162 - Review of some Android Browsers - December 2016
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On an Android Jellybean phone, the stock Android browser performs decently. But, I hardly use it. I used it to download the following browsers apps from the GooglePlay Store and keep it as backup browser.
Naked Browser
A no-frills browser. The gui, is intentionally simple/bare-bones. I speculate because of this, it would be the lowest electricity consumer of all the browsers. It also activates fast. Similar to the stock browser and Chrome, it displays after 1 second on turning it on. (The other browsers in this article display after 3-4 seconds.)
APUS Browser
Clean interface; built-in accelerator.
Did not remember passwords for forms.
Chrome Browser
Reliable. Could not get it (on Android Jellybean), to save webpages to pdf. The pdf button is no-where to be found.
Chrome Browser Beta
There was no noticeable difference between Chrome and the Chrome beta version. Probably discernable qualities would arise if I had used it longer.
Dolphin
User friendly browser. Has handy side panel to toggle desktop vs mobile versions of webpages. optional accelerator. Remembers form's passwords, but does not remember check marks on the form.
Firefox
Highly customizable with extensions and add-ons. It does have a "save webpage to pdf" button. Old versions load a webpage slowly, about 2-3 seconds per webpage. (I updated to the current version 50+ recently to take advantage of some add-ons. The new version loads a webpage super-slow, about 5-10 seconds per webpage! I have since re-installed an older version.) Recognizes classic zoom gestures (ie finger spreading). Firefox is missing a "quit" button, but this is available as an add-on.
Opera-mini browser
Clean gui; data saving feature; cannot get remembered passwords for forms to work.
Puffin browser
From what I understand, webpage/media processing/compression take place in the cloud to speed up webpage viewing. It is significantly extremely faster++ than other browsers. You cannot adjust the browser settings off-line, you must be connected 1st to the internet. Perhaps your settings are remembered in the "cloud". There may be a default built-in vpn, but at of yet, I have not trusted this browser to the point of doing online shopping/banking on it. An internet show-my-ip request displayed that the location is ?Europe or ?Portugal? Also, you can't log on to a wi-fi hotspot using Puffin. You must first log on using another browser before you can use Puffin. Still, I am keeping this browser on my phone just for the sheer speediness of it.
UC Browser
Built in accelerator; There is a cumbersome multi-step method to save a complete webpage (.mht format) by using an add-on. (Still, this is a feature most other phone browsers do not have.) Selecting a desktop version of a webpage also requires a cumbersome multi-step action. (you have to go into "settings" each time.). This browser remembers form's passwords and its boxed checkmarks.
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