14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla has finally released into the wild the Beta version of Fennec, which we should admit we were expecting with great interest. Prior to this release, there were some alpha versions available for download as well, yet they lacked the smoothness and stability one would expect to see from a web browser.
The new Beta version of Fennec comes to the surface for the Maemo platform, which runs on the Nokia 810 tablet device. The new version of the application is able to deliver a wide range of improvements over the previous alpha variants, as well as some nice new features. Those of you who don't have a Nokia 810 but would like to see how it works can still do so by downloading a desktop version.
The new Fennec 1.0 Beta 1 comes with a wide range of the features that we are all used to see with the desktop version of Firefox. Among the capabilities of the browser we can count support for Flash videos and for the add-ons it comes with, as well as improved bookmark management with support for bookmark folders.
Among the improvements that the Beta version of Fennec brings along we should mention faster application start-up time along with faster panning and zooming, integrated web searches as well as easy access to multiple search engines. The browser also comes along with Password manager, Tabbed browsing with thumbnail images, Smart URL bar, Popup blocker or a Searchable download manager.
There are a lot of other features that need to be experimented with in the new Fennec 1.0 Beta 1, including the Weave Sync add-on, as well as a gesture add-on. The videos below, made by Madhava Enros, show the browser in action, so you might want to check them out to see how it works. More info on the new version of Fennec is available on Mozilla's official website.
At the same time, those who would like to try out the browser on their desktop PC can download the available versions for Windows, Linux or Mac OS X directly from Softpedia.
Fennec Beta 1 walkthrough from Madhava Enros on Vimeo.
Fennec Gestures and Chromeless browsing from Felipe on Vimeo.