First, make sure you have the latest update of Chrome Beta for Android — obvious, yes, but required. Next open a tab in Chrome and type chrome://flags in the address bar to see Chrome’s extra settings. Find the “Experimental Data Compression Proxy” mode, enable it and you’re done. So what happens now when browsing over a standard web connection? Google’s Chromium blog explains:

“This feature is powered by a connection to a SPDY proxy running on Google’s servers, paired with content optimization performed by our open-source PageSpeed libraries, specifically tuned for Chrome Beta on Android.

By using SPDY, the proxy is able to multiplex multiple request and response streams in parallel over a single TCP connection to your phone or tablet…   ….In addition, only HTTP traffic is routed through and optimized by the proxy, so secure (HTTPS) requests will bypass the proxy and continue to connect directly to the destination. Furthermore, DNS lookups are performed by the proxy, instead of on the mobile device. Turning on this experimental feature also enables Safe Browsing.”

Note that secured web traffic stays secure as it bypasses Google’s proxy servers. That means you won’t be giving up your online bank passwords or any similar data that uses an HTTPS connection from your Android.

Ideally, this service will not only speed up the mobile web experience, it could also reduce the amount of mobile broadband you use. All images from web page requests will automatically be compressed using Google’s WebP format, which uses less data than other popular image formats such as .JPG and .PNG. Google will also remove “unnecessary whitespace, comments, and other metadata which are not essential to render the page” for faster, lighter page loads.

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For a start, the URL and search bars are now one, much as is the case in Chrome. The startup screen has also been significantly overhauled, adding a curated content discovery feature that is slightly reminiscent of Google Currents, and a history page that is easier to access than before. Private browsing is now an option, as it is in rival mobile browsers these days.

On top of that, the Opera team has decided to tweak the Speed Dial concept: Speed Dial links are a narrow selection of favorite pages that show up on new tabs, and now Opera treats them like the bookmarks they are by allowing the user to organize them in folders.

Beyond these changes, the browser still includes the features that already make Opera popular with a subset of users, such as optional server-side compression to cut down on data usage and speed up page loads, and the ability to save pages for offline reading,

This was a much-needed overhaul. Opera’s problem has always been that it looked very different – that was because the company tried to do things differently, and they did succeed in introducing new concepts that others picked up on (Speed Dial was one and, at the risk of enraging Firefox fans, tabbed browsing was arguably another). This iteration has a very native-Android look, though not so much as to appear like a me-too browser. Features such as the combined URL/search bar may be unoriginal, but they were worth copying.

The start screen, meanwhile, is in my opinion now leaps ahead of the competition, being more intuitive, more feature-rich and perhaps even more attractive than that offered by Chrome. Bearing in mind that this is the first of the new Opera browsers to come out – expect revamps across the board – it’s a good omen of things to come.

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Horizon is somewhat interesting from a technical standpoint since browser extensions are something we don’t see in mobile. And it provides some usefulness in the browsing experience. But the way it’s implemented can come off as bloatware.

Horizon will come pre-installed in the stock browser but can be turned off by users. It will sit along the bottom of the browser offering up third-party services, such as sharing buttons for Twitter and Facebook and tools for calling up content from Amazon, IMDb, Yelp and other services.

The toolbar is meant to be intelligent, so it can respond to what a user is viewing at that moment. For example, a person shopping on a site can a receive an alert from Blue Kangaroo about a relevant deal, offer or coupon about the brand they’re visiting. An extension from Quixey allows users to get recommendations on apps based on what they’re browsing at the moment. IMDb’s extension can tell you more information about a movie you’re reading about. Skyfire is trying to recruit more developers to build out extensions for Horizon.

Jeff Glueck, CEO of Skyfire said Horizon gives carriers a chance to engage consumers by giving them a great experience that is customizable and adds value. And he said that carrier can use the tool bar to advertise and message their users.

“We’re giving them the ability to add value and earn back some valuable beach front real estate,” he said.

