Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Saw this post today while browsing some blogs..

Mozilla will have unveiled the alpha release of its mobile Firefox browser, codenamed Fennec, next week. However, the code will only be available for Nokia's N810 Internet Tablet initially.

Check out the link at:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/inde...&NewsID=105576

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

WTF? Fennec is already available for N8x0 and its version number is i think 0.8

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Maybe it's a slow news day.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Well, I guess next week, they will have unveiled it -- months ago.

But is Fennec currently alpha, or is it pre-alpha? Does the distinction mean anything, anyhow?

(Answers: I'm gonna have to go check. Absolutely not.)

I just wish there would be an N800 version available. :rolleyes: (at dumb reporter.)

Edit: From the Fennec requirements page, to date we've been running milestone builds. The one slated for September 9th is an Alpha. (Looks like someone's schedule has slid...) And all features/issues slated for A1 are completed. :D

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Like slow strange UI located all around the page? :))

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

maybe it means a more user-ready version?

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

It was already kinda stable (dies with flash though) and seemed feature complete in the latest version.

As for the N810 bit - maybe they weren't able to get the VKB pop up every time (it was working only about 10% in the latest version)...

Of course in a week we will know :)

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

have they gotten the bomb like install size reduced?

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

i spent a good three hours trying to get a working combo of various versions of xulrunner and fennec to play nice...installed every version of fennec...
my experience was - completely flippin unusable.
couldnt even load google. curious how others did it.
here's where you can get at the .debs:

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mobile/dis.../binary-armel/
and theres a minefield deb nearby, look in /extras

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Correction: its available for Maemo 4.0 / N810 combination. The above FTP link is for Chinook. I see someone with Diablo complaining. Well, tough luck, the browser wasn't build for Diablo (yet). Not my decision, I'd opt for Diablo, but OK, its still sad someone put 3 hours into a Chinook software for running it on Diablo... so beware!

Fennec will also support various APIs and also Skyhook Wireless Geolocation API. This is very useful in combination with something like POI (Google Maps) even if you don't have a map or GPS (but for Google Maps you'd need Internet connection).

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

First I tried using the application manager as found here:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Fennec/Releases

That failed so I gained root and I uninstalled xulrunner and fennel.

dpkg -r xulrunner
dpkg -r fennec

Next I retrieved the debs at:

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mobile/dis.../binary-armel/

and installed:

xulrunner_1.9.1b1pre-20080923171103_armel.deb

followed by

fennec_0.8_armel.deb

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Um, why would it need to be built for Diablo? The only major library change was libssl, Chinook and Diablo are 99% compatible.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

At least for the same reason you shower every day.

And SSL is used in browsers.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

From the Mozilla wiki page:

"Distribution: chinook (Note: The chinook builds work on diablo as well.)"

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Yeah, its working in Diablo. Convoluted install, but works.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Hmm I see although works is relative. These milestones are pre alpha. Xulrunner is big (20+ MB), there are installation/deinstallation problems, its rather slow, and it crashes. We'll see. By the time N900 is out its probably stable and usable... ;)

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Screenshots (for several devices)

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

wont install says wrong domain in error log

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

The most recent builds I can find are here:

http://people.mozilla.com/~pavlov/fennec/hourly/

the current one is labeled 0.9pre. It's actually quite stable. renders *significantly* faster than MicroB, with near instantaneous zoom. There are still some UI issues, though, many of which relate to the onscreen keyboard. You can tell right now that once this is polished it's going to be much better than microb.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

1.01a has replaced .9pre :D Going to test that baby out...

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Looks like Alpha 1 is out!!

http://people.mozilla.com/~pavlov/fennec/hourly/

Testing now, VERY NICE....

Ok, major problems:

The navigation and TAB interface are nice, but poorly implemented. It becomes hard to move a page because they keep popping out. This has to be optimized for only a "hard pull." It also slows down the device to a crawl, and takes 30 seconds to start up.

Good for a Alpha release I'd say...

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Still slow, and the strange interface is very annoying and hard to navigate.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

I love the concept of the tabs *so much*. But, damn, it's slow. I mean. Damn.

