Firefox Beta exists in the Play Store as a separate app that's open to the public, but regardless, there comes a time when things should go stable. For Firefox 38, now's that time.

As you would expect, version 38 comes with a number of new features. In addition to the changes we detailed in the past, this release also greets users with a redesigned launch screen. The old pop-up has been replaced with a landing page that is inherently less jarring.

Left: old, Right: new.

While we're talking visuals, the developers have provided the browser with an ever-so-slightly more material look. You won't see it in the URL bar and tabs, which already look just fine on a Lollipop device. These adjustments appear when you dive into the settings, where a back arrow tells the Firefox icon to give it some space.

Left: ditto, Right: you get the idea.

Other changes include a new synced tab panel layout and tweaks to the Reading List that both make it easier to get content where you want it.

Again, check out our previous coverage if you want more on the behind-the-scenes additions, such as responsive image support. Here's the lengthy changelog followed by a link.

New:

  • Improved user interfaces:
  • New "Welcome Screen"
  • Reader View controls (on Tablets and Phones)
  • "Synced Tabs" panel new layout (on Tablets)
  • "Add to Firefox" feature (from outside Firefox)
  • Ruby annotation support
  • Support for the Android L theme
  • Send a tab to another connected device with the 'Send to device' option in the "share" menu
  • Add a website to your Reading List with the "Add to Reading List" button in the overflow menu
  • Locale added: Azerbaijani (az)

Changed:

  • autocomplete=off is no longer supported for username/password fields
  • URL parser avoids doing percent encoding when setting the Fragment part of the URL, and percent decoding when getting the Fragment in line with the URL spec
  • RegExp.prototype.source now returns "(?:)" instead of the empty string for empty regular expressions
  • Improved page load times via speculative connection warmup

HTML5:

  • WebSocket now available in Web Workers
  • BroadcastChannel API implemented
  • Implemented srcset attribute and <picture> element for responsive images
  • Implemented DOM3 Events KeyboardEvent.code

Developer:

  • WebRTC now has multistream and renegotiation support

Fixed:

  • Various security fixes

Source: Mozilla