Last night I read that Microsoft had made their Edge browser available on mobile devices such as Android and iOS. I immediately thought there's two things I'd like from Edge so decided to test to see if Edge could do what I wanted.
1. My choice of Start page.
Having a browser open on the page of your choice can save a lot of time. It brings value because you have a page you want immediately available. In my case I want my search page https://www.advancedsearch.com.au/SearchAustralia/mobile/.
Nope. This feature isn't' available. You end up with a start screen and no ability to set the start-up page. You can work around this by going to the page and then using the Add to Home screen option. Not ideal but gets around the issue.
2. GPS location access without having to have an SSL site.
When you go to a website that uses your GPS location you get asked if you want to give the site access. In their wisdom, browser makers Google Chrome, Apple Safari have decided the site needs to be using SSL as well. This means many sites no longer work, or if you're a developer you need to pay more to host these sites. Often the extra cost isn't worth it for small developers.
Edge however on notebooks and desktops works fine and asks to use your location. Since this can be based on your Wi-Fi access point (your home) it can be pretty specific as to where you're located. Google even has a geolocation API that does the same thing. So forcing sites to use SSL makes no sense.
I was hoping Microsoft had taken the same approach with their mobile browser. Sadly no. Looks like they're using the same restriction that applies to the Chrome browser.
3. Using my own search engine
Now this was good. I was able to set up my search engine as the default search engine. That means you can type a word or phrase into the address area and you search engine will then take over. Since I have keywords for all my major sites, that's a real productivity gain not available with Google Chrome.
Summary
The two things I thought would get me to use the Microsoft Edge mobile browser aren't available. Again Microsoft doesn't seem to guess if their product isn't different from others they're unlikely to beat the incumbent. This is the same fight Lotus and WordPerfect lost. They lost because Microsoft had the operating system. Microsoft this time doesn't have the mobile operating system and in the end they'll lose must as Lotus and WordPerfect did.
Microsoft needs to do what others don't do to win. Google is about ads. An ad blocker is an obvious choice as are the suggestions above.
At this point I don't really see much point in moving to the Microsoft Edge browser on mobiles as there's no significant gain, at least for my needs.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support.
1. My choice of Start page.
Having a browser open on the page of your choice can save a lot of time. It brings value because you have a page you want immediately available. In my case I want my search page https://www.advancedsearch.com.au/SearchAustralia/mobile/.
Nope. This feature isn't' available. You end up with a start screen and no ability to set the start-up page. You can work around this by going to the page and then using the Add to Home screen option. Not ideal but gets around the issue.
2. GPS location access without having to have an SSL site.
When you go to a website that uses your GPS location you get asked if you want to give the site access. In their wisdom, browser makers Google Chrome, Apple Safari have decided the site needs to be using SSL as well. This means many sites no longer work, or if you're a developer you need to pay more to host these sites. Often the extra cost isn't worth it for small developers.
Edge however on notebooks and desktops works fine and asks to use your location. Since this can be based on your Wi-Fi access point (your home) it can be pretty specific as to where you're located. Google even has a geolocation API that does the same thing. So forcing sites to use SSL makes no sense.
I was hoping Microsoft had taken the same approach with their mobile browser. Sadly no. Looks like they're using the same restriction that applies to the Chrome browser.
3. Using my own search engine
Now this was good. I was able to set up my search engine as the default search engine. That means you can type a word or phrase into the address area and you search engine will then take over. Since I have keywords for all my major sites, that's a real productivity gain not available with Google Chrome.
Summary
The two things I thought would get me to use the Microsoft Edge mobile browser aren't available. Again Microsoft doesn't seem to guess if their product isn't different from others they're unlikely to beat the incumbent. This is the same fight Lotus and WordPerfect lost. They lost because Microsoft had the operating system. Microsoft this time doesn't have the mobile operating system and in the end they'll lose must as Lotus and WordPerfect did.
Microsoft needs to do what others don't do to win. Google is about ads. An ad blocker is an obvious choice as are the suggestions above.
At this point I don't really see much point in moving to the Microsoft Edge browser on mobiles as there's no significant gain, at least for my needs.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
IT support.
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