10 ms·

Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

128 points by Garbage 16y ago

gkoberger 16y ago
My two favorite features: - Tabs are actually usable. - With Sync, you can walk away from your desktop and have your tabs (and history/bookmarks/passwords) on your phone. (Disclaimer: I work at Mozilla, but have nothing to do with mobile.)
- windsurfer 16y ago
  I want to use Sync, but I'm really concerned with the security of it. How do I know my data is safe? Can I install a sync server on my own domain?
  - arthurk 16y ago
    You can. Source code: http://hg.mozilla.org/services/sync-server http://hg.mozilla.org/services/sync-server Instructions: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup
    - windsurfer 16y ago
      Wow, thanks. That looks a little too complicated for me, though. Edit: Also the link seems to be outdated.
      - mbrubeck 16y ago
        That page is reasonably up to date. Also, there's an alternate server in PHP which is easier to set up: http://tobyelliott.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/updating-and-deprecating-the-weave-minimal-server/ http://tobyelliott.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/updating-and-dep... The PHP "minimal" server is going away in the future, as the Python server becomes better-supported and easier to set up. For now, however, the minimal server is usable and current; the latest version was released just last week.
      - ianb 16y ago
        That's not what you should use (though it's what is currently used in production at Mozilla). There's a reimplementation in Python; the README: http://hg.mozilla.org/services/server-full/file/db2d0dbc0a79/README http://hg.mozilla.org/services/server-full/file/db2d0dbc0a79... (The Python implementation will eventually replace the PHP implementation in production as well.)
  - sp332 16y ago
    Data is encrypted client-side, so even Mozilla can't read it. If someone hacks Mozilla, they could get your encrypted data, but without your passphrase, they won't be able to read it. On the downside, if you forget your passphrase, you won't be able to read your data either (you have to wipe your account and start over).
    - windsurfer 16y ago
      Are you sure? According to this: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup it says the passphrase you use is sent in the clear (over HTTPS) to mozilla every time you get the data. That implies that while the data may be stored encrypted client-side, it's decrypted or at least verified server-side.
      - gkoberger 16y ago
        That is an old page, back when it was a labs project called Weave. Try this: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/what-firefox-sync#w_what-is-a-sync-key-and-why-do-i-need-one http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/what-firefox-sync#w_what... There is absolutely no way for Mozilla to get your data, even if subpoenaed. And, if for some reason you still don't trust it, you can easily set it up on your own server.
        windsurfer 16y ago
        Okay, how do I set it up on my own server? If that link is old, where's the updated one?
        ww 16y ago
        >>There is absolutely no way for Mozilla to get your data, even if subpoenaed There needs to be more assurances like this in the world.
      - mbrubeck 16y ago
        The encryption key and the password are two separate tokens. The password is supplied by the user, while the encryption key is a randomly-generated 26-character string. (In some earlier versions of Firefox Sync, the key was also supplied by the user and was called a "secret phrase.") The password is sent to the server, but the encryption key is not. For more info, see: https://support.mozilla.com/kb/where-can-i-find-my-firefox-sync-key https://support.mozilla.com/kb/where-can-i-find-my-firefox-s...
- drivebyacct2 16y ago
  >- Tabs are actually usable. What does that mean exactly?
  - scotth 16y ago
    That tabs generally aren't on smart phones?
    - drivebyacct2 16y ago
      Are you trying to be difficult or have a laugh at my expense or does anyone actually have any real complaints about how tabs are handled in the stock Android browser or say by one of the very popular Dolphin variants? I don't understand why these tabs are better than the tabs in the normal browser. Let me guess, everyone thinks you have to scroll up to get to see the tabs? Too bad.
      - rhizome 16y ago
        I do. It takes too many clicks to get at the other windows with the (my?) default Android browser, and at any rate I can only have, what, 7 "tabs" open at a time? As often as not I get errors when clicking on links in email/rss that I have the maximum number of windows open, which is a drag. I've been trying Opera over the past week or two, but that doesn't have any controls for modal popups (among other issues).
        Andys 16y ago
        Try Dolphin Mini
  - mbrubeck 16y ago
    Mobile Firefox lets you switch between tabs by pulling out a sidebar on the left side of the screen, so you can access them quickly, and you can see the current page and the tab list at the same time: http://support.mozilla.com/kb/how-do-i-use-tabs-mobile http://support.mozilla.com/kb/how-do-i-use-tabs-mobile
absconditus 16y ago
