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CNET First Look
Firefox for Android
The Firefox browser for Android is finally here, and it's got a few classic Firefox tricks to make for a unique browsing experience.
1:50 /
Transcript
-Firefox for Android.
It's been a long time coming.
Yeah, I see you nodding along.
I'm Jessica Dolcourt for CNET showing you how to get around the mobile browser.
Now, what looks like a typical address bar on the top of the start screen is a URL field.
Yes.
But you can also type out a few letters to pick from your bookmarks and search history or to search with one of the several search engines on board.
You can also browse this category separately.
The Firefox crew calls this the awesome screen.
One of my favorite features is Firefox Sync which lets you find URLs from the browser tabs you opened most recently on Firefox from your desktop browser.
You can access those URLs from the awesome screen or from the default start screen.
Check out or how-to video for more details on setting up Sync.
You can also always change the start page and the settings; but if you keep it, you'll be able to quickly view past tabs and desktop tabs.
Firefox's layout is also really unique among the mobile browsers.
You slide to the left and to the right to manage open tabs and access the settings menu.
Browser add-ons are Firefox's claim to fame on the desktop and there's a place for them here too.
The gallery is still building up of course but you will find a bunch of options that are optimized for the mobile experience.
One example is phoning which can tell websites to display their content as if your phone is a computer rather than a phone.
Now, speed was a real issue with beta version of Firefox for Android before this but the bucket improvements that Mozilla made haven't given me any trouble personally in loading sites, pinching or zooming, or navigating around the browser.
Of course, if you're on a fast phone and a fast network, then Firefox will be faster too.
There's a lot more detail where this browser is concerned, so don't forget to check out CNET's full hands-on review of Firefox 4 for Android and let us know what you think.
I'm Jessica Dolcourt for CNET.
This is Firefox for Android.
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