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Launched on May 30th, 2018
One request: When the page is loaded without darkening, can that choice persist on subsequent pages of the same website? Would be neat if the status bar and navigation bar also changed to white.
I was skeptical at first as I have tried several browsers, and in my experience smaller companies/developers don't really compete well with larger ones such as Google or Apple. I received a code through the developer to test the app, and have now been using it for 12 days. For fair comparison I will mention I have mostly been using Chrome for the past year, prior to that I had been using Safari. For organizational purposes I'm going to break this up into 5 parts: appearance, battery, functionality, stability, and developer progress.
Appearance:
It's pretty obvious that the main marketing point of this browser is the dark mode theme, so it makes sense to start here. In comparison to the other browsers I've used, I find it to be one of the better looking ones. I have to say that I do prefer the look of chrome over Berry because the bar is at the top, leaving the bottom open which looks great on the iPhone X. That being said, factoring in the dark mode theme, the bar at the bottom blends in much better, and it does disappear when you scroll down, reappears when scrolling up. Going 100% on looks, I'd say Google looks better than the normal mode on Berry, but with dark mode I'd say Berry looks the best.
Battery:
In using Chrome on my iPhone X, my typical daily battery usage was about 21%. In the 12 days I've been using solely Berry, that usage has dropped to 7%. Not much else to be said, it clearly seems to save battery life over Chrome at least.
Functionality:
The developer clearly put a lot of thought into the use of this application. While I previously mentioned that I don't prefer the look of the bar being at the bottom, it definitely makes the browser easier to use, as it's much easier to reach. There are also a lot of little features that make this app great. The main feature I love is the ability to close all open tabs with one single button. Other features include: double tap or hard press the tab button to open a new tab, a very simplistic but useful new tab page, effective and efficient reader mode button, three finger swipe to swap between dark and normal mode (as well as adjust text brightness), hold refresh to open quick menu options, and several others than I'm sure I've missed. As a whole the app just seems to flow very nicely, and feels more natural when browsing. It's just as quick as Chrome was for me, in some circumstances quicker. I've been looking for a browser that can replace the Facebook app, and this works better than any other I've tried.
Stability:
Starting out I did have a few issues with getting certain pages to load properly, and websites with several images such as Facebook would freezer, or have issues with rendering properly. While there are still some issues when using dark mode, it is improving. When using in dark mode I'd say 90% of the time websites load fine and are viewable, and about 70% of the time images load properly on the first try (almost always appear properly after scrolling up and back down). While this sounds bad, it really doesn't affect usability as much I would have thought. While it can be a minor annoyance, it's incredibly easy to switch to normal mode, in which case I haven't experienced any issues. Considering the app is still very new, and in the 12 days that I've been using it I've already seen notable progress, I'd say even as it stands it's still a worthwhile investment.
Developer:
Normally I wouldn't really take the developer into consideration for reviewing an application, but I have had such a good experience that I feel it is worth mentioning. To be 100% upfront, I did receive a free trial code through Reddit, however I have had no prior relationship with the developer, nor do I receive anything for reviewing the application, whether good or bad. After a few days of using the application I had noted a few issues, as well as a few features that though would be nice to incorporate such as private browsing (now available, was not at the time). Within the hour I had a thorough response from the developer asking for clarification and providing reasoning and such. Within days the majority of issues were resolved, and features added. I have been in contact a few times sense for various issues, feature requests, and general question about the app, and he is always quick to respond. While this may not be the biggest factor when looking at an application, it does show promise in further development and future support for the app.
Looks promising, hoping developers listen to comments to improve for everyone !
Love that address bar is at bottom of screen.
Add individual bookmarks that I have accumulated over the years is daunting, makes me not even want to start using this browser.. Should be an easy add...