Less powerful hardware does not seem like the best place for Firefox.
- cryptoz 16y ago
  There are plenty of Android devices that have dual core CPUs with more RAM and storage than most netbooks. Just because we still call them "phones" for some reason doesn't mean they aren't pretty powerful.
- ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  Independent test by people like Microsoft and Cnet seem to indicate that Firefox is doing well with resource usage. What makes you think otherwise?: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/03/28/browser-power-consumption-leading-the-industry-with-internet-explorer-9.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/03/28/browser-power-... http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20047314-12.html http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20047314-12.html
  - nextparadigms 16y ago
    Microsoft is an independent source? What?
    - shadowfox 16y ago
      I thought he just said 'independent test' and not that MS was an independent source?
    - tedunangst 16y ago
      They are independent of mozilla and the people who make firefox.
- lukeschlather 16y ago
  You obviously haven't used Firefox 4.
- ralphc 16y ago
IgorPartola 16y ago
It actually seems to flow pages better than the stock browser (Atrix running Froyo). Specifically, http://www.linux.org.ru http://www.linux.org.ru has tab on the left in the proper position in Firefox while the stock browser puts it after the main content div. The mobile tabs are awesome. And I really like the fact that I can get to the address bar while being half way into the page. The Awesome Bar is also, well, awesome. I thought I might not like it, coming off of an iPhone, but it actually works really well. My only complaint so far is that spell checking does not appear to be turned on, and capitalization does not work by default. Very frustrating when trying to post comments to HN... Set it to the default browser in a heartbeat.
kenjackson 16y ago
The benchmark numbers seem great, but actual browsing perf doesn't seem any better if not worse than the stock Nexus S browser. Just curious if Mozilla spends a lot of time optimizing benchmarks or the top 1000 sites? I'm just having trouble reconciling their incredible benchmark numbers with how it feels to simply browse the web.
- ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  They've been working on a variety of performance indicators: http://blog.lassey.us/2011/03/29/mobile-firefox-performance-overview/ http://blog.lassey.us/2011/03/29/mobile-firefox-performance-...
  - kenjackson 16y ago
    Yeah, that's the page I had read and was expecting perf that killed the Nexus S stock browser. But I'm not sure if its any better. Do you see better perf on your device? Are there some pages that show the perf delta more than others (besides Mozilla built showcase pages?).
    - mbrubeck 16y ago
      Right now, the only big speed advantage is in processor-intensive JavaScript. You can see this in any JS-intensive application. For example, run the performance tests here in Firefox vs. stock Android browser: http://lookups.pageforest.com/test/perf-test.html http://lookups.pageforest.com/test/perf-test.html (These performance tests are based on a JS library to do efficient dictionary lookups; more info at https://github.com/mckoss/lookups https://github.com/mckoss/lookups) In other areas, like startup speed, we know that Firefox for Android is still catching up to other browsers. It's improved a lot over the last year, and we'll keep on improving it.
doron 16y ago
oh a Saviour has come. Adblock plus for mobile. This is the one killer tool i have been waiting for.
- GeneralMaximus 16y ago
  If you have a rooted phone, you can always use AdFree. It adds entries to your /etc/hosts so it blocks ads in all apps.
  - doron 16y ago
    Thanks, i will try it out. I am actually ok with most ads on apps, i dont find them as intrusive, the browser on the other hand is a nightmare.
- trezor 16y ago
  Dolphin HD may not be free, but it has supported ad-blocking for a long time trough extensions.
  - SkyMarshal 16y ago
    Maybe I'm paranoid, but I trust closed-source browsers from China about as far as I can throw them. I'll be sticking with Moz.
ck2 16y ago
Does contentEditable/designMode work on it by any chance? If so, it will be the first mobile browser to support it. Basic test here: http://html5demos.com/contenteditable http://html5demos.com/contenteditable or much more advanced here: http://ckeditor.com/demo http://ckeditor.com/demo
- IgorPartola 16y ago
  Just tried it. It does!
  - ck2 16y ago
    Wow this is huge news! Others might not appreciate it but that means it's the first mobile browser that rich, WYSIWYG editors like CKEditor and TinyMCE will finally work! (iPhone and native Android do NOT support contentEditable despite being a webkit branch) This is history repeating itself where Mozilla/Firefox competition will force other browsers to finally improve their game.
    - MatthewPhillips 16y ago
      When did that happen the first time? As I recall, Chrome started the second browser wars, which even caused IE to try again. FF was unable to do that.
      - mbrubeck 16y ago
