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New Firefox For Android Beta Released
Mozilla has announced the availability of a new beta version of Firefox for Android. The release notes list many of the new features and fixes, which include Flash support, improvements to panning and zooming, plugins loading only on touch, and a new "Awesome Screen." They point out that many Android phones are supported, and that a beta version for tablets will be coming soon. Mozilla is asking for help "testing everything from the faster startup and response times to compatibility for specific websites and graphics performance." Here's the download page.
With all that was held back when the N900 still was supported, it's a shame that it's left out of the fixes.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Best. Feature. Ever.
They've come to the party extremely late, with a slow bloated competitor for the pretty good stock browser and the excellent Dolphin HD. It would be nice if Firefox for Android supported all the desktop add-ons but no. So..why would I install it over Dolphin?
As much as I hate to say it (as a N900 pre-orderer), the N900 is dead. The community is split between fourteen different forks and forks of forks and most of its users seem to have moved on to more popular devices (Android and iOS - I doubt too many bought another Nokia/WP7 after what Nokia did with the N900).
Anyway all these together make for a rather unwelcoming development platform. You can't blame people for dropping it.
They release new Android betas pretty often - there have been half a dozen last year, for example. What makes this version so special that it warrants a /. front page story?
Ug- unlike the non-beta, this one has no Adblock Plus support (yet). That is the major reason for Android Firefoxt (well, that, and no Google-overlord spying as with the stock and Chrome Android browsers). Hopefully this will come soon.
Also looks like no tablet support for it yet.
Also still looks like you have to install an Addon to get it to switch to non-mobile presentation mode. That is annoying and should be built-in.
With the rapid release schedule a story for every FF release would already be more than enough, but now we are getting a new story for a BETA for every platform?
My little cheapo LG LS670(posting from it now) won't run it or chrome. But.. I can surf, mail, youtube, IM, track my runs, track hours, run squareup, bank, and more. WTF do I need FF for?
Silence is a state of mime.
Testing now. If it syncs with my computers, I may be switching from Dolphin.
I've bought mine twice over since there isn't a good enough replacement (the N950 came close aside from not being retail available).
Let me know when an Android-based phone has:
* Root-out of the box
* Hardware QWERTY
* Removable SD storage
* Large internal storage
* Works with T-Mobile 3G/4G bands (if not just the latter)
* FM+RDS Transmitter
* USB Host
* Onboard Wifi that can be repurposed for carrier-hostile tether
* Debian-based userland
* Relatively curve-free body (unlike most everything HTC).
In short, a phone platform that's a multitool in its own right and isnt beholden to a carrier.
I'm not sure about all those forks you're talking about, but there aren't more than three major ones. That should be easy enough to not have Firefox be de-supported.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
I'm typing this on a Droid 3 and it meets many of those requirements. It is most notably lacking out-of-the-box root, but I fixed that soon after getting the phone. I am still rather pissed that the bootloader is locked, so even when I change the ROM I can't change the kernel. And, with it rooted, wifi tethering is open to me if I wish. The body is also fairly rectangular. Except for the rounded corners, it's quite straight.
It would be nice to have Debian beneath Android, though.
Elrond, Duke of URL
"This is the most fun I've had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"-Sam&Max
I cannot be the only one who read the title as "New Firefox" for "Android Beta." Language can be so ambiguous at times.
Except for the rounded corners, it's quite straight.
It'll be perfect 45.00000 degree angles all around once Apple gets wind of this!
Devices aren't rooted out-of-the-box, but it's trivial to root any Android device. USB cable to the PC (Linux/Windows/Mac) and run a shell script to invoke ADB and transfer the SU APK. Really, really simple.
Hardware QWERTY is very easy to come by with Android.
Just about all new Android phones have removable microSD.
Size of internal storage varies from phone to phone. If you're willing to spend good money, you can get at least 64GB. Personally, I'm perfectly happy with very limited internal storage, and relying on said swappable microSD cards.
I'm sure you can find plenty that'll work on T-Mobile's network. Personally I'd strongly recomend looking at Sprint first, though...
FM Transmitter seems like a ridiculously silly requirement to me, (long-live bluetooth) but I imagine you can find an Android phone that has it.
Any high-end Android phone will support acting as a USB Host... And if it doesn't, you just need to root it and install the appropriate app.
Once you've rooted the phone, you can install a plethora of Wifi Tethering apps. There's at least one that claims to work without root, but I can't vouch for it... YMMV.
