Still A Firefox OS user

Currenlty I've a Sony Z3C Devices under Firefox OS, the last version of the Dogfood updates. Since Mozilla has announced that it will stop the development of Firefox OS for smarpthone (Read Firefox OS on smartphone is not dead !), and announced that the development will continue by community, I'm asking myself. Firefox OS will continue for IOT (Internet of Things). The Firefox OS for smartphone will change is name to B2G (Boot 2 Gecko) and will continue in a community supported version. I'm in doubt. Will community be strong and succeed where Mozilla has not ?

So I've taken a look on Android.

Sony & Android

First the Sony Z3C was sold with Android installed. Firefox OS on it is just a hack. Sony still continue to support this phone and upgrade Android on it. A beta version AOSP (Android Open Source Project) based on Android 6.0 marshmallow (not available for my country) are available for early adopter.

It suggests that this phone is not a obsolete model.

What do I need ?

Does Android respond to my needs ? Surely. I'll have missing applications & functionnality I don't have under Firefox OS. Like SDcard encryption, GPG support, a Tor browser, the VPN support.

So will I go on Android ?

Having an Android phone will allowing me to have and use all these funny & essential apps that everybody have on its phone. There's an app for that.

But I don't trust Google. I don't trust its marketplace and android apps. How many apps based on Framework ask for too many permissions like access to SDcard, Contact, Mail without needing these access. Just because they are build on a Framework, these apps needs theses permissions... And when I read some news about the SilverPush framework that allows accessing your microphone, and some apps are made to spying you via this microphone...

I think NO. Android is finally not for me. Ok, some people can tell me I can switch to an alternate marketplace like FDroid and a Cyanogen version.

What do I really need ?

Actually my smartphone is more phone than smart. I used it to check my Twitter account (data are public), some train/bus timetables (next train at...)

My phone is a phone. It's a small screen, have no keyboard. I don't have a tablet. I have a PC for writing some blog posts, surfing the web and others stuffs. My phone is not for productivity.

Firefox OS, in its actual version, answer to most of my needs (email, agenda, some surf). And above all, I trust Firefox OS like I trust Mozilla. If I'm a Mozillien, it's not by chance. It's because I believe in Mozilla MOTO and manifesto. It's another long story but for me, switching from Firefox OS to Android will be like switching from Firefox the browser to Chrome. A kind of treachery against myself and against Mozilla who has provided me so many good things (Firefox the browser, a web standards, Firefox OS...)

Conclusion

Each time I'm ready to try to download all I need to install Android on my Phone in order to replace Firefox OS, I'm finding some really good reasons to not do so. I must be strong, cool head, not yielding to some geeky trends. And above all, still think at my privacy and freedom. And when I see all the things Mozilla does about privacy, promoting encryption (for example), continue to use Firefox OS, to believe in its community, in Mozillien, is probably the best choice I can do.