        Microsoft didn't even have anyone working on IE for most of the five years between IE6 and IE7 (2001 - 2006). Without competitors like Firefox to keep web standards and cross-browser compatibility alive through that era, it would have taken a lot longer to dig ourselves out of the IE6 era. (Remember when IE had 90% market share, and web developers routinely wrote IE-only code?)
        MatthewPhillips 16y ago
        But IE7 wasn't much of an upgrade over IE6. Neither was IE8. Browsers didn't take the next step until Google got fed up with javascript rendering speeds and took it into their own hands; now every browser is fast. Firefox AND Opera made the web bearable in the years between IE6 and Chrome, but they hardly are responsible for the arms race that is taking place now.
cdr 16y ago
Kind of a bummer that they require an ARMv7 processor - won't install on lower-end but still very decent models like LG Optimus S/V.
- chihiro 16y ago
  I have a HTC. Does it uses an ARMv7 ?
  - mbrubeck 16y ago
    See the list at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android#System_Requirements https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android#System_Req...
ddlatham 16y ago
Can anyone compare it to the Dolphin browser?
- acconrad 16y ago
  i second this
- aw3c2 16y ago
  I switched from the last beta to Dolphin some months ago because (iirc): Firefox did not support gestures. It was very slow to start. It did not reflow text (properly or at all?). At least the reflow seems to be included now so I guess I try again. edit: Installed it. Tried zooming in on reddit, hn and metafilter. Failed to reflow on all of them. Reflowing after zoom is enabled in the options, at least I think it is (the stupid apple slider shows the yes in blue, I guess that means it is on. Or does it switch on if I press it? I never got the design of those buttons.) Apparently no way to exit the application. Takes guesstimated 10 seconds to cold-start. 3s for Dolphin.
  - starwed 16y ago
    Yeah, those buttons always bugged me... the design could have been a lot cleaner. I'm not sure if Firefox Mobile has the same support for theming that the desktop does, but if so I imagine they'll be some nice themes for it eventually. :)
trotsky 16y ago
Does anyone know what the hardware requirements are? The market will let me install it on a samsung galaxy but not an lg optimus. Is it the cpu speed of the optimus or something else? I can't seem to find a list of requirements anywhere. EDIT: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android#System_Requirements https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android#System_Req... It is the CPU generation. "Release builds of Firefox require a phone with an ARMv7 processor" and the Optimus has an ARMv6. Is anyone from mozilla or otherwise familiar with how badly it would run if I built it myself with a v6 target?
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  Hi, I'm a member of the mobile Firefox team at Mozilla. Building for ARMv7-only lets us use the Thumb-2 instruction set, which results in code that is smaller, faster, and uses less memory. We used to have ARMv6 builds available, but at this point the browser is not really optimized enough to run well on older (or low-end) devices. And since we were not actively testing or supporting those builds, the code now has some crashing bugs (probably related to the JavaScript JIT) that show up only on ARMv6 builds. Without fixing those bugs, you can't actually run Firefox on ARMv6. We continue to reduce memory and CPU usage, and if it it gets good enough to support these devices then we might start working on it for a future version.
  - trotsky 16y ago
    Thanks very much for the straight dope!
jmillikin 16y ago
I've been using the beta for a month or so, and it's miles better than the stock Android browser. Notable features: - supports <video> and <audio> - fixed-size divs (used for multiple scrollable page sections) work properly - Pages are rendered practically identically to desktop Firefox/Chrome; the Android browser sometimes does weird things to pages with complex CSS. While I haven't noticed any improvements in page rendering speed, but the browser UI itself is more responsive.
- karl_nerd 16y ago
  It also supports using the accelerometer in javascript! http://karlwestin.posterous.com/javascript-accelerometer-on-ios-android-via-f http://karlwestin.posterous.com/javascript-accelerometer-on-...
suprgeek 16y ago
This is awesome news..just trying it out. Minor quibble why is the installer a Huge 14 Mb in Size? On a desktop FF4 is a 12Mb download so what gives?
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  On Android, we ship all the locales in one package (since the Android Market doesn't have a simple way for us to deliver different packages to different locales). That accounts for part of the difference in size. We're working on various ways to reduce the size, including moving the locale files into separate files that are downloaded at installation time.
  - suprgeek 16y ago
    Thank you for the answer. Please implement this quickly, I want to recommend FF to pretty much everybody and a huge honkin download is not a good sign on a mobile phone.
blinkingled 16y ago
