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Which is the Best Mobile Browser?

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PCQ Bureau
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According to Statcounter.com, Google Chrome surpassed Internet Explorer as the most used browser in May 2012. As of September 2012, Chrome has 44% claim on the Indian market, while IE has just 19%. Using the browser benchmark BrowserMark, we compared the performance of four heavyweight browsers in the battle for supremacy.

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Safari Web Browser

Platform:
iOS

Pros:


1) iCloud-enabled Syncing: Using iCloud, Safari can sync open web sites and reading lists across all their Apple devices. So, the state of browsing on your Mac will automatically transfer to Safari on your iPhone.

2) Reader: Very useful feature that mines only text and images and presents it legibly, without messy layout and ads shown by website.

3) Tabbed browsing: Open multiple tabs, only available on iPads.

Cons:

1) Platform-dependent:
Only available on iOS devices, not usable on other platforms

2) Absence of Flash: Flash has never been supported on iOS, so may affect you if you're a big Adobe Flash fan.

3) Lacks plug in support: External plugins can't be installed.

Opera Mobile Web Browser

Platforms: Symbian,Android,iOS,Windows Mobile

Pros




1) Opera Turbo: Opera servers compress web pages by upto 70%, making loading of websites extremely fast and smooth.

2) Flash enabled: Flash support is becoming a rare commodity among web browsers today, so Opera gets a plus for still supporting flash play.

3) Available across almost all mobile platforms available

Cons

1) Memory-heavy:
Just like Firefox, Opera is quite a memory hog, draining battery in the process

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Mozilla Firefox



Platform:
Android 2.2 and up

Pros:

1) Vast amount of Add-ons:
Familiar add-ons for Firefox on your PC, such as Adblock Plus and URL fixer can be installed on the mobile version as well.

2) Security features: Strong security such as “Master Password”(that locks your saved passwords until they're unlocked) and “Do not track me”(prevents sites from installing cookies that track your web browsing habits)

3) Firefox Sync: Syncs bookmarks,passwords,history,tabs and add-ons across devices. Makes your life much easier shifting from Firefox on desktop to mobile.

Cons:

1) Platform-dependent:
Only available on Android devices

2) Memory Hog: Takes a great deal of RAM to run, was running on almost 100 MB of ram on our test smartphone.

3) Crashing: Several users online have complained about Firefox being very unstable.

Google Chrome



Platform: Android 4.0 and up, iOS 4.3 and above

Pros:

1) Google Sync:
For users already syncing their Gmail , Chrome's syncing will be a blessing, as they can sync all their bookmarks and open tabs from PC to mobile.

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2) Speedy & Lightweight: We did a few simple loading tests against Firefox, and found Chrome loaded sites significantly faster. Also it did not hog memory that much.

3) Unified navigation box: Chrome still offers the best engine for searching, auto-complete using history and relevant website recommendation among competitors.

Cons:

1) No Flash: Google doesn't offer flash support for Chrome on mobile, and you can't sideload it either.

2) No extensions: Chrome extensions not offered on mobile versions yet.

Who's first across the finish line?



With results from our benchmark tests, and our usage scenarios, Google Chrome blazes past its competitors like Usain Bolt in a 100m final. Being lightweight and speedy, Chrome does well to mimic the experience on mobiles with its desktop counterpart. The only drawback is the lack of Flash support, which other browsers will also soon follow suit, as they push online content towards HTML5 standards. Nevertheless, all browsers provide unique features that are worth checking out, so whip out your phones and start browsing!

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