If for whatever reason you feel that the default browser loaded on your Android or Maemo device is not sufficient, you should know that you have options. Opera Mobile is available, the very capable Dolphin browser is available, and now — thanks to a recently released beta — Mozilla Firefox is available. The list of features include:

Pinch-to-zoom (Android), double-tap, or use the volume rocker (Nokia N900) to zoom in and out

Tabbed browsing in thumbnail view lets you easily see and open the site you want

Location-Aware Browsing gives you content and info relevant to your location

Find in Page in the Site Menu lets you quickly find text on the webpage

Share Page in the Site Menu lets you send content to email, Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader

Forget Password in the Site Menu tells a website you no longer trust to forget your private data

Add Search Engine in the Site Menu lets you quickly add a new search engine to your Awesome Screen

Context Menu lets you Open in New Tab and Share by long tapping and holding a link

Smart Tapping lets you tap on links, widgets and other Web content with accuracy

Password Manager lets you choose to remember site password to avoid typing

The beta will support the Nokia N900 and any Android device running OS version 2.0 or higher. Hit the read link to download Mozilla’s latest creation, and let us know what you think.

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Thanks to Mozilla we got our hands on a Nokia N900 for a few weeks and had the opportunity to give its new Firefox Mobile browser a thorough test drive. Firefox Mobile has a long development history that started in late 2008 when Mozilla announced its very early alpha browser first for the Maemo platform and then for the Windows Mobile platform. While the Windows Mobile version may have been abandoned, the Maemo version just came out of beta earlier this year and is still going strong. Despite its enthusiasm, Firefox Mobile is entering a very crowded mobile browser field that is dominated by Opera Mobile, Opera Mini and the built-in WebKit browsers found on the iPhone, Android, and WebOS handsets. With most smartphone platforms now rocking very capable browsers, how does Firefox Mobile stand up to the competition? Hit the jump to find out.

Firefox Mobile distinguishes itself from its competition with three different features that are designed to enhance the mobile browsing experience. These features include the Awesome bar, Extensions, and Weave Sync, and together these three features will form the crux of this review.

Awesome Bar

In Firefox Mobile, Mozilla attempts to capture some of the core functionality of the desktop version of Firefox and tries to bring those qualities to the mobile browser. The Awesome Bar, shown above, is one such example of this cross-over technology. On the mobile device, the Awesome Bar functions in a manner similar to the desktop client by providing URL entry assistance. Start typing your URL and Firefox will complete your entry by scanning through your browser history and searching your bookmarked and tagged websites.

As many users of Firefox on the desktop know, the desktop version of the Awesome Bar can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help when it tries to enter a URL on your behalf. On the mobile device, though, it is a welcome feature that makes entering long URLs drop dead easy. By the time you have reached the third or fourth letter past the “www”, Firefox Mobile has a list of potential website addresses that closely match your entry. You don’t have to hunt and peck for letters or search for the “.com” button when you use this feature on Firefox Mobile.

Though the Awesome Bar does perform awesomely, it is not a feature that is unique to Firefox Mobile. Other mobile browsers offer similar functionality and pull up a list of previously visited websites while you are typing in a URL.

Extensions/Add-Ons

Just like the desktop version of Firefox, Firefox Mobile also offers support for add-ons which can be an easy way to add extra functionality to your mobile browser. Though there are not as many extensions for the mobile version of Firefox, the ones that are available are especially suited for the mobile browser. You can add in a mobile extension that allows you to post to Twitter directly from the URL bar, an extension that enables in-browser YouTube videos, a URL fixer add-on that automatically fixes URL typing errors, and even the ever popular Adblock Plus.

Extensions can be added by visiting Firefox’s Add-On web page which when viewed on the N900 will take you directly to the mobile section of Mozilla’s website. Extensions can also be added by accessing the settings menu and navigating to the add-ons menu (shown above) where you can view and configure installed extensions and search for new extensions. Extensions are added via a simple one-click method which will automatically download and install the add-on, just like you would in the desktop browser.

Extensions were well integrated into the mobile browser and we saw no deleterious effect from running, on average, four extensions at a time. The browser remained stable and performed smoothly even with multiple extensions running simultaneously. Being able to add and remove functionality via add-ons is a definite advantage for Firefox Mobile and one that is not currently available on any other mobile platform.

