Web apps will be integral to Firefox 16

Mozilla has announced that Firefox 16 will have support for web apps in its versions for Windows, Mac and Linux. This indicates that when the company’s Marketplace is released, which could be Q4 of 2012, users will be able to run web-based applications from any of their devices. It is also interesting to note that Firefox OS is coming next year, and this entire bundle is part of Mozilla’s Kilimanjaro project, with great syncing features at the core. 

Mozilla Firefox: Now with web apps

The Firefox blog had recently announced the release of a new version of beta for Firefox 15. However, one of the main purposes of the new version of this popular web browser was fixing memory leaks, both for the browser and its add-ons. Firefox has been receiving criticism from the time its first versions were introduced over its hoggish memory requirements. But in recent times, Mozilla has made great improvements to the browser’s memory management, which is a good thing. Another major change to the beta of the new version of Firefox is the addition of support of the Opus audio format. The format can be played directly in Firefox 15 and offers better compression than formats such as MP3, OGG and AAC. It is also supposed to be good for both music and speech, can dynamically adjust bitrate, audio bandwidth and coding delay, and supports both interactive and pre-recorded applications.

Along with the web app support in Firefox 16, Firefox for Android has also got updated. It features better safety and privacy with features such as Do Not Track. There is also full support for HTML5 and Web APIs. Users can sync their desktop history, bookmarks and passwords to all devices for a quicker browsing experience. More personalized features and add-ons have been included in this new update as well. The live thumbnail images let you switch between tabs to show you updated snaps from your site. Another interesting feature is the Reader Mode that lets you add sites to a ‘Reading list’ so you can save it for later reading. It does look like a similar feature to what Pocket for Android offers but we’ll have to try it out to know for sure. Search suggestions pop up when you’re typing into the location bar, giving you quicker access to your websites. Next is the "tab send" feature that, as the name suggests, lets you send tabs to any of your other computers or devices that are synced with Firefox Sync. Firefox for Android can be downloaded here. Those wanting to download Firefox 16 can hit this link.

What do you think of the new Firefox 16? Let us know in your comments.