Firefox is most commonly known as a web browser, indeed one of the most popular in use at the moment. But did you know that like Google’s Chrome OS, Mozilla has also developed a miniature operating system based off their web browser?
The Firefox OS supports a host of apps and is a lightweight operating environment which other programs can run on – it’s no surprise that Panasonic have chosen the Firefox OS for their new line of ‘smarter than smart’ TV’s, which also use the fabled and much awaited 4K ultra HD resolution.
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Panasonic recently announced at CES 2015 that they would be teaming up with Mozilla and Firefox for their new “Life+Screen” TV range, which will use a custom made user interface based off the Firefox OS. The user interface will appear on the upcoming CX850 Series, CX800 Series, CX650 Series, and CX600 Series smart TV ranges.
According to Panasonic, the Firefox OS user interface “is specifically designed to allow users to access preferred content, applications and content from connected devices quickly and easily.”
The grapevine has it that the CX850 range will include voice commands which should be able to control the Firefox based UI, and all ranges will have access to apps, web pages and paired devices. Teh smart TV concept basically means that you’ll be able to use your TV in a way similar to a computer – being a\ble to access more content that just TV programs through the internet.
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With the Firefox based technology on board Panasonic’s new TV range, one should be able to pair and pipeline content from their laptop or other computing device straight to the TV, and possibly also control functions through a PC as well. We can confirm already that notifications from a paired computer can be sent to the TV for other applications.
Another major selling point of the Firefox inclusion is the freedom and openness of the OS – developers using the system have access to a lot of open source materials from Mozilla themselves meaning that the likelihood of third party apps and additional content which can be used on Panasonic’s TV range is much increased.
Panasonic’s strategy and inclusion of Firefox in their new TV ranges is on of their main focuses for this year, so we could expect new TV’s to be dropping at some point during the year. Undoubtedly the devices will stay current with further versions of the Firefox OS as well, and will be updated as the OS matures.
It’s still early days for Mozilla and Panasonic, but in the grand scheme of things the dawn of a generation of ultra-HD 4K TVs featuring built in operating systems is already breaking.
Source: Mozilla Blog
Via: Techradar