Safari 4 a beta browser?
When Safari 3 was released on both Windows and Mac, not many Microsoft users were overly impressed with Apple’s browser, many Apple fanatics had an extremely hard time trying to defend it. However, thats all about to change with the brand new beta release of Safari 4. it’s fast, sexy and certainly a step up from it’s¬†predecessor.
So what are the most impressive features of this browser, and lets get down to the real question, is it a Firefox killer?
Apple claim that it’s Nitro engine can render javascript an impressive 4.2 times faster than Safari 3,¬†professing it as the world’s fastest and most¬†innovative¬†browser. From spending the last day abusing the beta version, I have to admit it is extremely fast and I have to give it brownie points for that.
As well a being an incredibly speedy browser, it also implements an exceptionally attractive user interface, which incorporates the Cover Flow feature from iTunes 7 and now pretty much every Apple product, making browsing your full history a lot easier and faster.
On top of this it loads up with a sleek homescreen featuring what Apple refer to as ‘top sites’ similar to Chrome and Opera’s homescreens.¬†However, we found this much more sexy, it is clearly something hot off the designing board at Apple. Not just because it has a fancy 3D view, but because you can choose the amount of mini-screens¬†you want it to display, you can also move them around, ‘pin’ the mini-screens you want to stay in a fixed position, and delete ones you don’t want showing.¬†Safari 4 also positions all the tabs across the top of the screen, losing the tradition title bar and placing the titles inside the tabs, something that some users may take some time to get used to, but overall does provide a much larger browsing screen.
Safari does however lack many of the feature we love about Firefox, mainly the awesome addons available on FF compared to the other browsers. While being a huge step up from Safari 3 in almost every way, it struggles to really set itself apart from the modern competition. Sure it is faster and looks amazing, but is that really enough to pull people away from their loyalties to other browsers?
The recent flow of new browsers and with Chrome hogging the spotlight, will Safari even get tested by Window users who bothered installing Safari 3?¬†I see this browser mainly appealing to people who own an iPhone and a MacBook Air, who find the idea of having¬†Cover Flow included in their browser (even if it is only to search through their history) an amazing experience. Basically ‘MacHeads’ as the documentary on Apple fanatics describes them. But still if you aren’t a ‘MacHead’ and maybe a ‘WinHead’ Safari 4 does at least deserve trying, it is fast and it is beautiful.
See all 150 features of Safari here.
What do you think? Has Apple created the world’s fastest and most innovative browser? Leave your comments below.
Written By Sam Logan, Senior Web Design at SJL.
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Safari 3 on windows was a major let down, hopefully you are right about safari 3! I will try downloading tonight.