Firefox Mobile concept gets detailed on video

It'll be a fabulous day when a cellphone-friendly version of Firefox finally lands, and judging by the video and details in the read link down there, that day is getting ever closer. Granted, this whole thing is being dubbed a "concept" for now, but we're definitely digging where it's headed. We're warning you, there's a boatload of information just one click away, but if you fear your eyes just can't handle it, peep the video after the break.

Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

[k @ Jun 12th 2008 11:12PM]

Looks hot

[MasterCKO @ Jun 13th 2008 2:35AM]

agreed. that concept is so frikkin sick.

[Ahmed Alzayani @ Jun 12th 2008 11:18PM]

wow i like it , 100% fullscreen use, pan to control, it work for me, i just wish they add some tab magnetic snap to align in square array if you want.

this also good for desktop. browser with no toolbar.

[Bassir @ Jun 12th 2008 11:18PM]

The way he's implementing everything, it just seems so impractical.

[Yevon @ Jun 12th 2008 11:38PM]

[citation needed]

[reuvypoo @ Jun 12th 2008 11:21PM]

This seems like an awesome concept and would be awesome to use on a phone if streamlined just a bit more. But I love Firefox, so having it on my phone would be great.

[Nicky-Larson @ Jun 12th 2008 11:21PM]

Great concept, hopefully it comes out that way. But who knows what else might be out when this comes out. So much is happening in technology, and so fast

[indyshadow @ Jun 12th 2008 11:26PM]

I think this would be great on the iPhone rather than a crappy Safari browser. First i love and use Firefox everyday and i have always wanted it on the mobile platform and i have always wondered why no one has done it. They have put all the other browsers but the best one. They have done IE, Safari, & Opera. But it will probably never make it on to the iPhone w/out having some sort of hack. So this would be great on the Google phone or any open platform phone for that matter as long as there is a touch screen. Good Work! But there is still one thing i would like to see and that is support for add-ons cause i love my add-ons with all my heart, and i cant live w/out them now.

[dg @ Jun 13th 2008 12:36AM]

I definitely think it'll come out for the iPhone without a hack. At WWDC someone demoed an app created with the SDK that implemented WebKit rendering into it without using Safari. Maybe we'll only get Camino Mobile, but I don't see why Apple wouldn't allow Gecko.

Has anyone found anything in the SDK agreement that would prohibit Gecko?

[Hawkman @ Jun 13th 2008 5:31AM]

Lots of things prevent Gecko, not least the banning of interpreted languages and plugins. Frankly, who would want it anyway? Even if you get all turned on by Firefox's rendering or something (I don't, can you tell?) it's hard to imagine the user interface or performance besting what Apple, who made the iPhone hardware and the software, can do.

[Some Kid @ Jun 12th 2008 11:28PM]

it will be the only good browser for every phone evr made but one
i think we all know that phone
heres a hint-there have been about 1000000000000000000000000 stories about it in the past week
have a guess???????

[riggs @ Jun 13th 2008 12:12PM]

rotary phone.

[fischju @ Jun 12th 2008 11:31PM]

Honestly, it looks very poorly laid out. Those extra zooming effects, showing multiple windows, ect, use way too much resourcse. There is a reason Opera has always had full screen tabs and full screen menus for mobile devices - that system is the most efficient.

[Jimmy @ Jun 12th 2008 11:43PM]

true... but the browser in the video is perfect for MIDs. A little more fine-tuning and it should be very easy and functional on phones as well, they might just have to turn off some features to get it running on older and slower phones. I trust Mozilla to make a good browser. Firefox 3 rc.3 certainly doesn't disappoint.

[iofthestorm @ Jun 13th 2008 12:35AM]

I'd hope they'd have an option to lock the address bar or tab bar and navigation buttons, but this system doesn't seem that bad, especially when you consider how much space is limited on these devices.

[TareX @ Jun 13th 2008 8:56AM]

I agree. I don't like the huge wasted black space with the small scattered windows. I'd prefer to have a desktop view when I zoom out.

I also like Android's Webkit browser a lot more. One touch to magnify, pan & zoom. Brilliant.

To tell you the truth, when Firefox mobile was stressing the idea of a "full screen usage", I was thinking with phones that have big screens (Dream, Xperia, iPhone) it's no longer about screen size, it's about having everything you need already on screen, without having to do any additional action.

