ZDNet review: Firefox's Smart Window beta is a game-changer for AI users

The reviewer notes that the feature has been long expected and is finally appearing in beta. While versions on Linux were checked, including Firefox 153, Beta, and Nightly on Ubuntu and Fedora, the feature had not appeared there.

Smart Window's main strength is flexibility. Users can easily enable or disable it, set it as the default start page, and switch among three models labeled Fast, Flexible, and Personal. It also includes Memories, saved information that helps the AI recall past conversations, with a per-chat toggle.

The setup wizard prompts users to choose a model and decide whether Smart Window can learn from chats and browsing across Firefox. The assistant opens as a chat area in the browser, with a dropdown to change models on the fly and icons for new chats and memory control.

Other features include context-aware assistance that uses open tabs and browsing history for answers and summaries, tab management to group or close multiple tabs, search integration that retrieves up-to-date information via the default search engine, and a privacy-aware design that operates locally when possible.

The reviewer, who normally prefers local AI for research, says Smart Window offers the best of both worlds without slowing down Firefox. The combination of Smart Window, recent additions such as vertical tabs, and Mozilla's attention to security makes the reviewer lean toward making Firefox the default browser again.

One missing feature keeps the reviewer from fully returning: Workspaces, which they have grown to depend on from Opera and Vivaldi for organizing tabs. The reviewer says they will switch back to Firefox as soon as Workspaces is included natively, rather than through a poorly designed extension.