Chromium-based web browser Vivaldi, which comes from a group of developers who formerly worked on the Opera web browser, is making its way to Android.
Available now in beta, the new Android app brings many of the browser’s power-user tools to mobile. For example, when you open a new tab in Vivaldi, it displays your ‘Speed Dials,’ a grid of saved shortcuts. Users can organize and customize these shortcuts.
Vivaldi users should also be familiar with search engine ‘nicknames.’ Nicknames let users assign custom names for search engines in the address bar, like ‘b’ for Bing or ‘g’ for Google. Then if you type that letter, Vivaldi will route your search through that engine.
Vivaldi also offers a built-in platform for taking notes, so users don’t have to switch apps just to jot down a quick reminder.
Additionally, Vivaldi includes a sync feature for sharing bookmarks, Speed Dials, passwords, autofill information and notes across desktop and mobile. It says the data is protected with end-to-end encryption by default. Mozilla’s Firefox also offers default end-to-end encryption for its account sync feature. Google Chrome, however, only provides end-to-end encryption if you set an optional passphrase — something you should do if you don’t want the search giant snooping on all your synced data.
Those who use Vivaldi on desktop will notice a few things missing from the mobile browser, unfortunately. Chief among them would be the browser’s ability to stack multiple tabs into one.
That said, having another competitor to Google Chrome on Android is always welcomed. Vivaldi will join other great mobile offerings like Brave, Edge and the new Firefox Preview (easily one of my favourite mobile browsers at the moment).
You can learn more about Vivaldi for Android here or download it for free from its Google Play Store page.
