PocketNow runs a speed test between mobile phones. The Nexus One running Android 2.2 (Froyo) is compared in real-time with the iPhone and Droid. According to Google, the web browser in Froyo beats every other mobile browser available right now — and it runs Flash.

You also click on to Round 2 where they run the same test but without Flash turned on. Conclusion: Froyo IS fast, but Flash slows it down. Nice for games, though.

View full post on dailywireless.org

Mozilla is rebranding its Weave Sync feature, which keeps your bookmarks, history and other Firefox data in sync across computers. As of version 1.3, Weave will be now be known as Firefox Sync.

The name change is intended to help less tech-savvy users understand what Weave does — namely, sync Firefox.

However, because Weave also works (somewhat) with SeaMonkey and Thunderbird, the name Firefox Sync may end up confusing some users. So far no word on whether there will be a Thunderbird Sync or SeaMonkey Sync.

Firefox developer Tony Chung announced the name change and the release of Firefox Sync version 1.3 (still in beta) on his blog.

The new version of the add-on isn’t just a rebranding, there are also quite a few new features coming to the add-on formerly know as Weave. The new Firefox Sync 1.3 features a new user interface, better response times during syncing, a backup feature for your bookmarks before the first sync and better support for Fennec, the mobile version of Firefox. Complete release notes with all of the changes in this version can be found on the Mozilla site.

Chung says that a final version of Firefox Sync will available later this month, though don’t expect to see the rebranded add-on joining Firefox proper for some time. According to Chung, the version of Weave that currently ships with Firefox 3.6 won’t be updated until the new Firefox Sync hits 2.0 (we assume it will probably do so before Firefox 4.0 ships later this year).

In the mean time if you’d like to test out the latest version of Firefox Sync, head over to the Mozilla Labs page (which still refers to the add-on as Weave) and look for the link to the “experimental” version in the green bar. As always, we recommend upgrading all instances of Firefox Sync before actually syncing your data.

See Also:

• Xmarks Syncs Open Tabs Across Browsers, iPhone
• Mozilla Gets Ready to Weave Syncing Into Firefox
• Weave Adds Personas to its Bag of Firefox Syncing Tricks
• Weave May Let You Keep Firefox and Your iPhone in Sync

View full post on Webmonkey

Need for Speed: Shift was demoed at the HTC EVO 4G event but gained surprisingly little attention though the release date for the upcoming EA title was revealed to coincide with the EVO launch. Or maybe it’s not so surprising given all of the EVO awesomeness blotting out the announcement and EA’s lack-luster track record with Android gaming. Still, Need for Speed: Shift will be a welcome addition to the slim 3D gaming library on Android when it speeds onto a handset near you come June 4th.

Shift is currently available on iPhone, and last summer during my brief stint with the LG enV Touch I messed around with a brief demo of a similar mobile phone Need for Speed game. The accelerometer controls were a little loose, but it wasn’t all that bad.

No mention of what the exact specs you’ll need to have to get this game running at full throttle, but given its EVO association and 3D graphics, we’ll assume you’ll need at least a marginally high-end Android running a new version of the OS. I’m not a huge fan of racing games, so can’t say this one has me waiting with eager anticipation, but I sure can appreciate some new titles hitting the Android Market. Any Need for Speed fans out there who can’t wait to get their hands on this one?

[via Android and Me]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

A new version of Firefox is due before the end of 2010, and while the finished product is still a long way off, beta code is expected to ship as early as late June. Mozilla’s product director Mike Beltzner recently posted his team’s vision of what Firefox 4 will look like, highlighting new features and a new look.

Indeed some of the more important changes coming in Firefox 4 are already available in Firefox nightly builds. We downloaded the latest nightly build (which is still called Firefox 3.7 for the time being, but will be renamed when it reaches beta) and tested it out. So what’s in store for Firefox 4?

The short answer is that the new Firefox 4 is going to look more like Google Chrome. While we’re not suggesting Mozilla is ripping off Chrome, it’s hard to ignore a good idea when you see one, and Firefox 4 has seen several good ideas in Chrome.

Firefox’s new add-on manager is rather Chrome-like. (Click for larger)

One of the most obvious changes in the current Minefield, as Firefox nightly builds are known, is the new Add-ons manager (see the embedded image), which, instead of opening a new window or panel as the current version does, now appears as an inline page called “about:addons.” This is very much like Chrome’s “Extensions” page.

