Brave Software, the startup behind the Brave internet browser that includes a feature for blocking ads, today launched a second Android browser following the launch of the original in January.
The first one was based on the previously available Link Bubble Android browser and showed websites in bubbles in the background that can be dismissed by swiping them down toward the bottom of the display, while the new one shows websites in more conventional tabs.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":2093795,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"bots,business,dev,marketing,","session":"C"}']The Link Bubble version will remain available on the Google Play Store alongside the new tab-based version, a Brave spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.
The new Brave Android app looks and feels like Chrome for Android — after all, it’s running Chromium 54.0.2840.68 — and many of the same quick options and settings in the latter are also present in the former. But the new Brave doesn’t have Chrome for Android’s Data Saver feature.
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But the big difference is visible when you click on Brave’s lion head icon next to the omnibar and tab counter. It shows whether Brave’s “shields” for blocking scripts, ads, tracking, and third-party cookies are up or down for the site you’re currently viewing. You can enable or disable blocking for each of those kinds of things.
There are other Android browsers that come with ad blockers, including Adblock Browser for Android from Eyeo GmbH, the team behind Adblock Plus.
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