Bump off Google's default Android browser

Jessica Dolcourt, Senior Associate Editor March 19, 2010

It isn't bad by any means, but Google's default browser for Android phones is a little vanilla. The browser will open more than one Web site at a time, but doesn't place tabs side-by-side for at-a-glance viewing. It handles bookmarking, text search, downloads, and text selection, but lacks visual flair while scooting out of some extras, like voice search and setting a home page.

Luckily, you've got options, and they all feature browser tabs. Dolphin Browser was one of the first alternatives to hit the market, bringing with it an interesting design, RSS feeds, the ability to flag a page for later consumption, and it has a tie-in to Delicious. xScope Web Task File Browser isn't such a looker, but it lets you customize a dashboard of favorite sites, can set a home page, and includes a task-killer. The graphically rich Opera Mini 5 beta has style sewn up with its eye-candy design. Speed Dial gets you to favorite sites quickly, and Opera desktops users benefit from syncing bookmarks and history with Opera Link.

We've got videos for all three of these alt-browsers, so you can see them in action before choosing which one to bump off Google's default on your Android smartphone.