Full Screen Web Browser

Damien McFerran

We review Full Screen Web Browser, an alternative to the native Safari browser on the Apple iPhone

Published on Sep 4, 2009

Compared to the surfing the web on the hopelessly cramped screens of rival mobile phones, taking to the internet on the iPhone is a joyous pastime and one that you’d assume was near-impossible to improve on.

However, downloading Full Screen Web Browser will open your eyes to just how much better viewing the web on your iPhone can be, and the reason for this is deceptively simple: more viewing space equals a more enjoyable experience all round.

Full Screen Web Browser strips away the various navigational items that traditionally encroach on your view and as a result offers up to 40% more space for your perusal.

Two menu bars – one at the top (for URL insertion) and one at the bottom (for activities such as moving backwards and forwards between visited pages, opening bookmarks, etc) – are present when you open the program initially, but once you’re finished tinkering with them they automatically slide out of view, offering completely uncluttered access to all of the iPhone’s glorious screen.

A quick shake of the device is all that is required to bring the menus back into view.

In terms of functionality, Full Screen Web Browser does pretty much everything that Safari does, although we noticed a few minor niggles, such as not being able to save images by holding down your finger on them, as is the case with Apple’s browser. However, for those times when you encounter such issues there’s always the option to open the page in Safari, a link to which is thoughtfully included within the app itself.

Bookmarking pages is a breeze (although it’s rather annoying that there’s not an option to import your bookmarks from Safari, which means you’ll have to go through the process all over again) and you can also email pages to friends.

It’s also worth noting that Full Screen Web Browser doesn’t save your page history like Safari does. This will either be blessing or a curse, depending on your viewpoint. It’s a bit of pain not being able to return to sites you’ve previously visited but didn’t remember to bookmark. Conversely, if you’re looking at web pages that you’d rather not be visible to other people using your iPhone, then not having to constantly purge your history could be viewed as a distinct bonus.

Full Screen Web Browser offers the kind of functionality that really should have been built into Safari by now. That additional viewing space really does make an astonishing difference and makes surfing the internet on your iPhone even more enjoyable; however, it’s not 100% perfect yet and could do with copying a few of Safari’s better features – hopefully this will happen in future updates.