14 DAY TRIAL // Just as promised, Mozilla came out with a beta version of its mobile browser designed for Google's Android operating system, codenamed Fennec 2.0, but launched as Firefox 4. The new beta release is aimed both at Android and Maemo-based devices, and comes with a wide range of features similar with those present on the desktop flavor of the browser.
Firefox 4 Beta 1 for Android and Maemo was developed based on the same technology platform as the Firefox 4 browser for desktop computers, but it comes with a great deal of enhancements for use on mobile devices.
Firefox is compatible with Android 2.0 and above devices, including HTC Desire, HTC EVO 4G, Nexus One, Motorola Droid 2, and more. It can be downloaded and installed on the Maemo-based Nokia N900 too.
Some of the features Firefox 4 beta 1 packs inside include:
- Pinch-to-zoom (Android), double-tap, or use the volume rocker (Nokia N900) to zoom in and out - Tabbed browsing in thumbnail view lets you easily see and open the site you want - Location-Aware Browsing gives you content and info relevant to your location - Find in Page in the Site Menu lets you quickly find text on the webpage - Share Page in the Site Menu lets you send content to email, Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader - Forget Password in the Site Menu tells a website you no longer trust to forget your private data - Add Search Engine in the Site Menu lets you quickly add a new search engine to your Awesome Screen - Context Menu lets you Open in New Tab and Share by long tapping and holding a link - Smart Tapping lets you tap on links, widgets and other Web content with accuracy - Password Manager lets you choose to remember site password to avoid typing
But this is not all, since many other functionalities have been also packed inside the solution, such as Firefox Sync, Add-ons, the Awesome Bar, or others more.
The mobile application can easily sync Firefox history, bookmarks, open tabs, passwords and form data between your desktop and mobile, while offering support for add-ons, so that one would be able to expand the functionality of the browser even more.
On Firefox 4 beta 1, users can set their own homepage, not to mention that they would enjoy the app's Awesome Screen, as well as its touch friendly UI, aimed at offering the best possible experience on handsets.
On top of that, the new mobile browser comes with a series of improvements in the speed and responsiveness area, achieved through the implementation of two technologies, “Electrolysis” and “Layers.”
According to Mozilla, “Electrolysis allows the browser interface to run in a separate process from the one rendering Web content, reacting much faster to user input while pages are loading or CPU intensive JavaScript is running.”
As for Layers, the technology is aimed at improving the performance of the mobile browser when graphic intensive actions like scrolling, zooming and animations are involved.
“The foundation of this release is based on enhanced performance and responsiveness, specifically around a technology called “Layers” that greatly improves performance in graphic intensive actions like scrolling, zooming and animations,” Mozilla states.
“Enhanced responsiveness, in conjunction with new and improved features that help customize your Firefox, make this release a user friendly and personalized experience,” the company adds.
On the downside, Firefox 4 beta 1 needs 40 MB of internal storage, though the development team aims at reducing it to 20 MB or less.
Other known issues include lack of support for Adobe Flash and other plugins, broken add-ons, or the fact that text does not wrap to fit the screen after zooming in.