14 DAY TRIAL // There's one thing that I won't understand any time soon, and that is how is it possible for people to pay for programs that do exactly the same that other free applications can do easily. I know, I know, it may be the fast tech support and the "more reliable" illusion, but I am not biting that. Anyway, today we have a Web browser here, and despite the fact that I already don't like it because it's not free, I'll try to leave that behind, at least for a while, and concentrate on my target, called FineBrowser.
The latest version of this program is 3.2, and I got it in the Professional flavor, but its trial version, of course. If you think this program is worth your money, you'll have to pay 29.95$ for it, but until then, you can take advantage of the 30 days trial period. The setup package of this program has 3.45MB in size but you'll have to pay attention to the installation process. My advice is to avoid installing the auto form filler, and use a temporary mail address to register for the trial. I didn't receive any unwanted mail from them, but you never know...
OK, so we got it, we installed it, and the time has come to check this browser's looks and features, as usual. First of all, I can't say that this program's interface has shaken my foundations, but I can't call it ugly either. The problem when getting a new commercial browser is that I can't think about a feature that I really need every day and can't find it in one of the freebies available at this time, and an interface looking like a Christmas tree is not one of those "must have" features.
FineBrowser's interface is highly customizable and easy enough to use, but some actions are too complicated when they could have been a lot easier (adding Bookmarks, for example). If you were wondering about skins...no, you won't get skins here, but you're free to choose one of the skinnable browsers available for free anytime you like...
The interesting features are thrown all over the place inside this fine browser, and I was impressed to find that I can select text and have it read by the program (unfortunately, it uses the ancient Microsoft Sam text to speech engine). Translation of the current page is another thing that you may need to do pretty often, and FineBrowser can use Google, BabelFish, WorldLingo and Promt for this operation, and you can add your needed translations to the ones already built in, the only limitation being that you have to use one of these four providers.
If there's something that made me say "Look! Something new!", the Rubricator is the feature I am talking about. The Rubricator is a new approach to the old bookmarks management problem, adding the luxury to have a thumbnail for each bookmarked site, as well as to add comments, for example the password and user name for certain sites, or personal notes, all being stored inside a database.
One of the things that I wouldn't even imagine to miss from such a program is the mouse gestures feature, but...guess what? You got it, Fine Browser can't handle them! That's not bad, that's very bad, but let's move on...
It's really funny to see a page screenshot capture tool available and not being able to find where it is saved (I checked the system clipboard and no, I don't want to dig on forums, because that's why you pay for programs, to get a decent and useful documentation, and being easy to use shouldn't be a browser's luxury, but one of its main goals, before everything else!). Funny, funny, but you won't get my money!
If you are crazy about images, you can use this browser to gather the images from all opened windows and save them on your hard drive, as well as for viewing images already on your computer using the built-in basic image viewer.
You want to clean your private data? No worries - cookies, history and cache files can be removed at once using the items from the Privacy data cleaning submenu. If you didn't figure that out yet, let me tell you that you will find this one inside the Tools menu.
The Settings area isn't extremely rich, but it can help you get the job done, in most cases. Anyway, I still have to find the page screenshots... but I won't try any longer. Why? There's not only one answer, but an entire army: Opera, Firefox, K-Ninja, GreenBrowser, Maxthon and many others.
The Good
FineBrowser renders Web pages fast, it's highly customizable and full of interesting features that you don't find every day, like the Rubricator or Image Gatherer.
The Bad
I checked the system load a few times and it looked below average, but just one minute ago I got a warning saying that the program uses 215MB of my computer's memory which may cause it to become unstable! Even worse, the Help file is...but where's the Help file??!
The Truth
FineBrowser deserves its name, but I must say that I am disappointed. I like good things, but I can't swallow over rated ones. I know, I know, this is an advanced browser and the programmers must earn money from something, but they won't get mine, for sure! Here's the advice: get it, try it, and most chances are that you'll like this piece of code, but think twice before throwing away 29.95$, better give them for charity and use a free alternative!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