Weave Sync

One of the add-ons that Mozilla pimps is its Weave Sync, which allows you to sync important browser information between your desktop PCs and your mobile device. Weave Sync requires you to install the add-on to your desktop version of Firefox (as shown above) and the mobile browser on the N900. Once the add-on is installed, you will have to create a Weave account and add your login credentials to both the desktop and mobile browser. In the next step, you setup a syncing schedule and you are ready to start syncing your tabs, passwords, history and bookmarks between your desktop and mobile device.

Weave Sync worked well as long as you remember the one golden rule, “Make sure you don’t have 20 tabs open when you sync”. Weave Sync quickly and easily synced open tabs from one client to the other, a feature which is useful when you switch between multiple platforms several times a day. The only time that we ran into a problem was when we accidentally synced a desktop client that had about 20-30 open tabs with the mobile browser. Though Firefox Mobile did not crash, it did slow to a crawl until we were able to exit from the Weave Sync interface and re-sync with a more reasonable number of open tabs. Overall, Weave Sync is an excellent addition to the browser. Being able to access your browser history, passwords, and bookmarks on multiple devices is a feature that we used over and over again.

Web Page Rendering

As seen from the screenshot above and the one below, Firefox Mobile does an excellent job of rendering full websites and formatting them for a mobile device. Because Firefox 3.6 is the underlying engine for Firefox Mobile, websites will serve up the full version of their website. No dumbed-down mobile versions for users of this browser. Even BGR’s website, which is pulled up as a mobile-formatted site on the iPhone and the DROID, rendered out in its full glory in Firefox Mobile. You can see a little issue with the layout of the page, but all in all, things look great on here.

Lest you think we are biased, we also loaded up Amazon (see below) and the New York Times (also below) as a comparison and to show that Firefox Mobile can render even complex content accurately on a mobile device. These beautiful renderings do come with a drawback as Firefox Mobile was a bit on the slow side. The initial content on the pages loaded up quickly but it took a good 15-20 seconds to render the entire content on a complex web page. As expected, mobile websites and simple websites like google.com loaded up in the blink of an eye, but these bigger sites caused Firefox to hiccup ever so slightly. An impatient man who does not let the page finish loading before scrolling downward will be greeted with those unsightly grey and white check boxes.

UI and Overall Impressions

The browser interface was well thought out with the navigational elements of the browser hidden on both the left and right side of the screen. If you swipe from left to right, a left sidebar pops out that lets you open a new tab, displays all open tabs, and provides access to the tabs that are synced to your desktop via Weave. If you swipe from right to left, you will see a right hand navigational bar (as shown below) that allows you to quickly add the current page as a bookmark, navigate forward and backward, and access the browser settings. All in all, Firefox Mobile has a nice layout that allows you to maximize screen real estate and call up the navigational elements only when needed.

When viewing web content on the screen, a double-tap will zoom in and a second double-tap will zoom out. Zooming in and out was smooth but inconsistent at times with double-taps not being registered by the device. Some of this could be attributed to the resistive screen of the N900 which was not as responsive as a capacitive screen or even as responsive as some resistive screens that we have used in the past. In addition to having some issues zooming in and out of a web page, link selection at times was also difficult. When reading forums for example, the tiny navigation controls that allow you to move from page to page were often difficult to select. Sometimes I was able to zoom in on the controls, other times not and when I finally tried to select a link, I often jumped two or three pages ahead instead of one.

In all fairness, double-tapping is not the only means for zooming. Firefox Mobile allows you to use the Ctrl-up and Ctrl-down buttons but using buttons instead of your finger seems counter-intuitive. The same applies to using a stylus. Though one is included with the N900, it just seems so 90′s to use one with a device that is supposedly at the cutting edge of mobile technology.

