Quite a while ago I started searching for a replacment for Dolphin HD, android mobile browser. I had issues with it, because of it’s high battery consumption, so I went on the browser shopping spree. I looked for something slick, fast and reliable on my Samsung Galaxy S, but with the added touch of functionality, like we have on our desktop. Here are the results:
xScope Browse: I liked this browser a lot. It has native startup screen, loads fast and seems reliable. If your browsing needs for your cell phone are just reading, Googling and Facebooking, this is pretty much the browser for you. UI is satisfactory and it’s quite popular, has developers behind it that are backing it up. Multi touch is supported, pinch to zoom, single touch zoom swipes. And swipe left and right for changing tabs. It’s basic and it’s fast. If you don’t need bookmark and password sync, this is pretty good browser.
Loading Speed: 5/5
Browsing Speed: 5/5
Additional functionality: 2/5
Verdict: 4/5 – If you are looking for simplicity, with swipe gestures to move you through tabs, xScope is right for you.
SkyFire: This used to be one of my first browser on my phone. I liked it a lot, it used to display flash, even when Android natively couldn’t do it. It’s awesome browser for video viewing, but there is one huge but. On SGS (most probably on other phones as well) it can get a litle buggy. It has nice social media integration, which is quite appealing, but, there is a huge but, there aren’t many additional features. Biggest flaw is lack of sync, but there is an advantage of choosing the Android version of website or Desktop version. It doesn’t support full screen browsing, which is a huge minus.
Loading Speed: 3/5
Browsing Speed: 3/5
Additional functionality: 3/5
Verdict: 3/5 – Skyfire might be great on iPhone and iPad, where video capabilities are limited, but on Android, it’s quite avarage web browser and isn’t any better than
Mozilla Fennec – If you are primarly using Mozilla Firefox on your desktop, you are gonna love Mozilla Mobile! It has password sync with desktop Mozilla also includes Password sync. It has big vareity of plugins and widgets and additional functions, so it excels in that department. It’s biggest flaw is loading speed of browser itself and it’s size. If you have a device with limited ROM in all probability you will skip this browser. Although, all Firefox lovers are gonna flock to it, despite it’s flaws.
Loading Speed 2/5 – When you Open Mozilla for the first time, it takes ages to start it. (On Samsung Galaxy S)
Browsing Speed 4/5
Additional functionality 5/5
Verdict: 3+/5 – Mozilla is great browser if you are using it on the desktop as well. While I was writing this review, loading speed was horrible for me to cope with, hence the average grade.
Opera Mobile – Opera mobile is the fastest browser out there, but at the cost of images and beauty of design. It’s popular among many people, but by far not my personal favorite.
Loading Speed 5/5
Browsing Speed 5/5
Additional functionality 1/5
Verdict: 3/5 – Biggest issue of this browser was ugly layout of the pages that are compiled. If you need reliable and fast browser, but don’t care much about how your pages look like, Opera is good enough. Additional benefits of Opera are low bandwith consumption, which is essential for browsing on 3g.
Native browser
Loading Speed 4/5
Browsing Speed 4/5
Additional functionality 1/5
Verdict – 3/5 – It’s really amazing that this number of different browsers still don’t make up the fact that
Dolphin Browser HD – Winning Browser of this war. Numerous add-ons are making this browser a killer and worthy of a separate article that’s gonna help you get the most out of it.
Loading Speed 4/5
Browsing Speed 4/5
Additional functionality 5/5
Verdict 5/5 – While I was attempting to find a replacement for this great browser, Dolphin crew wasn’t sitting idly. With latest updates, it worked perfectly on my Samsung Galaxy S.
I hope this article helped you choose the right browser for your phone. If you have a personal preference or you are using some browser that I wasn’t aware of while writing this article, please let me and other readers know about it in the comments and I will make sure to update this article and give you the due credit.
