Review Of The New Edge Browser From Microsoft
It’s been long
anticipated and finally Microsoft Edge is here. The first thing I noticed was that the browser is not based on Internet Explorer (IE), it has been built from the ground up. The rebranding shows that Microsoft are trying to be more innovative – even down to the renaming of the browser, within a competitive market. It’s been rewritten for a better experience across all devices that support the web, especially in line with touch screens, which are now standard across mobile devices and also many PCs.
Slick And Quick
It doesn’t have problems displaying any kind of CSS properly including flexbox, which is the future of styling. I tested this on a few different websites and it always renders properly. The top bar is minimalistic and is based on icons, which gives it a really good and smooth, edgy look, based on flat design.
Some Welcome Gimmicks
The browser has many features – a few of which are worth describing here:
- Cortana – the virtual assistant that makes asking precise questions easier and more accurate, is part of the package. Cortana is already on Window’s smart phones.
- There is a Reading List option, where you can add things to read later, into a menu.
- Web Note is a feature that means you can make notes on web pages with a finger or stylus pen on a touchscreen and save them to the One Note app.
- It has the built-in ability to strip ads, which is very useful.
The advertised hardware requirements are the same as those for IE 11, but the browser seems to be loading faster and smoothly. That is a very refreshing change in comparison to older IE browsers. I did some testing and it looks like it beats Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox when it comes to speed, which is impressive and it uses less resources.
Generally, the browser looks very good. Will I be changing over to it myself? Yes, for now, due to speed, it’s a smart option to use it at work.
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