Michal Ždanský Since Apple has allowed the development of alternative Internet browsers, perhaps several dozen applications have appeared in the App Store that try to replace the native Safari. Although among them you will find some great (iCabMobile, Atomic Browser), they are still just kind of enhanced versions of Safari with added features. Portal, on the other hand, brings a completely new web browsing experience and aspires to be the best browser on the iPhone.
Innovative controls
Portal stands out above all with its control concept, which I have not yet encountered with any other application. It offers a permanent full-screen mode with a single control element around which everything revolves, literally. By activating it, other offers are opened, which you can access by moving your finger. There is a path leading to each action or function. It is strikingly reminiscent of the concept of an Israeli phone First Else, which unfortunately only saw a prototype and never went into mass production (although its software is still available). You can see how the phone worked in the following video:
The first semicircle that appears after activating the elements contains three categories: Panels, Navigation and Action Menu. You can have a total of eight panels, and you switch between them with the swipe of a finger. So the path leads through the activation button, then a swipe to the left and finally you let your finger rest on one of the eight buttons. By swiping between them, you can see the content of the page in a live preview and confirm the selection by releasing your finger from the display. In the same way, you activate the other buttons to close the given panel or all panels at once (and of course all the other buttons in the other menus).
The middle menu is Navigation, through which you enter addresses, search or navigate pages. With a button Web search you will be taken to the search screen where you can choose from many servers where the search will take place. In addition to classic search engines, we also find Wikipedia, YouTube, IMDb, or you can add your own.
After that, all you have to do is enter the search phrase and the given server will open for you with the search results. If you want to enter the address directly, select the button Goto URL. The application allows you to choose an automatic prefix (www. whether http://) and postfix (.com, .org, etc.). So if you want to head to the site www.apple.com, just type “apple” and the app will do the rest. Domena cz unfortunately missing.
In this case, it is necessary to choose a postfix none and add it manually, just like for longer addresses with slashes and other domains. From this screen, you can access bookmarks and history, among other things. You can also organize bookmarks into folders in Settings. Lastly, you can work with the function here Research, but more on that later.
In the navigation menu, there are also buttons on the outer semicircle forward a back, as well as buttons for moving through history. If you choose Previous or Next History, you will be moved to the previous page, but within the entire server, for example from Jablíčkář to Applemix.cz.
The last offer is the so-called Action menu. From here you can bookmark and research pages, print, email the address (you can set the default address in Settings), search for text on a page or switch profiles. You can have several of these, in addition to the default profile, you will also find a private profile, which provides you with privacy while browsing and prevents tracking of your movements on the Internet. Finally, there is the settings button.
The entire ergonomics of the application consists in learning and memorizing the paths with your finger. You can perform all actions with one quick stroke, and with a little practice you can achieve a very efficient control speed that is not possible on other browsers. Otherwise, if you want true full-screen mode, just give your iPhone a slight shake and that single control will disappear. Of course, shaking it again will bring it back. The following video will probably say the most about Portal control:
Research
The portal has one very interesting function called Research. It is supposed to help a person in gathering information about a given thing, or the subject of research. Let's say you want to buy a TV that will have HDMI output, 3D display and 1080p resolution.
So you create a research called Television, for example, and enter as keywords HDMI, 3D a 1080p. In this mode, the Portal will highlight the given words and thus help you to filter individual pages that do not contain these keywords. On the contrary, you will then save the pages that match your filter to the given research and keep them nicely together.
other functions
The portal also supports file downloads. In the settings, you can choose which file types will be downloaded automatically. By default, the most common extensions such as ZIP, RAR or EXE are already selected, but it is not a problem to choose your own. Portal stores downloaded files in its sandbox and you can access them through iTunes.
You can also set an action after starting the application, which we can see with "adult" browsers. Whether you want to start with a blank page or restore your last session is entirely up to you. The browser also gives you a choice of identification, i.e. what it will pretend to be. Depending on the identification, individual pages are adapted, and if you prefer to view them in full view instead of mobile, you can identify yourself as Firefox, for example.
The application itself runs very quickly, subjectively I find it faster than other third-party browsers. The graphic design, which the authors really cared about, deserves great praise. The robotic animations are really beautiful and effective, while they do not interfere with the work with the browser. I see a small allegory here with robot applications from tapbots, evidently the technological image is wearing now.