Despite these nuances, the overall browsing experience was pleasurable. We would recommend Firefox Mobile as a browser for those power users who want the capability of a desktop browser on a mobile device. You may have to compromise some speed, but if you live or die by the extensions that you can install, and dream about syncing your device with every desktop that you own, then Firefox Mobile may be the browser for you. Currently, Firefox Mobile is only available on the Maemo 5-powered Nokia N900. Our experience with the device was mixed and although we really enjoyed it, we’d be hard pressed to buy one just to use Firefox Mobile.  If you have other uses for the N900, then you could probably justify it, but if you can wait until the end of the year, Mozilla is developing an Android version of Firefox Mobile which, at this point in time, promises to be much more interesting than its Maemo counterpart.

A random video on YouTube shows what looks something like an official Nokia document outlining some initial features of the Nokia N87 12MP. According to the document, the N87 will feature a 12 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens with a dual-LED Xenon flash, a 3.2 inch capacitive WVGA display, 600 MHz processor and 16GB internal storage. It is nice to see Nokia getting up to speed and finally introducing an N-series phone with some desirable specs. If this pans out, let’s hope this is the one that “Comes With Maemo”.

[Via PhoneArena]

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Although initial reviews have concluded that it’s far from perfect, today marks the first day of availability of the Nokia N900 in the United States. Available through Nokia’s flagship stores in Chicago and New York City for $649 (as well as at nokiausa.com), the N900 has also been spotted on various online shops such as Amazon for a little over $500. At that price it’s all very tempting — especially if you’re a die hard Nseries fan that wants to get a glimpse of the future with this Maemo 5 business– but that’s a decision you’re going to have to make on your own.

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Nokia smartphone loyalists that feel S60 is a bit long in the tooth and are looking for something new should be all smiles today, as earlier Nokia announced that the Maemo 5-powered N900 smartphone has begun shipping out after a series of delays. To officially retail for around 500€ ($749 USD), the N900 has been spotted on various US-based websites for well under $600. And that’s a darn good deal, too, because you’re not going to find many phones at that price that offer up the following:

• Maemo 5 OS
• 3.5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) resistive touchscreen display
• 110.9 × 59.8 × 18mm, 181g
• Portrait-orientation sliding QWERTY
• Mozilla-based browser, full Adobe Flash support
• ARM cortex A8 processor
• 32GB internal memory
• 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and sliding cover
• MicroSDHC support up to 16GB
• FM transmitter
• Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA 900/1700/2100, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP
• GPS
• 1320 mAh battery

One word of caution: as it currently stands, the N900 will not play nice with the new SIMs from 3 in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Austria, although a software update to resolve this comparability issue is due out before the end of the year. A launch video from Nokia is lying in wait after the jump.

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Oh Project Dark, you are a curious one. We here at BGR think we know what you’re all about, but it’s pretty hard to feel totally confident without some proof in the form of documents. Thankfully a leaked picture of some T-Mobile advertising which looks to be a part of Project Dark has emerged, and seems to more or less confirm what we’ve been saying for nearly a week. Right off the bat we noticed the tagline of “coverage you need, price you want and the handset you crave.” Gee, you think that could refer to a rapid 21Mbps HSPA roll-out, a $50 unlimited plan and handsets like the Behold II, Bold 9700, CLIQ and N900? We certainly do, but we’re more interested in something else. We’ve always thought that Project Dark had a single unlimited plan, but the mention of an “Even More” and “Even More Plus” rate plan has us a bit  confused. Sure, it makes sense and all to have a few different unlimited plans that offer up different things, but just what is it that the Plus plan includes? We haven’t a clue to be completely honest (although we are working on it), but perhaps — and this is nothing but us thinking aloud –  it could include some sort of long distance package that is meant to compete with AT&T’s GoPhone. Regardless, all will be solved soon (we’re hearing either this Sunday or the next), but for now we must tip our hats for T-Mobile for actually being able to keep its employees mouths shut. Bravo.

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Get those credit cards ready, Nokia fans. According to a notice reportedly sent out to several US distributors, Nokia’s first Maemo phone is scheduled to hit Nokia distribution centers on September 27th — just under two weeks from today. Assuming the communique is real and Nokia can manage to stay on target, we could see the N900 begin to ship to customers via distributors within the first few days of October. Though it’s not a surprise, the lofty $650 MSRP is sure to leave a sour taste in some mouths but if you want to be among the first to own a T-Mobile 3G-ready Maemo 5 handset, the early adopter tax is unavoidable. Hit the jump for the alleged notice to distributors.

