Samsung Browser Beta

[lopri]

Has anyone tried it? It is on Google Play. I do not know what phones are supported other than Samsung phones, it installed fine on my old Note 3 that I use around the house. Its performance is superb - Wow! Color me impressed. Their official (non-beta) browser is an OK browser, too, but this new browser is at another level when it comes to performance. It is nice to see Samsung improving software - maybe they will allow future version of this browser to be installed on any Android device? Wishful thinking, perhaps, but I am sure there is a way to grab the APK for non-sanctioned phones.

Its feature set is not lacking, either. Though I am not sure whether fingerprint authentication for websites works on non-Samsung phones. (Samsung was the first to incorporate this feature with their phones' fingerprint sensors.)

Strongly recommended.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sec.android.app.sbrowser.beta

 

[Raduque]

I use it on my Asus tablet. Got it from APKmirror. It's great.

 

[shabby]

So buttery smooth, can't imagine going back to anything else.

 

[Oyeve]

It's pretty good. Hopefully Sammy won't know I'm still using a Note 7.

 

[mxnerd]

It says

Officially supported devices are all Samsung Galaxy and Google Nexus phones with Android 5.0 and above.

Web engine is upgraded to Chromium 51.2704

No Samsung or Nexus devices, but will try.

 

[mxnerd]

Apparently not compatible with both of my 2 LG phones.

Downloaded 5.0 APK from internet. Crash immediately after start.

 

[dawheat]

The current Samsung browser is my daily driver and the beta looks like a minor improvement, but it doesn't seem to sync with my Samsung bookmarks (like the non-beta) which is a bummer. Assuming it won't until it moves into main branch.

 

[Red Storm]

Can you can use ad blockers with it? That'd be the biggest feature to me.

 

[Raduque]

Can you can use ad blockers with it? That'd be the biggest feature to me.

Yes, in fact, the Adblocker extension is on the Play Store.

 

[Yakk]

Samsung has their own Version of AdBlock Plus preloaded, good stuff + their own very efficient browser.

 

[lopri]

I use it on my Asus tablet. Got it from APKmirror. It's great.

Got it from the same place for my Honor 8. Works great, thanks.

Apparently not compatible with both of my 2 LG phones.

Downloaded 5.0 APK from internet. Crash immediately after start.

Did you have a network connection? I tried to launch the browser in airplane mode twice, only to be met with crashes. (Huawei Honor 8) I disabled airplane mode and at 3rd try it worked.

As has been mentioned the browser has built-in adblock and it also supports 3rd party adblock via extensions. I recommend Unicorn adblocker. (note: it only works with Samsung browser and Yandex browser) I also like the built-in webpage save, which saves webpages for offline use. It eliminates the need for apps like Pocket/Read it later. Built-in QR code is an odd addition but why not, I guess. No harm, no foul there.

Cons so far:

No text wrap: This is the biggest negative for me. Not all pages are mobile friendly, and sometimes access to desktop versions is required. Text wrap followed by zooming is invaluable there. ( I do not know why this function is not more widespread? The lack of text wrap practically makes multi-window useless on iOS as well.) Though the browser support viewing desktop version of websites, which is nice. I hope they add more robust user agent selection tool in advanced options.

No syncing option: I have no access to newer Samsung phones at the moment, but on Note 3 and Honor 8 I see no sync option.

Fingerprint log-in: Again, this might work with Samsung phones with fingerprint authentication support, but not with Honor 8 as far as I can tell.

Other than these, the browser experience has been top-notch. Samsung has really come far and I am looking forward to seeing whether this browser performance extends to the system-wide experience in the upcoming S8.

 

[you2]

Which andriod browser support text wrap ? I know a long time ago I tried an htc device and could pinch zoom double tap and it would wrap the text but since then I've not seen a browser that will do the text wrap ?

 

[lopri]

Yandex and Opera are two browsers I've been using and both support text wrap.