Either way, I can say with a clear conscience that Portal is the best iPhone web browser I've come across in the App Store, leaving even Safari cowering in the corner of the springboard. At a reasonable price of €1,59, it's a clear choice. Now I'm just wondering when the iPad version will be released.
Portal - €1,59
I just have to find out where I can steal it "for free" and try it out, it looks very good :)))
Tyjo, this looks so good I'm sorry it's only for iPhone! A lot of goodies could easily appear in a normal desktop browser on Mac. I hope the new browsers invade the Mac App Store as well.
Well, he doesn't just look good, but he is good, the only thing that puts me off a bit is that the window for entering the URL could be a little bigger.
the fade in/fade out when clicking on a link can be canceled, but the statusbar is a little bit wrong, I can't get to the beginning of the page with one touch, and this is often useful when browsing
I don't see it anywhere in the app store.
sorry i was in a hurry
You can save yourself the search next time by clicking on the link to the App Store below the article ;-)
"Otherwise, if you want true full-screen mode, just give your iPhone a slight shake and that single control will disappear. "
I have found that shaking the iPhone is the worst possible action.
I find the situation when I want to go back a few pages a bit uncomfortable
and I wonder if it remembers logins and passwords, which I don't see described anywhere
no, it doesn't remember passwords, which I see as quite a big inconvenience. but the developers replied that "temporarily", so hopefully it will be soon in some version...
Thanks for the article, I'm going to do it
So this browser is a disaster in my opinion. I have this opinion because it's slow, not because it's stuck. It just loads the page and doesn't load the whole page. I'm still downloading something. I like that control. Mercury browser is the best for me
I'm changing my mind, it's slower and choppy, on IOS 4.1
I have no problem on iPhone 4
Does it support TV out?
There is some possibility to connect the browser and the TV. So sit in front of the TV and surf on the iPhone, but see it on TV? Thanks
I have 4.2.1 and it runs perfectly smoothly. I miss the import of bookmarks, but it is about to see
http://www.lightpillar.com/support/portalnotes.html
It's also terribly slow on my iPhone 4. So not menus and such, but page loading. For example, google takes about 30 seconds, while in safari it takes three.
This bug should be fixed by update 1.1, which according to the authors is in final testing.
Can someone tell me if it remembers the logins (username and password)?
Looks like it does. I tried logging into Facebook, then closed Portal (in the multitasking bar) and started Portal again. When I went to the Facebook page, I was already logged in.
It probably has nothing to do with whether it remembers passwords. With FB, it is stored in a cookie.
of course, it's not related to that, because it's in the cookie... someone should try to log in to their email, then log out and log in again to see if it remembers it... and when I search, no one writes anywhere that it would remember logins , which is a big minus for me.
I tried and after filling in the login data, it didn't say anything about saving the password. We'll see you in the next update.
2 Martin: thanks for the info :) so the purchase is not considered... iCab still seems a lot better to me, but that's a matter of opinion
I've been trying now for about 14 days, maybe three Sundays, and I'm going back on safari. Basically, the only good thing about it is fullscreen. Maybe I didn't understand the homepage system at all, I only get to it when I open a new window, I tried absolutely everything, deleted the entire history, deleted it from the background and when I opened it again, nothing, a black screen, only when I went to a new page , I was shown a page set as a homepage, which I think is not a homepage, but a bookmark! You can't set the link to open in a new window, it's very inconvenient, especially when you're browsing messages, for example on Google it works like this: open your messages, then the column you specifically want, choose the specific message you want to read , you open it, when you finish reading it, you press the back button and lo and behold, suddenly you are on the main page of google:)), so you have to go to the news again, to the section, …………., just nonsense. Another thing is that I think it's a little crazy, it happened to me more than once that out of nowhere it only loaded the page to half the screen and then nothing, just half the screen and you can't even manipulate it in any way, enlarge it, move it, let alone anything to press, it just somehow cuts out and you have to reset the application. Another minus is that you can't set whether you want to convert the pages to a mobile version, especially on Facebook, a very big weakness, you have to switch manually all the time, even Opera can do that, and they came out very weak My final verdict is that as a browser, this thing is completely useless, it doesn't have a single setting that a browser should have and that will make surfing as easy and pleasant as possible, and that should be the absolute basis of a MOBILE browser.
Otherwise, I would like to complain to the author of this article, you should try and test the application properly before you praise something to the heavens, because you will basically make people like me to !!buy!! something worth farting