14 DAY TRIAL // Maxthon web browser does not enjoy too much notoriety in US and Europe, but the application is pretty much the replacement for Internet Explorer in China. It currently has three editions, with the first two working on the same engine as Microsoft’s web navigation tool.
The third one aligns to the current trends and relies on the open-source WebKit, but also preserves Internet Explorer’s Trident rendering engine. Maxthon 3 takes advantage of the fact that it combines the two engines and allows you to switch between them in order to get the best web navigation experience, regardless of the website you visit.
Dual Display Engine feature allows you to switch to Ultra Mode powered by WebKit rendering engine for pages written for newer standards. If this mode shows the pages distorted, then you should turn to Retro Mode as you are most probably dealing with older pages. This is done automatically by the web browser, but you can also do it manually from the Address Bar options menu.
At the first launch of the web browser (there are no problems during the installation so we skipped this aspect) you will be presented a brief interactive tour that explains the main features of the software. It is recommended to go through with this as it does not take long and the tour uncovers very interesting possibilities available in the program.
Unlike the previous versions of Maxthon, the third edition gives up the traditional interface jam-packed with functions, and instead follows the pattern introduced by Google Chrome, all clear and with quick access at the options available. Although the resemblance with Google’s product is striking (after all, both of them have WebKit at the core) in that the two products have been created for browsing purposes and integrate only the features necessary for this activity, the Chinese browser packs some unique options.
Super Drag & Drop I’ve grown addicted to, has been preserved and lets you open web pages with a swipe of the mouse while clicking the link. The trick also works with selections of links in plain text. And if the selection is just a simple word, dragging it will initiate a search of that word using the selected search engine, in a new tab.
Mouse gestures, a feature that grows in popularity more and more these days and which is available in Firefox and Google Chrome through addons, has native support in Maxthon. The feature is so advanced that it practically lets you surf the web without touching the keyboard.
Gestures can be used for moving back and forward, refresh the page, open a new tab, switch to the right or left tab, close current tab or all the other tabs but the active one and even for minimizing the application (well, we kind of had some trouble with this one). By default the basic gestures are already assigned an action, but you can change it to fit your needs.
Another native feature is Maxton Multi Search. This search function is also present in the second edition, but here it has been refined and has the utmost functionality if you need results from different search engines. There are multiple categories (web, images, news, blog, reference), each equipped with preset search engines specialized for the type of search you initiate.
Thus if you are looking for images you will have on your side Google, Yahoo! Flickr, PicSearch, Ask and Bing; but for reference you get to use Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Wikipedia, Encarta, Britannica and Infomime. These can be customized and you can add more choices from the MultiSearch settings panel. Results load as soon as you select the engine whose results you want to view (it would be nice to be able to set priorities with search engines and have them load the results automatically in the background).
The smart address bar doubles as a search field as well, and uses the active tab to open the results of the default search engine. If you want to view them in a new tab, all you have to do is type the query in the search bar in the upper right hand side of the application window and hit Enter key.
Going places on the web with Maxthon 3 is a fast trip to the destination as the Google’s open source JavaScript engine, V8, does its job. Testing the application with SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, Maxthon averaged 861.3ms out of three runs, while Google Chrome proved to be snappier with an average of 679.6ms.
On the other hand, using V8 Benchmark Suite to compare the two, Maxthon 3 came on top of Google Chrome, with an average of 2875.6. Google’s web browsing solution scored an average of 2753.8. The data was crunched from the results of five tests ran, all browsing traces being cleared before restarting the web browsers.
However, when it comes to Acid3 test, Maxthon 3 failed. It was very close to the reference rendering, but what it showed was not pixel for pixel as it should. We also experienced some trouble when a tab would crash. This is isolated to tab level, and the application will not close, but all the other tabs you have opened would be affected and crash as well.
You can also store your passwords in the application, so that whenever you need login credentials you can fill the fields automatically. This feature is limited in options and you cannot add them beforehand; you can add a new set of credentials only when you visit the page that requires them. Also, we noticed that “Magic Fill” works only in Ultra Mode. Switch to Retro Mode and the application will do nothing.
On the bright side, Maxthon developers provide the option to have access to all your bookmarks at all times, from any computer, through their online favorites system. More than this, they offer synchronization options between various Maxthon installments on different computers, if you have a Maxthon account up and running. As soon as you log out your bookmarks become unavailable to other users.
The built-in download manager works pretty good, but some users may chalk it up against the fact that there is no alert for overwriting files and it simply goes through the download again, creating a copy of the already existent file. Moreover, time estimation for completing the download is inexistent; the only hints on the finish are the progress bar and, of course, your own calculation of download speed versus size of the file.
The WebKit rendering engine and the light set of functions puts Maxthon 3 on the same page as Google Chrome. It is a web browser designed to deliver fast web navigation equipped only with the options you truly need. And for the most of it, that is exactly what it does. Although it scored high with the V8 JavaScript test it does not beat Google Chrome’s speed as further testing showed it lag behind for about a second.
Also, it brings its own set of powerful options to the table (save for the dial list when opening a blank tab which is like Opera’s Speed Dial feature), like Super Drag & Drop, mouse gestures or Multi Search feature and online synchronization of bookmarks. But it also comes with its share of drawbacks like one tab’s crash affecting all the others, or Magic Fill feature depending on Ultra Mode.
It failed on the Acid3 test, although it was quite close to making it. We could not train ourselves to use minimize action with mouse gesture. Overall, Maxthon 3 is built for the user that needs fast browsing and a light interface equipped with what is absolutely necessary. Big on the downside, crashing of one tab will cause the crashing of all the tabs. Also, we have not found addons ready to expand the functionality of this edition if the user so desires (but they will most likely be made available). This article is also available in Spanish: Disfruta de la web con Maxthon 3
The Good
The Bad
The Truth
