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Firefox 4 Mobile Faster than IE8 on a PC

- By - Source : Tom's Guide US

Is Firefox 4 Mobile so fast that it could beat a browser running on PC hardware?

It is the freshest browser you can use on those phones at this time - it not only comes with a  clever interface to get the most out of a 3.5-inch screen, but also some advanced features such as a syncing option between your phone and a PC (at least as far as information such as browsing history and bookmarks are concerned.)

A big deal of the browser, however, is the fact that it is based on the same architecture as the desktop version of Firefox 4, which means that it is not only a great HTML 5 web browser with the best HTML5 support of any mobile web browser in the market right now, but it also comes with the new JaegerMonkey JavaScript engine. Mozilla claims it is about three times as fast as the standard Android browser (we found it to be about 2.5 times as fast on a G2 test phone). However, we found the comparison to web browsers much more interesting.  

In fact, our Firefox 4 Mobile scored a Sunspider time of 3375 ms on an 800 MHz G2 Android phone,  which is quite stunning. IE8 required 4679 ms on a Phenom II-X6 based hexacore PC, which may be a sign how outdated IE8 really is. However, if you are using Firefox 4 Mobile, keep in mind that the browser has some disadvantages as well: Compared to the standard Android browser, Firefox 4 Mobile does not support Flash.  

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bhaberle 03/30/2011 8:58 PM
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Keyword is IE8... not IE9 =) But still impressive. Lame that it doesn't have flash support but I blame that kind of stuff on Adobe.

icepick314 03/30/2011 9:07 PM
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slow as a molasses and crashes almost every time on Archos 10 1 internet tablet...

techguy378 03/30/2011 9:25 PM
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eddieroolz 03/30/2011 9:48 PM
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Oh yeah, compare yourself to a 2-year old browser. Good going. Mozilla.

aspireonelover 03/30/2011 9:50 PM
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techguy378 :
This isn't a very fair comparison. IE 8 should have been run on Intel's very best Core i7 processor available. AMD makes really crappy PC processors.


You are so biased.

dalethepcman 03/30/2011 9:50 PM
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Quote :Compared to the standard Android browser, Firefox 4 Mobile does not support Flash.


yet.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/4.0/releasenotes/
Quote :Currently, enabling the Flash plugin results in a compromised user experience across Firefox for mobile.

Kryan 03/30/2011 9:51 PM
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It crashed because you have an Archos tablet... the Galaxy runs it no problem, as does my Desire and Desire HD (one is for work)

morethantoast 03/30/2011 9:58 PM
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techguy378 :
This isn't a very fair comparison. IE 8 should have been run on Intel's very best Core i7 processor available. AMD makes really crappy PC processors.



Can't tell if trolling or just very stupid.

jojesa 03/30/2011 9:58 PM
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[citation]Mozilla claims it is about three times as fast as the standard Android browser (we found it to be about 2.5 times as fast on a G2 test phone). However, we found the comparison to web browsers much more interesting. [/citation]
I do not how you arrived at that conclusion, since on my G2 Firefox crawls like a dying turtle.
The browser included is a lot faster than Firefox over wifi, 3G or 4G or any other G.

Anomalyx 03/30/2011 10:11 PM
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techguy378 :
This isn't a very fair comparison. IE 8 should have been run on Intel's very best Core i7 processor available. AMD makes really crappy PC processors.


Yes, because fair involves giving IE8 an advantage... ?
The processor IE8 ran on was already a huge advantage, and you say that it needs a bigger advantage to be fair?
morethantoast :
Can't tell if trolling or just very stupid.


Methinks both.

brett1042002 03/30/2011 10:55 PM
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techguy378 :
This isn't a very fair comparison. IE 8 should have been run on Intel's very best Core i7 processor available. AMD makes really crappy PC processors.



Fanboys suck.


morethantoast :
Can't tell if trolling or just very stupid.



More like stupid troll.

Marco925 03/30/2011 11:44 PM
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techguy378 :
This isn't a very fair comparison. IE 8 should have been run on Intel's very best Core i7 processor available. AMD makes really crappy PC processors.


