Firefox now available for Android 2.0 and above, still at pre-alpha stage

Fennec, Mozilla's codeword for mobile Firefox builds, has just made its pre-alpha debut on Android. The tastefully named Vladimir Vukićević informs us that it's pretty much a debug release, with unoptimized memory utilization and some quirks rebooting the app when it's started and when add-ons are installed, but it is at a stage where the devs felt they could get useful feedback from a broader user base. It's not yet available on the Android Market, so you'll be needing to download it from the link below, and remember that you'll have to have an Android 2.0 or higher device, with OpenGL ES 2.0 capabilities also being recommended. If you've got all those boxes ticked, get downloading and come back to tell us how that WeaveSync is working out for you. We've got video of an older build running on a Nexus one after the break, just to whet some appetites.

[Thanks, Jonathon]

[GldRush98 Posted Apr 28th 2010 10:09AM]

Still obviously an early build, but I am impressed and VERY excited to see it make it to gold. One thing I noticed when playing with it was animated gifs work, and there is a file upload dialog (which does seem to crash the browser for now). 2 advantages over the stock Android browser.

[Dale P Posted Apr 28th 2010 10:22AM]

Now we need it on the iPhone. Come on, Mozilla, show Apple and Opera how it's done!

[gmac Posted Apr 28th 2010 11:44AM]

Great browser, needs two things; Pinch to zoom because the zoom double tap completely murders the page when done and the address bar needs to be integrated with the address bar. Other than that, it will be an amazing browser. Also didn't see where there was an option to copy and paste either.

[InnocentEd Posted Apr 28th 2010 11:45AM]

Doesn't seem to work when installed to SD card using ext4 and Apps2SD.
I just moved it to Internal memory though since I have plenty of that to go around. Worked fine after the move. I will try it back on SD soon.

[InnocentEd Posted Apr 28th 2010 11:53AM]

@InnocentEd After playing with it for 10 minutes....it is pretty a little choppy but the extensions thing could be interesting. I think it's also interesting how they didn't use the Android built in "Menu" or "Back" buttons (at least not yet) instead you swipe left or right to get to functionality buttons.

[mike1650 Posted Apr 28th 2010 11:58AM]

Well IMO Firefox on my computer has become bloated and slower than IE now. Some pages don't load correctly and have to resort to IE. I hope the experience on mobile does not duplicate that.

[AckbarsFist Posted Apr 28th 2010 12:17PM]

What the heck is a pre-alpha? I thought alpha was the earliest possible version of software.

[ncarlin Posted Apr 28th 2010 12:19PM]

I

[talbotnate Posted Apr 28th 2010 1:23PM]

The touch keypad does not come up on my Droid other than that I love it.

[lv2bll54 Posted Apr 28th 2010 2:03PM]

Even though im running on a rooted 2.1 rom it wont work, maybe the device spec requirements are more than just the android firmware.

[Seryous Posted Apr 28th 2010 2:33PM]

man....ive got 2.1 on my htc dream, and i cannot open it, probably due to not having OpenGL ES . :-( one day i will have firefox on my g1, i just know it.

[Zeak Posted Apr 28th 2010 3:35PM]

Weeeell, I can't really judge the pre-alpha version. Don't really know if I really need that kinda thing.. I personally use Opera Mini for bookmark syncing and stuff. Of 3Banana notes to share something. Still it's an interesting project though.

[slickpaki Posted Apr 28th 2010 4:15PM]

Where is the god damn link

[Trickymaster Posted Jun 25th 2010 3:03PM]

Another reason to use Android! If Adblock Plus comes, this platform definitely won me.