The Mozilla blog announced that the Firefox for Android app has received an update and is now optimized to operate smoothly on tablets. The refreshed application makes full use of the large screen sizes that slates possess and boasts of specially optimized features for tablets.
According to the blog, this update offers a more intuitive mobile browsing experience. A new feature called the Awesome Screen integrates Firefox Sync and makes it convenient for users to access their open tabs, browsing history, saved passwords and bookmarks on desktop and mobile devices. With this functionality, they can browse more and waste lesser time in typing.
Users will be able to see the tabs in the app as thumbnails in the left panel so that they can instantly switch between them while viewing full websites on the right. Mobile device owners can swipe to the left for enabling a full screen view by hiding the tabs.
The refreshed software has been optimized for web browsing in portrait as well as widescreen mode. Tabs in the former mode are situated at the top left menu and automatically hide when not required. This lets users focus more on the webpage they are currently on.
Besides the Awesome Bar, a new feature called the Action Bar menu also makes its debut in the revamped app. It lets users easily access Firefox Preferences, Add-ons, downloads and other such components. Tablet owners could benefit from the one-touch bookmarks feature which lets them add an icon to the Android homescreen for frequently used websites and apps.
New HTML5 tools have been included in the revamped app, allowing developers to easily build interactive mobile web applications for phones and tablets. The integrated HTML5 Input Tag for Camera Access gives them the power to create websites and web apps in a more interesting way.
The updated Firefox for Android can now be downloaded from the Android Market for free.