Alternative Mobile Browsers Tested For Speed, Usability, JavaScript Rendering 103
CNETNate writes "Do Opera Mobile, Skyfire, or Mozilla's Fennec have the power to take down the BlackBerry browser, IE on Windows Mobile, or Safari on the iPhone? This lengthy test aimed to find out. Speed, Acid3 compliance, JavaScript rendering capabilities, and general subjective usability were all tested and reviewed. So were Opera Mini and the default Symbian browser, but these two were unable to complete some of the tests and benchmarks."
Wrong. (Score:5, Informative)
We've distilled each browser's strengths, but note you can't get all of these on the same phone -- if you've got a BlackBerry, you're stuck with its browser...
You are most certainly not. I typically have Opera up and running before I configure my email on a new BlackBerry.
Re:WebKit on Palm Pre? (Score:3, Informative)
And so isn't Opera, because Apple doesn't want to let other browsers in its phone.
But on Windows Mobile side it's clear that Opera is a lot better than the IE that comes with it. As I use Opera on desktop too, it's great that it contains the usual features like mouse gestures too. And performance, rendering and "it feels fast" wise it dominates on both mobile and desktop.
Re:WebKit on Palm Pre? (Score:3, Informative)
The pre's browser is based on WebKit, so it's the exact same engine as Safari, this is (presumably) why they didn't test it, or Nokia's (also WebKit) browser.
Re:Android? (Score:3, Informative)
Android uses WebKit to render pages, so you can essentially put it in the same box as Safari, along with the PalmPre, and Nokia's browser.
Re:Android? (Score:3, Informative)
That doesn't really take into account usability. Things like fast interface, mouse gestures (finger gestures?) and so on can count a lot too and is missing in atleast Nokia's browser and IE. Opera wins a lot more with it's usability, so its not always only about the rendering engine.
Re:Great slashvertisement (Score:4, Informative)
Sunspider isn't exactly a nameless Javascript benchmark..
Summary of article... (Score:3, Informative)
------- -- -------------- -------------------- ------------ -----
Skyfire Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 1.1.0.12052 on WinMo 14,659 ms 52/100 Yes
Opera Mobile Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 9.7 beta 40,249.20 ms 100/100 No
Fennec Windows Mobile or Maemo 1.0a3 on WinMo 11,391.20 ms 93/100 No
Safari iPhone OS version 3.1.2 15,499.20 ms 100/100 No
Internet Explorer Windows Mobile 7 74,537.60 ms 5/100 Yes
BlackBerry browser BlackBerry OS version 4.6.1.199 Did not finish 13/100 No
[Skyfire]: Uses server to render pages. Web sites looked accurate but heavily compressed. Flash videos jerky, out of sync and will not open in full screen.
[Opera Mobile]: Can easily open multiple pages and switch between them.
[Fennec] (a.k.a Firefox Mobile): Slick interface. Fastest at loading complex pages. Clearly a pre-release product.
[Safari]: Multiple pages won't load simultaneously. User interface is serene and easy to use.
[Internet Explorer]: Slowest overall browser. Handled Flash the best of those tested. Flash videos can be opened full screen but become jerky and out of sync.
[BlackBerry browser]: Browser doesn't come close to a full Web experience. Slowest at loading complex pages.
Re:Anything beats Safari on iPhone (Score:3, Informative)
You can't even load a CA signing cert
Sure you can. I imported my employer's CA certificate, and I have no problems using Safari on the iPhone with websites using certificates from that CA.
I used the iPhone Configuration Utility to create a "profile" containing the certificate, which makes it easier to install, but it's just some XML wrapping around the certificate. There are examples around that show how to do it.
Re:Anything beats Safari on iPhone (Score:3, Informative)
Sure you can. To add a custom CA cert, just make a link to it and have the user explicitly touch that link. Make sure the MIME type for the reply is application/x-x509-ca-cert. Try it and if it doesn't work, shout, but it should.
I'd imagine the same thing will work for a site cert, only with a different MIME type, but I'm not certain. Either way, given that StartCom issues free basic SSL certificates, the only sane reason to use a self-signed cert is for doing over-the-air enrollment with SCEP. For everything else, you should just spend five minutes at http://www.startssl.com/ [startssl.com] and create yourself a real SSL cert.
Re:Great slashvertisement (Score:3, Informative)
Reading comprehension fail:
"As on our desktop browser tests, we tested standards compliance with the Acid3 test, and JavaScript-rendering abilities with the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark."