One would usually expect Samsung hardware products to be making headlines in the tech industry. But Samsung seem to have brought the same charm to their software developments recently. The Samsung Internet Browser which was exclusive to their own smartphones is now available for download on any Android device running Lollipop (5.0) or higher. The browser is currently listed as a Beta but that hasn’t stopped over 500,000 users from downloading the browser onto their Android devices thus proving how popular the app is.
The Google Play Store is no short of web browsers, however only a few of them have succeeded in gaining a large user base- Chrome, Firefox, Opera, UC Web happen to be on top of that list. Judging by the early download count of Samsung’s browser we might have a competition on the top charts very soon. A part of the reason for such instant popularity for the Samsung Internet Browser points out at all the interesting features that Samsung has cooked into it. For starters, there are several ad blockers built into the menu for users to choose to get rid of those nasty ads. A new high-contrast display mode is also present to make the browser easier to use for visually impaired users.
Interestingly, Samsung has also pushed in WebVR capability to the browser but has disabled it by default. WebVR for now works with GearVR headsets but it could roll out to daydream or google cardboard as well in the near future. The Samsung Internet Browser is based on the open source Chromium project but unlike most chromium based browser which are a direct ripoff of the original source, Samsung have taken time in bringing in their own set of features while also contributing to the Chromium project according to Samsung Internet developer advocate Peter O’Shaughnessy.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlA6sfBNEf0&feature=youtu.be
Hopefully we should see more of these features and developments in the default Samsung Browser in Tizen Smartphones.
You can download the Samsung Internet Browser Beta for Android from here.
