Mozilla unveils Firefox 4 Android-Maemo beta

Mozilla has released a beta of Firefox 4 for Android and Nokia Maemo devices offering increased stability and performance.

Key improvements include faster start-up and page loading times, as well as enhanced panning and zooming capabilities, according to Mozilla.

Additional features include Firefox Sync, the Awesome Bar and tabbed browsing, which help to bring the desktop experience to mobile platforms, the company said in a posting to the Mozilla Blog.

Firefox Sync allows users to securely synchronise history, bookmarks, tabs and passwords across devices.

The Awesome Bar, meanwhile, can auto-complete web addresses and show sites that users have bookmarked and tagged in a drop-down box.

Mozilla is also promoting the development of Firefox Add-ons for mobile devices.

"Developers can use the latest web technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript to build fast, powerful and beautiful mobile apps for Firefox users worldwide," the firm said.

"Firefox 4 Beta for Android and Maemo delivers the Firefox experience to mobile devices, complete with the performance and customisation users expect."

However, while Firefox 4 motors ahead in the mobile sphere, its fixed web version has encountered rather slower progress.

The company admitted earlier this week that beta 12 of Firefox will be delayed, meaning that the final version is likely not to be released until March.