Mozilla Firefox 4 Review

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Mozilla Firefox 4 Review

Post by Ironhide »

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A couple of days ago, Mozilla followed the path of its competitors and released a new version of its web browser. Mozilla Firefox 4 comes a long with a new variety of features, like a completely new design. Moreover, Mozilla claims the new browser to to be 6 times faster than its precursor.

All these things sound nice so far, but are they really true, is the latest Firefox browser really faster and easier to handle as Firefox 3 while it should also support more features? And more important, is Firefox 4 faster than the Internet Explorer 9 or Google Chrome 10?
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Design:

As we can see on the very first look Mozilla has reworked the entire browser design, but the new design seems clear and fresh while it needs less space - that means the the websites are going to be displayed bigger in the future. Without the bookmarks, which are hidden on default settings, the browser's header takes way less space. Furthermore the entire categories and buttons are removed and put together into one "Firefox" button on the top, clicking on it will give you all settings and possibilities you are used from Firefox 3. Furthermore the tabs are moved from the bottom part of the header to the top close to the places of previous options such as 'history', on the bottom of the browser the status bar has been completely removed and does only appear for a few seconds while a website is loading or you are going over a hyperlink. This is again letting Firefox display the websites in a higher resolution. This change can be undone by moving the tabs back though. Some other buttons have been moved as well, for example the "home" button can now be found on the right side if the link while it has always been on the left side before. You are actually able to move all buttons and place them wherever you want to, the interface can be set up for your personal wishes, you can also add or remove buttons and create own toolbars.
Screenshots beneath:
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Features:

•Firefox 4 comes a long with a lot of features but most of them are actually already known from previous versions, even though some of them have been reworked.
Of course the 'Private Browsing' is included as well to allow hidden operations on computers. This feature is probably being most used on public computers if not everyone should follow someone's browser history and see private data. However the orange button I have mentioned above will turn into a purple color when you are surfing in the private mode.
•A bigger change can be noticed at the add-on manager, which has been completely reworked by Mozilla and is a lot easier to handle now. Even though not that many add-ons are available yet, we could already notice that it is not necessary anymore to restart Firefox after you installed an add-on.
Another change beside the new place has happened for the tabs, you are from now on able to show the websites as favicons in order to save space once again have more tabs displayed. This could be very useful on displays with a small resolution such as net books.
•The new features called "Firefox Sync", which was so far only available as add-on and is now included on default, this features allows you to copy all current work from your computer over to your cell phone - if you have to leave in a hurry and could not save all your data or still have to look for something, you can now easily do that on your way. Furthermore your online profile allows you to save all your data from Firefox on their servers, so if you have to reinstall Windows or the computer simply crashes, your history, passwords and other data will not be lost!
•Another features worth to be mentioned is the offered panorama view at tabs and the possibility to create tab groups to organize your tabs and keep a clear overview. This is another useful feature the new browser has.
Screenshots:
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Performance:

Let me say one thing from the outset: Firefox 4 is faster than Firefox 3. But that was not the only goal by Mozilla of course they also want to leave Microsoft and Google behind an create a faster browser than the Internet Explorer and Chrome.

This could actually only partly happen, due to the improved use of the graphics card the new speed is mostly noticed in browser games and on flash content, but this point could still be improved and Mozilla is not as fast as Internet Explorer 9 on this area. The difference is not huge, but it exists, especially on "light" websites. The more content is displayed on the website the faster Firefox 4 is working compared to IE9 and Chrome 10, but in average it is a little bit slower than the IE but still ahead of Google Chrome.

However Firefox 4 displays websites with a simple content such as text or images way faster than any of the current browsers except for the 32 Bit version of the IE9.
Benchmarks:
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Conclusion:
Design: The design is definitely way better than from Firefox 3 and any other browser out there, this is one of the big plus points Mozilla have earned with their work. Even though you have to get used to the new layout first what may take a while, it is very fast to handle and offering a better view at the websites. The possibility to edit and customize the entire design and to add own toolbars is simply great. However if you do not want to get used to the design or prefer the one from Firefox 3 it only takes 1 minute to undo all changes.
Rating:9/10
Features: Mozilla Firefox has always been well known for the thousands of add-ons you could install and the features it already had. Since the most important add-ons from Firefox 3 have been included on Firefox 4 and Mozilla made it way easier to install add-owns this is definitely a big plus for the browser! The huge amount of possibilities to customize the browser to your wishes, not only the design but also all the functions Firefox is offering are amazing.
Rating: 10/10
Performance: The performance is actually the only not fully convincing part of Mozillas latest browser. Even though it is very fast and can easily bear up against Chrome 10 and Internet Explorer 9, it got a weak point in working with medium challenging flash content. Also it happens that Firefox lags for a few seconds when you move a flash window or the entire browser freezes for a while, it usually works again after some seconds but is pretty annoying especially if you play something or work. Overall Firefox 4 is faster than Firefox 3, faster than Opera, Safari, Chrome and the 64 Bit version of the IE9. But the promised speed of being 6x times as fast as Firefox 3 is actually missing.
Rating: 8/10
Overall conclusion: Scoring against all other browsers when it comes to the designs, add-ons and default features Firefox 4 is definitely the best and convenient web browser we have seen so far. It got some potential in flash content and games though, but even there it is faster than most competitors. Only the lags and freezes that sometimes appear (once or twice during 3-4 hours) are sometimes taking the fun or even letting you fear about your work/game.
Overall rating: 9/10
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Best regards,
Ironhide
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 4 Review

Post by Screy »

I got the new Firefox and its really nice.
But sometimes the browser hangs up :/

I also tried the Beta but this was...yeah..not so good!

Nice review!
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 4 Review

Post by TheSold3y »

I got that poblem with the hanging , too. Not often but maybe 1 time per day.. I don't really know whats the cause.. ;(
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 4 Review

Post by Screy »

Soldy' wrote:Not often but maybe 1 time per day.. I don't really know whats the cause.. ;(
Yeah like me :D
But back to Topic :D
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 4 Review

Post by S.T.O.R.M. »

Yep, the first day it was hanging very often, now it's ok - at least today.
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 4 Review

Post by Vash »

Hmm I'm using Firefox 4 since the BETA status and it works just fine...
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Re: Mozilla Firefox 4 Review

Post by S.T.O.R.M. »

I still have the problem, but only if I scroll through PDF files with PDF X change viewer. I never had this problem with the older (3) version. Seems to be a bug...
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