14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla has been taking bold steps to release its Firefox browser for Android ever since Google's mobile platform started to gain popularity. Recently, the developer announced the availability of Firefox 4 Beta for Android, which promises significant speed improvements over previous versions.
According to Mozilla, Firefox 4 Beta for Android is built on the same technology platform as Firefox 4 for desktop computers, but it has been optimized for browsing on mobile devices. Currently, the application features over 100 add-ons and the number is growing steadily.
The main improvements and features that the new Firefox 4 Beta brings are detailed below:
Performance and Memory Usage
- Startup speed has improved visibly; - JavaScript is much faster - almost 15% performance improvement in Beta 4 compared to Beta 3; - Memory and CPU usage is reduced, making the browser more responsive and stable.
Android
- Fixed several keyboard issues; - Improved support for tablets (like the Samsung Galaxy Tab) and small-screen devices (like the Motorola Droid Pro).
Firefox Sync
- Improved user interface for easy connection with desktop Firefox.
User Interface
- Added an option to resize text to fit the screen when you double-tap to zoom in, to optimize the reading experience. This feature can be activated in the Firefox preferences; - Many miscellaneous bug fixes, usability improvements, and optimizations for a better experience.
In addition, the new version retains all the features of the previous Beta 4 iterations of the mobile browser, such as: support for Android hardware and software keyboards, Android-style menus, copy/paste in URL bar, support for uploading files, "Save as PDF" command in the site menu and many more.
There are also several known issues when the application is installed on certain smartphones, which will probably be addressed in the next builds:
- There are some issues with SwiftKey that may cause it to crash or to prevent user from entering text in input fields; - Loading some pages in Firefox causes long freezes on some Motorola phones, especially the Motorola Droid (or “Milestone”); - Firefox fails to start on some Acer Liquid and Dell Streak devices.; - Fennec crashes on certain nightly builds of Cyanogenmod 7 (an unofficial, community-developed version of Android). Firefox 4 Beta for Android is available as a free download from Softpedia. The mobile browser is compatible with all devices running Android OS 2.0 and higher.