Mozilla Unleashes Fennec 1.0 Beta

Author Gordon Kelly
Published 19th Mar 2009
Mozilla Unleashes Fennec 1.0 Beta
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It's clearly the time for beta browsers, we've had the rejuvenated Safari 4, Firefox 3.1 (aka 3.5 come release), Chrome 2.0 and now it's the turn of cute little Fennec...


Version 1.0 Beta 1 of Mozilla's first official mobile browser (minimo doesn't count) is incredibly its 12th iteration and the first to go on general public release.

Built using the same foundations as its bigger brother Fennec employs both the new Firefox 3.1 javascript engine TraceMonkey and uses the established 'Awesome Bar' - a smart URL bar - and combines them with a minimalist UI accessed by swiping the browser left or right.


Also hugely noteworthy is that Fennec will continue the famed Firefox trend of offering third party extensions - for many, the killer feature of this open source browser. Early examples are an add-on which syncs tabs, bookmarks and awesome bar content between Firefox and Fennec and a gesture add-on to avoid those menus altogether.

Given its position as by far and away the biggest rival to Internet Explorer's (undeserved) number one market share position you dismiss Fennec at your peril - and not just because it's named after the cutest animal alive...

Links:
Blog Post Announcement
Fennec Beta 1 Release Notes

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comment Gordon said on 19th March 2009

Apparently they are one of the few foxes which can be trained as pets ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennec_Fox

comment critical said on 19th March 2009

So the current main target platform is the N810... not exactly hitting the mainstream, is it? Not a criticism of Fennec, which looks a decent project, but surely worth mentioning ... more

comment Simon said on 19th March 2009

@critical I would agree. They should have gone for WM (i would say iPhone but Apple wouldn't allow that, and S60 has only just got their first touch screen phone).

comment Oliver Levett said on 20th March 2009

Mozilla have released a version of Fennec for WM, but as of yet, only for the HTC TP. Opera Mobile is bloody good as it is, but Firefox syncing sounds goood...

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