Last month, we reviewed the hottest and fastest growing Android Launcher, APUS Launcher. The company behind the fantastic app, APUS Group is turning one today, and is celebrating its success with yet another app launch - a flagship mobile browser called APUS Browser, which is available on Google Play as a free download. The APUS group claims that the browser is fast, lightweight, power efficient and intuitive to use. We take a closer look at the exciting new browser that might just be the best alternative to the current browsers available on Android.
The APUS Browser Review
The APUS browser features a big image icon at the top, a search button in the center and Quick link tiles below that in an endlessly scrollable screen. The Quick Links section includes the Top Sites , APUS News Feed, APUS Games, Facebook and YouTube tiles with options to add more shortcut tiles using the + tile.
As you scroll down the screen, the Search box moves to the top of the screen. At the bottom of the screen is a fixed bar displaying the Back and Forward buttons, a Quick menu containing your bookmarks, History, Downloads, Sharing options, Settings and such, a New Window button and a Home button.
Anyone who uses the APUS Launcher will be familiar with the Top Sites, APUS Games, and the APUS News Feed. These sections are packed with tons of great content and are available for quick consumption at the tap of the screen.
The buttons at the bottom of the screen are ideal for quick navigation and accessing the history, bookmarks and other settings. Similarly, opening more than one APUS windows involves tapping the window icon at the bottom of the screen and then tapping the + button. The window icon can also be used to to switch between multiple windows.
Searching APUS browser is also highly intuitive as you get plenty of suggestions, including sites you have visited before, leaving the typing to a minimal. While browsing a web page, the Star icon inside the Address bar lets you quickly bookmark it for reading later.
Long pressing an element in the web page will display additional menu options such as long pressing an image will reveal options to view the image, open it in a new tab, save the image or share it with others.
APUS browser claims to be speedy and offer rapid page load times, even on older devices or ones running on 2G network by including critical optimization and energy-efficient features within the browser, such as the No image mode where users will be able to load pages without media elements such as photos and videos.
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Here is a quick summary of the top features of APUS Browser.
Top Features of APUS Browser
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- No image mode : Can load pages without media elements (photos and videos) to display them instantly
- Optimized for slow networks : Is capable of loading page elements quickly, even on 2G network connections
- Multi-tab manager : Offers intuitive navigation between open web page tabs.
- Shortcuts to Favorite sites : Lets you personalize the homepage with shortcuts to your favorite sites
- Favorite search engines : Lets you select a search engine of your choice, including Yahoo, Google, Bing, Yandex (Russia), DuckDuckGo, AOL, and Ask.com
- Google Voice search : Integrates with Google voice to allow you to search the web with voice commands
- Import bookmarks : Allows you to import other browser’s bookmarks
- Tablet compatibility : Works not only on smartphones, but also on 7-inch and 10-inch tablets
Final Thoughts
In my use of the APUS Browser, I found it to be pretty good. The UI isn’t innovative or unique – you’ve probably seen a similar layout on other browsers before. However, I found it to be a lot more comfortable to use compared to my browser of choice Firefox. The web pages loaded pretty quickly and I was able to customize the browser to match my needs just as easily.
I am not a big fan of many of APUS’s default apps such as the News Feeds, Top Sites and Games, but a simple long press made it possible for me to remove tiles I did not want. Similarly, bookmarking and viewing a page in full screen mode was easy to do.
Overall, using the APUS browser turned out to be a very intuitive and pleasant browsing experience for me.
If you’ve been struggling with slow page loads and clunky browser apps on your Android, its time to give APUS browser as try. Trust me, you’ll love this one!
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