Goodbye, Internet Explorer! Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta has arrived

By Konrad Krawczyk Published February 7, 2014

If you’ve warmed up to Windows 8’s tiled Modern/Metro user interface, you have a new Web browsing option to play with.

Mozilla announced via an official blog post that it has released Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta. This isn’t a standard Firefox browser beta release. This is an app designed for Windows 8’s tiled UI. You can snag the beta by downloading it here.

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Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta supports touch gestures like swiping and pinch to zoom, as well as full-screen and snap views. You can also share content from the Firefox app using the Windows 8 Share charm.

Considering that this is a beta release, you should expect to encounter bugs and/or other quirks that have yet to be worked out. One of the known bugs you may come across when using Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta includes a freezing issue. Mozilla says that if you’re playing a flash video in full-screen mode, putting the Firefox app in the background and then bringing it back to full-screen view will lock up the app. So, don’t do that. If you encounter any bugs while using the app beta, and you feel like reporting them to Mozilla, you can do so here.

The release of the Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta likely means that the completed version of the app will hit in the near future. When it does get released, we’ll follow up with a full review of the app.

What do you think of the Firefox for Windows 8 Touch Beta? Sound off in the comments below.

Konrad Krawczyk

Former Computing Editor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

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