Highly doubt that would've made a difference... it's an internet browser... not Crysis.

And i have to dispute you on that statement, the prices on AMD processors makes them an Extremely attractive option. and their share prices have doubled in the last couple of years.

_Cubase_ 03/31/2011 1:15 AM
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IE8? What's with everyone releasing absurdly unbalanced comparisons?

In other news, Intel's latest i7 processor whipes the floor with AMDs K7 in Cinebench

emjayy 03/31/2011 2:08 AM
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Why are people complaining about the comparison? The take-away message here is that, in 2011, it's now possible for those typical clueless people who don't know squat about any desktop browser other than 'that little blue e' that came pre-installed to experience faster browser javascript performance on their brand new smartphone than on their significantly more powerful home PCs running IE8 or IE7. That's a significant tech milestone. So why compare to IE8? Because IE8 is the most 'popular' browser version out there; it's used by 30% of the planet's Internet users according to StatCounter. Many of the people who will be browsing from smartphones in the coming year will still be using PCs running the ancient IE8.

JOSHSKORN 03/31/2011 2:44 AM
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IE8? Did we forget that IE9 is out? C'mon now.

melling 03/31/2011 4:42 AM
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2.5% of PC's run IE9. Over half the world's PCs run XP so they will never run IE9. So, yes IE9 is a big improvement but no one uses it. Now Firefox 4 has about 50 million users in 1.5 weeks. Now that's got traction!!!

back_by_demand 03/31/2011 11:54 AM
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So FF4 mobile is faster than IE8.

Well done, someone pass me another bag of apples and oranges.

Next thing someone is going to tell me that OSX is faster than Windows 3.11.

melling 03/31/2011 2:23 PM
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No one runs Windows 3.1. Why would anyone compare anything to that? IE8 is the most used browser in the world. For some reason, Windows users have a difficult time understanding even the simplest ideas.

back_by_demand 03/31/2011 2:51 PM
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melling :
No one runs Windows 3.1. Why would anyone compare anything to that? IE8 is the most used browser in the world. For some reason, Windows users have a difficult time understanding even the simplest ideas.


It was supposed to be a comparative example that something several years older on a totally different platform will not perform as well.

But kudos for admitting you don't understand what the hell I was talking about.

rantoc 03/31/2011 3:13 PM
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Fun that they tested vs the old Ie8, the released ie9 is about 15 times faster in this particular benchmark test running on the same hardware (Dell Optiplex with a 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo Intel processor, 4GB RAM, Intel Integrated Video, running Windows 7).

So with ie9 it would end at about 312ms compared to the old outdated ie8 (4679) or mobile (3375)

Amazing what some code optimization can do!

tomtompiper 03/31/2011 7:46 PM
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The people complaining about the speed of FF on their Android need to reinstall and make sure they use right version. On the Tab it flies and my iPhone owing friends are shocked by how much faster it is than Safari.

Anonymous 03/31/2011 8:35 PM
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Wow, did anyone actually read this article? It has nothing to do with firefox being the fastest browser around. It has everything to do with the fact that there exists a mostly fully featured browser that runs on a smartphone, that smartphone doesn't even have the fastest smartphone processor and the browser is still faster than the most widely used browser on a reasonably fast pc processor. I would put money on it that the AMD processor is faster than what is in 85 percent of pcs in the world. IE9 may be way faster on a desktop pc than the FF on a smartphone, but it doesn't matter. What does that tell you? PC's are faster than phones? Holy crap!!! The point is that FF mobile on a smartphone can compete with a huge number of PCs out there.

sandmanwn 03/31/2011 8:54 PM
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Problem is FF mobile is only available for a very small portion of available cell phones.

igot1forya 03/31/2011 9:35 PM
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The added support for NTLM authentication makes the Firefox 4 Mobile compatible with SharePoint (FINALLY) - Other than that one feature, I prefer to use Dolphin Browser on my Moto Xoom and I can watch Flash video just fine.

mayankleoboy1 04/02/2011 7:47 AM
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just add flash and i will use it