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Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

blog.mozilla.com

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Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#41

Post by mbrubeck »

windsurfer wrote: post #17
sp332 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Are you sure? According to this: 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.

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-s...

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#42

Post by aw3c2 »

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.

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#43

Post by suprgeek »

mbrubeck wrote: post #36
suprgeek wrote: post #32

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?

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.

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.

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#44

Post by mbrubeck »

aw3c2 wrote: post #42

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.

You can download the APK directly from here: 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.)

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#45

Post by aw3c2 »

ddlatham wrote: post #25

Can anyone compare it to the Dolphin browser?

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.

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#46

Post by ck2 »

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/

Windows http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/w...

Mac http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/m...

Linux http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0/l...

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#47

Post by aw3c2 »

mbrubeck wrote: post #44
aw3c2 wrote: post #42

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.

You can download the APK directly from here: 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.)

Thank you!

No "HTTP redirect", I meant navigational/logical/mentally.

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#48

Post by mbrubeck »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #22
gkoberger wrote: post #2

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.)

>- Tabs are actually usable. What does that mean exactly?

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

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#49

Post by drivebyacct2 »

scotth wrote: post #24
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Tabs are actually usable. What does that mean exactly?

That tabs generally aren't on smart phones?

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.

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#50

Post by iron_ball »

mbrubeck wrote: post #48
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Tabs are actually usable. What does that mean exactly?

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

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