Software : Updated: Best browser 2014: which should you be using? |
| Updated: Best browser 2014: which should you be using? Posted:  Best browser: which should you be using?Back in the old days there was just one browser, and everyone was happy. Okay, maybe not happy, but it was certainly easier to decide which browser to run when the answer was always Netscape. Now, though, it's much more complicated - not least because the big browsers appear to be updated every fourteen minutes and boast more options than the world's most complicated Swiss Army Knife. So which browser is best for you? Is it the same answer on Windows 8 as Windows XP? Should Mac owners stick with the Apple option or go Google? There's only one way to find out, and that's to put the big browsers head to head and see where they shine or struggle. We're comparing moving targets, of course: for example, while Firefox 28 is pretty great the incoming Firefox 29, which introduces the new Australis interface, is already available as a beta. To keep our comparisons fair, though, we're sticking with the most recent final releases. On Windows that means Internet Explorer 11, Firefox 28, Chrome 33, Opera 20 and Safari 5.1.7, all available on Windows 8.1. Best browser for speedBrowsers don't generally feel sluggish any more, but there are still crucial differences in the way they do things, especially web apps. The venerable Sunspider benchmark is a good indication of how well a browser performs under pressure, and the lower the score the faster the browser. At the risk of sounding like an Upworthy headline here: we tested all the major browsers in Sunspider. Their scores may surprise you.
As you can see, Internet Explorer (both the desktop and modern incarnations) isn't just ahead, but ahead by a significant amount.
Best browser for add-onsFirefox has long been the king of this particular category, its combination of add-ons, Pin Tabs for web apps and Greasemonkey scripts making it the power user's friend. Chrome isn't far behind, however, and its reach now extends to your desktop in the form of Chrome Desktop Apps and Google Now notifications, which began rolling out to Chrome users in late March. Opera has changed its rendering engine and now uses the same technology as Chrome, which means Chromium extensions can work on the Opera browser. Opera's extension gallery is much smaller than Google's, but it's early days and big hitters such as Evernote, Pocket and AdBlock Plus are present. It's also a very nice looking browser; to our eyes it's much, much better looking than its rivals. Internet Explorer isn't in last place here: that honour goes to Safari, whose extensions gallery is smaller than something very small indeed.
Best browser for Windows 8As we've already seen, for sheer speed Internet Explorer wins easily over the other browsers. Now that Firefox has dumped its touch-based Modern browser for Windows 8, IE's pretty much the only sensible choice for Windows tablets and touch screens. In desktop mode the picture is cloudier. IE has the speed but there isn't that much in it, both Firefox and Chrome are more expandable and have better synchronisation options. There's essentially nothing to choose between the two IE rivals in terms of speed, so the choice really comes down to which one has the add-ons and synchronisation options you need. Safari can't cut it in this company: the most recent version, 5.1.7, was released in 2012 and it felt pretty half-arsed then. There's absolutely no reason to consider it now: even Apple's own iCloud Control Panel eschews it in favour of Firefox and Chrome.
Best browser for Windows 7It's the same story here as it was for Windows 8. Internet Explorer wins on speed, Chrome and Firefox have the edge on expandability, Opera's nicer to look at and Safari's up on bricks with the wheels removed. Best browser for Windows XP and Windows VistaInternet Explorer takes an early bath here because it only goes back as far as Windows 7. If you want a modern browser on an ageing Windows, our choice would be Chrome. It's good as far back as Windows XP SP2+ and its spec for "optimal" performance is a Pentium 4 with 100MB of disk space and 128MB of RAM. You can buy fridges that are more powerful than that. Best browser: continuedBest browser for OS XSafari on OS X hasn't suffered the same neglect as its ill-fated Windows sibling. On OS X we're currently on version 7.0.2, which offers iCloud bookmark syncing, shared links from your social media accounts and power optimisation that promises to get more life from your laptop. That doesn't mean it's necessarily the best choice for Mac users, though. On Sunspider, our copy repeatedly took ten minutes to run (benchmarks normally execute in a matter of seconds) and returned a page full of errors. Here's how the other browsers stacked up:
There are other reasons to consider alternatives to Safari. We've found it often chokes when we've got lots of tabs open or when we're browsing image-heavy sites such as Tumblr, and it's no stranger to the frustrated Force-Quit when it makes the entire system unresponsive. In this company we think Chrome has a narrow lead, although if it has the extensions you need the redesigned Opera is very nice on OS X too.