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Hardcore Nokia fans who are dying to get their hands on the N900, Nokia’s first Maemo-powered phone (as if you didn’t know that by now), will be happy to know that they can pre-order a unit today. There’s still that pesky little thing called patience to deal with, but sometimes it’s comforting to know that there is a yet-to-be-released gadget out there with your name on it. We know that folks who are bored with S60 are looking to snap this up the minute the packing peanuts spill out of packaging boxes, but before you get too excited you should note the early adopter tax. Then again, at $649 the device may sound pricey, but it’s Nokia’s first Maemo phone! And it will be unlocked! And it’s not S60! Do you need another reason?

Thanks, William!

[Via CellphoneSignal]

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Ahhh, the Nokia N900. You want it. You need it. You’ve got to have it. If you’re on T-Mobile you’re sitting pretty knowing that 1700 MHz is included in the N900′s three WCDMA bands, just waiting to gobble up T-Mobile’s 3G services. If you’re on AT&T in the US or Rogers up north however, the tears may still be streaming. A glimmer of hope found its way to light last week when rumors that a forthcoming 850/1900/2100 MHz WCDMA version were seemingly substantiated. We just spoke to Nokia however, and yeah… Not so much. Nokia’s official statement:

Regarding the Nokia N900, we have announced a tri-band WCDMA version that utilizes the 900/1700/2100 MHz networks. There have been no announcements regarding a version that supports the 850/1900/2100MHz bands.

As it turns out, The Nokia Blog’s tipster completely fabricated the last line of Nokia’s email — you know, the part that said, “An announcement will be forthcoming” — and the whole story is bogus. We suppose AT&T and Rogers subscribers might be able to keep hope alive considering Nokia still hasn’t flat out denied the possibility of a WCDMA 850/1900/2100 MHz version, but if you ask us it’s time to break out the Ben & Jerry’s and drown your sorrows.

Let’s face it — annoying, stale and overused references to a “desktop experience” aside, the N900 is probably one of the most exciting things to happen to Nokia in years… At least for technophiles. In a nutshell, Maemo 5 is the first fresh new OS to find its way to a Nokia smartphone since S60 3rd Edition first found its way to Fred Flinstone’s phone back in the stone ages. S60 3rd is still rocking relatively hard where global sales are concerned of course, but even the most avid Nokia fans will reluctantly admit to being bored with it at this point. S60 5th Edition is just more of the same and until Symbian^4 struts its stuff, Maemo is apparently where it’s at. The N900, Nokia’s first Maemo-powered smartphone, will drop some time in October so until then all we can do is watch painfully loud promo videos and yearn for the day when Nokia’s new kit finds its way to our pockets, and hopefully, our hearts. Video after the jump.

AT&T and Rogers customers may be able to breathe a sigh of relief in the coming months as rumors of an inevitable AT&T/Rogers WCDMA-compatible version of the N900 may have accidentally been confirmed by a Nokia employee. This is 100 percent hearsay for the time being, but the following is reportedly Nokia’s reply to a customer’s request for information about an AT&T 3G-ready N900:

Alvin,

You are correct, we’ve announced the Nokia N900 yesterday. We have not announced where it will be available but have just said that it will be released in select regions.

Regarding the network bands, you are correct – we announced a WCDMA 900/1700/2100 MHz bands. We have not made any announcements regarding an 850/1900/2100 MHz band device. An announcement will be forthcoming.

Thanks,
Joe

Hmm. Now, customer service reps at carriers and phone manufacturers alike do have a tendency to get, shall we say, confused. At the same time, ‘Joe’ didn’t really leave much room for interpretation when we wrote, “We have not made any announcements regarding an 850/1900/2100 MHz band device. An announcement will be forthcoming.” So boys and girls, while T-Mobile subscribers are already sitting pretty ahead of an AWS-ready N900 touching down in October, AT&T and Rogers subscribers might not have long to wait before they can join in on the celebration.

UPDATE: Nokia’s official statement with regards to a WCDMA 850/1900/2100 MHz version of the N900 can be found here.

