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Firefox 14 for Android now available with improved speeds, new HTML 5 capabilities, and Flash

Firefox 14 for Android now available with improved speeds, new HTML 5 capabilities, and Flash

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Mozilla has just released the latest version of Firefox for Android in the Google Play store, and while there aren't a ton of new features, it does promise to bring improved speed across the board.

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Firefox for Android
Firefox for Android

Mozilla has just released the latest version of Firefox for Android in the Google Play store, and while there aren't a ton of new features, it does promise to bring improved speed across the board. In addition to improved rendering and load times, Mozilla claims the whole interface has been significantly sped up — so zooming, panning, and launching the browser should all be quicker than before. In fact, Mozilla claims that its benchmarking tool finds the new Firefox to be about twice as fast as the stock Android browser.

There's also more robust syncing options built-in — Mozilla calls it the "awesome screen," which displays all of your bookmarks, history, and password / form data to your Android phone. It sounds a lot like the syncing features that exist in Chrome, as well as the new Safari features coming in iOS 6. It also bears a lot of similarities to the new startup screen that launched in Firefox 13 for the desktop. Unlike Chrome, Firefox for Android now supports Flash — so if that's still a major feature for you, rest assured that Mozilla has your back.

For those of us moving on to newer web technologies, there are also a number of HTML5 capabilities on board. If you've been using Mozilla's Firefox Beta for Android, these changes won't sound new to you, but they're now available for those who prefer to stay on stable releases. If you're interested, the updated app is now live on Google Play. For Android tablet users out there, stay tuned — Mozilla's working on a redesigned tablet version that should be ready soon.