Mobile phones and tablets will come with a browser, but depending on your mobile operating system there might be alternative mobile browsers you can use on the device.
There are a number of Web browsers available to choose from each with its own distinctive look and features. With the growing popularity of smartphones and mobile devices, now there are also a number of mobile web browsers (also called a microbrowser) available to download.
Mobile browsers are optimized to display Web content on the smaller mobile device screens and will perform efficiently on these devices, which have far less computing power and memory capacity as a desktop or laptop computer running a standard Web browser.
Mobile phones and tablets will come with a browser, but depending on your mobile operating system there might be alternative mobile browsers you can use on the device.
Editor’s Recommendation: Learn how web browsers work.
List of 7 Mobile Web Browsers
1. BOLT Browser
Developed by Bitstream Inc., BOLT is a mobile browser that works on phones of all types. BOLT is built on a WebKit based cloud-computing architecture to enable advanced PC-Style internet functionality on mobile devices. The BOLT browser supports the HTML5 web standard and comes tightly integrated with social media applications like Facebook and Twitter.
2. Dolphin Browser HD
An intelligent mobile Web browser from Mobotap that supports add-ons, gestures, Multi-touch Pinch Zoom, Tabbed browsing, Sidebar, Smart Address Bar and 16 languages. Other browsers from this developer include Dolphin Browser and Dolphin Browser Mini.
3. Firefox Mobile
A The Mozilla Firefox Web browser brings the best of desktop browsing to mobile with the latest security and privacy features. Firefox mobile let’s you browse favorite sites with minimal typing and access your browser history, bookmarks, passwords and open tabs from any device. Other features include tabs, personas, bookmarking and location-aware browsing.
4. Maxthon
Developed by Maxthon, the Maxthon Browser lets users sync bookmarks/favorites to the cloud, switch between www and WAP versions of the Web. Other key features include speed dial, tabbed browsing, RSS reader, personalization and a download manager. Maxthon also offers a browser designed specifically for 10″ tablets.
5. Opera Mini Web Browser
A fast mobile browser that uses Opera’s servers to compress webpages so they load faster on a mobile device. Features include pinch-to-zoom, smooth panning, speed dial and built-in Twitter and Facebook support. Other mobile browsers from Opera Software include the Opera Mobile Web and Verizon Opera Mini.
6. Skyfire Web Browser
Skyfire is a smart and social mobile browser designed for the social networking generation. Features of Skyfire include a customizable toolbar, Flash video support, Facebook QuickView, Fireplace Feed Reader, Facebook Like and easy sharing services.
7. UC Browser
In Apr 2004, UC launched its core product UC Browser, which now runs on almost any mobile platform – Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS, Symbian, WinCE, bada, Java, MTK and BREW. Features of the UC mobile browser include advanced compression technology to reduce mobile data costs for end-users, search, multi-tabs, download manager, URL auto-completion, night mode and file manager.
Editor’s Recommendation: Mobile Operating Systems (Mobile OS) Explained.
This article was originally published on October 27, 2011
