Safari 4 beta faster than IE7 ... 30 times?

"Apple" is challenging all three rivals Microsoft, Firefox and Google in the browser battle with the release of the Safari 4 beta - the browser that they think is the fastest in the world today.

Safari 4. "preview" of Safari 4. Source: Inquirer

Apple advertises that Safari 4 beta will be able to access web applications like JavaScript 4 times faster than the previous Safari 3.2 browser.

Compared to IE7, it is faster than . 30 times. Safari 4's JavaScript running speed is nearly 3 times faster than Mozilla's open source Firefox browser.

In terms of the ability to download HTML web pages directly, Apple's latest browser is also three times faster than its two main rivals, IE7 and Firefox.

One of Safari 4's "identity" differences compared to its competitors is that Apple has integrated Apple Cover Flow technology into the Complete History Search feature. This feature allows you to review your browser's browsing history in a manner similar to finding songs / albums on iTunes, iPhone and iPod services.

Currently users of both Mac and Windows operating systems have been able to download Safari 4 beta for trial. Configuration requirements include a PC with Windows XP SP2 or Vista operating system.

Mac users will be required to run Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 or Mac X Tiger 10.4.11 on a minimum system of Intel Mac or G3.

" Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with the integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards optimally, paving the way for new generation interactive web applications ," he said. Philip Schiller, senior vice president for Global Product Marketing for Apple, said.

Interesting

Web addresses in the browsing history will be displayed on this "wall".
Source: The Inquirer

The reason Safari has an impressive improvement in speed and performance is thanks to a JavaScript tool called Nitro. Apple will use the open source WebKit browser tool to handle web pages. This is also the tool being used in Google's Chrome browser.

Here are some outstanding features of Safari 4:

- Top Sites : Display the most frequently visited websites, with preview of the page so users can jump straight to the site you like with just a single click.

- Search the complete browsing history : Where users can search through the title, web address and a complete chunk of the recently viewed websites. They will be able to easily return to sites that interest them.

- Cover Flow : Make searching and browsing history or bookmarked websites as easy and fun as it is in iTunes

- Tabs on Top : Serving better tabbed browser thanks to the drag and drop tab management tools and a direct button to open new tab tabs.

- Smart address : Automatically write down web addresses by displaying a list of suggestions / guesses very easily from Top Sites, browsing history and "Bookmarks".

- Smart search box : Where users adjust search keywords thanks to suggestions and recommendations from Google Suggest.

- Zoom full page : Zoom in to any website without compromising the quality of the page interface.