Today, dear readers, we will touch upon perhaps the most difficult topic in the field of software – the choice of a browser. After all, these are the most used applications on mobile devices, many go online more often than call by phone or write SMS messages.
Before moving on to the main text, I want to clarify some points. I think many will agree that the browser should first of all display web pages and allow you to work with them comfortably, and other features and 'tricks' are not just secondary, but recede into the background. Also, we will not compare the page loading speed in each browser. Undoubtedly, there is a difference, but it is a fraction of a second. In addition, there are many variables that affect the results: device performance, Internet bandwidth, server load of the tested website, amount of free RAM, and so on.
Convenience and comfort in work will be the main parameters for comparison. As a replacement for the standard browser (if you do not have Nexus, of course), I chose 4 browsers: Opera , Yandex Browser, UC Browser and Google chrome . The reader will have a very reasonable question: why is there no Firefox? I answer. I was extremely dissatisfied with the work of Firefox 43.0, in particular, scrolling. The pages are scrolled very hesitantly and twitching, there is no question of smooth operation. In order not to be unfounded, I recorded a short video.
Opera
One of the first representatives of web browsers, which appeared at the dawn of the global Internet. At the moment, it ranks fourth in popularity in Russia on all possible mobile platforms with a figure of 9.97% (according to the website gs.statcounter.com), in the global ratio of the position, Opera Software is somewhat better – 4th place with a share of 11.18%. On desktop systems, their popularity is much less.
Now the browser is very similar to its competitor from Google, for which users began to criticize it. The external similarity is due to the transition to the Blink page rendering engine, developed by Google Incorporation. Because of this, according to Opera fans, it has lost its former 'personality' and many important features.
There are three types of workspace display. 'Phone' – when the address bar and control panel are located at the top; “Classic” – the address bar at the top, and the control panel at the bottom; 'Tablet' – Like the desktop version, with the open tab bar above the address bar at the top of the screen.
The most optimal, as it seems to me, is the classic display, since on smartphones with a large display diagonal it is not always convenient to reach the top of the screen. In this form, you have 'easy' access to bookmarks, open tabs, settings. To synchronize bookmarks with the desktop version, you need to log in with your Opera account.
The home screen displays a page with three tabs, switchable by swipes:
- History – previously opened web pages are shown here;
- Express panel – provides access to bookmarks;
- Recommendations – a feed of potentially interesting news for you.
The simplicity and convenience of the interface are definitely pleasing. All the necessary and frequently used functions are available from the context menu, but I would also like to see a switch to go to the full version of the site.
To work with tabs, you need to click on the corresponding button on the panel. The open tabs are a scrolling reel, somewhat like multitasking in Windows Phone.
Opera is not for people who read a lot on their device for two reasons. First, the browser is able to adapt the page and font for reading, but it does not always do it correctly, breaking the layout of the site. In particular, images do not fit to the width of the display, but remain at their original size. Second, when you save a page offline, it doesn't adapt for reading in any way. This problem is completely solved by installing the Pocket service or its analogues.
The rest of the browser performs well, in fact, the proven Blink engine makes itself felt. Traffic compression algorithms work quite well, there are no problems with displaying pages, and more than 50% of the data is saved. However, I did not notice an obvious increase in the download speed compared to the disabled compression mode.
I think I need to say a few words about Opera Mini. The mini version of the mobile browser provides more opportunities for saving traffic and makes pages for reading much better if you enable the 'Show in one column' mode. Compressed pages not only require less load time to process, but also less computing power on the device itself, so Opera Mini is fine for budget devices.
Yandex browser
The browser from the domestic search giant is also based on the Blink engine. In the Russian market of browsers in the mobile segment, they occupy the 7th place with a figure of 3.15%, in the world market they did not find a place in the top, they belong to the 'Others' item.
In developing their browser, the Yandex team was obviously inspired by the mobile version of Internet Explorer for Windows Phone, adopting the interface scheme from the company Microsoft. All possible controls are located at the bottom of the screen, including the address bar. This is for a better one-handed use of the application, as the user hardly needs to interact with the top of the display.
The home page is a so-called 'Scoreboard', which contains a group of quickly accessible bookmarks in the form of two columns of fairly large rectangles. Open tabs are displayed in the form of a list, I am glad that you can switch between them with swipes from the left or right edge, but sometimes there are false positives, you need to get used to it.
There is a certain 'Turbo' mode, which speeds up page loading by compressing traffic. There are three states to choose from: 'Automatic', 'On' and 'Off'. If everything is clear with the last two modes, then in what cases the first one works is unclear.