It's great to have another credible browser for Android and Firefox 4 kinda works OK on my Xoom but there are two issues that make me hesitant to use it - Fonts - there is some "non-nativeness" there - they look blurry and - Heaviness - the native browser on the Xoom is just insanely light and fast (couple crashes everyday aside) but Firefox feels heavier to use. Part of that might be drawing, part may be slow startup and some just general UI element sizes.
aw3c2 16y ago
Can somebody find a direct download link for the .apk file? I tried using the Mozilla website but ended up in eternal redirection and flashy pages. I really do not want to waste 14MB (!) of my precious bandwidth on a browser installation. That would be 5% of my monthly bandwidth.
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  You can download the APK directly from here: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/android-r7/en-US/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/a... You can also search for "Firefox" in the Android Market on your phone (connect to WiFi if possible, if you want avoid cellular data charges). (By the way, if you literally ended up in a redirect loop, please let me know so we can fix it.)
  - aw3c2 16y ago
    Thank you! No "HTTP redirect", I meant navigational/logical/mentally.
  - spravin 16y ago
    Here's an easier url (goes to the same .apk): http://j.mp/firedroid http://j.mp/firedroid
ck2 16y ago
By the way, I discovered there are desktop version of the mobile build available for developers (Windows, Mac and Linux) http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/ Windows http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/win32-i686/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/w... Mac http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/macosx-i686/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/m... Linux http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/linux-i686/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/l...
- 100tonmantis 16y ago
  Wow. I wish I could use this on my netbook but it doesn't seem to be useful for much more than testing right now. Configuration and keyboard use is pretty limited. Really fast though.
ralphc 16y ago
I assume that add-ons need to be written specifically for the Android browser - no delicious add-on listed, will need to stick with Dolphin HD for now.
joebadmo 16y ago
Anyone else having user-agent issues? Google reader, for example, shows up as what looks like the dumb phone mobile site, not the smart phone mobile site (which is great) or the desktop site. And I can't find a setting to change the user-agent.
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  This add-on will let you change the user agent: https://addons.mozilla.org/mobile/addon/phony/ https://addons.mozilla.org/mobile/addon/phony/ For Google Reader, you don't need to change the useragent; you can just go to http://www.google.com/reader/i/ http://www.google.com/reader/i/ Reader works well in Firefox, but many of Google's mobile sites use WebKit-specific markup, and will not work correctly in Firefox if you change the user-agent header to iPhone or Android.
TryThinking 16y ago
Overweight. Terribly overweight. I tried to pull it up on my Droid 1, a phone that's just over a year old, and it's basically useless. Overclock the arm A8 to 1GHz, and it's still essentially unusable.
pandeiro 16y ago
No text reflow and no text selection turn the web into a giant set of PDFs. Tab mechanism is cool. Otherwise disappointing. Uninstalled.
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  There's a text reflow option in the preferences.
  - pandeiro 16y ago
    I saw it and activated it, without any tangible effect. And reflow is probably the single most useful feature of a mobile browser.
    - mbrubeck 16y ago
      Reflow currently takes effect only when you double-tap, not when you pinch zoom (just like some versions of the stock Android browser). The reflow is still a work in progress, which is why it's disabled by default - we have some improvements planned for future versions.
- manveru 16y ago
  I have no idea why nobody mentions that copy&paste in forms isn't implemented. It's of little use for me without that.
  - mbrubeck 16y ago
    That's because copy/paste in web forms is implemented. It was fixed after beta 5, but before release candidate 1: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=611741 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=611741
akamaka 16y ago
How does it compare to Safari on iPhone?
skbohra123 16y ago
Damn, I need 512MB RAM for a browser. Feels so bad.
Osiris 16y ago
I downloaded the browser and installed 3 small extensions. It asked to "Restart", which I assumed meant the application. Instead it reboot the phone. After that, it just hung on the Loading screen sucking up 100% CPU. I searched to see if I could manually delete the extensions, but they aren't saved on the SD card from what I could find, so I uninstalled and reinstalled the application and now it actually loads. They really need to put some safeguards in place to make sure extensions don't crash the browser like that. Having to uninstall and reinstall just to remove a bad extension is really problematic.

