Sticking to its promise of a quick-release cycle, Mozilla has released Firefox 5, just three months after Firefox 4 made its debut in March.
Firefox 5 is now available for desktop devices running Windows, Mac, Linux, as well as for Android handsets. Firefox 4 made its debut on March 22, about a year after the release of Firefox 3.5.
Here are eight things to know about the all-new Firefox 5.
Includes 1,000 performance enhancements
According to Mozilla foundation, the Firefox 5 includes more than 1,000 improvements and performance enhancements that make it easier to discover and use all of the innovative features in Firefox.
The release adds support for several modern Web technologies that make it easier for developers to build Firefox add-ons, Web applications and websites.
Is faster
The new Firefox beta is slightly faster than previous releases, accordi
New privacy settings
Firefox 5 allows mobile users to tweak their privacy settings directly from their mobile devices. The settings page is laid out in a way that a user can exactly see which options are on and which are off.
'Do not track' goes multi-platform
Firefox for Android includes the 'Do not track' privacy feature in this release, making Firefox the first browser to support 'Do not track' on multiple platforms. The feature gives users more control over the way their browsing behaviour is tracked and used on the Web.
HTML 5 support enhanced
Most enhancements and improvements claimed by Mozilla seem to be minor bug fixes according to reviewers. Some significant changes include enhanced support for HTML5 and new support for CSS (cascading style sheet) animations.
Interface identical
Firefox 5's user interface is quite similar to Firefox 4. Mozilla is also said to have dropped a feature that it touted during the testing phase, which allowed users to change development channels from, say, the final to either Beta or Aurora, rougher builds that precede the stable editions.
Networking performance
Some other changes in Firefox 5 are said to include better spell checking in some languages; improved JavaScript, memory and networking performance. Firefox 5 also offers better Linux desktop integration and improved background tab performance.
Upgrade
All users running Firefox 4 will be offered the upgrade to Firefox 5 through the browser's update mechanism. The new release can also be downloaded manually from Mozilla's site.
The next version of Firefox is said to be on schedule for an early August release.