The mobile version of Firefox includes a lot of the bells and whistles we know from the desktop version, like tabbed browsing, add-ons, themes, and bookmark syncing. Well- [...]]]> Today must be the day for major app launches, or something. Mozilla just officially dropped Firefox for Android in the Market, available for download now.

The mobile version of Firefox includes a lot of the bells and whistles we know from the desktop version, like tabbed browsing, add-ons, themes, and bookmark syncing. Well- bookmark syncing might not be a fair title. They call it Firefox Sync, which provides seamless and secure access to personal data across desktop and mobile devices, including browsing history, bookmarks, open tabs, form data and passwords.

They’re also boasting a speed boost, saying, “Firefox is up to three times faster than the stock browser on Android.” Which, at this point, is something I’ve yet to experience for myself. I’ve tried Firefox a few times through the develop process and found it pretty clunky. And while the version I tried today seemed a bit snappier, overall it still felt a bit cumbersome. As I downloaded it I thought I should test this browser out all day. But after literally a few minutes I was running back to my trusty Dolphin HD [or insert your preferred browser here, I'm not here to argue the details].

Firefox Mozilla MARKET QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

If you want some more Firefoxiness, you can find the market link and QR code above, or check out the handful of screens and video below.

Quick update: I’ve also noticed our site doesn’t load the mobile version when using Firefox, which I assume means they’ve not included “Android” in their user agent string. I’ll look into it later today and try to push a fix to make sure Firefox users and getting served the correct version of the site.

Mozilla does have some benchmark tests to back up their speedy claims, with several tests showing that Firefox is 2-3 times [...]]]> Mozilla has released an updated version of their Firefox 4 Beta browser application on the Android market. With this update, Mozilla is touting faster start-up, page load times and improved zooming ability and responsiveness.

Mozilla does have some benchmark tests to back up their speedy claims, with several tests showing that Firefox is 2-3 times faster than the stock Android browser. That being said, I have yet to see any pages actually load faster in Firefox than in the stock browser, no matter whether I was running over 3G or Wi-Fi. In all cases, the load times were either about the same or the stock browser was slightly faster. I’m sure that under ideal circumstances, the Firefox application is indeed a bit faster than the stock browser, though I’m skeptical of the 2-3 times faster Mozilla is claiming.

Some users, however, are reporting faster load speeds with the new beta, so I think we can safely assume the experience will be varied depending on your connection and other factors.

Regardless of browsing and load speeds, where Firefox really differentiates itself is in the nearly 100 Firefox add-ons that you can install to customize your mobile browsing experience. These add-ons make your PC browsing experience better, and Mozilla is betting it will do the same for your Android browsing experience as well.

Another solid differentiator is the inclusion of Firefox sync, which syncs your bookmarks, history, tabs, and saved passwords across your Android and PC/Mac computers for continuity of your browsing experience across platforms.

Those positives aside, the Firefox Beta still does not support Adobe Flash, which is likely to be a dealbreaker for many. We can only hope they include Flash support in the next/final release. (Thanks, Cheapskate88!)

Finally, the updated Firefox application is slimmed down from previous releases, but still comes in at a whopping 20 MBs of space. Fortunately, Firefox allows you to move the application to your SD card (on Android 2.2+), making space basically a non-issue. Users still on Android 2.1 may want to ensure they have the space available on their device before attempting to install Firefox.

If you use Firefox on your regular computer, or you’re simply looking for something to replace the stock browser, you may want to head over to the market and try out the free Firefox 4 Beta.

If you’re still on the fence, you can read tons more about the update and check out their promo video on Firefox’s site.

The latest [...]]]> Today Mozilla announced the new Firefox 4 Beta for mobile devices which is now available to download for Android. Based on our site analytics, Google’s Chrome browser is the top choice for our readers, but Firefox comes in at a close 2nd so I’m sure many will want to check this out.

The latest 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. Mozilla has also made quite a few UI improvements, which has undergone an overhaul to include an Android-inspired theme.

Things will continue to improve as the Mozilla team nears the final release. Currently they are working to add hardware acceleration to make scrolling and zooming even faster and will enable HTML5 video to “bring a more rich browsing experience to your phone”.

Mozilla is also encouraging developers to begin building add-ons for Firefox 4 Beta for mobile. If you want to get involved with the beta release visit the official project page.

This update of Firefox 4 Beta for mobile is smaller, sleeker and faster with:

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

Until now, the only engineers working on Fennec were platform developers whose job was to get the back-end code running. The [...]]]> Have you tried the pre-alpha build of Fennec for Android? Mozilla continues to ramp up development on the mobile version of Firefox and now they are adapting the user interface to Android.

Until now, the only engineers working on Fennec were platform developers whose job was to get the back-end code running. The current builds were designed around the look and feel of the Maemo OS, but now UI engineers are beginning to shape the browser to take full advantage of Android.

A new Mozilla employee, Matt Brubeck, has provided a quick progress report on the latest developments around Fennec. The list of issues is long, but Mozilla is listening to feedback and working feverishly to start providing nightly builds. The main areas of improvement include zoom and multi-touch, menu and back buttons, application size, hardware compatibility, and much more.

If you would like to participate in this open source project, join the official Fennec Android group and share your feedback. For the latest updates on new builds follow @MozMobile on Twitter and join the Firefox for mobile Facebook group.