Firefox Beta is the build for those who like a little bit of jeopardy, but who don’t want to risk everything by trying out Firefox Aurora. It gives you a sneak peek at the next version of Firefox with a relatively stable build that’s not quite ready for primetime, but still pretty solid.
Whereas Firefox Aurora installs as a completely separate application alongside your existing Firefox installation, Firebox Beta will replace the stable build. Previously, going back and forth between versions was a fiddly affair, installing one version over the other, but the new Firefox Channel Switcher makes it easy to switch back and forth between versions: you’ll find it by clicking the Firefox button and choosing Help > About Firefox (Windows and Linux) or selecting About Firefox from the Firefox menu on the Mac. From here, just select your chosen version to switch to it: note that in our tests, choosing the Aurora build didn’t result in a separate installation; instead, the beta version was overwritten. If you want to run both side-by-side, install Aurora directly.
It also appears that you can’t subsequently switch back from beta to stable, or Aurora to beta. This may be down to the absence of the Channel Switcher in the current stable version (4.0.1) of Firefox.
There’s one visible difference between this and the stable build, and that’s the existence of a Test Pilot feature, which is basically a glorified survey for beta users to report their findings. It’s accessible from an exclusive button marked Feedback that sits alongside the bookmarks and Home buttons. Select All Your User Studies to complete the survey, or make individual “happy” or “sad” comments about your experiences using the relevant options on show.
So, what’s new in Firefox 5 that’s showcased here? On the surface, practically nothing, but that simply highlights the fact that – reflecting the faster turnaround – future releases of Firefox won’t be as radical as previous major updates. Firefox 5 users should notice an overall enhanced performance with Mozilla concentrating on Javascript, memory and network improvements.
For more detailed information, view the Firefox 5 Beta release notes.
Verdict:
Get a sneek peak at the next version of Firefox by switching to the beta channel, but don’t expect to find anything particularly radical each time you switch.
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