Perfect Web Browser for iPad was recommended to me over on Google+. I resisted the urge to try it as Safari, for the most part, is a perfectly competent browser and, at £2.99, I didn’t see the point in paying for something that the iPad can already do very well.
Of course the lure of new and shiny got the better of me and I soon found myself navigating around the interwebs on a new browser!
First impressions are good. Perfect Web Browser comes with a raft of very useful features (see the full list below) which make browsing that little bit easier. “Proper” tabs are supported as are multi-touch gestures for changing tabs, navigating forward and backward, for closing full-screen mode and more besides.
I particularly like the ability to tweak the font size via a quick drop down menu. I’m always doing that in Chrome and really miss it when on the iPad and using Safari.
One other notable feature I like is the inclusion of a desktop browser rendering option. The drop down list lets you select between Mobile Safari (this is the default), Safari iPad, Safari iPhone, Safari Mac, Firefox 3.6, IE6, 7 & 8, Opera 10.5 and Chrome.
Has it replaced Safari on my iPad?
No. There are a couple of reasons for this.
It crashes from time to time. Within the first half day it had crashed three times. It needs some work to make it more stable.
It doesn’t seem to like Javascript and fails to open pop up windows and certainly doesn’t like the Google Analytics site (doing things like opening the web address of the site rather than the corresponding stats page).
Perfect Web Browser isn’t “perfect” but it’s not bad. Some tweaking to make it more stable should see it become a very good browser.
Perfect Web Browser is available in the app store for £2.99 on the iPad. It’s also available for the iPhone, albeit for an additional cost of £0.69.
I am @iCraigt on Twitter and you can find me on Google+ here.