That’s great for the carriers, but for consumers, I’m not sure they are going to see it as a plus. People aren’t clamoring for the old carrier portals and walled gardens of the carriers. They’re happy to pick and choose what apps they want and what websites they visit. I’m not saying that operators shouldn’t create apps, but pre-installing a tool bar in my browser comes off as a bid for relevance. And if it starts to get loaded up with ads, something AT&T has yet to do so far, it will be even more of a turnoff. We have enough ads in our browsing experience without inviting our carrier to pile on more.

I wish Horizon was somehow offered to users instead of being pushed on them. If it’s a great piece of software, consumers will embrace it. The browser is one of those great apps that reminds users of the power of their smartphone because it connects to the all the content on the web. I can see why carriers would want to be part of that experience but trying to take over a piece of real estate in my browser is more of a sad attempt to turn back the clock.

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I’ve been using the final beta version of Firefox on a Samsung Galaxy S III for the past few days and can vouch for Mozilla’s claims. In both benchmark testing and regular use, Firefox is as fast — and often faster — than both the stock Android browser as well as the beta version of Google Chrome, which surprised me.

The speed benefits may be difficult to notice however: In the SunSpider JavaScript test, Firefox proved to be around 10 percent faster than its competitors. Mozilla has created its own test, called Eideticker, which is meant to measure actual end user performance tasks such as panning, zooming and measuring page rendering speeds.

I didn’t use Mozilla’s tests, but I like the approach of focusing on actual performance. Mozilla says it built Firefox for Android to score well in Eideticker, thus “yielding an experience that is two times faster than the stock browser.” I can’t say that my experiences were twice as fast compared to other browsers — it’s difficult to quantify — but Firefox is surely peppy in nearly every aspect. The initial startup is very fast and provides quick access to your most browsed sites as well as the tabs from your prior browsing session.

Here’s a look at other key features in Firefox, which include: a “do not track” option (off by default); a master password to protect saved web credentials; an add-on library of extensions; Firefox sync with the desktop browser; save pages as PDFs; improved HTML5 support and GPU-accelerated graphics rendering, to name a few.

The free browser is available in the Google Play app market and it’s certainly worth the download; especially if you use Firefox on your laptop or desktop.

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Among the other listed features for Firefox Mobile version 14:

• A new Awesome screen and easier access to top sites, bookmarks and history from the Awesome bar
• Plug-ins only loading upon touch
• Improvements in panning and zooming
• Google searches now use an https:// connection

There are still some bugs and glitches to be worked out as well as some missing features that Mozilla is still working on. You can’t, for example, select text on a web page yet, and Adobe Flash isn’t yet supported on Android 2.3 phones that use Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chip. Still, after spending a little time with the browser, it’s generally looking good. The interface shows more polish and refinement than ever before.

The new version is peppy, too: I ran the SunSpider JavaScript test using my Galaxy Nexus and Firefox, which yielded a result of 1675 ms. That’s statistically equal to Chrome for Android, which scores 1648 ms on the same phone. (Note: a smaller number is better for this test). Even though Firefox can sync desktop bookmarks, just like Chrome does, this new beta is still too limited for daily use. But folks that use Android in the hand and Firefox on the desktop will surely want to follow Mozilla’s progress.

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While the analysis of such an outcome makes sense, there’s a key problem that history has already proven true: Odds of a third-party browser on iOS becoming a major success are very limited at best.

Why? Because although Apple now allows such browsers — it originally didn’t — none of them can be set as the default browser, meaning all links in emails, texts or other apps will always open in Safari, regardless of what other browsers are installed. That’s a big usability barrier that gives Safari a competitive advantage on iOS, no matter how great Chrome is. Ironically, Google (as well as Mozilla) are grumbling about Microsoft giving its own Internet Explorer an advantage on Windows 8 as well.

Macquarie’s note suggests that Chrome for iOS will get approved this quarter and is likely to have such limitations. I can’t speak to the timing, but I have zero doubt that the current default browser limitation will apply to a version of Chrome on Apple devices, just as it does with Dolphin HD, Opera and others.

