Atomic Web Browser – iPad App Review
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Still looking for different web browsing options? If you are, you may want to take a quick look at Atomic Web Browser. It is quite the useful app.
Atomic Web’s main attractive feature is tabbed browsing. If you are used to browsing on your smartphone, let’s say the iPhone or the Droid, you probably never had much use for tabs. Opening multiple background windows could make it a bit messy. On your iPad’s big screen, being able to bounce between multiple pages is essential.
Atomic Web Browser handles tabs like your desktop browser. It will display tabs directly underneath the address bar. When you press and hold on a link, a contextual menu allows you to open the page in a foreground or background tab. What I liked the most is how quickly you can switch between tabs. Switching between tabs is almost instantaneous.
Atomic Web Browser has several additional features. It gives you excellent full screen browsing and reading. In addition, it comes with user built-in Adblock, Facebook and Twitter integration, support for multiple search engines, find-in-page search, rotation lock, offline page viewing, adjustable fonts, bookmarks with folder support, automatic tab restoration, image block, a large library of bookmark scripts, source viewing, and the ability to assign your own multi-touch gestures.
My main complain is not related to Atomic Web browser. It is not even their fault. It is more related to the way your iPad OS handles background privileges. You can’t set Atomic Web Browser as your default. Safari is part of your OS core, so you can’t make Web apps open in Atomic Web Browser from the home screen. A workaround would be to install a “bookmarklet” in Safari that jumps to Atomic Web.
Atomic Web’s theme is not as pretty as Safari’s color theme. However, it still looks quite good on your iPad. We have also heard that upcoming version 3.0 will have a revamped UI for your iPad.
What we liked: The main attractive feature is tabbed browsing. It feels great to browse multiple web pages. For $0.99 you get lots of features.
What we didn’t like: The biggest complain is that after you exit the app, the next time you start up it has to reload all your pages again. It will do so, even if you set the browser to preserve all open tabs after exiting. Perhaps, this is something that will be fixed in future releases.
To buy or not to buy: The issues mentioned in this review should not prevent you from trying this app. For $0.99 you get lots of features. You should give it a try. If you are still unsure about it, simply download Atomic Web Browser Lite (free version).
- App Name: Atomic Web Browser
- Developer: Richard Trautvetter
- Version used for this review: 2.9
- Price when reviewed: $0.99
Score: 
