Firefox 79 considered harmful - Android
So, I received version 79.0.5 for Android. Without disrespecting all the fine folks and hard work that went into it, I have to say "Its a mess, not remotely ready for release".
I appreciate the extra tracking protection.
Other "features", not so much.
Is it faster? I have a slow, old device, so one would think an improvement in speed would be noticeable. It's not.
It has new features. But one cannot control them. For example 1. The home screen/page has changed. Firefox has populated it with some things I previously pinned, and added some other things of it's choosing. Like Microsoft does. OK, but where are the previous things that I carefully pushed onto that home screen/page? The last time Firefox changed things I had to adapt to get my home screen/page setup how I like, now it's done it again. It *IS* like Microsoft, trashing my settings whenever they choose. 2. We have Collections. Good idea. But. They cannot be re-ordered. And items inside the collection cannot be re-ordered. The feature is just not ready for release. 3. Log press on a link produces a popup menu that does a weird floppity flop before the stabilizing. 4. Two finger zoom on a page is a disaster. Hard to control, suddenly reverts to the previous state. Again, simply not ready for release. 5. Help has no About. How does one find the version? Answer: from the home screen/page, press the three dot menu icon, press Help (getting one to a Firefox for Android Support page), now press the three dot menu again, press Settings, scroll wa-a-ay down to the bottom, press About Firefox. In testing this "feature" I found that the Settings menu is available on any page that is open EXCEPT the home page/screen. Have I mentioned that it's not ready for release? It's not ready for release.
Sorry to be the bearer of the bad news.
-- Andy
All Replies (6)
Completely agree with you on all points!
Zooming is wrecked.
Rearranging of tabs, preferred websites, collections etc. not possible.
What is with the new tabs viewer? If I open a page and then push the back button on my phone, previously it closed that tab and went back to the home page view. Now, it just stack the tabs, so when I go back to click on a different one of my preffered websites on the home page, it just stacks (and stacks and stacks). If one is not careful, in a few days, this can accumulate to hundreds of tabs!
I like that they re-did the popup when long-pressing a link. Now more of the URL is shown. But I would still prefer them to show the whole URL, like in Chrome.
OK, I kept trying.
It's definitely slower.
The user interaction model is ... sad. Previously, one could long press items on the home page to open a menu and choose an action such as new tab. That's two touches. Now, if I want to access an Item that I foolishly put the dysfunctional collections, I have the press the tabs counter to open the popup menu, press the plus to get the the home page, press on the collection header to open it, and press the item in the collection. Four interactions. If I want another item from that same collection I have to repeat the entire process.
I have been an open source software supporter since the early days of the FSF. Most readers will not even know what that is. I used, and promoted Mozilla from from start, and Firefox as soon as it arrived on desktop. When I got a smartphone, Firefox was the first thing I installed.
I have reported my share of bugs over the years. I have to say the Mozilla doesn't make it easy.
So I have reported this. It's big. The thing is unusable.
And there has been NO response.
I started using the Samsung browser. It works. It's faster. I have to learn a new user model, but that's life in a software driven world. I have been a dev for 50 years, I get it.
No response means I'm deleting it. Sadly. We had a long relationship, but you left. You didn't even say you were going, and left your junk behind to be cleaned. I tried talking to you, but there was no reply. Ok, you've moved on. I'll clean it out now.
Bye
Hi Andy, on another question, the volunteer who answered said that you should use the feedback in the app, or this link for feedback . I don't really think it will do much good, but there it is.
lostcowboy said
Hi Andy, on another question, the volunteer who answered said that you should use the feedback in the app, or this link for feedback . I don't really think it will do much good, but there it is.
Thanks for the suggestion. I decided to come here on desktop, because there is no feedback link in the app. If I open the menu and press help, I see Get help, with lots of articles to browse. No link for actually reporting a problem. It's as if "you cannot be serious, it must be user error". Because the app is so disfunctional, having no "back" function, I have to use the device back button, which doesn't take one to the previous page. I came to the desktop and found where I could make a support report. But apparently it's actually community self-help, not actual support. More like the way counseling is called support. Not actually dealing with the problem, helping the person cope instead. No offense to those who give their time to help other users. Apparently Mozilla is so big it doesn't deal with us users. They have lost their way.
A very long time Firefox user here. Unfortunately I have to admit, I experience the same problems. This has to be the absolut worst Firefox update ever released. And why force Collections? Why not make it optional? Why remove Top Websites? This could be a fan base breaker if you ask me...
Another long time supporter here with 35 years as a developer. I wholeheartedly agree. With this release Mozilla has become Microslop II. Even a cursory user focus group would have warned Mozilla of this fatal flop. If the next update doesn't come fast AND revert these egregious changes I won't be a Mozilla supporter any more. Please publish a fork at the last release so the community can keep Firefox alive while Mozilla dives in the dustbin of history.