Mozilla today has announced the first preview of its redesigned version of Firefox for Android users. It promises to be up to two times faster than its previous versions. The new version also introduces an easier to use and rather minimalist user interface, as well as support for collections, Mozilla’s new take on bookmarks. The new browser also features Firefox’s tracking protection, which is on by default. Over time, this preview will become the default Firefox for Android.
Firefox Preview looks more like a fusion of regular Firefox and Firefox Focus, Mozilla’s privacy-focused mobile browser. Mozilla realized that while users appreciated the speed and privacy features of Focus, they missed the full features of a regular browser as well. With Firefox Preview, Mozilla will be delivering that and more.
The reason behind Mozilla being so much faster is because it blocks all computing overhead imposed by tracking technology many advertisers and websites use to follow you around the web for actions like building a profile to target ads.
“Speed improvements are driven in large part by the comprehensive tracking protection that is on by default in Firefox Preview,” said Vesta Zare, senior product manager at Firefox Mobile. It’s also faster because Mozilla optimized its internal methods for juggling multiple computing tasks and its integration with Android devices.
“While all other major Android browsers today are based on Blink and therefore reflective of Google’s decisions about mobile, Firefox’s GeckoView engine ensures us and our users independence,” says the Firefox team. “Building Firefox for Android on GeckoView also results in greater flexibility in terms of the types of privacy and security features we can offer our mobile users.”