Mozilla Fennec Gets Pre-Alpha Release

By Nick Mokey Published February 11, 2009

Mozilla Fennec Gets Pre-Alpha Release

Opera isn’t the only open-source browser elbowing out room for itself in the mobile realm. On Tuesday, Mozilla released the first pre-alpha of its Fennec mobile browser for Windows Mobile 6.1.

According to developers, this early release is only intended for the HTC Touch Pro, which made an ideal development platform due to its high-resolution VGA screen and dedicated QWERTY keyboard for input. Mozilla cut both its automatic update feature and support for plug-ins in this early release to get the browser more stable for its public outing.

Recommended Videos

Major features include a smart URL bar, tabbed browsing , and controls that slide off to the side of the side to maximize room for content.

HTC Touch Pro owners can try the browser for free by navigating to Mozilla’s .CAB file on their phones and allowing to install.

Editor in Chief

As Digital Trends’ Editor in Chief, Nick Mokey oversees an editorial team covering every gadget under the sun, along with…

Mobile

These 3 gadgets prove wearable tech reached its peak in 2024

The Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses, Apple Watch Series 10, and Oura Ring 4 on a table.

What a great year for wearables 2024 has been. Don’t believe me? We’ve had three standout products this year. One has individually broken new ground, an established product line has been refined so it’s close to perfect, and another has driven other brands to muscle in on its success.

Let's talk about each one in turn, why they all complement each other really well, and how there has never been a better time for wearables.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses

Mobile

I finally have RCS on my iPhone, and it’s one of my favorite iOS 18 features

An iPhone 16 Pro showing RCS messaging.

Apple’s Messages app has certainly come a long way. When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it could only send SMS -- there weren't even picture messages. Then it got MMS protocol support in iPhone OS 3.0 with the iPhone 3GS. With iPhone OS 5.0, Apple implemented its own iMessage chat protocol, making it easy for Apple users to communicate with other Apple device users.

However, when it came to messaging Android users, Apple dragged its feet for the longest time, sticking with SMS and MMS, which aren’t encrypted and don't offer full-quality photo and video sending. It also sparked the whole blue bubble versus green bubble war.

Mobile

The 2025 Android phone I’m most looking forward to isn’t from Samsung or Google

2025 is rapidly approaching, and that can only mean one thing for a tech nerd like me: It's time to start looking forward to another year of smartphones. All signs are pointing to an interesting year for Apple with the iPhone 17, and I'm eager to see what comes of it.

But what about what's happening in the Android smartphone space? The Samsung Galaxy S25 series is just on the horizon, but I've yet to see anything that's made me really ecstatic about it. The Google Pixel 10 series should be a good one, but we've not heard enough about it yet.