In March, Orange announced that it will be bringing Firefox OS to 13 markets in Africa. The Orange Klif is a mobile phone running Firefox OS 2.0 as its operating system. The price of the Orange Klif is Rs 1,499 which makes it an affordable mobile phone for people on a limited budget. This is a quick review of the Orange Klif.
I would like to thank Orange Mauritius for providing an Orange Klif for testing.
The dimensions of the Orange Klif is 62 x 112 x 12 (in mm) and it weights 98 grams. The SoC is a MT6572M (Mediatech) with a Dual core ARM Cortex-A7 1 GHz CPU. The mobile phone comes with 256 MB of RAM. The internal storage capacity is 100 MB. 27.5 MB of the 66.3 MB of Application Storage was in use. The total space for media storage (music, photos and movies) was 46.6 MB.
| Network | 2G - GSM 850/900/1800/1900 3G - HSDPA |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 62 x 112 x 12 (in mm) |
| Weight | 98 grams |
| CPU | Dual core ARM Cortex-A7 1 GHz |
| GPU | ARM Mali-400 MP1 |
| Memory | 256 MB RAM |
| Storage | 100 MB |
| Display | TFT capacitive touchscreen, HVGA resolution 320x480 pixels (165 ppi) 256K colors |
| Camera | Rear 1600 x 1200 pixels |
| Battery | Li-ion 1300 mAh |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11 b/g/n |
| Bluetooth | 4.0 |
The Orange Klif has a Li-ion 1300 mAh battery. According to the Mozilla Foundation, the Talk time is up to 7 hours and a Standby time of up to 432 hours for 2G and up to 325 hours for 3G. It has a 2 MP rear camera with a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels. There is a built-in Flash and a x 4 Zoom feature. The camera can also be used for video capture. The Orange Klif also includes a FM radio.
The Orange Klif runs Firefox OS 2.0 as its operating system. There are a Facebook and Twitter icons are shortcuts to their mobile web sites. Additional applications can be installed from Marketplace. The welcome screen displays LOQUI Instant Messenger, an application which can be used with WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Lynx and Jabber accounts. The user would search for the WhatApps or Viber applications to install. Unfortunately, those applications (app) are currently not available from Marketplace.
The icons on the Home screen do not look familiar. Applications such as StarAfrica and Dailymotion would not have much appeal in Mauritius. The icon for Google Maps is a star on a white background. That would not be identified with Google Maps. The Settings screen displays information using shades of grey for contrast between the different options. It lacks the appeal which would be expected from a mobile phone which supports 256k colors. The Home screen was barely visible during outdoor use. The keyboard on the touchscreen did not seem to be calibrated correctly as an adjacent chraracter is sometimes displayed instead of the character which was typed in.
The Orange Klif can be used as a Wi-Fi hotspot. The mobile phone's internet connection can also be shared through a USB connection.
The price tag of the Orange Klif puts the mobile phone within reach of a person with a budget of under Rs 2,000 who is looking for a mobile phone to make and receive calls and SMS, and which can be used to access the internet once in a while. The internal storage of 100 MB limits the amount of photos which can be saved. The Orange Klif cannot be used to take selfies as it does not have a front camera. The Firefox OS on the Orange Klif is not a selling point as there isn't a wide range of applications available.