Firefox 4 Beta 1 hits Android and Maemo

Firefox 4 Beta 1 is out for Android and Maemo devices today, and it's the richest mobile version of Firefox yet. In contrast to buggy, borderline-unusable Alpha versions you may have tried, the beta packs more features and a bit more stability.

Firefox Sync, Add-Ons and the Awesome Bar are all included, offering an experience that will be familiar to anyone who uses Firefox on the desktop. Some of those desktop add-ons aren't going to be compatible with Firefox Mobile, though, so don't get too excited.

Although bugs and crashes still happen, FF4 Mobile now includes Electrolysis -- Mozilla's fancy term for separating the rendering and browser interface segments of the app into different processes -- and Layers, which should help with smoothness and stability. Pinch-to-Zoom and a New Tab Screen-like feature called the Awesome Page are also included.

If you're testing Firefox 4 Beta 1 for Mobile, let us know how the experience is going. Will it be your regular browser, or is it still too unstable?

Tags: android, apps, beta, firefox, firefox 4, firefox for mobile, Firefox4, FirefoxForMobile, mobile, mozilla