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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nismok" data-source="post: 4193961" data-attributes="member: 109094">Mobile Firefox Browser Fennec Launched in Limited Beta<img src="http://vinitneo.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/fennec_.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><a href="http://www.mozilla.org/projects/fennec/1.0a1/releasenotes/" target="_blank">http://www.mozilla.org/projects/fennec/1.0a1/releasenotes/</a>Fennec, the mobile version of the Firefox Web browser, has been released for limited beta testing on the Nokia N810 tablet. Search is built into the "awesome" bar along with other improvements. Like Firefox 3.1, Fennec uses TraceMonkey for JavaScript support. An analyst said Fennec is notable, but it needs to be available for other mobile devices.<img src="http://images.newsfactor.com/share/images/site/double-arrows-1.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> Mozilla has announced a limited beta release of its new mobile browser, code-named Fennec. Testing will be limited to people using the Nokia N810 tablet, although emulators have been written to allow people to test the application on desktop computers running Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. "I'm super-happy to announce the first beta release of Fennec for the Maemo platform," wrote Stuart Parmenter, mobile architect for Mozilla, on his Pavlov.net blog. "We've done heavy optimizations to our front-end code and made a number of optimizations to the platform, resulting in greatly increasing zooming speed and making panning pretty smooth. We've also been able to improve start-up performance by reducing a good bit of unnecessary work." Other improvements, according to the Mozilla release notes, include tabbed browsing, integrated Web search (built into the address, or "awesome" bar), access to multiple search engines, and both bookmarks and tags.   JavaScript and Add-Ons  One of the more interesting features of Fennec is the inclusion of TraceMonkey, an engine for JavaScript support. Parmenter said the inclusion of TraceMonkey will enable Fennec to take advantage of the JavaScript speed improvements built into Firefox 3.1. In addition, like the desktop version of Firefox, Fennec permits the installation of add-ons that can extend the capabilities of the mobile browser. Not surprisingly, only a limited number are available right now, but testers are already playing with add-ons to access Twitter, fix typos in URLs, and enhance <a href="http://www.cio-today.com/accuserve/accuserve-go.php?c=8967" target="_blank">security</a> <a href="http://www.cio-today.com/accuserve/accuserve-go.php?c=8967" target="_blank"><img src="http://images.cio-today.com/images/new/icon-inline-shop.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>.  Reviewers have also praised the new browser's intuitive handling of menus, bookmarks, auto-fill for URLs, and other features drawn directly from its desktop big brother.  Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret, said the release of Fennec is a notable development. "It certainly is a milestone, but, as with all browsers, it will need to be widely available on the key mobile platforms to compete," Gartenberg said. "Given the popularity of Apple's WebKit-based technology in the mobile space, as well as a refreshed IE from <a href="http://www.cio-today.com/accuserve/accuserve-go.php?c=8374" target="_blank">Microsoft</a> <a href="http://www.cio-today.com/accuserve/accuserve-go.php?c=8374" target="_blank"><img src="http://images.cio-today.com/images/new/icon-inline-shop.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>, it's hard to see this as much more than a technology demo at this point."   No iPhone Version?   The obvious question is when Fennec might be available for other mobile devices. Mozilla reportedly has plans to develop versions for many mobile OSes, including the obvious candidates: Windows Mobile, Symbian, Nokia and even Android. Conspicuously absent is any mention of Apple's iPhone. According to earlier reports, the restrictions placed on iPhone apps will prevent the official release of Fennec for the iPhone, at least for the foreseeable future. As Mozilla CEO John Lilly flatly told Wired magazine a year ago, "Apple has not written a license which allows Firefox to run on the iPhone."  There is no word yet whether the new software developers kit announced by Apple earlier this week will change that situation.</blockquote>

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