Firefox 4 for Android and Maemo gets faster with new beta

Mozilla's latest beta version of Firefox 4 for Android and Maemo is a lot faster than previous releases, blowing away older versions in speed tests. According to the Mozilla blog, Firefox is now 3x faster than Google's stock Android browser when it comes to JavaScript, even if they did use their own Kraken speed test to prove it. Brad Linder at Mobiputing says the numbers on the SunSpider JavaScript speed test confirm Mozilla's claim, although Firefox still feels slower than the WebKit-based browser that comes with Android.

Linder's gripes with Firefox include lack of Flash support, those annoying checkered boxes for slow-loading parts of a page, and slow text rendering. On the other hand, this latest version is leaps and bounds ahead of previous Firefox builds in both speed and stability. It also uses less CPU than earlier versions, and includes syncing with your desktop install of Firefox, and supports add-ons.

Android and Maemo users can both find the new beta on Mozilla's mobile site.

Tags: android, browsers, firefox, firefox for mobile, firefox mobile, FirefoxForMobile, FirefoxMobile, kraken, maemo, mobile, mozilla, sunspider