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Mozilla unfurls first mobile Firefox

'Fennec' on Maemo

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Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

Mozilla has officially released the first mobile Firefox, a condensed version of the popular open-source browser that runs on Nokia's Maemo platform.

Codenamed 'Fennec,' Firefox 1.0 for Maemo was previously available only as a beta. Mozilla calls this the first mobile web browser to accomodate add-ons - long a staple of the Firefox desktop browser. More than 40 add-ons are already available for the new mobile platform, including AdBlock Plus, the most famous of Firefox extensions.

The inaugural mobile Firefox also offers Mozilla's Awesome Bar, a way of quickly returning to sites you've visited in the past; the new Weave Sync tool, for synchronizing bookmarks and other Firefox settings across multiple machines; and, yes, those familiar Firefox tabs.

Two days ago, when it pushed out a third release candidate for Firefox mobile 1.0, Mozilla disabled support for an Adobe plug-in, saying it had "degraded the performance of the browser to the point where it didn't meet our standards." Instead, the open sourcers urge you to install a YouTube Enabler add-on that will at least let you watch Googlevideos on the browser.

The new browser runs on Maemo 5, which means your only smartphone option is the Nokia N900. It will also run on the N810 internet tablet. You can download the browser here.

Mozilla is currently alpha testing a version of Fennec for Windows Mobile, and it has prototyped Firefox browsers for Google's Android platform. But it has no intention of building anything for the iPhone. Apple, you see, doesn't allow interpreted code on the Jesus Phone, and Mozilla won't waste time trying to put Firefox where it's "not wanted." ®

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

microB better than firefox?

Ive had an n900 for about a month now and the first thing I did was install the firefox beta. After using that for a while I wasn't impressed with the overall speed and initially blamed the hardware. Then after trying the built in browser (microB) I realised the it was just FF that was slow...fair enough it was beta. I was delighted to see the update a few days ago and it is definitely faster but microB still has the edge and seem to handle flash remarkably well. Bring on chrome mobile!

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Anonymous Coward

Silverlight - it doesn't matter what it is

I think Silverlight got in because people, the majority... that are a bit "not clever", would install it regardless of whatever it is (even if its a virus, which is the main way people get infected).

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He did

Steve DID say that - Flash is not on the iPhone because it's a buggy, poorly-written CPU hog. And now it's not on Mobile Firefox, either, and rightly so.

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