One of the biggest improvements in the upcoming BlackBerry 6 mobile operating system is the new and improved BlackBerry web browser. The new browser is based on Webkit, like the browsers for iOS and Android devices. And we’ve gotten a few glimpses of the browser in action over the last few months. But now the folks at Research in Motion have posted a detailed description of the new browser. Here are some of the highlights:

• New start page with a focus on bookmarks and search
• Tabbed browsing
• Support for subscribing to RSS feeds
• Smoother panning and zooming
• Pinch to zoom on touchscreen phones
• Faster page rendering and support for web standards

You can find more details at the BlackBerry blog.

There are generally two ways to zoom in and out of web pages and images on Google Android devices: You can use two fingers to pinch and zoom or double tap with a single finger to zoom. The xScope web browser offers a third way. Double tap, hold, and drag your finger left and right to zoom in and out. It may sound like a complicated maneuver, but if you’re holding a phone in one hand, or if you have a device that doesn’t support multitouch, it’s actually really easy to use. And it’s far faster and more precise than Android’s vanilla double-tap to zoom feature.

But that’s just one of the things that makes xScope worth checking out. I’ve shot a brief video of the user interface, which you can check out after the break. But here are just a few of the cool features in this browser:

• Full screen mode which removes the Android taskbar
• Scroll on the xScope address bar to reveal additional functions
• Create new tabs by tapping and holding a link, or hitting the tab button from the address bar
• Optional feature lets you scroll up and down using your phone’s volume buttons
• Ability to set the default page zoom level
• Start page offers an Opera Speed Dial-like list of bookmarks
• Built in downloader and file browser
• Task manager lets you kill running tasks to free up memory

The xScope browser comes in free and paid versions, with the full version costing $2.99. The paid version offers the ability to store more favorites and to open files, but the free version is quite functional. In fact, it’s the first third party browser I’ve tried that I like enough to seriously consider making my default browser.

There are two versions of xScope, with one version designed to run on Android 2.0 and newer devices, while another build is available (without multitouch support) for Android 1.6 and older devices. Both versions are available in the Android Market.

You an read more about xScope in the developers’ thread at the Android Forums. Or you can check out a brief user manual. And you can check out my hands-on video after the break.

via Android Community

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SPIDERSS is a web browser for Google Android that includes built-in RSS reader and integration with Facebook and Twitter for getting the latest updates from your friends — or sharing links to web pages via social networks, email, or SMS.

The browser is still in public beta, and to be honest, it’s kind of overly complicated. For instance, in order to enter a URL, bookmark a page, zoom in or out of a web page, or adjust other settings, you need to hit the Android settings button to bring up the menu. And it doesn’t disappear when you’ve completed an action. You need to hit the settings button again to make the menu go away. While testing the app, I constantly found myself entering a URL to load a web page and then clicking on the screen to scroll only to realize that I couldn’t until I made the menu disappear.

The SPIDERSS browser is based on Webkit and it loads pages reasonably quickly, although the default font is a bit unpleasant. And when you zoom out of a web page, the text becomes completely illegible almost immediately, which makes it a bit tough to navigate.

But if you’re looking for a single app for all your RSS, browsing, and social networking needs, this may be your only choice. Of course, part of the beauty of Google Android is that you can multitask. So it might be easier to just run 2-3 separate apps that you really like and toggle between them as necessary instead of running one beta app that’s still kind of rough around the edges.

via TechCrunch