128 points by Garbage 16y ago

My two favorite features: - Tabs are actually usable. - With Sync, you can walk away from your desktop and have your tabs (and history/bookmarks/passwords) on your phone. (Disclaimer: I work at Mozilla, but have nothing to do with mobile.)

windsurfer 16y ago
I want to use Sync, but I'm really concerned with the security of it. How do I know my data is safe? Can I install a sync server on my own domain?
- arthurk 16y ago
  You can. Source code: http://hg.mozilla.org/services/sync-server http://hg.mozilla.org/services/sync-server Instructions: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup
  - windsurfer 16y ago
    Wow, thanks. That looks a little too complicated for me, though. Edit: Also the link seems to be outdated.
    - mbrubeck 16y ago
      That page is reasonably up to date. Also, there's an alternate server in PHP which is easier to set up: http://tobyelliott.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/updating-and-deprecating-the-weave-minimal-server/ http://tobyelliott.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/updating-and-dep... The PHP "minimal" server is going away in the future, as the Python server becomes better-supported and easier to set up. For now, however, the minimal server is usable and current; the latest version was released just last week.
    - ianb 16y ago
      That's not what you should use (though it's what is currently used in production at Mozilla). There's a reimplementation in Python; the README: http://hg.mozilla.org/services/server-full/file/db2d0dbc0a79/README http://hg.mozilla.org/services/server-full/file/db2d0dbc0a79... (The Python implementation will eventually replace the PHP implementation in production as well.)
- sp332 16y ago
  Data is encrypted client-side, so even Mozilla can't read it. If someone hacks Mozilla, they could get your encrypted data, but without your passphrase, they won't be able to read it. On the downside, if you forget your passphrase, you won't be able to read your data either (you have to wipe your account and start over).
  - windsurfer 16y ago
    Are you sure? According to this: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup it says the passphrase you use is sent in the clear (over HTTPS) to mozilla every time you get the data. That implies that while the data may be stored encrypted client-side, it's decrypted or at least verified server-side.
    - gkoberger 16y ago
      That is an old page, back when it was a labs project called Weave. Try this: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/what-firefox-sync#w_what-is-a-sync-key-and-why-do-i-need-one http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/what-firefox-sync#w_what... There is absolutely no way for Mozilla to get your data, even if subpoenaed. And, if for some reason you still don't trust it, you can easily set it up on your own server.
      - windsurfer 16y ago
        Okay, how do I set it up on my own server? If that link is old, where's the updated one?
      - ww 16y ago
        >>There is absolutely no way for Mozilla to get your data, even if subpoenaed There needs to be more assurances like this in the world.
    - mbrubeck 16y ago
      The encryption key and the password are two separate tokens. The password is supplied by the user, while the encryption key is a randomly-generated 26-character string. (In some earlier versions of Firefox Sync, the key was also supplied by the user and was called a "secret phrase.") The password is sent to the server, but the encryption key is not. For more info, see: https://support.mozilla.com/kb/where-can-i-find-my-firefox-sync-key https://support.mozilla.com/kb/where-can-i-find-my-firefox-s...
drivebyacct2 16y ago
>- Tabs are actually usable. What does that mean exactly?
- scotth 16y ago
  That tabs generally aren't on smart phones?
  - drivebyacct2 16y ago
    Are you trying to be difficult or have a laugh at my expense or does anyone actually have any real complaints about how tabs are handled in the stock Android browser or say by one of the very popular Dolphin variants? I don't understand why these tabs are better than the tabs in the normal browser. Let me guess, everyone thinks you have to scroll up to get to see the tabs? Too bad.
    - rhizome 16y ago
      I do. It takes too many clicks to get at the other windows with the (my?) default Android browser, and at any rate I can only have, what, 7 "tabs" open at a time? As often as not I get errors when clicking on links in email/rss that I have the maximum number of windows open, which is a drag. I've been trying Opera over the past week or two, but that doesn't have any controls for modal popups (among other issues).
      - Andys 16y ago
        Try Dolphin Mini
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  Mobile Firefox lets you switch between tabs by pulling out a sidebar on the left side of the screen, so you can access them quickly, and you can see the current page and the tab list at the same time: http://support.mozilla.com/kb/how-do-i-use-tabs-mobile http://support.mozilla.com/kb/how-do-i-use-tabs-mobile

absconditus 16y ago

Less powerful hardware does not seem like the best place for Firefox.

