Mozilla launches alpha version of mobile browser

Mozilla has given its mobile browser Fennec alpha status. The browser builder has built in its Sync tool in the new version, with which, among other things, browser history and bookmarks can be synchronized.

In addition to adding the Sync technology would the alpha version of Fennec should deliver better performance than the previous release, according to Mozilla; using a technology the browser builder calls Electrolysis, the browser interface and the web page rendering are run in separate processes. This would allow the browser to respond faster while loading heavy web pages. Furthermore, with Fennec it is possible to install add-ons, which is also possible with the pre-alpha release.

In the future beta release, Mozilla will add a technology called Layers, which speeds up scrolling, zooming, animations and videos. In addition, Mozilla wants to build hardware acceleration into the beta version.

Fennec doesn’t work with the Menu button in Android to display settings and tabs: instead, the user has to pull the web page to the right to open or close tabs to the left. Pulling the page to the left will bring up other options, including the settings menu. Via the Menu button a submenu can be reached with information about the site.

Fennec is available for Android phone and Nokia N900 users. The Firefox Home application is available for the iPhone, which makes it possible to view bookmarks, browser history and tabs open on the PC on the iPhone. However, the Home app is not a full browser: links open in the default Safari browser. Mozilla released its first test version of Fennec in April.