0 Some thoughts on Firefox 4 Beta1 for Android

Want to share some thoughts on recent Firefox update on Android.
I had spent some time this weekend on the recently released Firefox 4 for Android.
I am suprised with what Mozilla delivered in this latest version.

This Beta version supports more javascript functions than other browser.
I would take Google Reader for example.
The right panel of Google Reader can be scrolled with mouse wheel.
This design saved a lot of my time when surfing articles from Engadget, Cnet, and many other sites.

This scrolling feature is not supported among all mobile browsers.
I am talking about Safari on iOS, Opera, SkyFire, Chrome Lite, and every other available browser on Android.
No, none of them supports this feature as far as my test until Oct 2010.
Firefox is so far the first one supports it.

The usage is quite simple.
First you need to tap the scrollable area, let Firefox know you are focusing here.
And then drive the scroll ball, it will scroll then.
I don't really feel troubles when scrolling in Google Reader.
Actually it's quite intuitive.

However, the performance is still improvable, about 2 moves per second.
And I must say the scroll in Google Reader is a simple one.
If try this on other site, Plurk for example, the usability would be awful.
Also there're still many needs to be improve with UI.
But I am looking forward to see next release from Mozilla.


And I would like to move the focus to another point, a trend.
Supportting scroll is not some fancy feature.
But I think it might be a small step leads to a revolution.

Nowadays, when we talk about "Full Internet Experience", most time we mean the experience on PC.
The OS could be Windows, MacOS, or Linux, all based on x86 processor.
Now, on Android with ARM processor, it's starting to catch up.
Adobe Flash is already enabled, more JavaScript supports coming with Firefox now.
All other browsers will probably catch up Firefox on this trend in a very short time.

We all know that a bunch of vendors are trying to make an iPad killer.
Most vendors believe that Android + ARM would be the best solution.
While users are asking the question: is this combination possible to archive "Full Internet Experience"?
Microsoft and Intel say no, I would repeat them.
I used to take Google Reader for example, for I can't have the same experience on ARM based platforms.
And users will continue to ask another question: how's the battery life if a tablet uses x86 processor?
Well, probably 3~5 hours. But the iPad have 10 hours! 3~5 is totally not enough.

Now with this Firefox, the story is getting different.
"Full Internet Experience" is coming to Android, coming to ARM.
People will choose those Android tablets which doubled the battery life of x86 tablets.

As a result, I think Android is going to dominate the tab/slate/tablet market.
Probably happens at the end of 2011 or first half of 2012, depends on how Google would like to play the game.
When the tablet version of Android Market is ready, MeeGo slates will have no chances to live...


Let's wait and see how the trend goes.