Safari Most Usable of Mobile Browsers, Study Says
Fixya reports in a new study that Safari was found to be the most usable of mobile browsers.
Fixya, a tech-support site, found that of the most common mobile browsers – including Opera, Chrome, Internet Explorer and the stock Android browser – Safari was the most “usable”. The scores were assigned based on problems reported on Fixya as compared to the total percentage of complaints versus the expected share according to the user install base.
Safari was lauded primarily for its simplicity while it took hits due to limited screen real estate.
"With more and more people doing the majority of their browsing on their smart devices, especially in mobile-first countries where people are doing almost all of their browsing this way, it's important to compare these browsers to find out how, exactly, they stack up against each other," said Fixya CEO and founder Yaniv Bensadon.
Coming in next was the stock Android browser, also praised for its minimal design and Flash support. Topping the list of problems, though, was the browser’s instability. Chrome and IE were at the bottom of the list and were listed as being a faithful version of the desktop software, but suffering from tab issues and poor web page rendering, respectively.
At the end of the day, though, these numbers are all subjective. I, for one, haven’t had a problem with my mobile Chrome browser since I’ve started using it. If you’re looking for a more numbers-driven comparison for your desktop browser choice, you can find of our desktop browser benchmarks here.
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sykozis So, we're basing the usability of a web browser, on a site where the goal is to provide answers to questions posted by utterly clueless people? Most of the questions I've seen posted on that site, could be answers with a 30sec google search or by simply opening your eyes.Reply -
sykozis Forgot... Exactly where is this "study" as it appears to be simply an opinion provided by the CEO of the site based on the site's user postings... Even the source (which is questionable) provides absolutely none of the data necessary to even call this a "study".Reply -
sean1357 Of course, billions iPads are for billions users for Safari browser....I have 6 already....Reply -
house70 This "study" just confirms what everyone already knows: while other OS users are capable of doing some research and experimenting with other browser options, iOS users are limited (intellectually or otherwise) in that aspect. Most of them are probably oblivious to the fact that there is a whole world out there, outside their golden cage.Reply
Nothing new here...
In other news, the iPhone 5s' sensors are still borked and Apple is still mum about it, like it's a non-issue. Every other tech site have signaled this, even the ones that are traditionally pro-Apple. Go figure... -
Steve Van Loenen This study is fundamentally flawed. Safari, android stock/chrome, and internet explorer are platform specific and there fore can not be accurately tested against each other.Reply -
x2ruff4u Safari was great until the iOS7 update. It stutters so much and not to mention the whole os + vertigo I get. I wish I could go back.Reply -
gm0n3y So this is comparing user complaints on their site to the size of the install base. There are a couple of problems here:Reply
1) Any android/ios user that uses chrome/opera/etc also has the stock Android/ios browser installed. So the install base doesn't accurately reflect usage for stock browsers.
2) Users that actually do stick with just the stock browser are far less likely to go to a website to complain. For example, my parents are in their 60s and have iphones and they would never go to a tech support site.
Unless Safari has gotten far better than it was on my old 3GS, I have to say that there is no way that it is the most usable. And what 'tab issues' are there with Chrome? I've been using it for years (iPhone and Android) and haven't had any problems with tabs. It does crash occasionally though.