"While we focused much of the previous alpha on getting the user experience how we wanted, we've spent much of the time since focused on improving performance.Fennec Engineering Manager Stuart Parmenter blogged."We've made major strides improving startup performance, panning and zooming performance, and responsiveness while pages are loading."

For a mobile browser - moreso than even a desktop user arguably responsiveness is absolutely key. How long do you wait for email to load on your Blackberry? That same kind of instant responce must also be what browsers offer.

Lots more to be done by the Mozilla Fennec devs to be sure, and Alpha 2 is definitely a solid step in the right direction.