Firefox Beta for Android!

[htcevolee]

Now available and hopefully no one else posted this. =)

Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Maemo is Now Available :: The Mozilla Blog

https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/beta/

What's new in Firefox 4 Beta 1 for Android and Maemo

Fennec is the codename of Mozilla’s mobile project, however, the official product name is Firefox.
Shipping with many of your favorite Firefox desktop features like Firefox Sync, Add-ons and the Awesome Bar, this beta release brings Firefox to the Android platform, the fastest growing smartphone platform in the world.
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. Enhanced responsiveness, in conjunction with new and improved features that help customize your Firefox, make this release a user friendly and personalized experience.
Get Up and Go Shipping with the Firefox Sync feature built-in, Firefox 4 beta 1 synchronizes your Firefox history, bookmarks, open tabs, passwords and form data between your desktop and mobile. Just login with your Firefox Sync account info and Firefox gets to know you right away, taking you to your favorite parts of the Web with barely any typing. Don't worry about switching to a new phone, or having to type long URLs or passwords again. You can even leave your desktop in a moment’s notice and pick up right where you left off on your mobile phone.
Add-ons Firefox 4 Beta 1 offers add-ons; pieces of software that let you change or add features, functionality and the look of your Firefox to fit your browsing lifestyle. You can search for and install add-ons directly to your Android phone or Nokia N900 from the Add-ons Manager located in your browser tools. We look forward to offering more add-ons in future releases.
Personalized Start Page Pick up where you left off with your new personalized Start page. Get instant access to your Firefox desktop tabs, the tabs you had open last time you were browsing on your phone, the Awesome Bar, and get suggestions for useful add-ons.
Awesome Screen The Awesome Screen pops up just by tapping on the Awesome Bar (location bar). It gets to know you and instantly brings up a smart list of your favourite history items and bookmarks and lets you easily select a search engine for your desired search. You can also customize your search engine list for maximum efficiency.
Touch Friendly UI Swipe to the left or right of your screen to access your tabs, browser controls and tools, which are stowed out of the way while you browse the Web. Typing on a phone is hard, that's why you can bookmark a site with one tap, view tabs as thumbnails to easily see and open the page you want, and use the Awesome Screen to get to where you want to go in just a few a keystrokes.
Responsiveness Speed and responsiveness is one of the major focuses of this release. This has been implemented using two major technologies, “Electrolysis” and “Layers.” 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. This release has taken advantage of Layers to improve performance in graphic intensive actions like scrolling, zooming and animations.
More personalized than ever before, Firefox 4 beta 1 is packed with your favorite features and great improvements. Other highlights 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

 

[Mr. Ed]

Now available and hopefully no one else posted this. =)

Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Maemo is Now Available :: The Mozilla Blog

https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/beta/

i'll try it out but unless they have made serious improvements over the last beta is garbage

 

[ScorpDX]

Nice find!

 

[htcevolee]

i'll try it out but unless they have made serious improvements over the last beta is garbage

Review says its a big improvement in speed while browsing vs the garbage they had before. So may be worth a try.

 

[ScorpDX]

So far it seems alright. A huge improvement over the Alpha "fennec" they had out for so long!

Sidenote...Installed the FF4 Beta6 on my laptop too! Nothing really noticeably different other than a facelift which I promptly moved things around to restore the look I had with 3.6

 

[PridgNYC]

Firefox 4 beta was just released.

Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Maemo is Now Available :: The Mozilla Blog

 

[Tumeg]

So far, I REALLY like it!
I LOVE the "Firefox Sync" and all of the add-ons available.
Still debating which browser I prefer - Fennec or Dolphin

The ONE thing I dislike about it SO FAR, is how it takes a few seconds to load before you can use it. I know this is a beta and it WILL change, but that's just the one down-side that I see SO FAR.

 

[i.have.droid]

No Flash on it.

 

[aznmode]

Arent they a little late in the game. Dophin HD is where its at IMO.

 

[appleaj]

I haven't had time to look into this much, but it looks promising (especially if you use Firefox).

Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Maemo is Now Available :: The Mozilla Blog

 

[Fatal]

I'm downloading the beta right now!

 

[appleaj]

Well, it was running great, but then my phone just suddenly started rebooting. This may also have to do with my phone being rooted with an official 2.2 ROM though.

 

[Stupifier]

If Firefox will support CSS Styling of websites.......my God I will love this browser. I've wanted to see my CSS skins of my favorite sites for a VERY long time on my Dinc. PLEASE!!!

 

[ItalianHunk]

I just tried downloading this on my Captivate and I get this pop up that says.... Install Blocked. For security, your phone is set to block...not in Market.

Can I get around this?

 

[theslik1]

You'll need to check the box in application settings that allows you to install non-market apps.

Anyway, this browser is a mess. I love Firefox on my desktop, but this mobile version is too clunky, too slow, and still too buggy. The sync wouldn't import my bookmarks properly; at that point I just uninstalled it.

Sticking with Dolphin HD until Mozilla figures out what they're doing.

 

[FramCire]

Wouldnt play flash for me. Said I needed a plugin but wouldnt let me click to plugin.

I was so psyched to try it too.


Firefox beta made my phone unusable. Force closing things, getting low in space messages, and it didnt even let me use flash.

It is strange to me that FireFox used 40 MB of space and even after moving to sd, gave my phone all sorts of errors.

I will try it again later, after a few updates. It was a colossal fail.

 

[egomaster]

I have installed the apk. but everytime I try to open it pauses and goes back to my home screen. Any ideas?

 

[theslik1]

I have installed the apk. but everytime I try to open it pauses and goes back to my home screen. Any ideas?

Clicking on the apk should install the program. Have your checked your app drawer to see if Firefox is there? If not, try re-downloading the apk and try it again.

Also, make sure your application preferences are set to install non-market apps.

 

[egomaster]

Clicking on the apk should install the program. Have your checked your app drawer to see if Firefox is there? If not, try re-downloading the apk and try it again.

Also, make sure your application preferences are set to install non-market apps.

Yeah I have done all that. Still no go. Its in my app drawer. I click on it it pauses and goes back to home screen. I am using a HTC Sprint Hero running 2.1

 

[theslik1]

Yeah I have done all that. Still no go. Its in my app drawer. I click on it it pauses and goes back to home screen. I am using a HTC Sprint Hero running 2.1

Ok, I'm running a Dinc so that's all I have. I did notice that the app took a long time to load the first time I tried it.

Bottom line for me is that it wasn't good enough to replace Dolphin. Not even close.

 

[ItalianHunk]

I won't bother with it then. I like and use Firefox on my pc but I'll wait till the bugs are worked out for this. Thanks

 

[mikebz5]

I am a huge FF for pc fan, but this is junk. Uninstalled 10 minutes later. I just wasted 15 minutes of my life.

 

[saps]

Same here FF on my PC but this mobile is not ready for prime time, uninstalled for now but will recheck in a week or three as development continues

 

[imtoomuch]

Arent they a little late in the game. Dophin HD is where its at IMO.

Henry Ford mass produced the automobile first. Good thing no other manufacturers joined they game. They would have never caught up! Please note the severe level of sarcasm.

Competition is good for us. Firefox might have started later, but it's not even close to being too late. Android is still so new. Firefox will catch up and it will be another option. Options are GOOD!

 

[shawn1224]

Doesn't even work on mytouch just like the alpha fennec.