Last thing, multi-window browsing isn't as intensive on a mobile as it is on a computer. This is why it is "an option" on Opera Mobile, and Android. But building a mobile web-browser based on multi-window browsing isn't a good idea.

If Android just adds flash lite support (which I'm guessing this doesn't), it would be the ultimate mobile web-browser.

[Some Kid @ Jun 12th 2008 11:32PM]

by the way if my prefixes for these types of numbers are right
that is in words 1 contillion
which is a hell of a lot as far as im concerned

[Jimmy @ Jun 12th 2008 11:38PM]

Firefox on the desktop is my favorite. Hopefully they make the mobile version quick and customizable. A mini Firefox 3 would be very popular on phones, even with rather limited features. Could also make for a great MID browser. I know i will like it. Great work, Mozilla, great work :)

[Ohjeez99 @ Jun 12th 2008 11:42PM]

correct me if im wrong, but isnt Minimo already a mobile version of firefox? i use that on my winmo smartphone, will this just be for like regular cellphones

[Usagimaru @ Jun 17th 2008 10:12AM]

That's what I was thinking too. Maybe they're going to kill the project for this one? It's slow and I didn't think it brought much that mobile IE didn't, other than tabs.

[bjsguess @ Jun 12th 2008 11:49PM]

They need to remove the zoom on the left hand side.

Swipe to the right you zoom. Swipe to the left you have your basic nav. Having the zoom on the left and right will just confuse people.

I am also worried about the resources necessary to support all those tabs. Might be more efficient to simply list the sites you have open on the tabs rather than take a snapshot of the page. Better use of your screen space and will be less of a resource concern.

[Ahmed Alzayani @ Jun 13th 2008 12:30AM]

i don't agree with you, hard Swipe in both direction will zoom you out, it's like you through the page out of your screen, also i would like control in both side, this way soft Swipe in both directions will bring up the control, while hard(far) Swipe will zoom you out.

also i can think they should utilize the accelerometer to do some control help if the phone had one, example: hard-shake will bring your homepage or something. with the normal senses the orientation of the phone and changes the screen accordingly ... etc

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 12th 2008 11:58PM]

Boy is it a good thing clak isn't here (yet).

Are there any Windows Mobile or iPhone/iPod Touch OS (I don't know the name) emulators? I am interested in seeing if I can maybe develop a few games for the systems.

[El Taco @ Jun 13th 2008 12:30AM]

I wish I was as famous as Clak

[dg @ Jun 13th 2008 12:41AM]

Download the iPhone SDK from Apple.com

[Joe Commisso @ Jun 13th 2008 12:06AM]

I'm really liking the direction of this. Hopefully it comes out soon, with touchscreen becoming more and more in the market another killer browser besides safari is sure to come, & Mozilla looks like they are headed in that direction.

[John @ Jun 13th 2008 12:24AM]

You can have a lovely bottle of whine.

[John @ Jun 13th 2008 12:25AM]

You know what? Fuck that. Not for the iPhone. This should be for EVERY other phone. The iPhone already has Safari and it works fine. All other phones need this because while Opera Mini is great, it's still crash central.

I want to see this released for traditional phones (non-iPhone) first, then maybe iPhone. The spoiled kid iPhone can do without this for the time being. Palm, Samsung, Sanyo, HTC, Motorola, etc...need mobile Firefox love more than anyone else.

[El Taco @ Jun 13th 2008 12:27AM]

this was on downloadsquad yesterday, and I thought to myself "I bet engadget will have this tomorrow"

I must be psychic

[El Taco @ Jun 13th 2008 12:31AM]

next prediction:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/06/12/now-that-microsofts-out-of-picture-yahoo-rebounds-with-google/

[Seth A @ Jun 13th 2008 12:34AM]

It sure would be interesting to see what Apples policy on allowing other browsers on the iPhone. I for one would love to see Firefox become available, not holding my breath though. I don't see why they wouldn't allow it aside from the fact it would compete with the current browser, which for Apple is reason enough. I love Safari and everything, but competition is healthy for everybody. Hell, If it offers more than 8 tabs I am game.

