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By Rob Garretson

The popular Firefox Web browser took a significant step closer to availability on Andriod-based smartphones, as a developer at Mozilla posted a “pre-alpha” version for download by eager testers.

Mozilla has been developing a version of its Firefox browser for Google’s open-source Android operating system, and Mozilla’s Vladimir Vukicevic has detailed progress on the product, internally known as “Fennec,” on his blog. On Tuesday he posted an update on the latest version that he said “is usable by a broader set of people” and included a link that allows would-be testers to download it for use on Android phones.

Though the version is stable enough to be tested by the tech-savvy public, Vukicevic warned that performance and memory usage has not been tuned, and there are known bugs and limitations in the release that can cause phones to lock up. To date, it’s only been tested on the Motorola Droid and Nexus One, he added.

“It will likely not eat your phone,” Vukicevic said, “but bugs might cause your phone to stop responding, requiring a reboot.”

Android has its own built-in browser based on the WebKit engine, but many users, particularly those who use Firefox on the PC or Mac, may prefer a familiar browser on their smartphone. One key feature of Firefox for Android is that it supports an experimental implementation of Mozilla’s Weave, which synchronizes browsing data -- including bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history and even open tabs -- between desktop and mobile browsers.

For example, a Weave user could have several tabs open on a desktop PC in Firefox, then open Firefox on a smartphone and have the same tabs open on the phone. Google is developing similar capabilities for its Chrome browser, but Mozilla is reportedly closer to implementation on its mobile browsers.

Vukicevic’s blog post includes instructions for downloading Weave to an Android smartphone once Fennec is downloaded and installed.

An Android version of Opera Software’s Opera Mini 5 is also available for beta testing, though there’s no firm release date for the full-blown Opera Mobile 10 for Android. The Opera mobile browser is known for its speed and clean interface suited for small-screen mobile devices. Apple recently approved its version for the iPhone for distribution in the Apple App Store.

Comments (1)

	1. 05-08-2010 22:33
	I tend to think that the more refined these applications get for the Android based phones the more likely I am to switch over from the iPhone. I think the iPhone is a good platform but the control which is required from Apples perspective is going to leave it in the dust of open competition.    -sean Registered

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