Top 5 Google Android Tablet Browsers compared
With the recent beta release of the much anticipated Chrome browser for Android it seems like a good time to take a closer look at some of the top Android Tablet browsers out there.
To get started I downloaded four of the most popular browsers: Dolphin HD, Chrome beta, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera Mobile. Acting as a benchmark, the default Android browser rounded out the test group for a total of five browsers.
I was mostly interested in how well each browser functioned for daily-use so the focus of this review will be on the interface, display, and most commonly used features of each browser.
To gauge performance I loaded a popular gaming forum (http://rog.asus.com) to compare load times and behaviour across each browser.1 The benchmark loading time on a desktop browser (IE9) for the test site was 12.1 seconds (via http://webpagetest.org).
Default Android Browser:
The default browser for Android Tablets is near perfect in many ways. While it lacks the bells and whistles of some of the other browsers in this comparison it features a clean interface, robust features, and respectable performance.
If you are familiar with the Chrome browser for desktops then you will find yourself at home using the default Android browser which has similar navigation buttons, an identical tab system, and easy shortcuts for favourites, search, and bookmarking.
The recent update to Android Ice Cream Sandwich has brought some new features to the browser including the ability to browse incognito and to request the desktop version of a website from the main menu. This means you can request the desktop mode for any site from the menu without needing to search for the site’s ‘desktop’ mode button.
All in all, although there isn’t anything particularly special about it, the default Android browser is a solid contender that won’t disappoint if you choose to leave it as your default.
Pros: Request the desktop version of sites from the main menu, similar look and feel to desktop browsers, auto re-sizes web pages to fit Tablet screens, quick scrolling function for longer pages
Cons: Linking within sites you’ve chosen to browse in desktop mode will sometimes still take you to mobile pages
Test page time to load: 23.0 seconds2
Dolphin Browser HD:
The Dolphin Browser HD is one of the most popular Android Tablet browsers around and it’s not hard to see why. I was immediately struck with the simplicity and directness of this browser. It is perhaps the best browser for users that are new to Android.
By far the best feature of the Dolphin Browser HD is the ability to set the browser to always treat your Tablet as a desktop. If you are frequently and annoyingly greeted with the mobile-phone optimized version of websites then this will be a welcome feature – you’ve got plenty of screen real estate on most tablets so you don’t want to be limited to mobile sites.
Another cool feature not shared by any other browser in our test group is something called “Gesture Support”. With the click of a small button on the bottom left of the screen you can activate support for hand-drawn gestures to help navigate. For example, drawing the letter “G” on the page will take you to Google.com, drawing an “<” will take you to the previous page. You can even create your own custom gestures if you like.
Unfortunately the good news ends here with Dolphin HD. While I found the browsers simplicity to be appealing at first it quickly began to fall short. The lack of basic back and forward navigation buttons is baffling, as is the choice to hide important features like menu bars that are only revealed when you swipe your finger around the edges of the screen.
Although I wanted to love this browser for its “desktop-only” mode it fell short in too many places for me to really recommend it.
Pros: Desktop-mode browsing means you will never run into a mobile version of a site, downloadable skins keep the browser look fresh, fastest load times
Cons: Gesture support has to be activated each time before you can use it, the browser does not auto re-size to fit content, lack of basic browser navigation, “Speed Dial” launch tab is lack-luster
Test page load time: 12.4 seconds2
Mozilla Firefox:
With its pedigree as one of the top Desktop browsers I had high expectations for the Tablet version of Firefox. At first impression Firefox for Android does not disappoint. With snappy switching between tabs and an interface that takes cues from the Android OS, Firefox for Android initially seems like it should be just as much as hit as its desktop counterpart.
Anyone currently using Firefox for their PC will appreciate the “Firefox Sync” feature that makes it easy to access your browsing history, open tabs, bookmarks, and saved password. Overall Firefox is also probably the most robust in terms of privacy settings and themes for customization junkies.
For its tab system Firefox takes clear design cues from the application switching function in Android, with preview thumbnails for each active tabbed displayed in a side bar much the same way that active applications are. The design makes sense in the context of the Android Honeycomb eco-system but with the inclusion of the new “swipe to close” feature in Ice Cream Sandwich Firefox feels like it’s missing a feature.
On the flip side, Firefox disappoints in a few key areas. Web pages tend to display ‘funny’ with different fonts from what are displayed on other browsers. Even worse, a lack of dynamic browser re-sizing leaves some pages displayed very oddly with content confined to the center of the page and most of your screen real estate wasted.
Firefox was also the slowest browser in our test, taking a whopping 29.4 seconds on average to load our test page. That’s over 50% longer than the next slowest browser and Firefox was often completely unresponsive until pages were completely loaded.
