Michael Knutson
07-21-2010, 09:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://theappleblog.com/2010/07/20/how-to-use-firefox-home-for-the-iphone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheAppleBlog+(TheAppleBlog)' target='_blank'>http://theappleblog.com/2010/07/20/...+(TheAppleBlog)</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Last week saw the arrival of Firefox on the iPhone, but not as we know it. Mozilla's new app, known as Firefox Home, is not strictly a browser - instead it brings your desktop browsing session direct to your iPhone."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1279740477.usr17748.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>This afternoon I installed Firefox Home on my iPhone and Firefox Sync on my iMac. After installing, syncing everything took about a minute on each side, and produced 2 tabs, 638 bookmarks and 29 history items. The iPhone app has Search, Tabs, Bookmarks and Settings options. No option to view history directly, but you can get there using Search.</p><p><MORE />The desktop version does have custom settings (Tools, Sync Preferences) to allow specifying what to sync: You can sync Bookmarks, Passwords, Preferences, History, Tabs, or you can choose 'Sync Everything.' I selected only Bookmarks, and un-selected the rest. Re-syncing, and now I have 1613 bookmarks - so it looks like some things have been duplicated. Oh oh. And still 29 history items, so it looks like despite the fact that I deleted my desktop history, this has not been synced to the iPhone. A bit of a concern for anyone concerned about browsing privacy?</p><p>Page rendering is excellent, and the pages are "live." You can select links, fill in forms, etc; but, there is simply no address bar. While all this is moderately useful as an extension of the desktop browser, it is a bit puzzling to me why Mozilla released half-a-browser.</p><p> </p>