One of the ways to speed up web browsing on your smartphone is by using a snappy browser. On Android, you have many choices. Recently, both MakeUseOf and PC Magazine put several Android browsers through the paces, to see which one was fastest. The browsers tested by MakeUseOf included Firefox, Dolphin Mini, Dolphin HD, Opera Mobile, xScope, Skyfire, and the stock browser. PC Magazine tested Dolphin HD, Dolphin Mini, Firefox, Opera Mobile, and Opera Mini.
The conclusion? According to MakeUseOf, Firefox was the fastest. It beat the competition in the synthetic benchmarks, and edged the other browsers in the page loading test. The losers were Skyfire, and the stock Android browser. My browser of choice, xScope, fell in the middle of the pack.
PC Magazine didn’t rate the browsers just based on speed, but if you click through to the individual browser reviews, you will see the speed results. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the article appears to have a typo and shows the same chart for two of the tests. Still, reading the text of the reviews, it appears that Firefox comes out on top, with the other browsers displaying mixed results. As the Firefox review notes, though, Firefox’s mobile offering has other issues, such as video handling and how it displays pages.
My take? Speed isn’t the only consideration. See which browser feels most comfortable to you, so long as the speed is acceptable. My browser of choice, xScope, sports a user interface that I love, and respectable speed. Once you get into the middle of the browser speed results, the differences among browsers was negligible, making other considerations more important.
What is your favorite Android browser? What do you like about it?
The Best Browsers for Android [PC Magazine]
What’s The Fastest Android Browser? [MakeUseOf]
