Microsoft’s days as the butt of internet jokes with the Internet Explorer have pretty much come to an end. Their introduction of Microsoft Edge for the PC has allowed them to go toe to toe with their more well-known opponents such as Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox.
At a glance
The Microsoft Edge looks clean and slick, as is expected from a modern mobile browser. The whole interface, however, looks very similar to Google. Users have customizable cards and shortcuts, giving updates from favorite sites and platforms right at the home screen. It also allows easy access to Bing’s reverse image search and an audio option a search to be made without typing.
Share content to your desktop browserEdge’s distinctive characteristic, is the presence of a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen which allows for forward, back, tabs, and settings.
It also has a button to push whatever content is on the phone to a linked PC via Microsoft Edge. The default search engine, is, of course, Microsoft’s Bing. This is easily changed via app settings.
Lightweight and fast
Microsoft Edge only takes up roughly 40-50MB of space. The number seems tiny, considering the massive amounts of storage that phones come with these days. But size does factor in for older devices. And setting it alongside its competition, Edge is quite a light browser.
Running the Edge on Android felt surprisingly good. The speed and fluidity of the browser are noticeable, vis a vis Chrome and UC Browser. The Edge also fared well in several benchmark tests for browser performance such as Basemark, Peacekeeper, and Jetstream.
Excellent Microsoft integration
The Microsoft Edge Browser a great browser. Concerning overall performance, it stacks up against the best of its competitors, but in many ways, it’s just another browser. Many of its features are already carried by its competitors such as Incognito and do-not-track modes that are available.
The full potential of Edge can be experienced with its integration into a larger Microsoft ecosystem. The browser shares the sleek look and feel of its desktop counterpart already allows users to continue work from mobile onto the PC quickly. Microsoft has also already released a launcher which further improves this dynamic.
Related story: Opera Touch: New Browser with Focus on Truly Mobile Users
Fans and enthusiasts will still have to wait for the Microsoft ecosystem as envisioned. Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant as well as response to Apple’s Siri and the Google Assistant, is still being tweaked for optimal integration with the Edge on mobile.
Microsoft Edge is available on the Google Play Store for Android and the iTunes App Store for iOS devices.
YouTube: Microsoft Edge for iOS and Android
Photo credit: The feature image is a screenshot of the Microsoft promotional video. The other images are comparisons prepared by and owned by Microsoft.
