Baidu Browser has been around for quite some time now, and in its latest update, the team at Baidu have sped things up and further expanded features like the news and popular websites sections. Unlike Google Chrome, Baidu Browser is a browser that aims to offer you all the sort of features that you’d expect from a Desktop browser on your smartphone. You can search multiple search engines with just a few taps, you can search by voice, you can choose from some of the most popular websites in your country, see the weather, catch up with the news and more all in one app! With lots of settings to tailor your experience with downloads, tab management and handy features to boost brightness, reduce data consumption and more, it’s possible that Baidu Browser has absolutely everything you’d want in a web browser. Read on as we find out.
As with anything, the first thing you’ll need to do is to download Baidu Browser from the Play Store. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to agree to some terms and conditions.
One of the first things you’ll notice is the newly revamped popular sites from around the world. These include some major sites at the top of this screen.
As well as more sites broken down into sections.
You can change this to meet regions all over the world, including parts of Europe as well as many parts of South East Asia. Sadly, there is no option for the UK. There’s a USA entry, but the two are by no means the same at all.
As for browsing the web, well, that’s really quite easy. As you type an address or website name, you’ll see suggestions and you can choose from a number of search engines to search with. Baidu is obviously a big internet name in China, but here in the UK where I am, Google was the default.
When loading Android Headlines everything looked right, and the page loads were nice and speedy, too.
In this latest version of Baidu Browser, version 4.7, they’ve significantly sped up loading times with their T5 engine and the browser itself is very fluid and responsive. This is easily just as quick as Chrome, if not a little faster, while at the same time offering many more features. Speaking of which, there are neat additions like a text-only mode to reduce data consumption, a way to adjust the brightness and more available from a menu at the bottom of the display.
Those that use their smartphone to download a lot of files will be able to change some settings to streamline that experience, which is a nice touch.
There’s a lot on offer from Baidu Browser and if you’re the sort of Android user that wants a more in-depth browsing experience with extra features, then Baidu Browser certainly has that in abundance.
After spending some time with the app, I can say that Baidu Browser is one for powerusers. If you’re interested in having lots of features, lots of different settings and more all at your fingertips, then the Baidu Browser is definitely one to try out. For those used to the simple approach of Google Chrome however, the UI might feel a little overly cluttered, and there’s definitely room for improvement when it comes to navigating through all of extra options. Speed wise however, this is one of the quickest browsers out there, and image-heavy sites loaded quickly with no issues. I’m a little skeptical about the text-only mode saving data consumptions, but it does reduce the amount of images that will load, but it doesn’t look quite right to my eyes. Everything you could imagine is adjustable in Baidu Browser and it’s well worth tinkering with to see what you can do with the extra settings and options.
Ratings
- Speed (5/5) – To say that Baidu Browser has a lot of extra features included, it’s impressive that it’s quite this quick, and speed demons will love this to say the least.
- Features (4/5) – There’s no balance between features and usability here, this is mostly a “do it all” browser, and while that offers neat features like a news app, weather app and great suggestions into one browser, it can be a little to much in one browser.
- Theme (4/5) – A good-looking browser, Baidu Browser blends in with the latest version of Android and won’t look or feel out of place on any modern Android device.
- Overall (4.5/5) – Baidu Browser is a solid option, and while there could be considered too many features here, there’s a lot on offer and it’s still one of the fastest out there.
Pros
- Lots of great features, like the news side of things as well neat additions that make Baidu Browser feel more like a Desktop browser than anything else.
- Super-fast page loading times, it handles image-heavy sites with ease and scrolling is fluid as well as responsive.
- The UI is fairly easy to navigate and there are lots of options that people can tweak and change, too.
- Works great on even low-end devices, which continuing to deliver fast page loading times and more.
Cons
- UI is a little cluttered at times, with a lot crammed into one display, however it does get out of the way while browsing.
- All these features might be a little too much for the average user.
All-in-all, Baidu Browser is a web browser that shows us how far Android has come. There are more features in this than there is in the Desktop browser I use every day, and it’s super-quick even on lower-end devices with less powerful CPUs. It’s got all sorts of neat features like the included news app as well as the new T5 rendering engine which is blazing fast. Altogether, they make for a very quick, fully-featured web browser that everyone should give a chance.