On Friday, Mozilla released Fennec Alpha 3 for Windows Mobile, the latest in Mozilla's effort to put its Firefox browser on a mobile phone.
As with Fennec 1.0 beta 3 for the Maemo platform found on some Nokia Internet Tablets, Fennec for Windows Mobile makes changes to the mobile browser's theme, and its scrolling and panning performance.
In particular, it is using what is called a tile cache rendering system to hold onto the part of the screen that has already been rendered. As you scroll and pan around, it should take less time to refresh the screen, since Fennec will not be downloading the same content afresh.
This is the same type of technology used in Google Maps.
In addition, Mozilla says it has increased Fennec's start-up time, although users will need to reboot the Windows Mobile phone for the difference to take effect.
Swiping along the edge of the directional pad on the HTC Touch Pro now controls zooming.
In the meantime, Fennec now supports more screen resolutions for any other Windows Mobile phone, so it could potentially look better on your device.
While Mozilla has no hard date set for completing Fennec 1.0 for Windows Mobile (which could be called Firefox for Windows Mobile when completed), it has set a target time for releasing Fennec on the Maemo platform in Q4, to before the end of December.
This fits the timeline of Mozilla's open design competition for the company's Firefox for Mobile campaign, which will cut off voting on 7 October, 2009.
Fennec Alpha 3 for Windows Mobile is ready to try on Windows Mobile phones, but as an unstable alpha release users may encounter bugs and other issues. Mozilla's release notes offer more details about the new features.
Talkback
well, having used alpha 1 for a time on my HTC Touch Pro, I'm looking forward to testing out this newer alpha release.
Alpha 1 was the first browser to actually let me access hotmail on my phone; the built-in IE refused to admit that the page even existed!! & Opera (HTC's defalut browser) timed-out.
the speed-up for loading can only be a good thing, IMO, so am downloading it as we speak (oh, wait, it's already downloaded!) & will give it some thrashing tomorrow! :)