Top iPad Safari Alternative Browsers
When it comes to browsing on the iPad,Safari isn’t the only game in town. Most(if not all)of the browsers in the iTunes Store are based on the same WebKit engine as Safari, which means they should render Web pages exactly the same way. However,features outside the Web page itself,such as tabs, bookmarks,download management, searching, and so on can be much different—and developers have created some interesting variations that may serve your needs better.
Dozens of alternative browsers exist(go to the iTunes Store and search for“browser”),and of course not all are created equal.Of those I’ve tried,two in particular stand out as serious competitors to Safari— Atomic Web Browser and iCab Mobile.
- Atomic Web Browser
The$0.99 universal app Atomic Web Browser, from Rich Tech, offers tabs that look and work like those found in a typical desktop browser,
and you can open a new link in a background tab without switching to it if you like. You can also save pages for offline viewing later. The browser features a private browsing mode,in which browsing history, cookies,and other data isn’t saved;an optional full-screen view; editable ad filters; and numerous other customization options. - iCab Mobile
iCab has been around on the Mac for eons,and now it’s available as a$1.99 universal iCab Mobile app, from developer Alexander Clauss. iCab Mobile is a mature,full-featured browser with a feature list remarkably similar to that of Atomic Web Browser,though the interface is much more Safari-like,which strikes me as cleaner and more elegant. iCab has an optional Tabs Toolbar,which works just as it should,and you can open links in background tabs. iCab can also download Web pages and even PDFs for offline viewing.Like Atomic Web Browser, it offers a private browsing mode, a full-screen view, and configurable filters.
