The Samsung Internet Browser is generally known to be one of the best web browsers available on Android phones. This is because of its support for extensions like Amazon Assistant for finding the best deal or the built-in ad blocking support. Samsung posted to their blog to announce a few new features. This beta update includes the new Do Not Track mode, faster downloads from parallel downloading, Quick Access sync, and an updated Chromium engine. All of these updates to the web browser should mean you get a better and faster web browsing experience on any Android 5.0+ device.
The new Do Not Track is under the privacy menu in the browser settings. This sends a Do Not Track request to the website so it doesn’t track your browsing habits. This would mean it requests for Google to not track what other sites you visit so it can’t serve personalized ads. Samsung says this will help with user privacy. It is disabled by default but you can enable it at any time in the browser’s settings.
They also added a new optimized download system for faster file downloads. This new system will split each download into smaller chunks in which it can download separately at the same time. The chunks will all be downloaded at the same time in parallel connections. This is only for larger files, though Samsung didn’t say what constitutes a large file. Samsung said that download speeds can be 15-40% faster depending on network availability and system configuration.
The next new feature is Quick Access Sync. This allows for the quick access bookmarks saved to be synced between devices using Smart Switch. Those who factory reset or switch phones a lot will find this handy. Smart Switch is Samsung’s backup and restore software which also allows for you to transfer data between iOS and Android devices. Smart Switch will now back up and transfer these bookmarks.
Lastly, Samsung updated the Chromium engine behind Samsung Internet. Samsung Internet v7.X used Chromium M59. This has now been updated to Chromium M63 in Samsung Internet v8.X. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is running Chromium M63. The older Samsung Galaxy and Note phones should be getting an update to Samsung Internet v8.2 once it is out of beta and officially launched. Chromium M63 adds JavaScript Modules, including dynamic imports, CSS properties like font-display, overscroll-behavior, and navigator.connection, which reports back network information. All of these are to better support web developers.
Samsung updating and supporting the web browser is good to see. They have had a habit of really bad software support, like taking over 6 months to update the Samsung Galaxy S8 to Android Oreo. At least Samsung is able to get timely updates for one of their products. This beta is available in the Play Store to anyone with an Android 5.0+ device.
Samsung Internet Browser Beta (Free, Google Play) →
Source: Samsung Internet Dev
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