Mozilla geniuses, I want to be able to use this so badly! Make it faster, please ;)

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

The overall experience is slow, but the page rendering is fast. It only renders what is on the screen, like the iPhone, so it is faster. But, the zooming is not smooth (but it is fast), and the scrolling is horrible with it slowing to a crawl and the navigation stuff popping out. Also, some things are not done, like the Zoom buttons turn on "carrot browsing"

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

I hate tabs and wish they would die.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

I'm sure they feel the same way about you :p

Tabs would give the Tablet's browser a much more professional (desktop?) feel, I think. I use tabs very heavily on my laptop (six open now) and I would not want to live without them. The N8X0 may not be able to truly handle this... but... I think that N900 will shine with this baby on it :D

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Tabs are cool for desktops, where you have more space to spare; on a small screen, though, the tabs don't seem like a good tradeoff to me.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

This seems to be a pretty neat browser, but as mentioned the N810 doesn't seem to have enough juice to power it. I like the gestures and how the tab implementation doesn't take away from the screen real estate.
Neat but ultimately without significant performance increases this won't be viable against microB

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

LOL!

You made my day, buddy. You made my day... hahaha!

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

I installed this on my N800. It does render the pages very fast. I like the concept, but the slow speed makes it unusable and I have a lot of trouble getting it to load another page when tapping on a link.

In my opinion, as a software developer, the slow speed alone makes this unworthy of an alpha release. They should at least get the major, obvious, flaws out before the first alpha. Don't they even try it on every platform before they release it?

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

I agree the performance is bad (heck my tablet just rebooted) but why not ready for Alpha? Alpha doesn't mean performance has to be good, and the application is (or will be) available for many platforms. Maybe they aim on OMAP3 usage, or bigger memory usage. Maybe debugging is enabled (it probably is).

What is really nice is that the layout adapts. So for example on Internettablettalk it ignores the black parts on the left and right and auto centers the middle. In MicroB I get a scrollbar instead. And the touch abilities are nice as well IMO.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Thanks for the feedback -- keep it coming. We've got a bunch of people focused on performance now so you should see it get much faster over the next few milestones.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Hey pavlov, thanks for all your work on this! I have been using versions of fennec for a few months now, and really enjoy just playing around with it. Is there a place where someone like myself should make comments/suggestions if we have them. I know there are some bugzilla type things out there but I'm relatively green to the whole process. I wish I knew more about programing as I would love to help work on some corner of this project, but alas the most i can do is point out bugs and make suggestions when I see them.

anyway keep up the good work!

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

I agree, way toooo slow for normal use. That said, however, my initial response is "wow, I cannot wait until this is more usable"

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Totally setting the performance issues aside, I see the potential of fennec and like how it looks. If the performance was on the same level or better than the micro-b, then I'd use it without hesitation. Keep up the good work pavlov!

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Here are Fennec (+ much more) Ubuntu packages for amd64, i386, lpia.

God, do I love the simple yet powerful interface!?! <3

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

i echo the comments of others on the speed.

I like the way only things near the current view are rendered. Large pages with lots of pictures seem to load slightly faster then microb.

Scrolling is very smooth, but clicking on links is hard. I think the sensitivity as to what the browser starts calling an attempted scroll rather then a click is a bit to hard. I have to try to hit a link several times trying to keep the stylus as steady as possible while clicking.

Also for scrolling, some way to get to the tops or bottoms of pages would be welcome. Long pages take forever to get to one or the other (there might be some keyboard shortcut that i'm missing though).

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

I don't mind that much that it's so slow that it is actually unusable - alpha is alpha.

What's really bad about it is the UI. I don't know when to expect to see a URL-bar; I don't know how to select and copy; I don't know how to save images; I don't know how to send a page by mail .... etc. etc. - zooming happens by chance, I can't control it. Also, I couldn't find out how to open links in new windows or tabs...

Where's the magic key to these functions? I tried menus, all combinations of click/double-click/tap'n hold... no luck. Shouldn't a 'simple' UI be more intuitive?

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Benny; you would be better off waiting until the browser is finished and all of the controls and associated documentation is finalized then. There has been some said of this from the Fennec team side, but nothing is finalized as after this is built, there will need to be testing and optimizations.

Its not a bad thing to wait in this case.

Re: Alpha version Mobile Firefox around the corner?
 

Yes. A zoom in on the way would be good so you touch near the link it zooms in on the page. Then you have a choice: move your finger over the link and let it lose. Now it opens the link. Or lift your finger anywhere else and nothing happens. Kinda like the Python + QEdje virtual keyboard. But this is just an idea on how to solve the problem...