Fennec, Mozilla’s mobile version of Firefox, is “days away” from release. It will initially be available for the Nokia N900; don’t expect an iPhone version anytime soon.
If all goes according to plan, the browser should be available before the end of the year. It’s been in development for a year and a half.
What will Fennec do to convince you to try it out, much less switch to it full-time (provided you have a Nokia N900, of course)? There’s a clever syncing feature that ensures whatever you view on your desktop version of Firefox will be available on the mobile version. That is, if I’m reading the Wikipedia entry on, say, WrestleMania 10 on my desktop, that same Web page will be displayed when I launch the mobile version of the browser. Handy, yes.
Fennec will have tabbed browsing. The AwesomeBar also makes an appearance.
And yes, there will be Add-Ons. Whether that means you’ll be able to load up Adblock Plus (don’t leave home without it!) and Scriptmonkey and so forth isn’t exactly clear. Maybe you’ll need mobile-specific Add-Ons?
As for that iPhone version jab: since when did Apple approve Apps that replicate “core functionality” of the iPhone? (Mobile Safari says hi.) Your best bet is to hope someone is able to get the code up and running on Apple’s little device, then releases a binary on one of those Jailbroken App repositories.
Sweet I cant wait to get this on my N900!!!
You can help us test the beta versions on the N900 right now. See http://www.mozilla.org/projects/fennec/1.0b5/releasenotes/ for instructions on getting the most recent beta release.
Interesting article on cnet on 17th Dec says firefox & adobe reader top the worlds buggiest software. Beating microsoft
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10417785-245.html
> Interesting article on cnet on 17th Dec says firefox & adobe reader top the worlds buggiest software. Beating microsoft
Firstly, the article’s not about bugs, it’s about reported security vulnerabilities. So naturally internet-facing applications (like web browsers), having the largest attack surface, are going to be at the top. The fact that a pdf reader is up there with web browsers and email clients in terms of security vulnerabilities says many more bad things about it than the fact that Firefox is there says about Firefox.
Secondly, to quote from that article: “Not included on the list are programs from Microsoft and Google”. So yeah. It beats Microsoft — when, er, Microsoft isn’t included in the comparison…
Wait a second; did that just happen?
‘Cause….I think that JUST happened!
Its a rlly solid browsing experience. syncing with desktop browser is useful and add-ons are great.
expect this browser to be on the android soon? they say they are trying to “help” devices with poor browsing currently but I think that everyone wants a little firefox love. get this on android ASAP.
What about us Blackberry Storm users?
Yes i agree cnet has problems naming the article “Firefox, Adobe top buggiest-software list” is not a right title
GreaseMonkey on N900…..what a concept!
HAVE COMING 3 TIMES TO SEE YOU!!
AdBlock Plus already supports Firefox Mobile (Fennec). Other add-ons are being created and existing add-ons are being ported. See some of the current mobile add-ons here:
http://missmobile.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/congrats-to-our-mobile-add-on-challenge-winners/
If it is to truly be mainstream and feature full it must in the very least be on par with the new Opera Mini 5.0. Some cool features like desktop/mobile sync will certainly help it get there. I am eagerly awaiting it’s full launch…android support from the start please.