The default Web browser for all Android devices it the Android Robot browser. It is neither the fasted, or most flexible Web browser. The Android browser is not the same on all distributions of Android. My pet peeve on Froyo was the lack of an easy way to exit the browser. The assumption was that the browser would always be executing. I could go back to the Home screen, but the browser was still open to the last page visited. This was especially frustrating, when I followed a link in an app that opened the browser. Some Web pages to not respond to the back key, which meant going to the Home screen and reopening the app. The Gingerbread version of the Android Robot browser makes life a little easier, by supporting multiple browser windows. When in the Android browser, you can touch the menu icon and then the Windows option. From there you can open a new window, switch windows, or close existing windows. I cannot comment about Honeycomb, as my tablet is going to skip Honeycomb and go straight to Ice Cream Sandwich. Besides the Android Robot browser, there are a number of alternative browsers.

The most popular alternative web browser for mobile devices is the Opera Mini web browser. However, I prefer the Opera Mobile web browser. In my opinion, the Opera Mobile web browser does a much better job of adapting to different screen sizes, and is much easier to configure. Both Opera web browsers are much faster than the Android browser. The Opera Mobile Web browser also offers the Opera Turbo mode. It is safe to say that the majority of Web sites do not support mobile devices. This leads to super small print, and a lot of extra motion to make the page readable. The Opera Turbo mode routes the Web page through an Opera server to create a page that is formatted for a mobile device. On mobile devices with small screens, this makes Web browsing a lot easier. On the down side, the filter does not support Adobe Flash. Opera Mini and Opera Mobile are available for almost every mobile device operating system, including Nokia. While many of you have never used them, there are also versions of Opera for Windows and Linux.

Firefox is a popular browser for Windows and Linux systems. There is also an Android version of Firefox. Mozilla was late getting started in the mobile browser market. While the current version is a vast improvement over earlier versions, it still seems a bit slow and jerky. The advantage of Firefox is the availability of a number of extensions. Until Mozilla fixes the performance problems with Firefox, I am not recommending it as an alternative browser.

Dolphin Browser HD is the most downloaded alternative web browser for Android. This is one cool browser, and is quickly becoming my favorite browser. The latest version includes Sonar, which allows you speak to the browser for navigation, search, and finding your favorite Web sites. Gesture is a feature that allows you to go to a Web site by drawing a symbol on the screen. If you swipe to the left, the right sidebar appears, which shows all the add-ons. Currently, there are over 60 add-ons available for the Dolphin Browser HD. Just search the Android Market for “Dolphin HD.” Dolphin Browser HD is quickly replacing Opera Mobile as my favorite browser. The Application Manager may show the Tunny Browser, as a running app. This is the original name for Dophin Browser HD.

I started using Dolphin Browser HD, because of the Dolphin Translate. It is the only browser that allows me to translate a entire Web page. For other browsers and apps, you can use Google Translate. If the app has a share option, you can share to Google Translate. The share option assumes that you are sharing to a social networking app, so it doesn’t translate the whole page.

Google recently announced the availability of Google Chrome for Android. Unfortunately, it is only available for Ice Cream Sandwich. With Google Chrome, I could have easily had a common browser experience across all platforms. However, there is a way to send information from Google Chrome on your Windows, or Linux, computer to your Android device. You need to install the Google Chrome to Phone Extension in your Google Chrome browser, and the Google Chrome to Phone app on your Android device. You can then send send links, maps, and phone numbers from your Google Chrome browser to your Android device. It is not instantaneous, but you will receive a notification of a Chrome to Phone event. When you display the event, you can actually open the link in any browser. If it is a YouTube video, you can open the link in the YouTube app. It is a one-way street, but it works. In a future article, I will discuss how to share information across multiple devices.