Lots of people install a Debian userland on their Androids... It only gets ugly if you want to run X11 apps (NX Client, for me), and I'm hopeful that the new X server will get up to snuff soon.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Just like its predecessor, this beta loads content too slowly to be usable as a daily driver. In high contrast there's the Opera mobile browser, which is the fastest page renderer I've found on Android yet. I'll also take Opera's "speed dial" feature over Firefox's "loathsome bar" on any given day.
Sadly this new updates requires two additional rather intrusive permissions with no explanation as to why they are needed. As someone who carefully watches which permissions an app requests, this was very disappointing and until they justify these additional permissions, I won't be updating. It's concerning that there is such a large number of people out there who install Android apps without at least glancing at the permissions they request.
Seriously, the stock browser has been able to reflow text on zoom practically forever; why doesn't Firefox Mobile?
This is the killer feature for me; with my poor vision I always have to zoom in pretty far to see anything on those tiny screens, and being forced to pan left and right to see every line is a huge pain. I like FF for its bookmark/password sync functionality, but when it comes to actually reading anything it's almost easier to copy the bookmark out of Firefox into the stock browser and go from there.
This story is worthy of note. As others have mentioned, this is the first beta release to use the Android native UI instead of xul. I can attest it is *dramatically* faster, night and day. The previous xul-based builds were largely unusable, taking 30 seconds just to start, even on my heavily oc'd phone. The new native UI builds run smoothly and fluidly. I've been using the native UI builds since they were first released as nightlies (currently on Firefox 15 nightly), and they're a big step forward.
That being said, these do have some big downsides. The native UI builds dropped support for things like text selection, copy/paste (can't copy what you can't select), and generally feel unpolished. Once all the features from the xul builds are available in the native ui builds, it'll be the best browser around, hands down. Until then, it's a nice tech demo from Mozilla.
A-freaking-men to this. I'll add:
* IM & SMS integrated the same coherent messaging framework (so the same interface controls all messaging, regardless of protocol, though you do pick which protocol)
* Skype, Google Video and other video chat integrating to the dialer and contacts list (so one interface for all).
* Extensible media framework [gstreamer & tracker] (the default framework can be easily extended to support new filetypes)
I'm shocked and appalled that Android (apparently even in ICS) is missing the above features, I simply assumed that they would have this. Anyone know if this is because there's no framework included, or if apps just don't take advantage of it?
I think the n900's hardware sucked big-time (Maemo was sluggish on my n900 from day 1 with a factory load and I was constantly out of memory after running a single browser, though that might just be a problem with my phone or some background / desktop apps I installed). But Maemo itself is vastly superior to Android. If only there was a way to run Maemo on my Galaxy S2... I'd take advantage in a heartbeat...
I wouldn't ever remove the default browser because I'd be afraid of breaking a critical function, and I see no value in having to choose between two browsers when I want to browse on my phone.
I've bought mine twice over since there isn't a good enough replacement (the N950 came close aside from not being retail available).
Let me know when an Android-based phone has:
* Root-out of the box
pick most newer Android phones
* Hardware QWERTY
You're doing it wrong seriously soft keboard with predictive type or keyboards like swype destroy a physical keyboard
* Removable SD storage
completely unnecessary, but available on many Androids
* Large internal storage
pick any new phone
* Works with T-Mobile 3G/4G bands (if not just the latter)
pick any newer phone
* FM+RDS Transmitter
You're doing it wrong seriously- 1980's want their tech back.
* USB Host
pick most newer Android phones
* Onboard Wifi that can be repurposed for carrier-hostile tether
pick any newer Android phone
* Debian-based userland
LOL seriously? your just making shit up now
* Relatively curve-free body (unlike most everything HTC).
In short, a phone platform that's a multitool in its own right and isnt beholden to a carrier.
I'm not sure about all those forks you're talking about, but there aren't more than three major ones. That should be easy enough to not have Firefox be de-supported.
People can come up with weird excuses to believe "dumb" phones are still the "best" option also but that doesn't make it true. I know change is tough, but the other side really is much better...
I really tried to use the FF on my phone, messed with setting, got ad-ons, but it just was bad. Pages would never display the right, things wouldnt work, it was slow, took alot of memory...I switched to dolphin hd a few months ago, everything works, no crashes, very fast to open and load pages and a few more things.
Hardware qwerty is a flaw now a days.
I actually thought tethering was built in on all Android phones. I have an LG Optimus G2x that I upgraded to the TMobile firmware, because they never released a 2.3 upgrade for my carrier (Wind Mobile), and both the original firmware and the T-Mobile gingerbread firmware supported tethering without any fuss.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Up to the carrier. Some disable or hide the feature.
I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
It's only trivial to root if the manufacturer makes it easy to unlock or an exploit is found.