Pros: Android inspired interface, ability to sync data with your desktop, ample customization and add-ons
Cons: Slowest browser in our test, odd placement of new tab button, no Incognito browsing, some websites display oddly
Test page load time: 29.4 seconds2
Opera Mobile:
Speed freaks will love Opera Mobile. From the Opera “Turbo Mode” that uses compression technology to significantly boost loading speeds, to the customizable quick-launch page, this browser will get you where you want to go faster.
Although slightly edged out in speed in our benchmark by the Dolphin HD browser, I found that Opera Mobile was significantly better at starting to display more content before the page was completely loaded. This means that although it may not be the fastest at completely loading pages, it will start displaying items more quickly.
To be sure, Opera Mobile is not perfect. A completely different take on tab handling sees overlapping thumbnails that lack text descriptions which makes having more than 3 or 4 tabs open at a time a very confusing prospect. Oddly, in some instances the tab manager will display no thumbnail at all, making navigating to the tab you want feel like a trip to the casino.
Users delving into some of the detailed settings of Opera Mobile will also be baffled by the lack of in-menu navigation, forcing you to use the Android back button to get back to the settings sub-menus.
Despite these issues, Opera Mobile’s clean interface and speed may make it the best for quick look-ups.
Pros: Fastest at displaying content thanks to Opera Turbo, user customizable launch page, clean interface
Cons: Poor tab handling, lack of navigation in menus, no Incognito browsing
Test page load time: 12.9 seconds2
Chrome Beta:
Set to become the new default Android browser once it comes out of beta, Google Chrome is available now for early adopters.
Like the Chrome browser for PCs, Chrome for Android proves to be a solid experience all around. Not messing with a good thing, this version of Chrome has the same familiar tab handling, options, and frequent sites launch pad that you’re used to on your PC.
Where the Chrome Beta has been adapted for tablets is really noticeable on sites like Google.com. Like the current default Android browser, Chrome dynamically re-sizes items on the page to fully utilize the screen real estate on your tablet. This means that you won’t see small page elements floating in a sea of white space like you sometimes will on Dolphin HD or Firefox.
The big ‘wow’ feature on Chrome is something that has been oddly overlooked by every other browser. It’s intuitive in the Android eco-system to swipe your finger left or right across the screen to flip pages and the Chrome browser is the first to incorporate this into its interface.
Swiping your finger (or more likely your thumb) slowly across the screen will switch the active window from tab to tab until you stop on the one you want.
If you already have a Google account you’ll also be able to sync your tablet’s browser to your desktop’s – displaying the same tabs on both.
Pros: Soon to be the standard browser, intuitive swipe interface for tabs, Incognito browsing, dynamic content re-sizing, launch frequent sites from start page
Cons: Lack of dedicated desktop-mode
Test page load time: 16.5 seconds2
The Verdict:
When I first started this test I fell in love with Dolphin HD for its simple interface, blazing speeds, and desktop-only mode but its lack of navigation and cumbersome gesture feature just didn’t stack up.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Mozilla Firefox browser is extremely robust and feature rich but completely misses the mark when it comes to displaying content.
Opera Mobile is fast and simple – it may in fact be the best bet if you’re just interested in loading one page at a time. Where Opera falls short is a poorly designed menu and a tab management system that makes it hard to recommend if you want more than one or two tabs open at once.
When it comes down to it, the soon-to-be-standard Google Chrome browser gets my recommendation. With the best use of touch gestures, best interface, and cleanest browsing experience, Google Chrome can’t be beat.
Winner: Google Chrome Beta
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments!
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For me all of the available browsers still have issues on my eee pad transformer. The main issue is not displaying video. Opera is the best for me as it displays video and you can set it to standard in desktop mode.
No flash or HTML support=a limited browsing experience. Chrome fails.
you might want to review your comment, it definitely has html support…
Hi my friend! I wish to say that this article is awesome, nice written and include approximately all significant infos. I would like to see extra posts like this .
Bonjour j’aimerais savoir comment faire pour pouvoir ouvrir un pps dans mes courriels avec ma tablette Asus TF 201.
Merci et bonne journée.
Les fichiers .ppt (MS PowerPoint) ne s’ouvrent pas directement à partir du logiciel de courriel. Le fichier est normalement téléchargé dans le répertoire “downloads”. Regardez au bas de l’écran (notification), il devrait y avoir une flèche qui pointe vers le bas. Ceci indique qu’un fichier a été téléchargé. Si vous cliquez sur cette flèche, une liste d’applications qui permet d’ouvrir les ppt devrait apparaître. Polaris Office est un bon choix, si cette application est installé sur la Tf201. Elle l’est sur le tf101!
