[Bumble2000]

Hi everyone,

We are pleased to announce the availability of Fast Browser. Fast Browser is a native BlackBerry� PlayBook™ app designed to enhance your web browsing experience! It is built upon the same powerful web page rendering engine as the stock browser and adds the following features:

Fast Mode
A fast mode (blue lightning icon) is provided as default that optimizes for speed when dealing with web pages that are text and image and don’t require the full web engine rendering capabilities. For pages that need it, tap once on blue lightning icon to toggle to full mode.

Powerful Tabs
Launch up-to 6 simultaneous web sessions similar to what you can do using a desktop browser with the built-in tab support. Each of the web sessions are live and run in parallel leveraging the powerful multi-tasking capabilites of the BlackBerry� PlayBook™.

Use a tab to play YouTube music in the background, another to browse the latest news, another to look at real-time updates of stock prices, and yet other to read your favorite RSS feeds.

Switching between tabs is instantaneous and easy to do. Just tap on the tab you want in the icon list of tabs at the bottom of the screen. Adding and removing tabs is just as easy.

Full-screen mode
Remove all the browser navigation controls so that you can have the full screen to view your web pages. Simply top-bezel swipe to enter into full-screen and do the same to go back to normal mode.

In-page instant search
Search within the web page by typing on the URL bar. As you type, all matches on the page are highlighted.

Quick access google search
Quickly access the google search engine by typing on the URL bar and hitting enter. Fast Browser will auto-detect if it is a search term or a URL and will take the appropriate action.

Optimized for easy-of-use
Fast Browser keeps track of your most visited websites and presents the top 25 in a scroll list of thumbnails that you can quickly select when you start a new tab.

Favorites Bookmarks
Add an unlimited amount of bookmarks by selecting the favorite button. A scroll list of thumbnails of your favorite websites is presented when you start a new tab.

Features under consideration for future update :
- Download manager
- Privacy mode
- User agent

Sincerely,
BumbleBee Computing

[Aljean Thein]

Just got this and the speed on this thing is incredibly fast !! Sites like ebay, amazon, youtube, msn, and cowboom loaded up in just a second. There is one problem, when viewing the crackberry page the whole site looks messy. I refreshed it and shut the app down and reopen it but the site still doesnt look clean. Anyway to fix this ?

Other than that, this app is a must. Thanks for sharing

[rkennedy01]

Can you rename and/or edit bookmarks?

RCK

Sent from my BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps using Tapatalk 2

[taz68]

I purchased the application and it works as stated. I have 1 caveat, you need to enable advanced browser to use javascript. This is a bit of a drawback when trying to get the speed advantage. You might consider having javascript enabled by default as even sites that are mainly text and images still may utilize it heavily especially for form processing. This causes problems with simple login forms.

[Blackman91]

Definitely a much faster experience than the default browser, really nice work!

The good:
The browsing speed is really good! sites load in a few seconds and the tabs are instantaneous and really fun to use.

The bad:
For some reason you can't copy or cut the url, which is really bad since this browser lacks a downloader manager, what if you want to download a file by copying the url to the other browser? the app really needs a downloader manager.
The bookmarks are ok but it bothers me that you have to open the page if you want to unmark a page, also the app needs an option to delete the history of most visited. It would be also nice if you added the option to select a main page that loads automatically when you open the app like in the default browser.

Overall its a great app and its just 0.99! definitely a must buy if you want a faster browser.

[Richard Kapp]

I also just got it, but I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. I know, it's only 0.99, but I'd rather pay more and have a final product. This feels more like a beta version. Here are some of my thoughts:

The Good:
- the interface looks ok
- it opens quickly
- I like that swiping down activates fullscreen browsing
- search on page feature

The Bad:
- the "fast" browsing speed is IMO the same that you get with the standard browser with Flash and Javascript turned off. It's just a more convenient way to switch between these settings here as there's a toggle button for this. Most pages make heavy use of Javascript and Youtube needs flash, so keeping the fast browsing enabled is a rare case as I am not able to enjoy the full web experience this way. I'd switch to standard browsing (fast browsing disabled) in most cases anyway and then the browsing speed is the same as in the default browser.

- To select a bookmark you have to open a new tab. What if I want to load a bookmark into the tab I have already open? This is not very useful. There is also no bookmark manager and favorites cannot be deleted, rearranged or organized at all.

- Closing a tab often does not work. The tab simply wouldn't respond when I touch the little button with "x"

- I don't like the intro screen. First of all it looks cheap and I also think that something as essential as a browser should open immediately. What is it with those intro screens in so many apps? I'd prefer a simple "loading ..." message or a spinning wheel.

- The browser sends me to the mobile versions (i.e. Facebook becomes m.facebook.com), I'd prefer the full desktop experience though ...

- copy & paste in the URL field does not work/is not supported, also, autocorrect kicks in and sometimes changes the URL for me.

- there are no privacy options, no way to clear cache, cookies, no security options, nothing. There‘s no configuration at all.

- if I like to see the most visited pages, I have to open a new tab. There seems to be no other way to do it.

- after typing a url and the pages shows up, the keyboard still stays there and will not hide. I have to manually hide it afterwards. It should hide immediately before the page starts loading.

I know that developing a browser is difficult and lots of work (even if you use the PB browser rendering engine), but as I said in the beginning: I don't like the idea of buying a beta product that I wouldn't use anyway in its current state. There is no guaranty the developers will implement the missing features and regulary update the app.

