Most of us make do with the browser that's bundled in with our phones or tablets. But did you know that there are a bunch of alternatives available at little or no cost, with features that will make you wonder why you didn't make the shift sooner? Here's a shortlist of six alternative mobile browsers we think you should give a try.
The browser of choice for most handset manufacturers, Opera Mini comes pre-installed on most mobile devices. It is available across mobile operating systems as well as feature phones. The browser uses Opera's servers to compress pages for faster face loads and uses a tenth of the data of normal browsers. Features include ability to play online video, pinch to zoom, bookmark synchronisation, built in Facebook and Twitter support and games and free apps available for download from the Opera Mobile store.
Platform: iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Symbian, Java
Price: Free
Dolphin HD
One of the more innovative browsers out there, Dolphin HD comes with a bunch of features that are unique and differentiate it from the others. Its Webzine feature displays content like a magazine and allows users to select content from over 300 sources including lifestyle, technology, business and social networks. Gesture control means you can scrawl a pre-programmed letter or symbol to bring up a particular website. Dolphin Connect lets you bring your bookmarks across devices with your Dolphin account and organise them in bookmark folders. Other features include a Menu bar, tabbed browsing, Side bar and a smart address bar.
Platform: iOS, Android, BlackBerry
Price: Free
Skyfire
This browser runs on a cloud computing platform and can play Flash videos. It supports over 200,000 websites running on Flash with more being added. The browser loads pages either as a traditional Safari/Android user agent or as a desktop browser. Built-in support for social networks allows quick views of Facebook and Twitter as well as a combined reader to access feeds of both the sites. A Facebook ‘Like' button is added on every page on the Internet for easy social networking. Good compressing ability makes for faster page loads.
Platform: iOS, Android, Java, Symbian, Windows Phone
Price: Free
Yes, it's only available in Beta, in select countries, only for phones and tablets running Ice Cream Sandwich. That's too many clauses as of now but knowing how democratic Google tends to be we can all hope they'll release back-tracked versions soon. Google Chrome has given us ample reason to be hooked on it on our PCs. In the mobile avatar, it works to select the correct link out of several to make the experience better on a smaller screen. ‘Link Preview' does away with hunting and pecking for links on a web page by automatically zooming in on links to make selecting the precise one easier. The app includes incognito mode for private browsing and fine-grained privacy options.
Platform: Android
Price: Free
This is not the most popular web browsing app in Japan without reason! Having worked on browsers for the last eight years, the current iteration of UCWEB delivers quick connections by compression data efficiently. It provides two different browsing modes - Data Saving and Full Function - for users to enjoy browsing depending on their data plan with the former letting you cut down on up to 85 per cent traffic while browsing. It also provides features like featured site navigation, easy preferences, pre-load, night mode and so on.
Platforms: S60, Java, Android, iOS, Bada, Windows Phone
Price: Free
A much desired alternate to Safari, the Atomic Web Browser supports multi-touch gestures. You can use two fingers to scroll up and down the page and show/hide the scrollbar. It supports a full-screen mode, tabbed browsing and even lets you import bookmarks from Safari pre-installed on your handset.
Platform: iOS
Price: $0.99
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