Dolphin Browser HD 8.8 (for Android)

As far as Android browser alternatives go, Dolphin Browser (formerly Dolphin Browser HD) was a trailblazer when it launched with a laundry list of features, like gestures and custom User Agents that let you load mobile or desktop versions of websites.?A couple years later, most of Dolphin's competitors have caught up feature-wise, and Google keeps its stock browser the most standards-compatible.

However, thanks to a major performance update, Dolphin 8.8 swims ahead striking a fine balance between performance and speed, and retains our Editors' Choice for Android browsers.

Dress for the Occasion
Dolphin's UI is deceptively simple. Dolphin uses tabbed browsing that lets you open an infinite number of new pages by tapping the "+" sign. But a nifty feature here is that you can quickly scan through all your tabs by swiping across the top. In?Chrome, Firefox, and Maxthon, you have to tap a couple times to run through all your tabs.

Swiping in from the left gives you access to a dozen default (but removable) bookmarks, like quick links to new wallpaper and Wikipedia. Swiping in from the right unveils Add-ons and Themes, should you care to dress your browser for Christmas or Halloween.

The latest version freshens up an already crisp interface. Contextual menus are backlit with fluorescent green. The left sidebar gains a "Quick Access" drawer for key functions (such as Settings), a search button, and single-click bookmarking. The right panel loses Settings, but makes room for a visual tabs button. And every time you open a new tab, Dolphin now uses Speed Dial, Opera's visual bookmarking system, to automatically populate it with your favorite websites.

Add-ons make customizations more meaningful, bringing Evernote, Speed Test, LastPass, Web to PDF, and Amazon Search into your mobile browser. The selection isn't expansive, but there's a lot of utility to be gained. Meanwhile Dolphin Connect lets you sync bookmarks and custom gestures across all your tablets and smartphones. Unfortunately Dolphin isn't available on desktops.?

Gesture- or Voice-enabled Navigation
Dolphin is no longer the only Android browser offering gesture-enabled navigation. Maxthon also has it as a plug-in, while Dolphin's is built-in. I prefer Dolphin's.

With Gestures, you can draw symbols to perform commonly used actions. You tap on the Dolphin icon pinned to the bottom left-hand corner of the screen to reserve the screen for your Gesture. For example, to refresh a webpage, draw a circle. To open a new tab, an N. In addition to eight preloaded gestures, you can even create your own Gesture: I used a B to open bookmarks.

Sonar is Dolphin's voice-enabled navigation feature which you also access by tapping on the Dolphin icon. Yes, every browser takes voice input nowadays and Sonar doesn't perform any faster or more accurately. However in Dolphin, you can shake your device to activate Sonar. Subtle edge.?

Favorite Add-ons
Dolphin has a strong set of thoughtful add-ons to enhance your mobile browsing experience. For instance, I thought Dolphin's new Webzine feature would be superfluous, but it's now the first thing I open after launching Dolphin. Webzine aggregates online publications onto one page in a series of thumbnails. You tap a thumbnail to scroll through the publication's news feed, which displays titles and summaries in boxes.

Dolphin Battery Saver is an easy way to extend your juice by giving you the most energy-conserving settings, like auto-dimming and screen timeouts.

I also added Evernote, a screengrabber (handy on devices running anything below Android 4.0 and can't even take screenshots), WiFi Charger, Web to PDF convertor, the LastPass password manager, and a couple Web games. Most brand-name apps that have add-ons support Dolphin as well.

I really wish Dolphin's add-on page had a search bar so I don't have to scroll through them all. Also, I wasn't able to successfully uninstall add-ons within the browser itself. They just kept reappearing in my process tree. In the end I went through my stock Android setting to uninstall the add-ons.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/tBi-_xxrbXA/0,2817,2383132,00.asp

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