Mozilla unleashes Firefox Mobile alpha

Just a week or so after keeping schtum about when the mobile version of its Firefox browser would appear, Mozilla has unveiled an alpha version of the product in question.

Released without fanfare but with a massive build up and to an audience hungry for mobile browsing the alpha version will run on Nokia's N810 internet tablets. Those without this device can experiment with the browser on their desktop machine for now.

The aim is to get developers to create add-ons for the browser formerly codenamed Fennec now and to iron out any issues before progressing with further releases.

"The focus of development so far has been on building a new user interface that reflects Firefox's design principles, and adds touch screen support and other features that are appropriate for mobile phones and other handheld devices," the browser's parents claim in its release notes.

"We plan to do further alpha releases which focus on performance, including projects like TraceMonkey, speculative parsing, and many Fennec and Gecko optimisations. But in the meantime, we feel it is important to make this early release available to continue to grow the community and gather feedback as early as possible in the development process."

Known issues already flagged include UI responsiveness Inconsistency, lengthy page loading times, issues with plug-ins and a lack of bookmark folders.

That said, it also boasts a number of key features that will please those waiting excitedly for the final release. These include the return of the so-called Awesome Bar, easy access to multiple search engines, enhanced security features and a preferences pane.

Building on touch screen demand for devices like the iPhone, users will also be able to click on a phone number on a web page to make a call.