VanillaSurf 17+

Could use a few improvments Like hiding the status bar with the rest of the controls. Its nice to have that there, but not relaly full screen if its always showing.
More importantly there needs to be an option to edit bookmark addresses. Without it theres no way im going to be able to add bookmarklets to this browser. This is the only thing thats really keeping it from being a safari replacement.

But this is without a doubt THE BEST browser available for the iphone. Definatley worth the 99 cents. Everything else works just as good as safari so far, except you get the whole screen and controls are hidden and return with the best method ive seen thus far, no shaking needed.

Very pretty browser, but here are the issues I’ve experienced in just the day and a half I’ve had the app:

• Multiple program freezes, several including a 3 second black screen followed by the app crashing.
• Landscape mode doesn’t work properly. You end up rotating the iPod multiple times before VanillaSurf switches from regular to Landscape mode. This has to be done every time you open a page or reload a link.
• Causes songs in iTunes to skip and pause when opening some tabs.
• Doesn’t register all input. You can tap a button, see it register the tap, but the application never follows through.

Opening tabs is a slow process, and just like Safari the tabs don’t load when they’re opened. They load when you switch to them. What’s the point of having tabbed browsing if you have to switch to a tab to get it to load, only to have the page you opened the tab from reload when you tab back to it? That’s not true tabbed browsing at all!

These are very irritating, major problems. I could see them happening on an iPhone with an unstable network connection, but I’m using a 2nd Gen iPod Touch, which is not only faster than the 3G but is on a stable WiFi connection. There shouldn’t be this many problems with a paid app on a brand new device.

It looks nice, has a lot of cool features, but that still doesn’t make it a 4-star app, nor does it excuse the lack of stability and functionality.

After trying a few other replacement for Safari, I stumbled on VanillaSurf. After using for only 5 minutes it became my default app for web browsing.

The ability to import .html bookmarks from Firefox is very handy, although it locked up after it finished the import. After a restart, all my bookmarks showed up. Nice. This is also the first browser app I've found where it's easy to set a home page. Bottom controls are intuitive and easy to understand and navigate. I especially like the screenshot feature.

Full-screen browsing works perfectly as advertised in this version (for me anyway). A small + sign on the bottom right allows you to toggle betwen full screen and default view, and also allows using the toolbar while in full screen mode.

Finally, someone actually got tabbed browsing right! I think it is far better to tap a button to see your tabs vs an actual tabbed interface on the screen. This keeps screen real estate at a premium. Excellent design.

Can't say enough good things so far about this app, and I'm very picky. The developers did any outstanding job of creating a feature-rich browser that's easy to use, has multiple features and gets out of your way when you need it to. 5 stars. Keep up the great work!