[Herve5]

no ad filtering apparently... too bad, the GUI seems more efficient than SimpleBrowser+...

[1oo1]

no ad filtering apparently... too bad, the GUI seems more efficient than SimpleBrowser+...

I was going to ask about ad blocking too.
Is there a pop up blocker?

[bitek]

so is this app faster than simple browser or not ?

[Richard Kapp]

It's fast because it disables Javascript and Flash. If you do this in the PB browser you get he same speed improvement IMO.

[Blackman91]

It's fast because it disables Javascript and Flash. If you do this in the PB browser you get he same speed improvement IMO.

I don't know it seems a little faster than the default browser even when you disable fast mode, but someone should do a video review comparing the speeds when java and flash are disabled and when they are not.

[jeroen_13]

so is this app faster than simple browser or not ?

No.................

[yetis_torch]

Thanks, Just bought it. So far it's working fantastically well. And fast! Even loaded my Facebook very quickly with java turned on. So far I'm loving it. Good job and thanks for letting us know.

[Bumble2000]

Many thanks for all the feedback, suggestions, and support!

@aljean, the crackberry site seems to load fine for me either in fast or full mode

@rck, we'll consider adding renaming bookmarks in a future update

@taz68, we tried enabling it before and with javascript on, it is basically the speed of the native browser. the fast mode (essentially everything disabled not needed for viewing text and images) is just simply for viewing not interacting with the page.

@Blackman1, all your suggestions make sense and we will consider them in a future update.

@Richard, Sorry you are disappointed. Can we offer you a refund? (We have full refund policy if not satisfied)
- fast mode browsing mode -essentially you are right. The fast browsing mode does disable javascript and flash among other things. if you did that in the native, you would get a similar speed as fast mode. But consider what you would need to do: to toggle everything off takes about ~6 taps (assuming the average user knows exactly the right settings to toggle off). then you can view pages quickly; once you see a page you want full rendering capabilities, you need ~6 taps to undo; repeat for each web-site. We feel it is impractical and thus, you will just leave everything on. When everything is on in the native browser, wow, it takes a 1 min to load the news.google.com page (my most common site)... the fast mode actually makes this toggling practical...
- bookmark and download manager - can be added.
- closing tab problem - the problem is the image is too small. maybe making it bigger would help.
- opening - okay, we remove that . Better yet, perhaps you can suggest something cool that we might be able to display.
- browser sending you to mobile - it's user agent issue and can be addressed
- all those configuration privacy feature - again can be added.
- most visited pages - it's model after chrome. you see that when you open a tab. we think it makes sense...
- there are indeed features that could have been implement and will be implemented in future updates as the need arises.

@herve5, @ 1oo1: ad filtering. Not sure how that's done, but will look into it.

[Richard Kapp]

Thanx for your response, it's highly appreciated. I am glad there are developers like you who really seem to listen to the feedback by us. No, I don't want a refund, I am interested in the future development of the app as you seem to be ambitious about it, which is great. Hope some of the features will be implemented in some of the next updates. Regarding the intro screen - here's a suggestion:

[Blackman91]

I am glad the dev is responsive and plans to keep updating and improving the app.

Anyway another bug report: I have noticed that if you are viewing a page in any tab that isnt the first one you can select text but you cant copy or cut it, the option doesnt appear when you long press, also when long pressing on an image in any tab you dont get any options to viewing the image or copying the image url like in the normal browser.

[AlfredFettucine]

Any possibility of seeing this browser available on the Z10 soon?
Tnx

[Bumble2000]

Thanx for your response, it's highly appreciated. I am glad there are developers like you who really seem to listen to the feedback by us. No, I don't want a refund, I am interested in the future development of the app as you seem to be ambitious about it, which is great. Hope some of the features will be implemented in some of the next updates. Regarding the intro screen - here's a suggestion:

Thanks very much! This design is simple and elegant. We're going to play around with it a bit, maybe add a logo. Perhaps we can send that to you for your thoughts when it is ready?

[Bumble2000]

I am glad the dev is responsive and plans to keep updating and improving the app.

Anyway another bug report: I have noticed that if you are viewing a page in any tab that isnt the first one you can select text but you cant copy or cut it, the option doesnt appear when you long press, also when long pressing on an image in any tab you dont get any options to viewing the image or copying the image url like in the normal browser.

@blackman91: Thanks for the bug report! We'll look into it.

[taz68]

Thanks for the response. That makes total sense and considering it only requires 1 click it's not a big deal. I was just curious. I would rather have the speed until the java is needed. Thanks for a great app. Look forward to any enhancements.

[Bumble2000]

Any possibility of seeing this browser available on the Z10 soon?
Tnx

@AlfredFettucine: Thanks very much for the suggestion. Maybe in the future if there is a need. Our current focus is to address the helpful feedback that we've received as soon as we can :-)

[Bumble2000]

Thanks very much! This design is simple and elegant. We're going to play around with it a bit, maybe add a logo. Perhaps we can send that to you for your thoughts when it is ready?

@Richard: What do you think about this design?

[Blackman91]

I just realized this browser doesn't support portrait mode! such a basic feature, which is useful when reading manga, comics and books, I hope the dev fix this.

[Richard Kapp]

I like the new into screen much more, but to be honest: I am not a fan of that electrified earth image.

[bitek]

So when is new update coming out ?

Sent from Blackberry Playbook using Tapatalk 2