A faster and better Firefox for Android

Tristan Nitot

4

An android toy featuring a Firefox logo

Firefox on Android says "Hi!"

As Firefox for Android has just been released, people often ask me why they should use this new version of Firefox over other options.

I’ll review below what’s cool with this new version, and why it is.

Speed. It’s the number one request from our users. I know I tend to get impatient when I use my phone, and I want the apps that I launch to appear instantly. A lot of work has gone into making Firefox for Android a lot faster, in particular by using “Native User Interface”. Check out the video that shows the progress we’ve made since the previous version. Once it’s launched, the rest of the experience is also a lot faster. The user interface is much more responsive, plus the JavaScript engine has made a lot of progress too.

Flash support. That’s the second most popular request from our users. While Mozilla prefers open technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, there are still a lot of pages that feature Flash content. Now it’s possible to use such content with the new Firefox for Android (Flash requires Android 2.3 and above).

Personalized start page (aka Awesome Screen) that saves time getting you to where you want to go on the Web.

Extensions. Firefox has historically been the leader on this front; why should it be different on mobile?

Sync gives the ability to synchronize bookmarks, passwords, browsing history and such between Firefox desktop and Mobile. If you use Firefox on desktop, you really want to use Sync with Firefox for Android.

Privacy and Security. This is also something where Firefox has shown leadership since day one. This new Android version offers Do Not Track and a Master Password. This is also why Sync user data is encrypted on the device and stored as is on servers.

And finally, the new Firefox for Android is available on Android 2.2 (Froyo) and above and not limited to the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich (which is Android 4.0, but is installed a tiny portion of smartphones for now).

In short, the new Firefox for Android embodies the values of Mozilla: easy to use, powerful and fast, secure and customizable. I’m not the only on to say it:

“For many Android users, Mozilla’s updated Firefox app could quickly become their favorite mobile browser” -  VentureBeat.

“initial loading is quasi-instant, and navigation, zooming and tab switching seemed smooth as well, even on the two-gen-old phone.” – Engadget

If you own an Android phone, you may want to install the new Firefox for Android. You will love it!

4 responses

  1. Michel wrote on :

    Hello,

    Thanck you for this version.

    With the “Native User Interface”, we can use Firefox with ARMv6 ? Is it in Mozilla’s roadmap ?

    See you

    1. Tristan Nitot wrote on :

      Michel: thank you for your question. No, the Native UI version does not yet support Arm V6, but I’m told Mozilla is working on it. It is on our roadmap!

      –Tristan

  2. Pingback from Home of KaiRo: Weekly Status Report, W27/2012 on ::

    [...] L10n, key pinning, etc. A lot of things are moving at Mozilla. While the rewritten Firefox for Android has been released now and is getting awesome reviews (most people are calling it the "best browser for Android" [...]

  3. yates en Ibiza wrote on ::

    With the “Native User Interface”, we can use Firefox with ARMv6 ?