Apple has always had full control of its smartphones and tablets; it’s one of the platforms selling points and there’s simply no reason to think that’s going to change. And while Chrome for Android can sync bookmarks with its desktop counterpart, so too can Safari between its mobile and desktop versions. The mobile version of Chrome now shows open desktop tabs as well, but there’s no reason Apple can’t add such functionality through its iCloud service.

Much of Macquarie’s analysis hinges on the believe that mobile browser wars are beginning, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But the expectation that Google will gain a large benefit from releasing Chrome on iOS is based on how Google has done in the desktop browser wars and that’s a huge mistake in my opinion. The desktop paradigm is decades old, and to assume the mobile market will simply follow the same path is an error in judgment. Chrome for iOS may indeed appear and some few will use it, but Google isn’t likely to gain much. Instead, users are best poised to get a benefit as some of the better features in Chrome could find their way in future versions of mobile Safari.

Thumbnail image courtesy of MyDroidWorld

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The Skitch add-on brings the ability to draw or make notes on any web content in the browser. Users will need to install the free Skitch app on their Android phone or tablet for Dolphin Browser support. Skitch is already a handy utility on desktops, but I see the value in adding the app to a mobile browser. Think of annotating images, maps or text from a web page and then sending those to a friend or family member.

Evernote was already on my must-have app list due to its support for most desktop and mobile platforms; it gives you a ready-to-use notebook in the cloud for ideas, text, images, links and even audio notes or videos. With the new Evernote add-on for Dolphin Browser, it becomes easier to capture and save such digital objects.

As more people browse the web on mobile devices, these two add-ons make sense for the Dolphin Browser team. Instead of relying on a dedicated app to capture or store ideas — Evernote has a mobile app, for example — you can now browse the web and easily save text, links or media seamlessly among such apps.

Nearly a year ago, I provided 8 reasons for Android owners to try the Dolphin Browser. With Tuesday’s news, that list just increased to 10 reasons.

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ComScore said that 44.9 percent of people used apps in November, compared to 44.4 percent who used a browser. That appears to mark the first time since comScore started noting mobile content usage that app usage has surpassed browser usage. Apps have trailed the browser by just a few percentage points for most of the last two years, but people have still preferred the browser until now.

This follows a similar finding from earlier this year from Flurry, which found that minutes spent per day on apps eclipsed that of time spent on a browser for the first time in June. As some of our commenters noted, it doesn’t necessarily mean that HTML5 is waning, and in fact, some apps are built in HTML5 and wrapped with a native shell. But it shows that people’s interest in apps continues to grow, and that there is value for a lot of people in purpose-driven software that can take them directly to what they want or can make better use of their mobile hardware.

According to other comScore data, Android is close to taking a majority of all smartphone users in the U.S., with its market share growing to 46.9 percent in November, up from 43.8 percent in August. Apple also managed to grow to 28.7 percent, up from 27.3 percent in August. The two leaders continue to sap away market share from Research in Motion, which saw its market share decline from 19.7 percent to 16.6 percent over the same period. Microsoft also continues to wait for Windows Phone 7 to begin gaining traction. Its share of the smartphone market in the U.S. declined from 5.7 percent to 5.2 percent.

These two big data points aren’t completely unrelated. Users love their apps and the two most robust app platforms are iOS and Android. As subscribers continue to prize smartphones for their apps, they will increasingly look to the platforms that give them the best quality and selection of mobile software titles. That’s obviously not the only reason to buy a phone, but it shows again why it’s so hard for RIM and Microsoft to hold their own or close the distance on Apple and Google. They must overcome iOS and Android’s app advantage.

I think Microsoft has done a better job than RIM in cultivating a good mix of apps, but developers are going to be hesitant to really commit more than they already do to Windows Phone 7 when its market share is so small. It becomes a tough cycle to break for a platform like WP7 that got started late, or an OS like BlackBerry, which has hardware that doesn’t showcase apps as well as the competition.

