Firefox for Android Now Supports ARMv6 Phones


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Mozilla's Firefox market just got bigger.

The Mozilla Blog reports that Firefox for Android now supports devices using SoCs based on the ARMv6 architecture.

Previously the popular browser only supported phones running Android v2.2 and higher along with chips based on ARMv7. However support for the earlier ARM design means that owners of the HTC Status, HTC ChaCha, Samsung Galaxy Ace, Motorola Fire XT, LG Optimus Q and more ARMv6 devices can now use the mobile version of Mozilla's popular browser.

Mozilla began testing Firefox on ARMv6-based devices back in September. The company used a phased approach, slowly expanding the set of minimum system requirements needed for the Android browser to run. The first phones required an 800 MHz Armv6 Soc and 512 MB of RAM at the very least.

"Given that 55-percent of the 133 million Android phones out there run on the ARMv6 architecture, there are a lot of new people to whom we can introduce the open Web," Mozilla said.

Indeed, getting that 55-percent up and running with Firefox means there's a possibility those customers will eventually purchase apps from the Firefox Marketplace. Currently Android customers can only access it through Firefox Aurora for Android, and the system requirements can be accessed here.

"At Mozilla, our mission is to bring the Web to as many people as we can. Given that roughly half of the nearly 500 million Android phones in use today run on ARMv6 architecture, this is an important step toward making the open Web free to all," Mozilla said.

The company also said on Monday that Firefox for Android includes new accessibility features so that surfing on the Internet is even easier for the visually impaired. The browser integrates seamlessly with TalkBack for Android, and doesn't need any extra installations or additional configuration. Other supported accessibility features include Explore by Touch and Gesture Navigation.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Firefox-ARMv6-HTC-Status-Aurora-Firefox-Marketplace,news-16332.html

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