Firefox 4’s revamped add-ons page also has some new features, like support for Personas (simple Firefox themes) and Jetpacks, browser extensions built with Firefox’s new add-on framework. The new Jetpack add-on system lets developers write extensions for the browser using web standards that install without a restart. Jetpacks resemble what you’ll find in Google Chrome, which also utilizes a framework for lightweight extensions written in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

A recently proposed redesign for Firefox 4 puts tabs above the URL bar, also very Chrome-like. The “tabs on top” change is not yet available by default in Minefield builds (you have to go into the “View” menu and select it as an option), and it’s possible the idea will be abandoned before it reaches the final browser design. Either way, Firefox users will have the option of which design they want to use.

However striking the similarities, Firefox 4’s resemblance to Chrome is only skin deep. Under the hood, Firefox 4 is a radically different beast, both from Chrome and from its Firefox predecessors.

The biggest change is the all new HTML parser. It replaces the existing Gecko parser, which dates from 1998. The HTML parser is the last remaining unchanged chunk of Gecko, the underlying engine that powers Firefox. The revamp promises to make Firefox faster and, perhaps more importantly, compliant with the emerging HTML5 standard.

Other new features to expect in Firefox 4: speed improvements in page rendering times — already noticeable in the Minefield build — as well as the ability to use SVG and MathML inline in HTML5 pages. There are also huge speed boosts for innerHTML calls (common on JavaScript-heavy pages) and fixes for dozens of long-standing parser bugs.

For the full details on what the new parser means for the Gecko project, along with Firefox, be sure to read project lead Henri Sivonen’s post on the Mozilla hacks blog.

It’s important to remember that, while Firefox nightly builds do offer a glimpse of what’s coming, many of Mozilla’s plans (and certainly the UI designs) are still in flux. It’s possible that a great deal of this stuff will change before the final code ships.

We don’t recommend using Firefox nightlies as your primary browser. There are bugs, and it will crash. However, if you’d like to help Mozilla find and squash bugs, head over the nightly builds page and grab the latest version.

If using bleeding-edge, pre-release technology isn’t your thing, fear not. Mozilla estimates the first beta builds of Firefox 4 will be available in June 2010.

See Also:

• Mozilla Publishes Plans for Firefox 4, Beta Due in June
• Mozilla Gets It Right, Moves Identity Management Into Firefox
• Early Version of Firefox Lands on Android Phones

View full post on Webmonkey

Microsoft has released the first update to its Internet Explorer 9 preview. The latest release brings some speed improvements, more standards support, and more hardware acceleration for the browser’s HTML5 features.

To take the new IE9 for a spin, head over to Microsoft’s IETestDrive site and download a copy today. We’ve been testing it for a few hours, and here’s what we’ve noticed.

The best news in this release is that IE9 has already made some significant speed improvements since the first developer preview earlier this year. For example, IE 9 is now on par with Safari, Google Chrome and Opera on the Sunspider JavaScript test, which attempts to measure how a browser will perform on JavaScript-heavy sites like Gmail and Facebook.

Although IE9 is still not the fastest browser when it comes to rendering JavaScript, the difference between it and the competition is small enough that you’re unlikely to notice any difference on real world sites.

Complex diagrams laid out in CSS — and they actually render the same in several browsers. Part of the Microsoft’s IE9 demo site at ietestdrive.com.

What might be even more encouraging about this release for web developers is Microsoft’s emphasis on ensuring that markup works the same across browsers. Microsoft’s general manager of Internet Explorer Dean Hachamovitch, writes on the IE Blog: “web browsers should render the same markup — the same HTML, same CSS, and same script — the same way… that’s simply not the case today.”

And yes, Hachamovitch does note that IE6 is the main reason that’s true (to which we would also add IE7). But he’s also correct in noting that because HTML5 and CSS 3 support varies by browser, it’s tough to use HTML5 elements or style them with CSS 3 and have your markup behave the same across all platforms and browser.

What works in WebKit browser sometimes fails in Firefox, and vice versa. For CSS 3, developers often need to resort to -webkit or -moz prefixes for newer features.

But while those are annoyances to be sure, they pale next to the real difficulty of cross browser support for new features — legacy IE browsers.

IE9 will improve the situation with support for the HTML5 video tag (though not yet, support for video is slated for the next developer preview), but it will still fall short of matching the HTML5 features in its competitors. Take the Canvas tag, for instance. While IE9 has made strides with SVG support (partly related to Canvas), it still doesn’t support the actual HTML5 Canvas tag. Gecko and WebKit have had support for Canvas for over three years now.

