Android/Maemo: We've been following the development of Firefox Mobile (aka Fennec) for awhile now, but today Mozilla released the first beta of the mobile web browser, complete with noticeable performance improvements, Firefox Sync, and other cool usability features like pinch-to-zoom.


If you're a Firefox user on the desktop and you've been itching to sync bookmarks, history, tabs, passwords, and form-fill data with your smartphone, Firefox Mobile has it all. It also has some pretty cool features like pinch-to-zoom and the "Awesome Screen", which gives you access to bookmarks, history, and tabs just by tapping the address bar. The custom start page is also a nice touch, giving you access to your past browsing sessions and open tabs from other computers.


Most impressive, though, is the massive performance boost that Firefox Mobile sports compared to its predecessors. Those of you that tried out the Fennec alpha and pre-alpha builds were justifiably put off by the incredible slowness of the app, making it mostly unusable. In my brief usage of the app, it took a moment to load, but then ran pretty darn smoothly under normal usage. In fact, it was responsive enough to even compete with the default Browser (most of the time), and unlike earlier versions, is something I could actually see myself using. It still has a few quirks (it is a beta, after all), but definitely worth a download if you're a Firefox fan. Hit the link to read more, and if you take it for a test drive, let us know what you think in the comments.

Firefox 4 Beta is a free download for Maemo and Android 2.0+ devices.

Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Maemo Now Available [The Mozilla Blog]