Firefox OS/DogfoodingTips

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Some notes from Dietrich. Please add your own!

Get a 2nd SIM Card

Seriously. Ask your manager for one, or buy a prepaid account or something. It's not possible to properly dogfood if you're only using the device as a Web-only device, and not using as your primary phone.

Safe Dogfooding with Google Voice

Hardcore dogfooding means you throw the old phone away and live entirely on your Firefox OS phone. That's reasonable for some people, but not for others (like the ones with children who need to be available for emergencies). YET.

So for a while I've been using Google Voice as my primary number, and having it forward to my other devices. This means I can dogfood with a scenario like this:

  • my normal number, on my trusted device
  • my testing number, on my Firefox phone
  • my Google Voice number, which forwards all calls and text messages to *both* of the other numbers

This allows me to do real-life dogfooding of the Firefox phone, but with a backup in case of bugs or missing functionality.

Importing Google Contacts

NOTE: Currently SIM contact import is not working: https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/issues/4658

First, you must export your contacts in your old phone to the SIM card. Some phones do this by default.

  • Android: To export Google contacts onto a SIM card (which Android does not do by default), install the free app Contact2Sim. Open the app, select the phone, and in the options menu choose "Copy missing to SIM".
  • iPhone: ???

Then you can put the SIM card in your Firefox phone, open the Contacts app and click the "Import SIM contacts" button.

Copying Music and Videos

  • Connect the device via USB
  • Go to Settings -> Device Storage
  • Check "USB Mass Storage Enabled"
  • Wait for the device to show up on your computer

You can now transfer media over.

FAQ

  • Where should I put my files? The device scans the entire SD card for all media types, so anywhere will do.
  • What file formats are supported? MP3, OGG, WAV, ???

Biggest Dogfooding Complaints

  • Can't import SIM contacts yet. Basically not usable as a phone because of this. I have exactly zero phone numbers memorized.
  • Can't play more than one song in a row in the Music app. Not usable as my iPod replacement because of this.
  • No Gmail support.
  • Google calendar import is broken.
  • No Twitter (productivity feature?!)
  • Can't get 3G data connectivity
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