Firefox G-Fox: Plush Edition (hands-on)

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" itemprop="text" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Image" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/03/ff2013-03-2917-52-31600.jpg" /></div>With the introduction of Google's Chrome and stepped-up games from the likes of Internet Explorer and Safari, Firefox is arguably not quite the darling of the browser wars it was when it first hit the scene in 2003. And while Mozilla has certainly made progress on that front, the organization understands that diversifying is an important factor in the future success of the company, first through Thunderbird and more recently through the Firefox OS, a mobile operating system targeted toward users in developing nations. G-Fox, meanwhile, marks a decidedly different direction for the foundation, which has made its name in the world of software. It's an adorable attempt, perhaps, to take the world's bedrooms and playrooms by storm.<br /> The plush is the real-world port of G-Fox, Mozilla Online China's large-headed, big-eyed take on the American mascot, Kit. The fox was first spotted in the wild at last year's Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai. Mozilla Online wasn't talking it up too much at the event, but naturally, we couldn't wait to get our hands on an early build. And for a first-generation product in a new space, we have to say, in the whole time we've been playing around with G-Fox, we've yet to encounter a single crash or slowdown in spite of extensive squeezing, head patting and tossing up in the air, adorably.<br /> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Firefox GFox Plush Edition handson" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/g-fox2012-01-0500-20-17600.jpg" /></div>G-Fox is primarily constructed from a bright, orange felt -- and while we're slightly disappointed that Mozilla does not yet possess the technology to construct stuffed animals from actual fire, this route is certainly far more cuddly and less prone to burn down one's home, both definite pluses in the stuffed animal department. As mentioned above, G-Fox is about 75 percent head, making it fairly top-heavy. And while we've not experienced crashes, its proportions do lead to a few minor stability issues -- thought it's nothing that can't be solved by leaning the fox up against a nearby wall -- or maneuvering its tail as a kickstand.<br /> The fox's eyes are great big things, shaped like watery teardrops to help harness maximum adorableness. Its nose, meanwhile, is made of a hard plastic, so you're going to want to avoid tossing it at animals or small children. G-Fox's ears, meanwhile, are floppy affairs, though we found that ours stood far more alert than the one we had originally seen in Shanghai, in spite of the fact that one was pierced with a tag. Attached to the rear of its little body is a big, lightning-shaped tail with the familiar swirling, yellow fire pattern on its end. The nicest details of all, however, are the small pads on the bottoms of its hind legs, features that will no doubt become standard in future browser-based stuffed animal builds.<br /><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Firefox GFox Plush Edition handson" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/g-fox2012-01-0500-19-15600.jpg" /></div>It's encouraging to see Mozilla experiment in a new space, and as we wait to gauge the success of the foundation's Firefox OS offering, we can say now that it really hit it out of the park on this front. It's exciting to imagine what future builds will bring -- a pull-string? Tabbed browsing? The future is bright indeed.<br /> </div></div>

Firefox G-Fox: Plush Edition (hands-on)

With the introduction of Google's Chrome and stepped-up games from the likes of Internet Explorer and Safari, Firefox is arguably no...

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BlackBtrry Water Game hands-on

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" itemprop="text" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBtrry Water Game handson" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/blackbtrry2012-01-0420-01-51600.jpg" /></div>This has been a year of fundamental changes for BlackBerry; shifts in the company's core, beginning with a change in name from Research in Motion to the far less cumbersome -- and more familiar -- BlackBerry. The change to BlackBerry also brought the introduction of BB 10, a more advanced and modern operating system that aims to put the smartphone pioneer on an equal footing with the likes of iOS and Android, OSes that have robbed it of a good deal of market share with BlackBerry's efforts apparently focused elsewhere.<br /> The Z10, the first handset to take advantage of the new operating system, has earned decent to good reviews, though reviewers and consumers alike seem intent on holding out for its counterpart, the Q10, which harnesses that core competency that has helped the company maintain so many loyal users: the QWERTY keyboard. And then there's this, the BlackBtrry Water Game (pronounced, we assume, "BlackBattery"), a strange, typoed beast, which may mark yet another fundamental shift for the smartphone market as we know it.<br /> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBtrry Water Game handson" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/blackbtrry2012-01-0420-03-45600.jpg" /></div>On its face, the device shares a lot more with BlackBerry's past than its future, with a build that's clearly a spiritual successor to the company's Bold line. The handset has an all-black front, with a display that occupies most of its upper third. Just above that is a gold speaker grille and below, the familiar trackball for navigating through all of those work emails with ease. A physical keyboard monopolizes the bottom of the handset -- though this, like the trackball and speaker grille above it, seems to exist primarily for aesthetic purposes. It refuses to react, no matter how hard one pushes, making us long for the simplicity of the virtual keyboard, which, while not offering any tactile feedback, actually, you know, does something.<br /> It's a bit subtle to the untrained eye, but BlackBerry diehards may well notice the presence of two large, orange buttons on either side of the trackball that jut out a few millimeters. The buttons each feature a pair of arrows and, perhaps most notably, can actually be pressed, offering a unique bit of functionality that could help distinguish this device from its rivals in an increasingly competitive smartphone market.<br /><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBtrry Water Game handson" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/blackbtrry2012-01-0420-03-11600.jpg" /></div>Around the side of the device, you'll find a wide silver trim, with two indeterminate buttons of different sizes on the left side. Again, this pair seems to exist for purely aesthetic purposes -- if you're the button-pushing type, this is arguably the most infuriating device money can buy -- but it may well help cure you of that BlackBerry thumb that had you on worker's comp for much of the early '00s. The rear of the device has a nice texture to it, ensuring a good grip. There's a rear-facing camera at the top, which likely won't get much use seeing as how it appears to be painted over -- though it may offer a cool filtered effect as the rest of the world waits for BlackBerry to jump on the Instagram bandwagon. Below this is the familiar BlackBerry four-B logo and to its right is the rubber drain.<br /><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="BlackBtrry Water Game handson" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/blackbtrry2012-01-0420-02-16600.jpg" /></div>Software-wise, the Water Game has a ways to go before catching up with the competition. The display is sharp and the UI is slick, but like BB 10, the app selection is fairly limited. In fact, best as we can tell, there's only one game in the app library, which involves using the aforementioned big orange buttons to push streams of water upward in order to get a number of colored rings onto two shiny red swords. All of this occurs in front of a seemingly unrelated tropical fish background. It's a simple game, sure, but with casual gaming all the rage on mobile devices, it's easy to see this becoming the next <em>Fruit Ninja</em>.<br /><div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="DNP BlackBtrry Water Game handson" data-src-height="348" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/blackbtrry2012-01-0420-27-28600.jpg" /></div>The BlackBtrry Water Game's got a ways to go if it's going to truly compete in this cutthroat smartphone space. For one thing, the company's going to have to offer some serious incentives to developers to help build out its app offerings. It's also going to have to make sure that more than two buttons are operational, moving ahead -- even as the industry has moved toward virtual everything, consumers are still accustomed to having the physical buttons on their devices work. The device does have innovation going for it, trading in the LCD for an always-on (as the "BlackBattery" name implies) fully liquid display -- and that may well be worth the $2 asking price alone.<br /> </div></div>

BlackBtrry Water Game hands-on

This has been a year of fundamental changes for BlackBerry; shifts in the company's core, beginning with a change in name from Resea...

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