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Our favorite Finnish phonies haven’t exactly been building a mystery in the months and weeks leading up to today, but the countless Nokia fans waiting for Rover to sit and stay have cause for celebration nonetheless. Behold… the Nokia N900! Nokia’s first Maemo 5-powered handset — in fact, it’s the company’s first Maemo-powered phone, period — is indeed looking like a beauty in its official press renders. Specs are exactly what we’ve known for quite a while:

• Maemo 5 OS
• 3.5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) resistive touchscreen display
• 110.9 × 59.8 × 18mm, 181g
• Portrait-orientation sliding QWERTY
• Mozilla-based browser, full Adobe Flash support
• ARM cortex A8 processor
• 32GB internal memory
• 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and sliding cover
• MicroSDHC support up to 16GB
• FM transmitter
• Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA 900/1700/2100, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP
• GPS
• 1320 mAh battery

The N900 will launch in “select markets” in October with an expected retail price of €500. We’re still expecting it to drop with T-Mobile here in the US of course, but no word on whether or not we can look forward to an October release. Anyone excited to see it on display next week at Nokia World? We know we are. In the meantime, hit the jump for a couple of marketing videos including one that shows off great features like multiple desktop support and a Palm Pre card-like task switcher.

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If there is still doubt in anyone’s mind that Nokia plans to officially unveil its next-generation Maemo 5 handset at the modestly named Nokia World show next week, behold: The first official press render of the N900 has leaked. Call it the Rover, call it the RX-51 or call it whatever else you want — the bottom line is that it represents Nokia’s first step in moving away from an old busted UI and toward a somewhat modern interface. Somewhat. Last week we all enjoyed a ridiculously thorough preview of the N900 and, upon first viewing of the many screenshots included in the post, it’s clear that the Maemo 5 UI is a giant step forward compared to S60. On the other hand however — in terms of looks — it doesn’t appear to be all that different compared to the previous version of Maemo. It’s more flushed out of course, since the N900 packs a lot more out of the box than previous Maemo devices, but we’re not really seeing anything revolutionary here — just evolutionary. Again, we’re talking looks and not function; we still haven’t played with the handset ourselves and we’re not jumping to any conclusions. Getting excited yet, T-Mobile fans? We know we are.

Thanks, Ben!

UPDATE: Hit the jump for another shot obtained by the same source.

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We want it, we need it, we must have it. Russian phone God Eldar Murtazin of mobile-review fame has just treated phone fanatics everywhere to an extensive preview of Nokia’s N900 aka RX-51 aka Rover. This review comes just one day after we were treated to some nice shots of the Maemo 5 interface found within the N900. Overall, Murtazin is thoroughly impressed with the new Nseries handset but what exactly is the deal with that resistive touchscreen? Who needs a stylus when you have a large 3.5-inch display and a full QWERTY keypad? Certainly not us. Anyway, we bet there are more than a few T-Mobile users who are going to be having trouble sleeping tonight. What do you guys think — is Maemo 5 looking like a step in the right direction compared to S60 or is it too little, too late?

Thanks, Bryan!

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Russian mobile maestro Eldar Murtazin comes through again, this time with the first reported screenshot of Nokia’s highly, highly anticipated upcoming Maemo 5 OS. Did we mention it’s highly anticipated? After referring to S60 as “obsolete junk”, Murtazin lays down a screen capture of Nokia’s new Linux-based beauty. As we all know, this time around Maemo is destined for a whole lot more than just a few Internet Tablets that are filling a hole that isn’t there — that’s right, a whole range of next-generation handsets are in the pipeline and due to be fueled by Maemo 5. First up of course, is the T-Mobile-bound Nokia Rover we spied earlier this month and it certainly looks like a gem. As for what’s next, Nokia’s track record with leaks suggests it won’t be long before we have a good idea of some more handsets to come. Not much can be gleaned from Murtazin’s image unfortunately, though we can at least take solace in knowing that a modern looking OS is soon to be found on Finnish phones. Let’s hope at least one of them has a QWERTY keypad with a centrally located space key — that’s not too much to ask, right? Oh Nokia World, you can’t get here soon enough…

UPDATE: Hit the jump for a screenshot of Maemo 5′s on-screen keyboard, complete with off-center space key. Ugh.

[Via Engadget]

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