Firefox for mobile has been coming along in leaps and bounds over the last few months, with Symbian and Android future support confirmed and Mozilla outing a new logo for it, but now Mozzy says its first full, non-beta release happens in December.
Firefox mobile is currently available in beta for Nokia Maemo tablets and alpha for Windows Mobile, but will drop the beta tag on the Finn’s multitasking OS from December, Mozilla’s user experience lead for mobile, Madhava Enros, told us today.
Mozilla rules out Firefox for iPhone and BlackBerry
We tested out a recent nightly build of Firefox mobile beta on the new Nokia N900 tablet and came away much more excited about Espoo’s new phone than ever before. Although Firefox mobile doesn’t make use of Maemo’s swirl gestures for zooming, it ran quickly and smoothly (Frankly, the drop down results on the Awesome URL bar appeared faster than on the desktop Firefox 3.5), with bookmarks, tabs and back and forward buttons hidden off to the side, and pulled up by scrolling the page off screen to the left or right.
What impresses us most though is how well it replicates the desktop browser on a phone: YouTube videos load in browser, and Google Maps does likewise, even grabbing your location through the same desktop technology in seconds.
It’s just a shame Maemo has such a small install base compared to other platforms Firefox mobile has been promised – Enros says Mozilla chose to concentrate on Maemo first because “it’s open and it’s built with the internet in mind”. Still, expect the December launch to be just the start: if Mozilla can roll out Firefox mobile for other platforms quickly, Opera Mobile doesn’t stand a chance.
Out December | £free | Mozilla
[...] ElectricPig reports that Firefox for Mobile is set to leave beta status in December, according to Mozilla’s user experience lead for mobile, Madhava Enros. The software has apparently been improving dramatically, and is now actually fast, unlike the stuttering performance seen earlier. [...]
[...] For some early screens of Firefox for mobile, head over to Electricpig. [...]
“if Mozilla can roll out Firefox mobile for other platforms quickly, Opera Mobile doesn’t stand a chance”
What kind of nonsensical statement is that? Have you even seen Opera Mobile 10? It runs on devices Firefox Mobile couldn’t even dream of due to being too bloated!
Get a grip, and stop hyping Firefox and bashing everyone else.
That’s precisely the reason I didn’t say Opera Mini. But Sony Ericsson phones aside, Opera Mobile only runs on Windows Mobile and Symbian, both of which will get Firefox mobile. Obviously it won’t hack it on low end WinMo blowers like the HTC Touch2 or LG GM750, but if it carries on moving the way it’s headed, there’ll be no point in having Opera Mobile on higher end models whatsoever. – especially once you’ve tried out Weave.
Hmm…this is curious. Firefox is confirmed on one platform, Maemo. Opera Mobile is available for Symbian and WinMo and has shipped on more than 120 million phones. That’s not Opera Mini, but Opera Mobile. As Steve Jobs said, “real artists ship.”
And with Opera Link (their weave competitor) available already, I don’t think Opera Mobile is destined for the scrapheap of history.
People seem to assume Opera will always die out. But after 14 years in business, they seem to be doing pretty well.
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