cryptoz 16y ago
There are plenty of Android devices that have dual core CPUs with more RAM and storage than most netbooks. Just because we still call them "phones" for some reason doesn't mean they aren't pretty powerful.
ZeroGravitas 16y ago
Independent test by people like Microsoft and Cnet seem to indicate that Firefox is doing well with resource usage. What makes you think otherwise?: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/03/28/browser-power-consumption-leading-the-industry-with-internet-explorer-9.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/03/28/browser-power-... http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20047314-12.html http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20047314-12.html
- nextparadigms 16y ago
  Microsoft is an independent source? What?
  - shadowfox 16y ago
    I thought he just said 'independent test' and not that MS was an independent source?
  - tedunangst 16y ago
    They are independent of mozilla and the people who make firefox.
lukeschlather 16y ago
You obviously haven't used Firefox 4.
ralphc 16y ago

IgorPartola 16y ago

It actually seems to flow pages better than the stock browser (Atrix running Froyo). Specifically, http://www.linux.org.ru http://www.linux.org.ru has tab on the left in the proper position in Firefox while the stock browser puts it after the main content div. The mobile tabs are awesome. And I really like the fact that I can get to the address bar while being half way into the page. The Awesome Bar is also, well, awesome. I thought I might not like it, coming off of an iPhone, but it actually works really well. My only complaint so far is that spell checking does not appear to be turned on, and capitalization does not work by default. Very frustrating when trying to post comments to HN... Set it to the default browser in a heartbeat.

kenjackson 16y ago

The benchmark numbers seem great, but actual browsing perf doesn't seem any better if not worse than the stock Nexus S browser. Just curious if Mozilla spends a lot of time optimizing benchmarks or the top 1000 sites? I'm just having trouble reconciling their incredible benchmark numbers with how it feels to simply browse the web.

ZeroGravitas 16y ago
They've been working on a variety of performance indicators: http://blog.lassey.us/2011/03/29/mobile-firefox-performance-overview/ http://blog.lassey.us/2011/03/29/mobile-firefox-performance-...
- kenjackson 16y ago
  Yeah, that's the page I had read and was expecting perf that killed the Nexus S stock browser. But I'm not sure if its any better. Do you see better perf on your device? Are there some pages that show the perf delta more than others (besides Mozilla built showcase pages?).
  - mbrubeck 16y ago
    Right now, the only big speed advantage is in processor-intensive JavaScript. You can see this in any JS-intensive application. For example, run the performance tests here in Firefox vs. stock Android browser: http://lookups.pageforest.com/test/perf-test.html http://lookups.pageforest.com/test/perf-test.html (These performance tests are based on a JS library to do efficient dictionary lookups; more info at https://github.com/mckoss/lookups https://github.com/mckoss/lookups) In other areas, like startup speed, we know that Firefox for Android is still catching up to other browsers. It's improved a lot over the last year, and we'll keep on improving it.

doron 16y ago

oh a Saviour has come. Adblock plus for mobile. This is the one killer tool i have been waiting for.

GeneralMaximus 16y ago
If you have a rooted phone, you can always use AdFree. It adds entries to your /etc/hosts so it blocks ads in all apps.
- doron 16y ago
  Thanks, i will try it out. I am actually ok with most ads on apps, i dont find them as intrusive, the browser on the other hand is a nightmare.
trezor 16y ago
Dolphin HD may not be free, but it has supported ad-blocking for a long time trough extensions.
- SkyMarshal 16y ago
  Maybe I'm paranoid, but I trust closed-source browsers from China about as far as I can throw them. I'll be sticking with Moz.

ck2 16y ago

Does contentEditable/designMode work on it by any chance? If so, it will be the first mobile browser to support it. Basic test here: http://html5demos.com/contenteditable http://html5demos.com/contenteditable or much more advanced here: http://ckeditor.com/demo http://ckeditor.com/demo

