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Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

blog.mozilla.com

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Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#4

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

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.

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#5
It actually seems to flow pages better than the stock browser (Atrix running Froyo). Specifically, 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.

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#6

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.)

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?

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#7
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.

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#8

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

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-...

http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20047314-12.html

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#9

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.

They've been working on a variety of performance indicators:

http://blog.lassey.us/2011/03/29/mobile-firefox-performance-...

Re: Mozilla Launches Firefox 4 for Android

#10

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.)

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?

You can.

Source code: http://hg.mozilla.org/services/sync-server Instructions: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Sync/1.1/Setup

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