14 DAY TRIAL // I have a secret that will flip you over. I think you should sit down before you read this. But given the context, it's most probable that you already are sitting. I'm one of the few lucky bastards that had the chance to play with a preview version of Maxthon 2.0
I know that this is a privilege, but I'm not a selfish individual, and I'm going to share my experience with all of you.
I've been longing for this release ever since I've installed the previous one: ?I wonder what arsenal of goodies will follow after this!?.
Here we go!
I've just finished installing the program, and I'm running it for the first time. The refined interface is quite different from the original one. Presently, there's a trend for all applications to get a smoother look, one that inspires professionalism, confidence and strength at the same time. And that's the case with this version of Maxthon too.
It's not just about the rounded corners and the welcoming colors: what we have here is a face-lift that changes the perspective a bit.
It's strikingly noticeable that the program menu isn't placed under the title bar, like a normal application would have done it. Maxthon integrates the main menu IN the title bar, in the right hand side, so that it doesn't interfere with any of the pages' titles. This is good in terms of space management, and frees up some window space, considering that Maxthon had already expanded this area as much as possible (but not good enough, apparently) in previous releases.
If you don't like the layout of the main menu, you can simply choose to ?Show the window frame? (additional button located near the minimize button) and the whole window will get the classic Windows-like framing, with the menu bar placed right below the title bar.
You can, however, keep the new cool look and have the menu placement that you want, but you would need to use a more painstaking technique to do this: you have to right click the menu bar, and select customize from the context menu, then create a new item; while the customization panel is still open, click on every menu item and drag it from where it was originally placed, into the newly created toolbar. This way, you'll end up having the placement that you're used to, without that "so 5 minutes ago" frame. If you change your mind, you can easily reset the main menu toolbar to its original settings from the customization window at any time.
All these do nothing more than pointing out the high level of customization that the toolbar has (you can customize the toolbar for each tab now). Also the close button on the tabs can be disabled, decreasing it's size, and if you want to open a new one there's a small, newly introduced "New tab" tab.
After all this time of using Maxthon 1, I nearly forgot all about pop-ups, ad-ware, spy-ware and all other such rascals. The reason why I didn't have to worry about them is the Ad hunter that Maxthon 1 features. It provides a various threat list that you can customize so that you don't accidentally blacklist one of your favorite (safe) websites. And Maxthon 2.0 comes with an improved hunter, giving you many options to choose from. With the many editing rules that you can set, there's practically nothing that can overcome it!
I took the opportunity of studying the menu in detail (which didn't take long), and have noticed that many features aren't present anymore. In fact, the menu is missing about half of the original settings. This is only understandable, since the current version is only a sneack preview of what will follow, and presents all the goodies.
I can see a new Favorites manager that can come in handy if you're a heavy web surfer, and need to keep track of visits on a regular basis. The ?Favorite manager? can also be easily transformed into a Feed manager. It's easy to work with, and you can create new folders, so that you get a tree look of your favorites and feeds.
You can import your favorites from other browsers that you've used: MaxFav option for importing online favorites. There's a good syncronization with Maxthon build 1, making it clear that the following release will be both far more advanced than the previous one, but it will also be able to relate to it's predecessor so that you'll not be replacing it, but transfering to a new and improved younger brother.
The two identical Import items in the favorites menu, plus the Import submenu from the More actions section make it clear that this release has to be worked on until a final version can be called Stable. Also, there are a few menu options that are all grayed out, or unavailable (such as the Export function, or any element from the Safety section).
Internet explorer adds ?http://www.? and ?.com? if you press Ctrl+Enter in the address bar, but it does this in a ?hidden? way, as you're only able to find out about this from the help menu, Maxthon build 1 enhances this feature, and extends it to three derived functions, by adding two more editable ?shortcuts? such as this one (for the .net and .com.cn domains). In the new Maxthon, three more extensions are added (support for .org, .cn and .gov functions), which are also editable (meaning you can change the suffix for any of them, if you'd like to).
The proxy setup can be configured using the advanced rules (you won't need to set a different rule for each and every server, but if you'd like to, Maxthon now allows you to do this)
Also, a nice preview feature is available now, by introducing the Tab manager, which will show you all the pages that are open, with a short description (title) in a webpage-like window.
The Find function has been enhanced also, providing instant results: as you type, you get a highlight on the first result found on the current page (search as you type had already been implemented in other browsers, but it's nice to see it in Maxthon too).
You get four Interface types you can choose from: Office 2000, Office 2003, Office Xp and Xp native.
Keeping in mind the plugins that you can add and customize, and the fact that it's not a final release, yet it behaves better than many of the existing ones, I can gladly say that Maxthon 2.0 it's the best good news in a long time.
The good
This preview of Maxthon includes many useful features that, if combined with all the existing ones in the first build, will result in one of the best solution for what browsing is concerned. It has great improvements, a high level of customization, plus a better system resource management.
The bad
Event though many features from the first version are not included yet, loading pages seemed to take slightly longer, and this might be an issue if it persists in the final release. There are many bugs to work on, but the potential is high.
The truth
All in all, using Maxthon 2 has been quite fun and educational. If the producers manage to include everything that's newly introduced, along with everything that was previously featured, then we'll have a winner! I wonder what arsenal of goodies will follow after this...
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