IgorPartola 16y ago
Just tried it. It does!
- ck2 16y ago
  Wow this is huge news! Others might not appreciate it but that means it's the first mobile browser that rich, WYSIWYG editors like CKEditor and TinyMCE will finally work! (iPhone and native Android do NOT support contentEditable despite being a webkit branch) This is history repeating itself where Mozilla/Firefox competition will force other browsers to finally improve their game.
  - MatthewPhillips 16y ago
    When did that happen the first time? As I recall, Chrome started the second browser wars, which even caused IE to try again. FF was unable to do that.
    - mbrubeck 16y ago
      Microsoft didn't even have anyone working on IE for most of the five years between IE6 and IE7 (2001 - 2006). Without competitors like Firefox to keep web standards and cross-browser compatibility alive through that era, it would have taken a lot longer to dig ourselves out of the IE6 era. (Remember when IE had 90% market share, and web developers routinely wrote IE-only code?)
      - MatthewPhillips 16y ago
        But IE7 wasn't much of an upgrade over IE6. Neither was IE8. Browsers didn't take the next step until Google got fed up with javascript rendering speeds and took it into their own hands; now every browser is fast. Firefox AND Opera made the web bearable in the years between IE6 and Chrome, but they hardly are responsible for the arms race that is taking place now.

cdr 16y ago

Kind of a bummer that they require an ARMv7 processor - won't install on lower-end but still very decent models like LG Optimus S/V.

chihiro 16y ago
I have a HTC. Does it uses an ARMv7 ?
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  See the list at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android#System_Requirements https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android#System_Req...

ddlatham 16y ago

Can anyone compare it to the Dolphin browser?

acconrad 16y ago
i second this
aw3c2 16y ago
I switched from the last beta to Dolphin some months ago because (iirc): Firefox did not support gestures. It was very slow to start. It did not reflow text (properly or at all?). At least the reflow seems to be included now so I guess I try again. edit: Installed it. Tried zooming in on reddit, hn and metafilter. Failed to reflow on all of them. Reflowing after zoom is enabled in the options, at least I think it is (the stupid apple slider shows the yes in blue, I guess that means it is on. Or does it switch on if I press it? I never got the design of those buttons.) Apparently no way to exit the application. Takes guesstimated 10 seconds to cold-start. 3s for Dolphin.
- starwed 16y ago
  Yeah, those buttons always bugged me... the design could have been a lot cleaner. I'm not sure if Firefox Mobile has the same support for theming that the desktop does, but if so I imagine they'll be some nice themes for it eventually. :)

trotsky 16y ago

Does anyone know what the hardware requirements are? The market will let me install it on a samsung galaxy but not an lg optimus. Is it the cpu speed of the optimus or something else? I can't seem to find a list of requirements anywhere. EDIT: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android#System_Requirements https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android#System_Req... It is the CPU generation. "Release builds of Firefox require a phone with an ARMv7 processor" and the Optimus has an ARMv6. Is anyone from mozilla or otherwise familiar with how badly it would run if I built it myself with a v6 target?

mbrubeck 16y ago
Hi, I'm a member of the mobile Firefox team at Mozilla. Building for ARMv7-only lets us use the Thumb-2 instruction set, which results in code that is smaller, faster, and uses less memory. We used to have ARMv6 builds available, but at this point the browser is not really optimized enough to run well on older (or low-end) devices. And since we were not actively testing or supporting those builds, the code now has some crashing bugs (probably related to the JavaScript JIT) that show up only on ARMv6 builds. Without fixing those bugs, you can't actually run Firefox on ARMv6. We continue to reduce memory and CPU usage, and if it it gets good enough to support these devices then we might start working on it for a future version.
- trotsky 16y ago
  Thanks very much for the straight dope!

jmillikin 16y ago

I've been using the beta for a month or so, and it's miles better than the stock Android browser. Notable features: - supports <video> and <audio> - fixed-size divs (used for multiple scrollable page sections) work properly - Pages are rendered practically identically to desktop Firefox/Chrome; the Android browser sometimes does weird things to pages with complex CSS. While I haven't noticed any improvements in page rendering speed, but the browser UI itself is more responsive.

karl_nerd 16y ago
It also supports using the accelerometer in javascript! http://karlwestin.posterous.com/javascript-accelerometer-on-ios-android-via-f http://karlwestin.posterous.com/javascript-accelerometer-on-...

suprgeek 16y ago

This is awesome news..just trying it out. Minor quibble why is the installer a Huge 14 Mb in Size? On a desktop FF4 is a 12Mb download so what gives?

mbrubeck 16y ago
On Android, we ship all the locales in one package (since the Android Market doesn't have a simple way for us to deliver different packages to different locales). That accounts for part of the difference in size. We're working on various ways to reduce the size, including moving the locale files into separate files that are downloaded at installation time.
- suprgeek 16y ago
  Thank you for the answer. Please implement this quickly, I want to recommend FF to pretty much everybody and a huge honkin download is not a good sign on a mobile phone.

