Mobile/Platforms/Android

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Firefox for Android

Firefox for Android is part of the Fennec project to bring the Firefox web browser to mobile devices. For more information about Fennec, see the Firefox Mobile web site.

  • Latest Version: Pre-Alpha (download)
  • Optimized for: Google Nexus One, Motorola Droid (will eventually include more devices)
  • OS Requirements: Google Android 2.0 or higher
  • System Requirements: OpenGL ES2.0

Status

Firefox for Android is in very early development. The browser builds and runs on some devices, but it is not yet ready for daily use.

Stay tuned and follow us on Twitter and Facebook to hear about new releases and other announcements. Or read our developer blogs to follow our development progress.

We have not yet set a date for the first release of Firefox for Android, but we are tentatively planning for a release before the end of 2010, with alpha and beta releases earlier in the year. Mobile/Planning/2.0 lists some of the work we are doing for the upcoming release.

Download

There are no official releases of Firefox for Android yet, but you can try out an early preview build from Vlad Vukicevic. This build is "pre-alpha" quality and contains many known bugs.

Nightly builds will be available once we merge Android support into the main Firefox source repository and configure the automated build system.

You can also try out Fennec on other platforms, including on your Mac, Windows, or Linux PC.

Known Issues

We are working on fixing all of these bugs. Some of them already have patches available, and will be fixed in the next preview build.

Installation:

  • Fennec will not run if installed to SD card using Apps2SD.
  • Adobe Flash and other plugins are not included in this preview of Fennec. The "YouTube Enabler" plugin will not work in this build because it requires Flash.
  • Fennec takes over 30 MB of internal storage space (bug omnijar, bug 563751).

Performance:

  • Initial start-up takes a very long time (20-30 seconds).
  • Fennec is slow to respond at times, especially while images or pages are still loading.
  • Fennec uses large amounts of memory, and may cause Android to stop other running activities on your phone. In extreme cases this can cause your phone to become unresponsive until it is rebooted.

User Interface:

  • If you hide Fennec by pressing the Home button, it may display a black screen when you return to it. You can work around this by forcing Fennec to quit in the "Manage Applications" section of Android's Settings activity.
  • Menu and Back buttons do not work (bug 559453)
  • The only way to zoom is by double-tapping. Future builds will support multi-touch "pinch" zoom gestures (bug 437957).
  • Touch-and-hold context menus are not working (bug 563957).

Keyboard:

  • The software keyboard may not appear on the first click, or at all (bug 562807).
  • In landscape mode, the software keyboard does not display any text that you type.
  • You may need to hold down the SHIFT or ALT keys while typing numbers/symbols/capitals on hardware keyboards. (In most Android activities you can press and release the SHIFT or ALT key before pressing the next key, but this doesn't work in the Fennec pre-alpha.)

System Requirements

Fennec requires Android 2.0 or later.

Installation requires about 35 MB of available internal storage. Fennec does not yet work when installed to an SD card (a feature of some unofficial Android ROMs).

We are using these devices for development:

  • Verizon Droid (Motorola Milestone)
  • Google Nexus One (HTC)

Other users have successfully installed Fennec on these devices:

  • Verizon Droid Incredible (HTC Incredible)
  • HTC Legend
  • HTC Desire

Users have not been able to run Fennec on these devices:

  • Verizon Droid Eris (HTC)
  • HTC Magic (T-Mobile myTouch 3G)
  • HTC Hero (T-Mobile G2 Touch)
  • HTC Tattoo

As Firefox for Android gets closer to release we will test it on more phones, and make sure it runs on as many as possible.

Support

Firefox on Android is not officially supported yet, but we'd like to hear your bug reports, comments, and questions at our Android pre-alpha forum.

Development

See Mobile/Fennec/Android for build instructions, developer documentation, and more project status.

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