Vivaldi for Android thoughts

— Posted inUncategorized — 2 min read

Choosing the right Android browser for has always been about which browser keeps it the most simple, so in that case my daily driver has always been Cromite, and just normal good ol’ Firefox for extensions. But Vivaldi has many features that make me question my line of thinking.

First of all, the tab system that actually mimics desktop browsers is the most useful feature. This means that Vivaldi is probably the number one Android browser for landscape browsing. I know, landscape browsing on a mobile (not a tablet, or a laptop but a *mobile*) is not how most people use their phone browsers, but that is simply because browsers are not optimised for it. But the tab system makes it a lot easier to view it this way if one chooses to.

The sync system for Vivaldi is also a first-class feature, not for syncing tabs (which other browsers easily do) but because Vivaldi has added other features such as note taking. Note taking syncs seamlessly and immediately between PC and phone. If I need to jot something down on the PC, so I can download it on my Android later, I just copy/paste the URL and it appears in the Android browser in no time.

So Vivaldi is more feature rich and being a Chromium based browser, does not use as much battery as Firefox based browsers do on Android. It might just become a daily Android driver one day in the future for me.

Sceptical, but interested

— Posted inBrowser — 2 min read

Vivaldi will not be my daily driver, not by a long shot. Some of the source is proprietary and closed-source, it runs on Chromium whereas I prefer a Firefox based browser and this whole reputation nonsense in order to create an email address to try out is the only reason I’m writing this to be honest. The email function is solely what I wanted to see, as I have a strange fixation with trying out different email providers. Though I have to admit, the large amount of personalization that can be achieved in Vivaldi has me intrigued. And reading through its history, it does seem to be owned by someone who has great interest in seeing a independent browser succeed in this market. It is also based in Iceland and Norway, which both have great policies in regard to privacy. My other main focus, apart from trying out email providers, is privacy though, which is why I daily drive hardened Firefox and Mullvad Browser. Vivaldi will probably never reach the privacy levels of these two browsers, but its level of customization along with its company and its history has me keeping VIvaldi on my PC for a little while longer.