Fortunately, the winds are swaying towards manufacturer support. HTC makes it easy now. I think most Samsung devices are fairly straightforward. Last I saw, Motorola made it a PITA (should change once Google takes over). Even still, it takes more work for these devices. HTC for example, you need to make an account on their developer page, get some info off of your device and submit it, get a key from them, take the appropriate steps to unlock, then start rooting.
The Nexus devices it is as easy as you say, however.
I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
This, plus "USB Host" is NOT a software fix. Either the chipset can handle it or it can't. I do believe though, that Ice Cream Sandwich lists USB Host as a minimum requirement, and USB Host support is not uncommon. I'd venture to say that any phone you bought that meets your other requirements (sans factory root) will have USB Host.
IM/SMS integration and VOIP/Non-VOIP Phone integration as a stock feature is not going to happen. No vendor is going to obfuscate whether or not you are consuming a free or paid service, nor will the shift to all "free" (i.e. no marginal cost) services.
Come on guys, some of us have keyboards. How hard can it be to implement Ctrl-t?
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
slashdot really NEEDS to fix the experience for mobile browsers... I've just tried the new beta on this site and it's a fscked up experience... just logging in is a real pain as the fancy login window doesn't work well with the onscreen keyboard... and the tabs and links on the pages do not work very well either... touch one and 9 times out of ten, nothing happens... even when zoomed right in on it... the tabs at the bottom of the page don't work either so you're stuck with whatever stories are shown on the front page...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Really, it seems they removed the only killer feature that Firefox had before, the way you could switch tabs.
Before, it was move to the right then select one of the big tabs on the left. Now I have to tap into some small corner to show the tabs? Really? I think I just stay with the built in (ICS/CM9) browser which basically works exactly like that and also hides the navigation bar once the page is loaded
Move Sig. For great justice.
I have a Samsung SGSII, coming straight from Nokia N900 and N950 (yes, one of those _great_ developer devices which i love, but it's dead on arrival):
* Root out of the box: almost,it's a matter of less than ten minutes, including download. Samsung does not lock its devices, so no risks no strange procedures. Just fire up the tool, download the rooted kernel, upload, reboot. CHECK
* HArdware QWERTY: not the SGSII, but my bluetooth keyboard works out of the box (derived from a PS2 kb, it's small and handy). NOT check
* SD: yes! My 32GB uSD works like a charm CHECK
* Yes! 16 internal GB + 4GB (system partition) . CHECK
* WiFi thethering works out-of-the-box with all Android versions, it's reliable, supports WPA2 and all the whistles. CHECK
* FM-RDS: Yes, CHECK
* USB host: Yes CHECK
* T-Mobile 3g/4g. Don't know about 4g (no 4g in Italy...) but 3G works like a charm. CHECK
* Debian based: No, but you can always install debian if you like... CHECK
* Curve free body: CHECK
So what? Yes, i moved from N900 to Android i found out why NOKIA lost and it's going to die.
Sorry.
(in my apps i still support N900 tough)
They point out that many Android phones are supported, and that a beta version for tablets will be coming soon.
Screw the wiki, there's tablet support on the actual release page... https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/14.0beta/system-requirements/
And as far as Native UI is concerned... must have been said by someone who never opened the Preferences... about a third of my screen is wasted in a useless whitespace border, and yuck, it looks nothing like the Android UI!
> Android-based
> * Debian-based userland
So you don't want an Android based device.
I actually thought tethering was built in on all Android phones.
I don't know how this works for USians, but if you're a Telstra customer, your telco specifically states in their TOS that they have no problem with tethering.
However, my last Android phone (Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro) was a POS with locked-down firmware that neither the manufacturer nor telco had any intention of upgrading, so I was stuck with no tethering for a while. But, my new Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Android version 4.x) has native tethering that works well, and (Yippee!!) Telstra hasn't felt the need to fill the machine up with crapware that I need to root the device to get rid of. Wonders never cease...
Hardware qwerty is a flaw now a days.
You may be right. Until quite recently, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I had a Sony/Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro where I had anticipated that the hardware keyboard would be a plus, but I was pathetically grateful when the machine died and I was able to replace it with a (Samsung) device where I could actually see the keypad.
Oh, and yes, I am nearly 50, so eyesight is an issue. But FWIW, the Galaxy Nexus is an awesome phone, and I'm really happy with it.
You drive a Chevy. I drive a Ford. You suck.
Is that how it works?
Too bad Apple is allowed to block another browser from being installed. Seeing as everyone is going after Microsoft for not allowing Firefox on 8RT why not do the same for Apple?
The droid bionic also fits the majority of your requested features. Lapdock seems pretty awesome too.
Cheap storage VM.
rooted my bionic with a simple script, works great.
Cheap storage VM.