blinkingled 16y ago

It's great to have another credible browser for Android and Firefox 4 kinda works OK on my Xoom but there are two issues that make me hesitant to use it - Fonts - there is some "non-nativeness" there - they look blurry and - Heaviness - the native browser on the Xoom is just insanely light and fast (couple crashes everyday aside) but Firefox feels heavier to use. Part of that might be drawing, part may be slow startup and some just general UI element sizes.

aw3c2 16y ago

Can somebody find a direct download link for the .apk file? I tried using the Mozilla website but ended up in eternal redirection and flashy pages. I really do not want to waste 14MB (!) of my precious bandwidth on a browser installation. That would be 5% of my monthly bandwidth.

mbrubeck 16y ago
You can download the APK directly from here: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/android-r7/en-US/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/a... You can also search for "Firefox" in the Android Market on your phone (connect to WiFi if possible, if you want avoid cellular data charges). (By the way, if you literally ended up in a redirect loop, please let me know so we can fix it.)
- aw3c2 16y ago
  Thank you! No "HTTP redirect", I meant navigational/logical/mentally.
- spravin 16y ago
  Here's an easier url (goes to the same .apk): http://j.mp/firedroid http://j.mp/firedroid

ck2 16y ago

By the way, I discovered there are desktop version of the mobile build available for developers (Windows, Mac and Linux) http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/ Windows http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/win32-i686/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/w... Mac http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/macosx-i686/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/m... Linux http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/linux-i686/ http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/l...

100tonmantis 16y ago
Wow. I wish I could use this on my netbook but it doesn't seem to be useful for much more than testing right now. Configuration and keyboard use is pretty limited. Really fast though.

ralphc 16y ago

I assume that add-ons need to be written specifically for the Android browser - no delicious add-on listed, will need to stick with Dolphin HD for now.

joebadmo 16y ago

Anyone else having user-agent issues? Google reader, for example, shows up as what looks like the dumb phone mobile site, not the smart phone mobile site (which is great) or the desktop site. And I can't find a setting to change the user-agent.

mbrubeck 16y ago
This add-on will let you change the user agent: https://addons.mozilla.org/mobile/addon/phony/ https://addons.mozilla.org/mobile/addon/phony/ For Google Reader, you don't need to change the useragent; you can just go to http://www.google.com/reader/i/ http://www.google.com/reader/i/ Reader works well in Firefox, but many of Google's mobile sites use WebKit-specific markup, and will not work correctly in Firefox if you change the user-agent header to iPhone or Android.

TryThinking 16y ago

Overweight. Terribly overweight. I tried to pull it up on my Droid 1, a phone that's just over a year old, and it's basically useless. Overclock the arm A8 to 1GHz, and it's still essentially unusable.

pandeiro 16y ago

No text reflow and no text selection turn the web into a giant set of PDFs. Tab mechanism is cool. Otherwise disappointing. Uninstalled.

mbrubeck 16y ago
There's a text reflow option in the preferences.
- pandeiro 16y ago
  I saw it and activated it, without any tangible effect. And reflow is probably the single most useful feature of a mobile browser.
  - mbrubeck 16y ago
    Reflow currently takes effect only when you double-tap, not when you pinch zoom (just like some versions of the stock Android browser). The reflow is still a work in progress, which is why it's disabled by default - we have some improvements planned for future versions.
manveru 16y ago
I have no idea why nobody mentions that copy&paste in forms isn't implemented. It's of little use for me without that.
- mbrubeck 16y ago
  That's because copy/paste in web forms is implemented. It was fixed after beta 5, but before release candidate 1: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=611741 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=611741

akamaka 16y ago

How does it compare to Safari on iPhone?

skbohra123 16y ago

Damn, I need 512MB RAM for a browser. Feels so bad.

Osiris 16y ago

I downloaded the browser and installed 3 small extensions. It asked to "Restart", which I assumed meant the application. Instead it reboot the phone. After that, it just hung on the Loading screen sucking up 100% CPU. I searched to see if I could manually delete the extensions, but they aren't saved on the SD card from what I could find, so I uninstalled and reinstalled the application and now it actually loads. They really need to put some safeguards in place to make sure extensions don't crash the browser like that. Having to uninstall and reinstall just to remove a bad extension is really problematic.