Ever since Chrome was released for iOS devices, it has gained a lot of popularity and has been adopted by a huge number of iPhone, iPod and iPad owners who also use it on their desktop or laptop computers. This fast adoption though, has taken the spotlight away from other very capable web browsers out there that, while paid, still offer great versatility and some unique features.
ICab - The Taxi for the Internet. ICab is an alternative web browser for the Apple Mac with numerous useful features not found in other browsers. ICab is shareware and costs $10 / 10 EUR, but it can be also used for free with a small limitation. Key features Filtering advertising banners and much more. ICab can block undesirable content, like ads and pop-up windows. Oct 15, 2017 iCab Mobile – A Powerful Web Browser for iOS. October 15, 2017. ICab excels when it comes to downloading. For example, if I want to download a video, Safari would show that video in the app, and there would be no way for me to get it out of Safari and save it to PDF Expert 5 or wherever you would save the video. Browsing the web in.
This time, we take a look at iCab mobile ($1.99), one of the best and perhaps the most powerful iOS web browser out there and pit it against Chrome to see how they stack up against each other.
Let’s get going.
Speed
Speed-wise, after deleting the cache and the browsing history on both Chrome and iCab, I found the speed of both browsers to be fairly similar, with Chrome having a very small edge over iCab. Apple doesn’t allow browsers that don’t use its own engine into the App Store, so this is to be expected. Still, being a bit lighter on features might be what allows Chrome to load just a tad faster.
Note: Loading speed will also depend on specific websites, with some loading faster on Chrome than on iCab and vice versa.Safety and Privacy
We have already written about how important having a safe and privacy-conscious web browser can be. Thankfully, in this regard, both Chrome and iCab do not disappoint, with iCab having a small advantage over Chrome.
Both browsers allow you to delete browsing data (cookies and cache), although Chrome requires you to perform more steps in case you would like to do so for specific websites, which is definitely unfriendly to the average user.
On the privacy front, both Chrome and iCab provide a very convenient incognito mode for browsing, although it is a bit easier to access on Chrome, since it requires you to access the settings in iCab.
Usability
As is to be expected, it is using a browser what makes or breaks the experience. When we compared Chrome and Safari for iOS there was simply no contest between the fresh take that Chrome brought to iOS browsers and the almost static experience of Safari.
This time, Chrome still remains strong on the usability front. The browser is smooth, sharing is simple, its tab implementation is nothing short of stellar and the omnibar (which lets you search the web or write URLs from the same field) is easily is most convenient and unique feature.
On its part, iCab’s strength resides in how powerful a browser it can be. You want to download files right within the browser? Check. You need a way to save any website for reading later? Check. Want to simulate any other browser agent? Done deal as well.
And these are just but a few of the features that iCab offers that are simply not available on Chrome. Here are some screenshots of the settings for you to get an idea of just how powerful and versatile this browser can be.
Syncing has increasingly become an important part of a mobile browser’s usability, and in this front Chrome clearly has the upper hand. Being from Google, it syncs perfectly with any desktop Chrome client. Chrome for iOS can sync bookmarks, search and browsing history and currently open websites. On its part, you can import all your bookmarks into iCab, but doing so requires a few extra steps.
Final Thoughts
Being a free browser, I can see a lot of users simply settling down for Chrome, since it offers even more things than the default Safari app. However, if you are a browser power user or your browsing routine on your iPhone or other iOS device involves more advanced tasks like downloading files, viewing translated websites and such, then the small price of iCab is a worthy investment for your needs.
Also See#browser #chrome Did You Know
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iPad is a limited device. But the limits are artificial. The ones set by Apple engineers and Steve Jobs. The ones broken by iOS developers.
Yes, there are a lot of things you can’t do on the iPad. You can’t access the file system or make one app talk to another directly. No sharing between apps. No side by side multitasking either. But for every single thing that the iPad can’t do, there are multiple things it can, rather magnificently.
Today, I’ll tell you about one such app called iCab ($1.99, Universal). It is a browser that lets you do everything that Safari says is a no-no. Multi-touch gestures,keyboard shortcuts, multi-user login and most importantly – integration of services from different apps.
1. Gestures
iPad has a big, beautiful retina screen. One that responds amazingly to touch and is advanced enough to make out the differences between 4-finger tap and a 4-finger swipe. Not putting it to good use is a shame.
Multi-touch gestures
From Settings ->User Interface ->Multitouch Gestures you can assign multiple 1 to 4-finger tap and swipe gestures, totaling to about 17 combinations.
What all can you do with it? Lots. Not only are generic functions like next tab, previous tab, fullscreen, etc included, but you can also pull directly from 50 or so included modules. What are modules? We’ll talk about them in detail below but right now just think of them as bookmarklets or extensions. So, with one multi-finger gesture, you can send the page you are currently reading directly to Pocket. Neat, eh?
Drawing gestures
Yes, drawing gestures on screens are nothing new. In fact, I remember using them on my Java based phone that had a resistive touchscreen. I had to use (gasp) a stylus!
But thankfully, drawing experience on the iPad using my fingers is nothing like that. Yeah, the alphabets are sometimes still a miss but the generic gestures like arrows, lines and shapes are registered every time.
Again, what can you do with it? You can assign an alphabet to open your favorite websites like Guiding Tech. So next time you draw the letter G, you’ll be greeted by us!
But of course, you can do a lot more than that. The Action list goes on for a couple dozen more options and I suggest you explore them on your own. Drawing gestures include all the generic and specific actions I talked about in the multi-touch sections above. There’s also support for sharing a page, saving a screenshot, adding a page to bookmarks and basically every action you can do by tapping a button or fiddling with menus can be done by drawing on the screen.
Assigning Drawing Gestures
You can assign gestures from the Settings menu but there is a more convenient option located in the Toolbar. Tap the hand icon, draw a gesture and assign an action.
2. Modules
Modules are snippets of code that let you interact with a different service or an app directly from iCab. So, by assigning a multi-touch gesture, you can potentially send a page to Pocket, your Safari Reading List or Evernote, share the page on Facebook or twitter or even convert the page into a PDF or ePub book. All of this is done by using web services integrated inside the app.
Check out all the modules by going into Settings ->Services ->Modules.
3. Keyboard Shortcuts
If you are even a little bit serious about working on the iPad, you have a keyboard dock. iPad, with its distraction free setup is a great tool for writers. But writing and browsing goes hand-in-hand. If you use iCab to do your online research, you can save the trips from the keyboard to the screen by using built-in keyboard macros or assigning new ones yourself.
4. Background Downloads
This is one of the biggest features introduced in iCab 8.0, thanks to iOS 7’s background refresh. iCab can now always stay in background, so if you are downloading a big file (yes, unlike Safari, iCab lets you download files), you can go ahead and put the iPad to sleep or switch to any other app without worrying about killing the download.
5. Multiple User Logins
iPads are now home computers, we share them with our family members. But there are always things like email that you might want to keep private.
Now, thanks to iCab your entire family can use one browser to get online without invading each other’s privacy.
6. LastPass and Firefox Sync Integration
Is Firefox your desktop browser? Would you like to have all your bookmarks and history available directly in iCab? Do you use LastPass to save passwords for websites?
iCab integrates with both Firefox Sync and LastPass to bring you desktop like browsing experience on your iPad.
And A Lot More
There’s a lot more to iCab than the features listed here. As always, the best way to learn about a new app is to do some exploring yourself.
Top image credit: Michael Coghlan
Also See#browser #Firefox Did You Know
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