
It sounds cool and all, but man that thing looks like it’ll be an interesting learning curve. Phone looks nice as well.
Wouldn’t the OpenMoko FreeRunner be the first “crowd-sourced” open/free/libre handset?
Sweet! I’m sure whatever Mozilla comes out with is going to be the best on the market.
loling @ Some Broad…
Gotta love a company with a sense of humor
It’s actually Aza Raskin, son of Jef Raskin ( co-creator of the mac ).
Nice! Somebody recognizes that buttons are where the action is at, not undeterministic touch-gestures. The iPhone set back touch ergonomics by YEARS.
Good to see someone trying something different.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Huntsville AL, 35805
the concept behind this is truly genius!
my input on a new phone is my patent pending “infinity screen”. it’s going to be awesome! laugh and question now, amazed and impressed later.
cool concept … but why the blackberry symbol/button in the middle?
Obviously these are throwaway shots, but the benefit of a tactile interaction system like the oled keys would compromise the ability for their to be a landscape style display for film and pictures and web, right? Why not a slider a La the pre that utilizes a full screen of either orientation for media and web but utilizes this wicked oled idea as well. I just wish there were a way to have both.
Nobody except a subset of geeks has any idea what Mozilla is. Firefox, however, is something a lot of people have at least heard of. Mozilla, why do you keep diluting the brand with obscurely-named side projects? Call it the Firefox Phone. Not Fennec, not Mozilla. Firefox. You are competing against well-known brands like iPhone, Blackberry and Windows. You can not afford to dilute your brand. You need to keep the Firefox brand front and center. Why is there even a Mozilla brand anymore? Does Mozilla bring in revenue? No! Firefox brings in revenue! Hello, Hello, is anyone listening?
Haha I just get a kick out of the fact that the pic is just a photoshopped blackberry pearl LOL. Personally I would love to see them come out with a phone with a screen quality of a iPhone and the functionality of a g1 and with the sexyness of a X1!
What the hell!? A Mozilla FireFox phone? who’s next in making phones? Nintendo? Acer? Mercedes? Wikipedia? BGR? I’m getting sick and tired of all these companies that just keep entering the mobile handset out of no where all because of freaking apple making their iPhone… When will this madness stop?! Seriously, its getting really stupid. Leave the mobile handset business to the pros, not to some companies that just want attention by making their first phone.
To RandomGuy:
Hahaha, so you just know about this phone too?
Same like me. i just know about mozilla phone.
there is blackberry style in this phone…
great phone i think
Why is a Mozilla phone using opera?
In Microsoft’s defense, they have actually taken products to market. This is just a concept that has not been priced, fabricated, or tested for feasibility. It’s really easy to draw a picture of a phone. It’s a completely different thing to actually create it in a fashion that doesn’t make its ownership cost-prohibitive.
Furthermore, Apple did not “knock it out of the park.” Apple made a pretty phone, but it’s pretty much useless compared to smartphones.