As for the ergonomics of use, everything is very good here. All potentially useful functions are available with one touch. In general, the browser works pretty fast. Adaptation of the text to the width of the display is carried out correctly, but there is no offline reading mode directly, alas. Again, I refer you to the Pocket service.
UC Browser
This browser from the Chinese company UCWeb is an example of quite successful, but rather aggressive marketing. I'll explain a little later what I mean by aggressive marketing. The first version of UC Browser appeared on the Java platform in 2004, in 2010 a version for IOS was released, and only later for all possible mobile platforms. In the world in terms of popularity, it ranks second with a share of 18.6%, in Russia the position is noticeably worse – 5th place with 8.1%.
Taken from Twitter user @ Andrey4android
As for aggressive marketing. I think that on the 'mobile' Internet, many users have come across messages like 'your browser is out of date, install our insert any browser name' and the like. So, those who are promoting UC Browser decided to go a little further. Now they literally threaten users with fictional viruses on the device or lack of memory, and their magic UC browser cures all this. To make it more convincing, they put a countdown on the banner ad with the words 'Danger'. Such messages are absurd to the point of disgrace only for users who know what a browser is and what it is for, and may well affect an inexperienced person. You should not think that only the Chinese are sinning like this, they just do it most actively, according to my observations. Many confident players in the browser market have also been noticed by me in such marketing moves.
Now about the product itself. The browser is based on a proprietary engine. It is a whole combine, including both quite necessary and completely useless functions. As it seemed to me, they tried to create their own small operating system inside the application.
The first thing you see when you open the app is a large feed of services. Weather, news, funny pictures, movies, free applications, exchange rates, TV shows, shopping, popular sites. At the very bottom of this tape there is a 'Category Management' section in which you can delete all unnecessary items. In this case, only the address bar and recommended sites will remain. But that doesn't save you from other unnecessary services. UC Browser includes an ad blocker, a video player and even its own clipboard (!), But that's not all, with the help of extensions you can teach the browser to open zip archives, scan QR codes and add many other features. A reasonable question arises – do you need all this in the browser? Everyone will answer it himself. Personally, I don't like it when an application tries to do something that is absolutely not required of it.
For example, UC Browser constantly sent me news from rather dubious sources to the notification panel, until I turned off this mess in the settings.
The most annoying thing is that the browser is very good, it works smartly, but before you start using it normally, you need to spend a lot of time in the settings to disable unnecessary functions. It perfectly adapts pages for reading, only to work offline, you need to separately save the html file and then open it through the file manager. Again, this is 'cured' by installing services for offline reading web pages or a special add-on from the UC market.
By swiping from the left and the right edge, you can return to the previous page, which is quite convenient, and working with open tabs is somewhat reminiscent of multitasking in IOS 7-8 version.
If you are worried about advertising on the 'mobile' internet, then UC Browser is definitely your choice, the ad blocker works great.
Google Chrome
The most popular browser in the world. Moreover, the desktop version is installed on 56.89% of all computers. Based on the notorious proprietary Blink engine, which is licensed to many other developers. It is installed by default on many Android devices, in particular on the Nexus line. But, as it seems to me, it got its popularity precisely for its integration into the system.
In terms of functionality, the browser is pretty simple, too simple. But all the actions that are required of him are performed perfectly. The application has a familiar, one might say, classic appearance. Address bar and menu at the top of the screen, no more interface elements.
Working with open tabs is integrated into the system itself, they are located in the same place as open applications. One web page, one card. This is quite convenient, from any application you can switch to a previously opened tab or between tabs. Many people did not like this implementation, they have a familiar mode in the application itself (enabled in the settings). To switch to the usual window of open tabs, you need to click on the corresponding button on the control panel or drag this very panel down, and by swiping left or right, you can switch between open tabs.
There is a traffic compression function, in my case, as the application itself shows, compression is 50% of the total volume. Quite good, but far from a record figure. Adaptation of the text for easy reading works great, while the layout of the images is not disturbed.
Of the main disadvantages – many users complain about the high consumption of RAM and other device resources, so on weak devices there may be not very stable work, for them I can recommend Opera Mini.
Comfortable and stable. I have nothing more to say.
Conclusion
It seems to me that the choice of the browser is more based on habits than on some kind of objective comparison of features and capabilities. Therefore, I feel sorry for Firefox users, in the latest version it works rather poorly, if not worse, but some people cannot give it up out of habit.
I propose to discuss this issue in the comments. Tell us about the reasons for choosing your browser and not using others.
Thank you for your attention, we will meet in the next release of RobotoSoft!