The Best Browsers for Android | PCMag.com

Image via CrunchBase

Your Android phone didn’t ship with the best Web browser. That isn’t to say that Google hasn’t bundled a good all-around browser. The stock browser supports multiple windows, bookmarks, and a host of sharing options. Add to this JavaScript, and, if you’re running Android 2.2 or later, Adobe Flash, and what you see on your phone looks a lot like what you see on your desktop. But that doesn’t change the fact that a mobile browser can be so much more. That’s why we’ve reviewed and rounded up the most talked about alternatives.

Android Means Choice

There’s a flurry of activity in the mobile browsing market. Cult-favorite Dolphin continues to lap the competition with rapid-fire updates to their Mini and HD browsers. Mozilla recently released Firefox 4 for Android alongside the desktop release. And, in the same week, Opera revved their Mobile browser to version 11 and refreshed their massively popular Mini browser. Now is the time to consider out the fruits of the competition.

Regular or Mini?

For this roundup, I’ve explored five alternatives to Android’s stock browser: Dolphin Browser HD 4.5, Dolphin Browser Mini 2.1, Firefox 4, Opera Mobile 11, and Opera Mini 6. The easiest way to sort these browsers is by cleaving them into two categories: traditional, full-featured mobile browsers—Dolphin Browser HD 4.5, Firefox 4, and Opera Mobile 11—and smaller, data-frugal Mini browsers—Dolphin Browser Mini 2.1 and Opera Mini 6. Mobile browsers tend to deliver a more desktop-complete mobile experience with advanced feature sets and support for embedded video, whereas Mini browsers tend to prize performance and backward compatibility.

However, boundaries prove porous with closer examination. For example, while Firefox 4 isn’t classified as a mini browser, Mozilla disabled support for embedded video in order to improve performance. Dolphin Browser Mini 2.1 wears the mini moniker but supports Flash, and, in my testing, failed to miniaturize load times.

Browsers Benchmarked

I’ve benchmarked these browsers wherever possible, and in the case of the mini browsers—not suited to JavaScript tests—I’ve performed real-world testing. Take a look at the reviews, performance charts, and slideshows. What you think you want may change, but, no matter what, you ought to find an exciting alternative to that dusty old stock browser.

via The Best Browsers for Android | PCMag.com.

Intel Android hook-up leads to share price boost – Yahoo! News UK

Image via CrunchBase

Rumours of Intel’s demise have been greatly exaggerated it appears, as the chip giant seems set to quell suggestions that it cannot survive due to the boom in mobile computing by joining the party itself.

Intel Android hook-up leads to share price boost…

After announcing that its first quarter earnings rose by 29 per cent to $3.16 billion, its shares closed up 7.8 per cent.

But the rise in share price may also have a lot to do with the fact that Intel’s chief executive Paul Otellini used the earnings announcement to confirm that the tech company would be getting friendly with Google and allowing Honeycomb to work on its chips.

“We’ve received the Android code – the Honeycomb version of Android source code – from Google, and we’re actively doing the port on that,” Otellini said.

Expect a wave of Intel based Honeycomb tablets to arrive in the next few months then as Otellini also said that he expected Intel “to be able to ramp those [Honeycomb] machines over the course of this year for a number of customers” and admitted that Intel based smartphones were on the horizon too.

“I would be very disappointed if we didn’t see Intel-based phones for sale 12 months from now,” he said.

It’s new territory for Intel, that’s for sure – but it’s also a brand that the mainstream population is familiar with, so we’d expect nothing but success.

It’ll be interesting to see which manufacturers are first to welcome Intel aboard the mobile bandwagon.

© copyright Pocket-lint 2010

via Intel Android hook-up leads to share price boost – Yahoo! News UK.

Pentax K-r colour range brightens up your day – Yahoo! News UK

Image via Wikipedia

Pentax, never one to shy away from wacky design mods for its cameras, has unleashed a colourful assortment of new versions of its Pentax K-r DSL.

Pentax K-r colour range brightens up your day…

The 10 “unique” designs look like the cameras of your acid-trips, and includes the Tower Records inspired Rainbow models, which basically looks like your regular K-r, after a toddler has gone medieval on it with some fluorescent marker pens.

The 12.4 effective megapixel K-r is Pentax’s follow-up digital SLR to the entry level K-x, a sound, good value starter option. Incorporating a standard APS-C sized sensor it sits just below the more fully featured K-7 and K-5 digital SLRs in Pentax’s camera line up.

The colourful cams are available to pre-order in Japan now, for about ¥90,000 (about £650). They are out on 16 May, with the Rainbow coming a couple of months later on 22 July.

© copyright Pocket-lint 2010

via Pentax K-r colour range brightens up your day – Yahoo! News UK.