Mozilla is coming out with its iPad-optimized mobile browser Firefox Junior, but it's not the first. Here are some options that have been around.
Mozilla made a splash today in announcing Firefox Junior, its attempt at providing a web browsing option for Apple’s iPad that is better than the native mobile Safari app. Firefox Junior, as described in the video immediately below, seems to have some potential.
But Firefox Junior is joining the iPad browser party relatively late. Here’s some information on and video reviews of existing browsing alternatives for the iPad.
Mercury Web Browser by iLegendSoft
Rating: Three and a half stars on more than 16,000 ratings
The developers behind the popular Chat for Google Talk app are responsible for the Mercury Web Browser, which boasts fullscreen browsing, the ability to open up new tabs in the same window, and a “save page” feature that could come in handy for browsing when entering and leaving coverage areas. Its latest edition offers the ability to completely remove advertisements in web pages, a feature that will be exclusive for the iPad version.
Here’s a video review:
Diigo Browser (formerly iChromy)
Rating: Three and a half stars on 1,165 ratings
In what has been called the best attempt to bring Google’s Chrome browser to the iOS operating system, Diigo features one of Chrome’s most convenient features – immediate search for terms typed into the URL box. Other notable features include the uber-private incognito mode, offline reading of saved web pages, and, new to the latest version, the ability to export bookmarks and customize the search engine.
Video:
Dolphin Browser
Rating: Four and a half stars on more than 10,000 ratings
An app that has been downloaded more than 10 million times, the Dolphin browser looks somewhat like Google Chrome, except with more touch-enabled, slide access to bookmarks and additional opened windows. Also similar to Chrome, Dolphin provides the option to save paswords for whichever websites the user accesses most frequently.
Video:
Atomic Web Browser
Rating: Four stars on more than 14,000 ratings
A critically acclaimed browser, Atomic provides the ability to run multiple downloads simultaneously, file transfer through Dropbox and email, and the option to organize tabs in both list format and as traditional desktop browser tabs. File downloads can be paused and resumed for those who might be traveling in and out of coverage areas, and developers would like the ability to view a web page’s source.
Video:
Skyfire Web Browser
Rating: Three stars on more than 5,000 ratings
Skyfire supports Flash video playback, giving it a natural advantage over some of the others, as does its video recommendation feature that suggests videos that the user may like based on those that he or she had viewed in the past. A feature called “Popular” reorganizes the content on certain web pages with priority given to that which the user’s Facebook friends “Liked” the most. Its “HotSwap” feature makes Skyfire a good option for an iPad that will be shared between multiple users, as it separates several different user profiles, which may have specific different bookmarks and automatic logins for social networks and email accounts, without a lengthy log-in process.
Video:
Opera Mini Browser for iPad
Rating: Three stars on more than 80,000 ratings
Opera Mini plays up the speed of browsing on its iPad app, claiming a significantly faster experience even on slow or crowded networks, a feat most likely the result of its ability to compress data accessed on the device running it. The home page displays the user’s most common sites and provides one-touch access to them, similarly to Chrome’s desktop display when opening a new tab.
Video:
