Android users often complain about the woefully lacking nature of the operating system’s default browser, and look for an alternative to carry on their mobile browsing. The next best alternative, a few believe, comes in the form of MoboTap’s Dolphin browser for its ease of use in bringing up menus, bookmarks and exciting add-ons. But still it is way too slow and prone to crashing.
Now, as a new alternative, Mozilla’s newest version of Firefox for Android, which released on Tuesday, offers some noteworthy improvements over Dolphin and the default Android browser. However, it is important here to note that the new browser still has some areas that can be improved.
Let’s take a look at what the new browser has to offer.
The new Firefox is actually a very fast mobile browser. Pages pop up very quickly and load times are impressively faster than the default Android browser and Dolphin. The latest version is more tailored to the mobile experience with its improved tab implementation, compared to the previous versions of Android Firefox which were a bit lacking and difficult to handle. The new browser’s menu button quickly brings up your bookmarks, add-ons, downloads, settings and other key features of any mobile browsing experience.
What’s more, syncing up your mobile Firefox browser to your desktop browser is easy. All you need to do is log into your desktop version Firefox, click the “sync” button on the Android Firefox start screen, enter in a simple three-line code into your desktop browser and you’re done. The entire process should take under a minute, provided you already have a Firefox Sync account set up.
It is also very easy to download Firefox add-ons that have been developed specifically for Android devices, although Mozilla doesn’t have all that many Add-ons posted yet.
While all this is available, you may feel that Mozilla could have done a bit more work on the new Firefox’s tab system. Note that opening up your tabs can take up most of your screen space if you have more than two open. The swipe-based menu access could have been another remarkable feature if Mozilla had decided to add it.
Nonetheless, we feel Mozilla has done an immense amount of work on the new browser and the developers will be updating the browser’s features sooner rather than later.
