14 DAY TRIAL // Internet browsers are a subject so hot, that I don't have to say anything special about them. The history of the Internet is pretty well known, and when talking about browsers, most people don't want to hear many details, but only the final verdict: which one is the best?
The browsers family is split basically in two large categories: IE and IE-based browsers, and others. Today I have four free browsers here that have an Internet Explorer engine under the hood, and I will run a quick test with each one of them.
Today's targets are AOL Explorer, Avant Browser, Maxthon and GreenBrowser. Let's stop wasting time and start the trials!
AOL Explorer 1.5 Build 1.5001.7.1
AOL Explorer is something new to me, since I never used it before and this browser has been released quite recently.
Good things when talking about AOL Explorer start with the excellent interface and keep going on and on. The fact that each of today's browsers support tabbed browsing should be obvious, so I won't repeat this in the future.
A great thing for me was the fact that new tabs can be opened using both Ctrl+N and Ctrl+T keyboard shortcuts, which is awesome. Why? When I passed from Firefox to Maxthon (in fact, I am using both of them now), pressing Ctrl+T in Maxthon tiled all my existing tabbed windows instead of opening a new one. Try this at least once and you'll see how frustrating it can be, that is if you haven?t passed through it already...
I am not crazy about RSS feeds, but since having them displayed is so easy with AOL Explorer...why not use them? To the left side of the main window you will find easy access to a lot of AOL content and not only, but it's not annoying at all.
The existing themes available for this program are really nice, while the extra features like the spyware scanner, power browsing tools and all others are really nice additions.
The Settings area is well organized and easy to use for everybody, and the overall feeling that I get with this program is speeeeeeed.
Bad things about it? Maybe the fact that people who hate AOL software won't get near it because their previous less-fortunate experiences? The only thing that I would like to see in a browser and wasn't present here is the feature to translate Web pages, but I am sure it will be here soon.
AOL Explorer exceeded my expectations and I recommend you to give it a go.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
The only word that I should say about this browser is its name, ?Maxthon?. For people who know it, this should say it all. For the rest of you, I will try to point out the best things about it.
What are the goodies that we have here? Well, the first extra feature that Maxthon has and AOL Explorer doesn't is its translation capability that uses two sites for various translations ? WorldLingo and Babel Fish. Now let's get down to common features...
Mouse gestures, Ad blocker and skinning, apart from the IE extensions support and additional plugins are only some of the weapons to be found in Maxthon's repository.
The interface is really easy to use and is highly customizable, and I hardly wait to see how will be the new 2.0 version when it comes out, since the beta promises to stand up to AOL Explorer's excellent achievement in this field.
The best time saver and an excellent feature that can be found in Maxthon is its Groups feature that allows you to open as many web pages as you need with only two mouse clicks.
Maxthon supports RSS feeds in an easy to use way, and the Settings area is so rich that you will feel like Alice in Wonderland.
There aren't many bad things about Maxthon, but the most annoying is that some keyboard shortcuts are fixed, and users coming from FireFox and other browsers will have to forget about their old ones...
Until the final Maxthon 2 comes out, you should get this one and try it. Within thirty minutes or less you'll love it or hate it, there's no middle way!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
Third stop today is called GreenBrowser and it comes as a small ZIP archive, 1MB in size. All you have to do is unpack it to a location on your hard drive and fire it up.
Since I reviewed a previous version of this program, it remained on my computer, although I am not using it often, but excellent programs worth being kept, and this is one of them.
Good things with this program start with its similarities with Maxthon, like double mouse click closing of tabs and keyboard shortcuts. Things don?t stop here, this browser having other useful features that we find in Maxthon or Opera. Page translations can be done using only WorldLingo, but that should be enough for now.
Green Browsers supports plugins, its View Page feature is outstandingly done, and the tools like Fill Form or Ad Killer will be everyone's little helpers.
The bad things about GreenBrowsers didn't hit me much, but there should be at least one or two...like its lack of documentation and the hard way to install plugins and skins for beginners, that will have to download archives with them from the official site and then unpack them in order to make them work.
If you're a beginner, then my suggestion is to start with Maxthon your preparation for GreenBrowser, even though you may fall in love so much with the first and forget about this one. If you're a ?try'em all? person, than get this, it won't waste your time, I can assure you!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
Last stop today, Avant Browser. What's so different about it?
Let's start with the interface ? if you're a starter when talking about Web browser, this program may be a shock at first sight. Its interface is well designed if we look at it and think about today's look of computer programs interfaces, but is not that easy to use. The title bar and the menu bar are crowded into what should have been the title bar, along with the windows controls. Once you get used to this look, everything should be just fine.
The good things are as usual, what I want to underline now is a great new feature that I noticed with this version of Avant Browser, called Similar Websites. When you load a new page, the Show Similar Websites bar will load categories that include sites related in content to the one you are visiting and then display links to most popular sites in those families. Look for the bar with binoculars on it; I am sure you will find this as useful as I did.
The rest of it is just fine, we have mouse gestures, well done tabbed browsing, skins, translation using google and a link to WorldLingo in the same menu (Tools>Translate), and I can't understand why they are not both available from the menu, like in Maxthon.
Passing from the good to the bad, I must say that the available skins are monotone and most of them look the same to me, but the documentation has a section that takes care of this topic, so nothing should stop us from creating our own skins.
Avant Browser is an excellent tool, and checking it out for yourselves is a must!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
I didn't forget about the external tools that can be used with today's browsers or about the awesome feature packages available with each one of them, but the idea is to show you that there's something better than your old IE, FireFox or Netscape, and if not better in all fields, at least different and having its own strengths and weaknesses.
For me, today's winner is Avant Browser, with Maxthon, AOL Explorer and Green Browser breathing down its neck. Your finish line can look completely different, and all you have to do is prepare the race track and setup these for cars, before enjoying your own race. Enjoy it!
