14 DAY TRIAL // The best way to end a week is to get back to where you've started, and that is Web surfing. I won't give up Maxthon because I got somehow used to it, and it's extremely hard to choose from the available competitors, because there are a lot of worthy ones. Today, it's time for a new one!
The Web browser I have for you today is called Smart Bro and its latest version is 2.5.0011. As most browsers that I have seen so far, this is also completely free to use. Its setup package has 1.9MB and installing the program should be as easy as possible for everyone. Since we know all of this, it's time to move on and check the program's interface and features, as usual.
Smart Bro's interface looks good, is very easy to use, highly customizable and has the salt and pepper of any decent Web browser today: skins and tabs. A side toolbar placed to the left of the main window allows you to open the RSS Reader, the Favorites or the History panes, as well as the Quick Notes tool. The graphics are well done and look fresh, but I was disappointed by the available skins, because I expected more. Anyway, let's move on and discover the features that should make you at least try this program, if not use it as your default browser from now on...
As I said, this browser supports opening multiple pages at once, and the actions performed with the tabs can be customized as you wish. For example, when you right click a tab it closes, and double clicking will shrink it, but these actions can be changed inside the Control area of the Options window.
The browser automatically imports Internet Explorer history and favorites, saving you some precious time, and manual as well as automatic History cleaning is available.
The amount of system resources taken by this browser is not excellent, but it's not that bad either, and if we think about the features available here, sacrificing just a little speed for features' sake is not such a bad affair after all.
Just think about this: automatic form filler, password protected access to the browser and to the site groups, user defined sites toolbar for faster access to your frequently visited sites, customizable auto refresh for the History and Favorites as well as automatic refresh of the existing RSS feeds.
If these features that I have just told you about are not enough to make you try this program, then you would better start building your own Web browser, but I am sure you'll give Smart Bro a chance. Let's see the conclusions now!
The Good
Smart Bro is a good browser that took me by surprise, the automatic form filler, its ease of use and the excellent customization features being only few of the reasons that recommend it as an interesting choice. Of course that this program is also free to use, so add this to the pot too!
The Bad
The skins feature could be enhanced in the future to support transparency and even skinned buttons/menus, and some built in documentation would also help!
The Truth
A life without surprises doesn't deserve to be lived, no matter if those surprises are pleasant or not, and it seems that the software that keeps popping up won't let me get bored. Today, it was a really nice surprise, and I can only advise you to let Smart Bro surprise you too.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