Best browser for privacyAll the major browsers have private browsing modes to prevent your partner seeing what you've been surfing or shopping for. But if you're really serious about privacy you'll need to turn to the world of add-ons and extensions such as HTTPS Everywhere, Disconnect or AdBlock Plus. Firefox and Chrome have the edge here, possibly because the kind of people who take security and privacy seriously are the kind of people who want more than just a basic browser. Opera's new Chromium-based extensions include our three examples too. IE isn't entirely extension-free, but its rivals do have a wider selection of tools to cover your tracks. Best for HTML5The HTML5test awards up to 555 points for standards compliance: the bigger the score, the more standards compliant the browser is. Chrome is head and shoulders above the competition here, while Safari limps in in sixth and last place.
Best browser for AndroidIf it's sheer power you're after then Dolphin is the winner here. It's fast, very expandable, packed with features and has a deserved four-and-a-half-star rating after a million and a half user reviews. But it's not the only option. If you don't need Dolphin's many options you'll be perfectly happy with Chrome, and if you're using Firefox on the desktop then Firefox Browser for Android's syncing will keep you happy. Best browser for iPadOur answer to this one would have been very different if Apple hadn't shipped iOS 7.1. The version of Safari in the previous iOS 7 release was incredibly and frustratingly prone to crashing, the updated one is much more stable (it hasn't bumped us once despite constant daily use). Safari also has one feature rivals can't possibly offer: being the default handler for web links. While other apps have their joys - Dolphin is handy, Chrome ties in nicely with Google's other programs and services and Coast by Opera is nippy - Safari's OS integration gives it an unfair advantage.
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| Interview: How Evernote became the elephant in 90 million rooms Posted:  Going globalThere's been a few famous elephants over the years - from Dumbo's big-eared protagonist to the star of that 90s Rolo commercial. California-based Evernote's logo, a grey elephant, is perhaps the most recognised trunk-toting mammal among fans of cloud-based productivity software in 2014. More than 90 million people now use the company's digital writing and archiving service, which lets you store, organise and sync text-based 'notes' and other media across desktop and mobile devices. Not bad for an elephant that's lousy at circus tricks. According to Linda Kozlowski, head of International Marketing at Evernote, the company's growth is showing no signs of slowing down and is mostly driven by "accelerated word of mouth". "We still don't do a ton of traditional advertising," she says. "It's more about how we expand on word-of-mouth by spotting patterns and letting users tell us what they're interested in so we can serve those needs."
Going globalKozlowski believes that it was necessary for the company to develop a global mindset from day one as 73% of its users reside outside of the US. Doing so allowed it to focus on geographical markets, she adds, with one of the first big wins coming after the company added handwriting recognition for 31 languages, as well as Asian character support. This led to a surge in adoption in Japan and China when combined with the integration of Evernote into LiveScribe's Wifi smartpens in 2010, marking a successful foray into the hardware business. "The combination of handwriting recognition, new input devices and the ability to capture information on the go using mobile devices proved the perfect formula for us," says Kozlowski. "That merging of physical and digital is where we're going next, and it's where we'll see the innovation."
Inner beautyAs the mnemonic goes, big elephants are supposedly ugly, but Kozlowski maintains that tying Evernote to hardware is all about bringing out the beauty in devices, a practice that has gone missing in recent times. "Somehow over the last 20 years there became this artificial separation of software and hardware, which we feel is coming back together," she says. "Those experiences are very important to each other. If you have something that's beautifully designed but doesn't run well, what good is it?" The company now has a growing list of hardware partners that includes Moleskin and Fujitsu, which have released Evernote-compatible 'Smart Notebooks' and printers respectively. Evernote is also keeping a keen eye on developments in wearable technology as it treads the hardware path, outing apps for Google Glass and smartwatches, including the Samsung Galaxy Gear. The app for the latter serves up tailored features such as displaying scheduled reminders with associated notes, and the device's camera lets you upload snapped pictures and recorded audio straight into Evernote. For Kozlowski, added convenience will be the main benefit offered by wearables (as opposed to, say, taking photographs). Achieving this in a way that "makes sense" has been taken on by the company's Augmented Intelligence unit, she says, which was setup to make the process of using Evernote with products "more natural".
