Part
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Part
01
Browser Features Comparison
Consumer-friendly browser features comparison details are provided in the yellow colored cells in rows 7-71 of the attached spreadsheet. None of the evaluated browsers had all the required features. Below are some highlights of these browsers.
Browser Features Comparison Highlights
- Google Chrome has built-in ad blockers. However, these are designed to block advertisements that go against the standards set by the Coalition for Better Ads.
- Microsoft Edge has built-in ad blockers. However, these are only available in the iOs and Android versions. Nonetheless, PC users can limit the amount of ads by turning on Pop Up blocker on Edge privacy settings.
- Chrome does not have bult-in Tor browsing capabilities. Users wishing to use Tor have to install third-party extensions like the Onion Browser Button.
- Edge does not have Tor browsing features.
- Tor browsing in Opera is only available through third-party extensions like Onion Browser Button.
- Picture-in-picture functionality is available in Brave but YouTube videos are not supported.
- Edge has Media Hub features.
- Edge supports 96 languages in Windows and 91 languages in macOS.
- Opera does not have a built-in reader mode for the desktop version. Desktop users need to install extensions to be able to get the reader mode. However, the android version of Opera features an advanced reader mode.
Research Strategy
To locate the required browser features, the research team leveraged official browser websites, industry publications (like PC Magazine and ZDNET), and community support forums among other sources. However, even after looking through all these sources there were instances were no information was found relating to specific browser features. In such instances, we assumed that these features were not applicable and hence inserted an 'X' on the appropriate cell of the attached spreadsheet.