Hachamovitch touts IE9’s JavaScript improvements, which are welcome — for example IE9 will now support DOMContentLoaded, getElementsByClassName, createDocument, and more — but again, for the most part these are things other browsers can already do.

If you want to see IE9 blazing a trail instead of catching up to the pack you’ll need to look at the hardware acceleration features, which rely on DirectX for faster rendering. Mozilla is planning to add hardware acceleration to Firefox, but so far this is one area where IE9 bests the competition.

While the latest developer preview of IE9 leaves much to be desired, it is still a work in progress. IE 9 is already undeniably a much better browser than its predecessors — it’s faster, renders pages according to standards, supports (some) HTML5 and, given the number of people that rely on IE, will help move the web forward.

See Also:

• Microsoft Says Web Video in IE9 Is All About H.264
• Microsoft to Double Down on HTML5 With Internet Explorer 9
• Internet Explorer 9 Shows Up Faster, But Still Lacking
• Microsoft Still Chasing the Competition With IE9

View full post on Webmonkey

Google Chrome fans have a good reason to consider changing to Chrome’s beta channel — the latest beta release is, according to Google, 30 to 35 percent faster than previous builds. The update to the beta channel also includes some new features previously only available to those in the very experimental dev channel, plus a new addition in the form of Flash Player pre-installed.

If you’d like to try out the beta, you can grab a copy (or use the channel changer) from the Google Chrome downloads page.

The beta version of Chrome now includes features that were previously limited to the more experimental dev channel — like preference syncing, more HTML5 support, drag-and-drop file uploading and support for the geolocation API.

The preference syncing is particularly handy, allowing you to move themes, homepage and start-up settings, as well as your web content settings between browsers. Combine these features with the Xmarks plugin and you’ll have access to all your settings, bookmarks, open tabs and other data as you move between computers.

As for speed, well, yes, this update is indeed faster than previous releases. Recent builds of Opera were consistently beating the last Chrome beta in our testing, but with this release, Chrome is back on top.

This is also the first beta to feature built-in support for Adobe’s Flash plugin. Thanks to a partnership with Adobe, Flash is now part of Chrome and you never need to worry about updating Flash since Chrome will handle all of that for you.

Chrome still lacks a few of the features we love in Firefox — like a full version of the Firebug add-on — but it’s undeniably the fastest browser on our Mac.

The new features are still limited to the beta channel, which is generally pretty stable, but is, after all, still a beta. If you prize stability over new features, fear not, eventually these will work their way up to the official release version.

See Also:

• Google Turns to HTML5 for Gmail’s New Drag-and-Drop Attachments
• Google Chrome to Support the Web Open Font Format
• Google Chrome Beta Adds Privacy and Content Controls
• Chrome Web Browser Adds Automatic Translation, Better Privacy Controls

View full post on Webmonkey

Unfortunately Android doesn’t yet have flash support on its phones by OS default, but we’ve been assured over and over again that it is coming. While Apple disregards Flash on the iPad in favor of HTML5 (and to spite Adobe), the jury is still out – and will be for some time – on which is more efficient for rendering animation.

Michael Chaize highlighted a test designed to determine which is currently faster on Android – Flash or HTML5 – by running some simple benchmarking animations on his Nexus One:

At about 2 minutes and 20 seconds in, you can clearly see that Flash is the victor, rendering animated balls with shadows MUCH more quickly and smoothly than HTML5 with both running on the Nexus One. Furthermore, when testing the animation with Flash 10.1 on the Nexus One he gets 20fps, while Safari only runs the animation at 1-2fps on the iPhone 3GS with HTML5.

A disclosure we should make: Michael Chaize is a Platform Evangelist for Adobe Flash. The original article where this was posted – TheManInBlue.com – came to this conclusion:

Flash still wins, but browsers are catching up.

But this isn’t battle whose outcome will be decided any time soon – if ever.

[Via AndroidAuthority]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Back on St. Patty’s day we announced here on the blogs that Need for Speed Shift 3D for the BlackBerry Storm2 finally hit App World. This is one of the games that was demoed back at the BlackBerry Developer showing off RIM’s newly announced Open GL APIs. With the 3D version of the game now available for the Storm2, I gave it a download and walkthrough and also compared to the 2D version available for the BlackBerry Bold 9700 (does not support Open GL) as well as the version of Need for Speed Shift available for the iPhone in Apple’s App Store. Watch the video above to see how it unfolds and read on for some more details.

read more

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Need for Speed Shift 3D for BlackBerry Storm2 Game Review (and comparison to Bold 9700 and iPhone)

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs