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A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#61

Post by letstrynvm »

ohazi wrote: post #27
jonny383 wrote: post #9

If Firefox pushes this before implementing support for extensions (namely uBlock or other ad-blocking / privacy extensions) then Firefox is well and truly toast on Android. Correct me if I am wrong but the only reason non-tech people use Firefox on Android is to block ads. Perhaps this is a push from Mozilla to try and get some search revenue flowing again?

Can someone with Firefox for Android nightly confirm whether extensions are actually not available with this new release? I agree that this would be a cataclysmic regression for Mozilla, if that is indeed what they plan on releasing.

I installed it: no add-ons, they are coming "late 2020" supposedly.

I think it's good to consolidate the branding but this is a half-finished preview replacing nightly, a step backwards.

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#62

Post by jeena »

s5ma6n wrote: post #13
jonny383 wrote: post #9

If Firefox pushes this before implementing support for extensions (namely uBlock or other ad-blocking / privacy extensions) then Firefox is well and truly toast on Android. Correct me if I am wrong but the only reason non-tech people use Firefox on Android is to block ads. Perhaps this is a push from Mozilla to try and get some search revenue flowing again?

For me personally, uBlock (and other extensions) is the only reason I am using Firefox on Android. If this feature is removed, I will either go back to Samsung Browser or check something else.

I have 2 reasons uBlock and the fact that I can use my own sync server.

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#63

Post by llarsson »

geek-advised wrote: post #16

Is it me or this article is really vague? What's the new experience, exactly? Also, I started using Firefox on my Android phone because of 2 reasons: block ads and Google seems to be more and more for-profit and not for-users. And I love Firefox with one exception: when I press a link on another app Firefox doesn't open but gives me a small notification on the bottom the screen saying the tab opened in Firefox. I fin…

If you click the link a second time, it launches Firefox for you. At least, that's my experience.

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#64

Post by lol768 »

Koffiepoeder wrote: post #38
severine wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely. I don't understand how Mozilla doesn't understand that extensions, particularly content blocking (and specifically Ublock Origin) are definitional of what Firefox is and should be.

No this is definitely not a regression. Firefox launched a new app called "Firefox Preview Nightly", so as of right now both Nightly and Preview Nightly exist side by side; regular nightly users are not impacted at this point in time.

I don't understand why you've brought up what the current state of affairs is, the article says:

> For current Nightly users, it’ll feel like a big exciting upgrade of their browsing experience once they update the app

Which sounds to me like Fennec is going away and the update will replace it with Fenix.

>as of right now both Nightly and Preview Nightly exist side by side; regular nightly users are not impacted at this point in time

Is anyone disputing this? What will happen when the "new experience" the article talks about is launched?

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#65

Post by Vinnl »

thinkingemote wrote: post #54
ohazi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That feature is called tab queue, and it can be disabled in settings.

What is tab queue? Is that the new feature or is that the old feature that gp was complaining about? What are the new features?

It's the feature they were complaining about. It's useful if you're in some other apps (e.g. a feed reader) from which you want to open several links in a row, which you then work through in order afterwards within Firefox.

Disabling the tab queue means tabs get directly opened again.

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#66

Post by lorenzhs »

squiggleblaz wrote: post #18
lorenzhs wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Requires Android 5.0 and up" according to the Play Store listing. Android 4.x is from 2013 and had its last update in 2014. It hasn't received security patches since October 2017. Why should Mozilla continue to support such an ancient version?

Firefox: "Consider ways to reduce your digital carbon footprint" Also Firefox: "Throw out your perfectly fine phone and buy a new one! Do not think about the slave labor and environmental/climate costs that will go into producing it." (I feel critical of Firefox in this thread, but I wouldn't dream of using Chrome. Mozilla are at least half decent and aim towards ethical behavior. But it would be nice if they let us…

I don't consider a phone that hasn't received security updates in 2.5 years "perfectly fine". I'm all for extending the life of older devices, don't misunderstand me, but that requires software updates. My phone is probably much older than those of most HN'ers (been using it for over 3 years now) and I used my last laptop for 7 years. But I don't run ancient unsupported software on either.

What I'm saying is "you shouldn't run Android 4.x in 2020", not "you shouldn't use a device from 2014 in 2020". Whether it be through better manufacturer support or a custom ROM like LineageOS, these ancient versions need to die.

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#67

Post by squiggleblaz »

chrismorgan wrote: post #47
vanderZwan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that this is about Firefox Nightly, not Firefox regular: > A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly So related to this decision I would say: nothing special, as far as I can see. They're just moving Firefox Preview to Firefox Unstable. > while I do enjoy the new approach (...) this announcement is completely useless and void of information. ("Brand new experience", whoa.) You're mentionin…

But they’re not stopping there: > As for next milestones, the brand new Firefox for Android will go into Beta in Spring 2020 and land in the main release later in the first half of this year. What state it will all be in by then remains to be seen, of course. (Aside: ugh, “Spring” as though everyone lived in temperate and subarctic northern hemisphere. Most of the world doesn’t. This is a very American/European way o…

Imagine they forecast their release "During the harvest" or "when the bushfires stop" or something. It's just weird.

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#68

Post by Vinnl »

ekianjo wrote: post #25
severine wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely. I don't understand how Mozilla doesn't understand that extensions, particularly content blocking (and specifically Ublock Origin) are definitional of what Firefox is and should be.

But they love testing! And users! That is all what matters I guess?

As a user who's tested Firefox Preview and loved extension support in Firefox for Android: it's been good enough for me to have somewhat naturally transitioned to using it as my main browser. The built-in tracking protection blocks practically everything that I used uBlock Origin for (though I'd still appreciate the real thing coming), I haven't really experienced bugs, and it's really quite snappy.

There's certainly still a number of features missing (I'm personally eagerly awaiting the return of the home screen), but it's certainly not as dire as some here make it sound, and it's been progressing pretty rapidly.

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#69

Post by Vinnl »

squiggleblaz wrote: post #36
input_sh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Settings - Default Launcher - there's a checkbox that you can uncheck to not open random links in private tabs.

For clarity, that's Firefox Preview Settings not Android Settings. I would probably appreciate being asked since I tend to forget to close things - better to say "i want this tab only transiently, close it some time in the somewhat distant future (but, preferably, keep both transient and permanent tabs available)". Being asked to open it private is almost that. Still leaves me with ad blocking which is probably the t…

I don't think that's intended behaviour by default: I've never set this up, and links open in my regular session.

Re: A new browsing experience arrives in Firefox for Android Nightly

#70

Post by fwn »

joseph2342 wrote: post #55
jshevek wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are checking something else, I recommend Brave. I've switched from Firefox to Brave and I am mostly satisfied.

What does it offer that Firefox does not ?

People here seem to "hope" that extension support will be implemented.

If my stable Firefox for Android gets updated into a browser without uBlock Origin I will immediately switch to some chromish alternative with adblocking. There's no reason for firefox for android once extension support is gone, featurewise.

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