Browser+ brings tabbed browsing, incognito mode to Windows Phone 7

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Last night in the Marketplace, a new app launched called Browser+ for $0.99. The app runs a modified shell over Mobile Internet Explorer adding new functionality to the browser not yet seen in the native app. That's a pretty significant addition as up to this point, it was unclear if this could be done in WP7.

Browser+ adds tabbed browsing like your desktop, in addition to an incognito mode for hiding web history and also quick access to the search bar (though with a dedicated search button, this seems less necessary). Overall the tabbed browser works just great--it's simple and intuitive as well as the incognito mode. Only downside is no landscape support, which is a serious drawback for some and hopefully something the developer may add in the future.

There is no try-before-you-buy here, so you have to drop $0.99 on it try give it a spin, but at that price, we think it's worth it.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

13 Comments
  • This is the developer :). Thanks for the review! I love the feedback - I'll look into adding trial mode and landscape support. I actually have some other really fun features waiting in the wings too which should come out in the coming weeks. Funny story - I'm currently on vacation in Hawaii and decided to publish my app using my phone from a dingy little restaurant in a remote town in Oahu thinking no one will notice and that I'll deal with reviews and press when I get back. How wrong I was (I'm typing this out from bad hotel wifi :)).
  • Ah nice to have you by, sir! I'm really enjoying the app so far and look forward to your continued work on it. Glad we gave you some coverage, even if you are living it up in Hawaii ;-)
  • Any chance you can add speed dial and screen orientation lock when you add landscape mode?
  • I'm very much interested in purchasing your app, but it is currently unavailable in my country, when will it be available here in the Philippines?
     
  • Just saw the dev post above mine, nice work. Are you considering adding an option to choose the search engine of your choice? I prefer to use bing myself, can that be added? Also when IE gets things like Flash and Silverlight will your program support that? Thanks.
  • Yes, custom search engines (and autocomplete which the review didn't catch but the app does) is next on my list. I went with Google first since the phone already comes with Bing. Apart from Google and Bing, what other search engines would you like to see? As for Flash/SL, the browser just runs the webbrowser control so it should be able to do whatever IE does.
  • Thats the thing, some WP7 devices have actually had the browser search engine set to google already with no option to change it eg US HD7 so being able to switch in your application to any available search engine is a big plus. Thanks for confirming on Flash/SL, the only other thing I would ask is if it can be set as the default browser, but if I remember correctly that cant be done per MS's rules, correct?
  • Btw, cringeworthy typo there on 'private mod' - can't believe I missed that :). Reader view reformats blog posts and news articles. For a demo, open a specific blog post or article (NYTimes articles work well) and hit the button. It takes a second and then strips out all images, distracting content and leaves you with only text.
  • Cool stuff, it's nice to start and see what devs can due for the current system without MS even adding new features or opening up APIs yet. Seems more flexible than the closed/locked down system people always go on about.
  • Wait wait wait.... Internet Explorer doesn't have tabbed browsing built-in?!?!
    That's just stupid. No tabbed browsing, no custom ringtones... MS really needs to get their act together.
  • That's not 100% correct. WP7 has multiple windows for Mobile IE, when you hit the star button, it shows all of them, allowing you to choose/switch between them. Think how Apple does it on the iPhone/iPad. That's why this app *can* do tab browsing as it just modifies how it looks, not how it works ;-)
  • Quick update - after some hectic dev work, I've submitted a new build to certification which enables landscape mode as a lot of users have requested. So when it passes certification (in 2-3 days hopefully), everyone should be able to get landscape mode. I would love it if you could update your article as well :)
  • Can i get the source code of the "Browser plus" application???