Latest Fennec Alpha is Now Available

Yes, Mozilla’s very own Android browser just got a few Alpha update. While nightly builds of the Android version of Fennec had been available before, only the Nokia N900 version of the mobile browser had gotten a stable Alpha distribution. Well it’s been under development for quite some time now, and we can finally get to use it, not just the nightly build but an official Alpha build.

You can check out this link for details.

This Alpha release includes Electrolysis, which allows the browser interface to run in a separate process from the one rendering Web content. By doing this, Fennec is able to react much faster to user input while pages are loading or CPU intensive JavaScript is running. The upcoming beta release will start taking advantage of Layers to greatly improve performance in graphic intensive actions like scrolling, zooming, animations and video.

The full changelog is available over at Mozilla’s site, so you can just shimmy over there to see what’s new when compared to the nightlies. It is important to remember this is only an alpha so you’re bound to run into bugs. You can also always be the Good Samaritan and drop Mozilla a line to let them know.

The browser currently does not support free panning, only either left to right or top to bottom. It seems to be stable but it is a bit buggy. Visit this link from your Android phone to get started.

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Author Description

Dheepak Krishnamurthy

Dheepak is a tech enthusiast and an Android aficionado. He also loves football, bikes and food. In short, just your average guy ;) Follow him on Twitter @kdheepak89 or on Google Plus at Dheepak's Google Profile.

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