Firefox Beta 4 Available for Android!

[administrator]

Firefox Beta 4 Available for Android

Mozilla announced the new Firefox 4 Beta for mobile devices which is now available to download for Android. Firefox 4 Beta for mobile includes a 60% install size reduction on Android (from around 43 MB to 17 MB), reduces memory usage, and improves text rendering. There is also quite a few UI improvements which includes an Android-inspired theme.

This update of Firefox 4 Beta for mobile includes:

-60% smaller install size
-new theme with a fresh look and new features for tabbed browsing and link sharing
-optimizations that make it 25% faster on the SunSpider Javascript benchmark than the stock browser on Android 2.2

Feel free to comment on your experiences!!

Get it here
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[jimdibb]

I've got it on my droid 1 with bugless beast 0.5 fw. I have it on the sd card. It stinks IMO. The screen redraws are slow. It takes forever to load. It just crashed and rebooted my phone. It's still much bigger than stock browser.

I may leave it installed for a bit, but only as a curiosity.

Downloading and installing the Beta version is good, but once I get used to using it on my Droid, what is it going to cost me when the Beta version goes away?

Thanks for the info jimdibb. Just what I was wanting to know. : )

[administrator]

Seeing how FF is free everywhere else, I doubt you'll have to pay for it when it goes into production. I also have a droid 1 with slow screen redraws etc, but that didn't start until I had 2.2... I think it's more the phone and the OS with that particular phone then it is the browser.. JMHO

Thanks for the update/additional info.

[administrator]

I tried it yesterday and today. The app is about 13mb now and after loading it up on the Droid 1, it was slow as snails. I finally took it off the phone this morning. The stock browser works well but I liked the way FF looked better....

[compwrench]

I took it off as well. Too slow. I think on Droid 1 with 2.2 it does not have enough available processor. I'm very tempted to get a Droid 2 but I'm torn between getting it and waiting for a 4g capable phone due early next year. Waiting on the list of phones from Verizon that will be 4g capable.

[administrator]

Originally Posted by compwrench

I took it off as well. Too slow. I think on Droid 1 with 2.2 it does not have enough available processor. I'm very tempted to get a Droid 2 but I'm torn between getting it and waiting for a 4g capable phone due early next year. Waiting on the list of phones from Verizon that will be 4g capable.

I bet it works well with the Droid X. I'm moving to the X at the end of the month and I'm going to try it then. My site isn't big enough for me to be able to get a bunch of test phones.

[compwrench]

Originally Posted by administrator

My site isn't big enough for me to be able to get a bunch of test phones.

That's just plain ole discrimination. Why did you chose the X vs 2?