Over time, if the pendulum swings the other way and people start turning to the browser much more, there might be an opportunity for a challenger to move ahead if the emphasis on apps is lessened. But with HTML5 still evolving and potentially always a step behind for some more intensive apps, it’s unclear how much advantage can be gained. And Android and iOS will still provide great browsing experiences as well, so it’s not clear that the rise of HTML5 will shake things up dramatically. This is partly why I’ve been skeptical about Windows Phone 7 leaping into second place in the smartphone wars by 2015. It could still happen, but it’s complicated by carrier and manufacturer relationships. And I think it’s important to remember that apps matter greatly, and will be a key factor in determining the smartphone wars.

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I probably should have looked closer at Evernote prior to Clearly, because the product has supported web clipping for ages. And it has clients for most of the mobile platforms out there today: iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and even webOS. Clearly includes the same web clipping technology Evernote already had, but adds another key function: Cleaner reading of web pages on the desktop. In fact, its very similar to the Reader function in Apple’s Safari browser because it removes everything from a web page except for the content and then presents it in a clean, easy to read format.

Evernote Clearly is available for both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, and I’ve been using more and more on the desktop to view web pages. There are three themes available to view web content — Newsprint, Notable and Night Owl — and you can quickly modify the text between three different sizes. Once I started to use Clearly to read on the desktop it only made sense to start clipping pages to Evernote for offline viewing, as the button to do so is right there in the browser extension.

This add-on won’t help you save web content for offline use if you’re already reading it on a mobile device, but it’s superb for saving web pages from the desktop for later reading on a mobile. The pages are saved as standard notes in the Evernote client, which is available on nearly all mobile devices. I’m finding this to be the best option for the way I work right now, and something worth a try for anyone who uses a mobile device for reading offline content; especially if you’re already using Evernote for something else.

Obviously, it’s not the only option. If you’re embedded in the iOS and OS X world, then Instapaper probably makes the most sense, as does the Reader function in Safari. Besides, iOS 5 brought the “Read Later” function to iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices.

Android users might prefer Read It Later for offline web reading, especially if the Dolphin Browser is the web client of choice. Why? There’s a Read It Later extension for the mobile browser. But even the stock browser in Android can share or save pages to Read It Later. I was relying on both of these methods, depending on which device I was using at the time, but with Evernote Clearly, I’m well covered on the desktop and any mobile device I use thanks to the Evernote client.

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Focusing on three updated and new functions — bookmarks, requests and news feed — Facebook says of its mobile platform:

[We are] extending Facebook Platform on mobile, bringing all the social channels that have helped apps and games reach hundreds of millions of users on the Web to mobile apps and websites. You can now easily reach the 350 million people who use Facebook every month on a mobile device, including iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and our mobile web site.

We are at the beginning of bringing Facebook Platform apps to mobile. The features we are launching today are still under development. They will evolve as we learn more about building richer social experiences on mobile devices. In addition, we will extend our native support for more mobile platforms such as Android in the near future.

With the changes, an app bookmark is automatically added to the web-based Facebook app when a user interacts with a mobile app; increasing the odds of re-engagement in the future. The updated requests feature now includes invites to mobile apps and games from friends. And the news feed now includes the use of mobile apps, complete with a link so that friends can tap and see the app for themselves. A new store of about a dozen web apps is also available today and corresponds to the news not just on support for mobile apps, but ways to promote them.

In the browser on my Android device, I hit the app directory at 
http://fb.me/mobileappshowcase
where I played a hand of poker with others on Facebook. The app appeared like a native version; if someone showed it to me, I never would have guessed I was in a browser. And later, I checked the web version of Facebook and found a bookmark to the poker app. I’m likely to play more as a result.

So while a long-awaited iOS version of Facebook debuts today, in my opinion, the long-term growth of Facebook is more likely to come from the continued use of web technologies which provide a relatively common code base across platforms and similar user experience across devices.

While Apple and Google focus more on native apps and app stores, Facebook is pushing forward to legitimize web-apps as a future mobile strategy. And I’m not saying that just because I won $38,900 on that poker hand by drawing a straight to the eight. (True story!)

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