Review – Mozilla released an alpha version of its Firefox for mobile devices browser, code-named Fennec, last week. We spent some time with Fennec over the weekend and are impressed by Mozilla’s vision: The browser features a revolutionary user interface with touch screen support, tabs, a password and download manager, a pop up blocker and fast rendering based on the Gecko engine. Fennec also supports Mozilla plug-ins, add-ons, extensions and themes and future features may include an optimized TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, geolocation features and online bookmarks syncing.
Fennec Alpha 1 is labeled as early "user experience release" suitable for "testing purposes only." Mozilla asked users to download and test the browser to collect initial feedback as the feature list and UI are not yet locked. During our testing, we noticed several inconsistencies, minor bugs and opportunities for improvement, which is normal for any alpha release. However, we are fairly certain that Mozilla is on to something and that Fennec will be changing the mobile browser game.
Fennec arrives late to a market that dominated by various instances of the Opera Mini browser, Mobile Internet Explorer and the mobile version of Safari that ships with the iPhone. The Mozilla browser is powered by the same Gecko 1.9.1 rendering engine running inside Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 that was released last week. The obligatory Acid3 benchmark that checks how well a web browser follows web standards puts the Fennec Alpha 1 release at a #3 position with an 88/100 score, behind the mobile versions of Safari (100/100) and Opera's Presto rendering engine (99).
Fennec delivers full touchscreen support that enables double-taps to zoom in and out, swipe left and right, etc. Zooming scales the content in real time, at least on desktop and Nokia tablet versions of Fennec, unlike Safari which actually zooms the bitmap image at the standard zoom level, which results in a fuzzy image that clears as the browser re-calculates the webpage content at the adjusted zoom level.
Controls out of the way
Fennec offers substantial UI advances that, in our opinion, make mobile browsing much more effective and convenient. All browsers on mobile devices, including Safari, position browsing controls such as tabs, options, settings, backward and forward buttons, on the top or bottom of the screen. However, this approach reduces the available screen space and makes navigating much more time consuming. For example, in Safari you have to move up on a page to reach the address or search bars, which can be annoying especially in lengthy pages.
Mozilla had a different idea. Only the address bar and bookmark buttons are on top of the Fennec screen. Other browser controls are hidden: They are moved into vertical columns outside the screen boundaries and you simply swipe left or right to scroll a page to either side and show those vertical panels. This concept not only saves time as only one gesture is required to access browser features no matter how tall the page is, but it maximizes the screen real estate as well.
A swipe to the right shows a vertical column solely dedicated to open tabs thumbnails. Tap "x" on a tab to close it or hit the plus sign to create a new tab. A swipe to the left reveals a panel on the right with a star for bookmarking a site, backward and forward arrows and a “screw” icon to access browser options. Bookmarking works the same as it does in the desktop version of Firefox: The first click bookmarks a site, the second opens a panel to name or remove a bookmark. There is also field for filing a bookmark in a folder, but this feature is not supported by this alpha release.
Speaking of bookmarks, Mozilla plans to enable user accounts in the cloud that will store user bookmarks, the browsing history and settings across mobile and desktop versions of Firefox, enabling users to access and edit bookmarks on both the desktop and while on the go, keeping the two in perfect sync. It is currently available to Firefox users as an experimental Mozilla add-on called Weave, but we expect this feature to be integrated into Firefox and Fennec releases in the near future.
Another feature that Fennec borrowed from the desktop browser is an address bar that doubles as a search box. It provides the same level of functionality as its desktop sibling: Simply type in a search query in the address bar and search results provided by the default search provider will be shown. Similar to Firefox' URL bar, sites that have been visited recently or a visited more often appear below the address bar as you start typing the URL. Previously bookmarked sites are marked with a star icon. The bottom of the list contains search provider buttons that enable one-tap searching instead of having to visit the search provider's home page to run a search.
You can also check site's identity by tapping on an icon in the address bar. Fennec recognizes phone numbers in a page and can place a call when a user taps on a properly formatted phone number. A password manager, searchable download manager, pop-up blocker and geolocation Javascript APIs complete this impressive first alpha release of Firefox for mobile devices.
Conclusion
Fennec is not just another mobile browser. We believe that this browser will be significant and may have, in the long term, a much greater impact on users than the desktop version. It delivers a new UI that feels natural and makes web browsing on devices with small screen much more effective than we have seen to date.
Sometimes, it is a simple solution that is most effective. Who would have thought about moving UI controls outside the left and right screen boundaries and enable a quick swipe gesture access? We really can't stress enough how revolutionary this concept is from an end-user perspective.
Fennec brings, for the first time in the mobile world, extensions and add-on support. The browser is compatible with the XPI platform and supports Mozilla plug-ins, themes, extensions and add-ons. As long as the add-on contains no binary compiled code, it should run on any platform (including mobile devices), although extensions authors might need to change their code to support different screen sizes. Mozilla said it will support Fennec add-ons on addons.mozilla.org "very soon."
You can download Fennec Alpha 1 from Mozilla's web site. The release is currently available only for Nokia's N810 Internet Tablet. There are also versions for Windows, OS X and Linux desktops that mimic the version for the Nokia tablet. You can also check out this video of Fennec in action, running on a Nokia N810.
As we move closer to beta versions and a final version of the browser, Fennec is expected support a broader array of mobile platforms as Mozilla wants to maximize its footprint in the mobile space. This browser is clearly heading beyond cellphones: Enthusiasts already succeeded in running Fennec on an e-paper device. There is no doubt that Fennec will debut on Google’s Android Market, enabling owners of Android-powered handsets, such as T-Mobile's G1, to choose Fennec over Android's default browser.
Mozilla confirmed that Fennec will also be available for Windows Mobile, but it is not yet ready for a public release. The organization also said that the TraceMonkey engine and geolocation features, both found in Firefox 3.1 Beta 1, will also trickle down to Fennec.