Firefox 4 beta for Android is updated

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

The Firefox browser for Android (aka Fennec) is still in the beta stages, but beta 3 was just shipped with a number of fixes and improvements. They include:

  • Improved support for Android keyboards, both hardware and on-screen
  • New Android-style menus
  • Fixed a bug in opening links from other apps
  • Support for uploading files
  • "Save as PDF" command in the site menu
  • Fixed rendering of Arabic and Farsi text (on devices with Arabic/Farsi fonts installed)

Slowly but surely, it's coming along, and the install size is at 13MB, for those of you worried about such things. The folks at Mozilla recommend uninstalling any previous betas before this one.  [Mozilla (opens in new tab) via Android Central Forums]

Update: Mozilla's Madhava Enros has done a really good walkthrough of the beta. Check it out.

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
12 Comments
  • Is it worth getting over the regular browser or Dolphin? I use Firefox as my main browser right now for PC, so I am interested in getting the Firefox browser for mobile, although I heard the early versions were slow, buggy, and took up a huge amount of room.
  • I would like to have it on my Incredible as well, but don't need to have issues.
  • It has been my fave browser since the early mozilla days but on my mobile the screen fonts seemed dull and it was not as smooth as dolpnin HD...
  • Anywhere the APK can be found? The site on mobile does NOT bring up the marketplace listing for it, even though the captivate is listed as a compatible device.
  • You can download the APK directly from here, though AT&T disables non-market apps on their phones so you'll need to use the "adb" command from the developer tools to install it: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/4.0b3/android-r7/...
  • I know, I use the sideload wonder machine. (Which is the reason I signed up for this site in the first place and now this is my home page haha) Thank's for the direct link. Not sure why they have a market link if it's not going to work right..... Downloading now and ready to install it via the AC-SWM!
  • Did they improve the pinch to zoom rendering? On the previous versions it's been absolutely terrible.
  • Or you could just download it from the Market, it's listed as "Mozilla Firefox Web Browser" easy.
  • Unless you're searching the market from a Samsung Continuum, it seems. WTF... it works fine from my T-Mobile Tab, so I assume this is another helpful contribution from Verizon.
  • I just wanted to comment on the fact that Phil's photography keeps getting better and better. This is one of his best shots yet. Not only is it well composed but also very well thought out.
  • Sill not happy with it. A lot better than the first build when I tried it.
  • I'll give it this, I can finally click a link from outside the browser, select firefox, and it actually goes there... A small thing really, but when everyone else could do it, why did it take so long? So far liking this build, can't wait for the final release.