Mozilla is prepping a new update for its already popular Firefox browser that the company claims will be even faster than Chrome and others in many instances. In fact, since the new browser is already around twice as fast as Firefox was last year, the team behind the app have decided to forego a new version number – this one would be version 57 – and simply call it Firefox Quantum. Better still, the browser, which will also be available across other platforms, is technically still in beta. That means that despite its being available now, it could get a whole lot faster by the time it sees an official stable release. The beta will run all the way up until the main app is updated to the new version, which Mozilla says will happen on November 14. In the meantime, the beta for Android can be found through the Play Store button below.
Mozilla’s claims are backed up by a web test benchmark called Speedometer 2.0 which is itself still in development. However, a video accompanying the announcement of the new browser, which was made via the company’s official blog, shows that Firefox Quantum does perform pretty well against Google’s Chrome. It doesn’t always load faster in the video but Mozilla has outlined the ways it is continuing to work to make it better and how it could easily outperform Chrome by the time it is finalized. Some of the ways Firefox Quantum improves on previous releases are tied to how it loads individual pages. For example, Quantum prioritizes the currently viewed browser tab, while loading secondary tabs later. Whichever page a user is currently viewing will load much more quickly than if Firefox loaded every page simultaneously or with only slightly more focus on the relevant page. The company has also worked to eliminate around 468 bottlenecks in terms of both the browser’s code and in terms of adjusting the information being loaded by the page itself. Beyond that, the new Firefox browser is now capable of using multiple cores of the CPU instead of the more traditional use of a single core. That means the browser will adapt to make sure users are getting the best experience regardless of the hardware they are browsing from.
Those aren’t the only changes coming with the update either. On the design side of the equation, Mozilla says it has redesigned the interface through its “Photon project.” The new minimalist design utilizes square tabs, newly reworked animations, and a library section. The library allows users to access their bookmarks, downloads, opened tabs, and screenshots across their various devices. Meanwhile, better integration with the “read-it-later app” Pocket means that users will also see website recommendations based on previous browsing and what is currently trending. On Android, the enhancement also allows for offline access to saved pages. Aside from the beta version, a developer version is also available for those who build websites for testing to ensure compatibility. That can be found through the source link below.
