On Android there aren’t many well-known alternatives to Chrome but one of the main ones if Firefox. Developed by the team at Mozilla, there are several versions of Firefox on the Play Store including a beta. Today they have introduced another one — Firefox Preview.
Firefox Preview is available on the Play Store now for ALL users who want to try out what the next version of Firefox for Android will bring — ahead of its full release in Spring this year (Australian time). The new Firefox Preview brings not only a full rewrite with a new base but also some new additions.
Firefox Preview is based on Firefox Focus, bringing with it the ability to navigate the web without the fear of being tracked. With it will come a fully-fledged browser but with more security and privacy features “than any existing app”.
The new Mozilla creation is powered by Firefox’s mobile browser engine GeckoView promising a “best in class mobile experience”. Firefox have brought the Firefox Quantum speed to Firefox Preview along with their new UI and the new Preview is not impacted by the mobile browsing decisions by Google like all other browsers but instead being based on GeckoView allows Mozilla to have full control over not just privacy and security for users but also the speed of the browser.
Some of the new features include:
- Faster than ever: Firefox Preview is up to 2 time faster than previous versions of Firefox for Android.
- Fast by design: with a minimalist start screen and bottom navigation bar
- Stay organised: Make sense of the web with Collections, a new feature that helps you save, organise, and share collections of sites. Quickly save and return to tasks like your morning routine, shopping lists, travel planning and more.
- Tracking Protection on by default: Everyone deserves freedom from invasive advertising trackers and other bad actors so Firefox Preview blocks trackers by default. The result is faster browsing and fewer annoyances.
At this stage Firefox Preview is just that and does lack some of the things that have drawn users to Firefox for Android over the years including the use of add-ons. Add-ons are not supported just yet but with a release planned int he next few months you can be sure they, and other functions, will be added soon.
Those interested in checking out where Firefox for Android is headed you can grab Firefox Preview from the Play Store now. Are you a Firefox for Android user? What do you think of this new re-build?
Its quite snappy, stable, looks good and has enough settings for me to browse regularly.
Simple question: can you import bookmarks into this browser from a bookmarks HTML file?