"It's early days, and the only way you can figure it out, the same as everything else, is to jump in at the beginning and learn how people are using them," she says. "Wearables are really interesting in that information can be served up that's relevant to you at that moment, but it has to be done in a way that's elegant and not creepy." Evernote takes a process-driven view to Augmented Intelligence, Kozlowski adds, comparing the company's strategy around products to how sports companies tap into their customers' long-term ambitions. "It's like what our Phil [Libin - Evernote's CEO] said about Evernote wanting to be 'Nike for your brain'," she says. "Nike is an example of where you buy a pair of something because you want to be fit. We want you to buy something from Evernote because you want to be smart. That's our ultimate goal." Business brainAn area the standard version of Evernote hasn't gone into is collaboration as the experience is ultimately a personal, or "inherently anti-social" one, according to Kozlowski. To introduce collaboration, the company launched a separate product, Evernote Business, in 2011. While the interface only features subtle differences, Evernote Business separates personal and business Notebooks while taking advantage of Evernote's global search capabilities to not only locate searchable data, but also suggest potentially useful related information. "As you're working on projects and typing notes, you can see which colleagues have similar search knowledge, which can save a huge amount of time," says Kozlowski. "It brings the people aspect into focus as you can start to see expertise trends in the company."
Use casesAs with the regular version of Evernote, the business-flavoured option presents equal scope for innovation when it comes to putting the service to use. Kozlowski points to an Evernote Business use case in Korea, where staff at a hospital for the elderly are using iPads to share notes on anything from patients' family backgrounds to their taste in music, lighting and colour preferences - all of which she says are used to provide better care both medically and emotionally. Other use cases are perhaps less obvious. Buddhist monks in San Francisco use it to manage concepts and thoughts, and it's apparently popular among mining companies which take advantage of its offline capabilities by penning notes below the surface and synching them when hoisted back up. Additionally, a car garage in Australia gives its mechanics iPads to record videos of repairs being carried out, which are uploaded to Notebooks that are shared with owners of the vehicles in a bid to increase trust. Aside from its collaborative features, Evernote Business also includes ones not found in the standard version, including a Powerpoint-like presentation mode that displays notes full-screen. The company also partnered with Salesforce.com in 2013 to make Evernote-stored notes and information directly accessible in sales records for faster retrieval.
Consumer-ledKozlowski says that the company consciously kept a simplistic, consumer-style design for the business product to let workers "do everything in an interface that's as beautifully designed as something that you would invest in for your personal life". In Kozlowski's eyes, simplicity in design, along with the flexibility afforded by the cloud, mirrors the "office of the future" where employees don't have desk phones (instead using mobiles) and aren't tied to stationary PC terminals. "I think that design will become more important in offices in the same way that it's becoming more important in software," she says. "People want a beautiful environment at work - it's inspiring and makes you think better." The idea of elegant design and cross-platform support has gained traction recently following the launch of Microsoft's well-received, albeit long-delayed Office for iPad. It also let loose a free version of OneNote for Mac, a software suite often touted as Evernote's closest competitor. It could be said that serious competition to rival Evernote is long overdue, but Kozlowski is confident that the emergence of new rivals won't keep the company's employees up at night. "We have a philosophy of not thinking about our competitors, because if we did that we'd forget about what we want to do," she says. "We kinda like the idea of not having to get up in the morning worrying about who we need to compete against." That may be the case, but keeping its trunk ahead of the competition will always be a top priority for the company. Though challenging, when you're an elephant the size of Evernote, it's far from an impossible tusk. |
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