Mozilla and Geeksphone unveil Keon and Peak Firefox OS developer phones

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Mozilla's Firefox OS for smartphones continues to make progress toward a public release. Today Mozilla announced that it'll be teaming up with Geeksphone to offer two developer preview handsets running the Linux and HTML5-based Firefox OS to help developers prep for the arrival of the new platform. The two handsets are dubbed Keon (above) and Peak (below), with the former being an entry-level model while the latter is a bit higher-end. Here are the specs for both units:

Keon: 3.5-inch HVGA screen, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 processor, 3-megapixel camera, 512MB RAM, 4GB ROM, microSD slot, 1,580mAh battery, UMTS 900/1900/2100, GSM 850/900/1900/2100Peak: 4.3-inch qHD IPS display, 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 8-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front cameras, 512MB RAM, 4GB ROM, microSD slot, 1,800mAh battery, UMTS 900/1900/2100, GSM 850/900/1900/2100

The first units are expected to be made available sometime in February, but there's no word yet on how much they'll cost. Mozilla does say that these unlocked dev phones will receive over the air updates, though, so anyone that decides to take the plunge and start developing HTML5 apps for Firefox OS will be getting the latest versions of Mozilla's software.

Firefox OS has already been backed by a few different companies, including manufacturers like ZTE and Alcatel as well as Spanish carrier Telefónica. Here in the U.S., Sprint has voiced its support for Firefox OS, but so far there's been no word on when we might see Hesse and Co. actually release handsets running Mozilla's new OS. Despite the fact that there's still some details that are up in the air regarding the first public Firefox OS hardware and its launch, the platform is still showing that it's coming along, and it'll be interesting to see how consumers respond to the devices and the recognizable "Firefox" name. What do you all make of Firefox OS so far?

Via Engadget, Mozilla, Geeksphone

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Alex is the Senior News Editor for PhoneDog. He digs mobile tech and just about every other kind of tech, too. He's also into cooking, sports, his two cats and drinking lots of coffee. - full profile

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