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Firefox on Android renders its first web page, no plans for iPhone

We have known for awhile that Mozilla was working on Firefox for Android and now we have visual progress. Vladimir Vukićević (a Mozilla developer) just posted a screen shot of the first page load from the Firefox browser running in the Android emulator. He notes that we are still a ways to go from a usable alpha release, but we are one step closer.

Note that the screen shows the full Firefox browser and not the mobile UI. Vladimir explains the situation on his blog:

“You’ll note that this is the full Firefox interface, and not the Fennec/Firefox Mobile UI; we’re testing with the full interface because it’s significantly more complex than the mobile UI and stresses Gecko much more.  So, if the full UI works, then Fennec should work fine as well.  Given the interest in Android on netbook and tablet devices, an updated version of the full Firefox UI might find a home on some of these.  Android has been pretty great to work with so far; it’s a bit unusual platform for us due to its Java core, but with the NDK we’re able to bridge things together without many problems.” -Vladimir VukićevićMozilla

In a related note, Mozilla has updated their mobile platforms page with their plans for other operating systems. They chose Maemo as their first mobile platform then started on Windows Mobile. Android is Mozilla’s next biggest challenge and they have no plans to support other platforms at this time.

Mozilla does not have plans to build an iPhone browser due to constraints with the OS environment and distribution.

Bonus: Check out the more than 40 add-ons that are currently available for Firefox Mobile

Posted in Android, Android OS, Applications, Firefox, Mozilla, iPhone | No Comments »

Google Nexus One vs. iPhone 3Gs Video

I came across this video comparison of the new Google Nexus One and the iPhone 3Gs and although it’s a bit long, (18 minutes), it is a pretty good comparison and worth the watch. Only thing I didn’t like was the comparison of the auto-spell/correct features of both handsets. When comparing them, the reviewer mistakenly typed in the ‘To:’ field for a new message on the Android powered handset so the auto-correct feature didn’t kick on making the iPhone look like it was better in this area. He mentions it with a You Tube annotation but I wish we could see them compared again on video as these handsets are neck & neck for the ‘Jesus Phone’ race. Other than that, it’s an informative, non-biased review. Enjoy.

Posted in Android, HTC, Nexus One, iPhone, idon't | No Comments »