Firefox updates for Desktop and Android hit today

Improved performance for browsing and gaming in the latest update
Improved performance for browsing and gaming in the latest update

Mozilla released a duo of updates today to improve the Firefox experience on both desktop and Android devices.

Desktop users should see overall performance improvements with reduced memory usage for add-ons, as well as new gaming and developer features.

Firefox now supports compressed textures, giving developers greater freedom from video memory constraints to build graphically intensive games for browsers. Browser gaming is also enhanced with improvements to Firefox's Javascript engine and WebGL capabilities.

Developers can also now make use of a Javascript Debugger built right into Firefox, which can be used to dive into web code or even remotely debug apps running through Firefox on an Android device.

Powerful browsing in a smaller package

Speaking of Android, Firefox receives a significant update that's compatible with nearly all Android devices.

Firefox for Android now features the browser's signature "Awesome Screen" that stores all of a user's browsing history, bookmarks, passwords and form data. All of that info can even be pulled directly from your desktop through the Firefox Sync feature.

The mobile browser also receives an overall UI update for Android tablets, making better use of screen space and improving performance for faster load times. Legacy tablet owners even get an enhancement with Flash support now added on Android tablets running Honeycomb.

Perhaps the biggest addition to Firefox on Android comes from the improved HTML5 capabilities, opening up new possibilities for web applications.

To show off HTML5 on Android, Mozilla released BrowserQuest, a multiplayer role-playing game playable across both the desktop and mobile browsers.

Via The Mozilla Blog, BrowserQuest