dolphin hd - for some reason we don't have an alt tag here

My preferred browser: Dolphin HD (Android)

July 19, 2012 Andreas Ødegård 2 Comments Android Apps, Featured, My preferred app

One of the hands down biggest differences between iOS and Android for me is Dolphin Browser – not browsers in general, and despite the fact that Dolphin is on iOS too. The reason is very simple: Plugins. Dolphin browser on Android supports plugins, and more specifically, there’s a LastPass plugin for it. LastPass is a password management service that allows you to access a secure vault of passwords from anywhere, and also auto-login to sites using a master password if the browser has a direct plugin.

On iOS, LastPass is only available as a standalone app, and to use it with Safari you have to go back and forth and copy passwords. All my passwords are unique and randomly generated strings of letters and numbers, so there’s no way I can visit the sites I use on my computer unless LastPass is there to log me in. As such, the browser on my iPad is practically useless, since I can’t do anything I normally do without lots of extra hassle. With Dolphin HD, it logs me in just like on my PC browser, which in turn actually allows me to use the browser like I would on my computer.

Truth be told though, I wouldn’t be using Dolphin browser if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s the only browser out there with a Lastpass plugin. If/when such a plugin comes to Chrome for Android, I’m out of there. Dolphin has a lot of issues if you ask me, many of which have to do with it trying to be more than a browser – which some people like, but I don’t. Things like gesture control being enabled by default, poor placement of bookmarks and plugin access, “ads” in the form of “click to install plugin X” entries in the plugin list, and way too frequent updates for a browser are among the reasons why LastPass is the only reason I use it now. To elaborate on that last one, since Android resets default app actions when you update an app, something as dependent on being the default choice for links and such becomes very annoying when it loses those settings due to updates. Barely a day goes by when it’s not asking me to put it as the default browser.

Still, Dolphin HD is free, and like I said, it’s the only browser I know of that has a LastPass plugin. That single point is just so alpha and omega for me that a world of other features can’t make up for it on other browsers.