Mobile Firefox almost ready for primetime
Mozilla has been a leader in advancing the Web state of the art. But when it comes to the mobile phones, where the power of a new generation of hardware has transformed browsers from primitive afterthoughts to useful tools, Firefox has been missing in action. Instead, an open-source project called WebKit powers the browser on the higher-end mobile phones du jour–Apple’s iPhone, the Palm Pre, and Motorola’s Droid and other models running Google’s Android operating system, with BlackBerry headed that direction, too.
In contrast, the first mobile Firefox version will run on Nokia’s powerful but relatively obscure new N900, a US$569 hybrid computer and mobile phone that uses Nokia’s Linux-based Maemo operating system. A Windows Mobile version of Firefox is set to arrive next year, and Mozilla has begun working on an Android version now that Google released a native developer kit. Firefox has one big thing going for it, though: it’s a close relative of the PC-based browser that today is used by about a quarter of people on the Web.
The link extends beyond brand familiarity. For one thing, mobile Firefox is based on the same code as the present Firefox 3.6–also a beta version due to finished by the end of 2009. For another, through a Mozilla service and browser plug-in called Weave, mobile Firefox synchronizes bookmarks, passwords, and even open tabs with the desktop version of the browser. In addition, Firefox for the N900 can run many Firefox extensions–AdBlock Plus among the 30 or so now available. Sullivan recommends updating their interfaces for the small devices, though. Nokia partnership Mozilla has been working closely with Nokia to develop Firefox on its N900 handset. It already ships with a lighter-weight browser that uses the same Gecko code base as Firefox, but the full Firefox mobile version–a project code-named Fennec–is more powerful.
There’s more on the way in 2010, Sullivan said:
# Support for multitouch displays for a more sophisticated user interface.
# Support for haptic feedback, such as the phone vibrating when a virtual keyboard key is tapped.
# The ability to control a camera.
# Support for Electrolysis, Mozilla’s project to split tasks such as the user interface, tabs, and plug-ins into separate processes. That improves stability and performance, he said.
# Support for JetPack, Mozilla’s next-generation extensions system.
# Integration of the Weave synchronization software so it’s no longer a plug-in.
# Support for WebGL, an interface to provide browsers with accelerated 3D graphics.
# Faster execution of JavaScript programs that are common and increasingly powerful on the Web.