PS: Veuillez noté que ce forum n’est pas la meilleure endroit pour poser des questions de ce genre.
And the Maxthon browser?
For me it is the best and the faster browser for asus tablets… with diference,
And i also added the Miren browser to the comparation.
Wow, I live in that city posted up top in the screenshot.
So which of these browsers support flash? IMO browsers that don’t support flash are severely limited.
I develop web apps and one thing I like about the stock browser is the abilty to go full screen without the chrome(addressbar and stuff). Unfortunately the stock browser does not support a majority of html5 elements like websockets, audio/video or getusermedia. I have the tf101 which hasn’t gotten ics yet, does the chrome browser have the ability to go full screen with the side “thumb” controls like the stock browser? None of the other browsers have the ability to go full screen from what I can find which really makes it difficult to hide the “web app” feel.
Love Opera, it’s 5x quicker on Sunspider than Firefox, 2x quicker than the stock browser/Dolphin (Which is just a stupid skin for the stock browser).
Opera Mobile wins hands down. It’s the only browser that has hardware acceleration on Android, and it’s the only browser that does smooth scrolling/zooming and text reflow.
The thumb controls in the stock browser are referred to as “Quick Controls” and accessed through settings>labs>quick controls. I like this feature very much. Chrome does not have this feature. Check out the xscope browser it is fast and has some interesting features.
The thumb controls in the stock browser are referred to as “Quick Controls” and accessed through settings>labs>quick controls. I like this feature very much. Chrome does not have this feature. Check out the xscope browser it is fast and has some nteresting features.
no flash or html 5 support. Opera fails.
I just got back from the gym using NO3 Black Chrome. I HAVE TO SAY, out of all this is the best NO product I’ve ever used. The pump I get is farkeing insane! I’m not a veiny guy, but after taking a serving I started seeing veins popping out of my arm and my palm. Many people in the gym noticed the difference and asked what did I use. I will do a video review on it soon.
I’ve been hearing good things about boat browser, what about that?
I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet – I’ll download it this week and do a review!
Have used Dolphin browser and seen this post about Boat and tried it out and I like boat better than dolphin so far ,switching back to pages are great ,good. speed and a lot of settings to utilize.will import bookmarks from stock browser.miss dolphin gestures but seems like boat is a pretty descent browser.Don’t know it’s ICS capabilities but I uninstalled dolphin for boat.Thanks for the mention of this browser and waiting to see what you think about it.
I must be missing something but on my Transformer Prime, Chrome won’t load the full web site for some sites (only the mobile site). I see no settings within Chrome to allow me to load the full site. Hearing all this praise I guess I must be missing something so will investigate further.
Most every mobile site will have a button to load the desktop version. It’s an area where Dolphin HD really shines since you always get the desktop version. I’d call this missing feature the one big minus for Chrome.
Ok, so it’s not just my imagination or user-error. Thank you.
No you’re totally right – it’s a huge limitation that’s frustrating for tablet owners. You have a lot of screen real estate on a tablet so you don’t want to stare at Mobile sites.
Hopefully Google is listening to this and adds the desktop-mode only feature to the final release of Chrome!
too many force closes has seen me uninstall Chrome, hopefully all those reports I sent will help to streamline the official release when I may try it again.
too many force closes has seen me uninstall Chrome, hopefully all those reports I sent will help to streamline the official release when I may try it again… have reverted to the stock browser, it’s good enough but not perfect, have tried the others & all have drawbacks, most of which you’ve mentioned – good review!
way too many force closes has seen me uninstall Chrome, however I did really like it – hopefully all those report I sent will help to streamline the official release when I may try it again… have gone back to the stock browser for now, it’s good enough but not perfect, have tried all the others and all have drawbacks, most of which you’ve mentioned – good review!
You missed the most important feature of dolphin hd, extention support. If you use lastpass (you should) then you need dolphin.
all the browsers excluding the Defualt have extension support and as for last pass both Firefox and chrome have built in sync features that are built in to thier application instead of needing an addon
No flash for chrome…
Completely agree with your assessment that Chrome is the best browser. Even though it has some bugs, it provides the best overall browsing experience.
I use RockMelt, it’s made by Chrome and it links all your feeds right into a sidebar;, lets you use Facebook chat wheevenr you’re online, without having to be on Facebook; and their latest feature is View Later which is like a short list of temporary bookmarks. Like Chrome, it has spell check built in, and a translator built in, and Chrome apps work on it. I have never actually used Chrome, but I have heard a lot about it.