Codename Fennec

Firefox for Mobile (codenamed as Fennec) is Mozilla's take to provide an open-source Mobile Browser for ARM devices such as Mobile Phones and PDAs. It’s built on the same engine as Firefox 3.6, with extensive changes to enhance performance and enrich user experience of users made specifically to work on mobile devices. Currently, Mozilla is developing Firefox for Nokia Maemo and Google Android. Hitherto, the only stable release has been made for Nokia Maemo device, N900 particularly. Fennec for Android is still in its development stages but has been released to get early user feedbacks. Mozilla has also released Firefox Mobile for desktops. Developers can install this mobile version of Firefox to their PC in order to test, provide feedback and build add-ons. But up till now, its only meant for developmental purposes only.

Firefox for mobile has been packed with many exciting, innovative features. The most important feature that any firefox user will be looking for would be the ability to support add-ons. The browser would be customizable with the installation of various add-ons which enhances the user experience multiple folds. Other features incorporated in Fennec would include:

  • Awesome Bar – This feature allows users to quickly go to their favorite sites with just a few keystrokes with its inbuilt intelligence and personalized searching
  • Firefox Sync – Since most of us are so dependent on our firefox windows loaded with our bookmarks, open tabs, passwords, history and more, Firefox Sync provides an easy solution to make them all portable so that they can be carried with us anywhere, and accessed anytime. Fennec lets us sync our Firefox tabs, history, bookmarks and passwords between our mobile device and desktop to provide a great mobile internet experience
  • Location-Aware Browsing – Since mobility is what it is all about, it provides an extensive use of its Location APIs to give us a perfect blend of surfing while roaming around. It provides a very easy and convenient way to get maps and information that is relevant to the location from where a user is browsing
  • Tabbed browsing – The most favorite tabbed browsing is also available in the form of thumbnails which makes it easy to identify and get to the desired tab quickly
  • Safe Browsing – It has been made much safer with customizable security settings.
  • Available in more than 30 languages and counting