Firefox 40 Nightly for Android gets handy Open Later option
Mozilla added a new feature to Firefox 40 on Android that acts as a queue for urls that are sent to the browser.
The main idea behind the feature is to prevent immediate application switching when opening urls from other apps on Android.
Urls that you tap on in other applications such as Gmail or Whats App open in the default browser on the system right away currently.
While that may be handy at times, it may be an issue if you want to open multiple urls or want to keep on reading a message or article before switching to the web browser of choice on Android.
Firefox's new Open Later option adds this to the browser. Whenever you tap on a link on Android that needs to be opened in a web browser, you get an option to open it later when Firefox is selected.
The active application remains open if you select the option to load the url later in Firefox which gives you the option to add more urls to the queue and continue using the active application.
You need to activate the new feature before you can start using it. First thing you do is make sure you run Firefox 40 on Android. The version is currently only available as a Nightly build which means that you need to download and install that version on the mobile device or update it before the option becomes available.
It is not clear yet when Open Later will become available in Firefox Stable or Beta for Android.
Open Firefox 40 afterwards on your device, tap on the options menu in the top right corner on the screen and select settings from the context menu that opens up.
Switch to customize there and tap on the box next to Open Later on the page to enable the feature.
I suggest you test it right away by opening one or multiple urls in other applications. You may also need to select Firefox Nightly as the app that you want to open those links in. This can be done for each link or set permanently so that you don't have to select the browser each time you open links on Android.
The option to open the link now or later is displayed on the screen. Tap on open later and the link is added to the queue.
It is opened automatically the next time you launch Firefox Nightly along with all the other links you have added to the queue.
Verdict
Open Later is a handy feature that does away with some of the application switching that goes along with opening links on mobile devices.
Apps like Flynx or LinkBubble have offered similar functionality for some time on Android. (via Sören Hentzschel)