[Quikboy @ Jun 13th 2008 12:34AM]

I hope this really pushes Microsoft to create a better mobile internet browser, on their WinMo phones. Competition is good. Seems like Opera, Safari, and now Firefox are getting into the game. I want to see a better mobile IE, or a better WinMo UI to actually use it.

Competition is great.

[CubeGuy @ Jun 13th 2008 12:46AM]

I would do anything to have FF on my phone. Aaaaanything.

And just out of curiosity... "iPhone".

*starts stopwatch*

[Davsot @ Jun 13th 2008 12:49AM]

Yes I agree very cool. Would also look good as an app for the iPhone and other smartphone platforms such as Blackberry and Windows Mobile.

[jon @ Jun 13th 2008 12:57AM]

i hope this app comes to all touch screen phones, and knowing Firefox, i have a good feeling it will, they dont like to be restrictive with which OS they put firefox on, and i think this will come to all touch phones (i am contracted to sprint, and i have to get the instinct, so i hope this comes to it lol)

[happy_penguin @ Jun 13th 2008 1:05AM]

Simple. Elegant. Pretty. The zoom out is like Expose' on crack. I like how the windows can be arranged in groups. I think the minimalist appearance while including advanced features shows a very nice direction to go. I'd like to see this offered.

[Carl Vitullo @ Jun 13th 2008 1:06AM]

agreed.
Blazer is pretty much the worst browser i've used, besides IE7

[kccboy2004 @ Jun 13th 2008 1:13AM]

This is terrific. I just can't wait for my Android phone + firefox mobile.

Ahhhh. Well done Mozzie.

[gad get @ Jun 13th 2008 1:17AM]

This is why I love Mozilla!

[Matt @ Jun 13th 2008 1:37AM]

Hmm... seems like there's a lot of scrolling involved to get to these controls, especially if you're using a small phone screen. I'm interested to try it though, maybe it'll work better than I think.

[Alan Strangis @ Jun 13th 2008 1:47AM]

This looks pretty cool, but Opera 9.5 delivers a pretty awesome interface for Windows Mobile... (oops... I should have said that in future tense, eh - blame xda-developer's search function)

[Surur @ Jun 13th 2008 2:33AM]

Actually its for Linux and Windows Mobile, not the iphone
-----------------------------------------------------------
Target Platforms
We will first focus our efforts on two platforms/devices running on ARM11 processors (ARM v6):

Linux - first device working already is the Nokia N800 (possibly update to N810) running Linux (maemo)
Windows Mobile 6 - a good first device is the HTC S730
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.christiansejersen.com/blog/2007/11/20/mobile-goals/

[Hellios @ Jun 13th 2008 2:50AM]

Concept looks okay, but the execution will be inferior to the best mobile browser, the Opera Mini.

[o rly @ Jun 13th 2008 3:20AM]

Please eat my RAM...on my mobile phone!

[Al @ Jun 13th 2008 3:36AM]

Wait did they specifically say the S730(Wings) on their site, or you saying it? Because the Wings is a not touch screen device and the guy said this is for touch screen devices.

[G @ Jun 13th 2008 4:08AM]

Release this.

Now.

We're ready for a buggy version, but honestly - mobile IE has to be replaced. The sooner, the better.

Good work Firefox team, that is easily the best mobile interface for a browser I've seen. Excellent use of space.

[Jash Sayani @ Jun 13th 2008 5:28AM]

I am too pleased with Apple's Safari ......

[Luke "MacMan" Centino @ Jun 13th 2008 5:32AM]

could be good - wonder if a BlackBerry version comes out?

[tekdroid @ Jun 13th 2008 5:45AM]

switching tabs is a lot of work, frankly.

Not a fan of the navigation in the vid at all. Also the jumbo-sized navigation icons can be reduced, bigtime; they're almost playskool-level, beyond a certain point the size (and the fact they consume the whole left side) is a tad ridiculous.

Call me a traditionalist, but just above the address field you can fit some nice and basic forward and back (and tab) icons. Auto-hide them if you really want to. The address bar and navigation icons (and I guess tab icons) can be invoked with one simple "pencil" icon in the top left or something. Simple. Why waste a big chunk of real-estate on hidden sliding "don't slide too much" navigation?

Sounds too complex to me.

[K.James @ Jun 13th 2008 6:54AM]

I hope they put it on the iPhone . Looks Really nice