Internet Explorer 9 Review
After playing about on Internet Explorer 9 on my PC, I thought I would compile this review to show you guys my true and honest opinions on Internet Explorer 9. Now this review you might think will be totally biased due to my love of Apple, right? Not exactly, I'm actually rather impressed..
New User Interface:
This is where I feel Microsoft still need to improve on massively. Yes, they have made big changes but I still want more. Using Google Chrome as my main browser, and of course using a Mac, I am too used to the simplicity of browsing the web that these deliver, to be extremely impressed with this new UI change. Now as much as I am all for keeping things clean, having the URL bar and the Tabs on the same line, looks frankly rather shocking. I use a lot of tabs on a daily basis, and have a terrible habit for keeping un-needed tabs open, and I'm not a fan for keeping all of these tabs and have them all compressed to an almost un-clickable size which is unfortunately what I did experience, using a lot of tabs as a test. Fortunately, on the UI front, that is really the only point where it falls short, the 'Go Back' and 'Go Forward' buttons are absolutely perfect, and although they might look big, they are just the right size and look very stylish and sleek. I'm giving the User Interface a reasonable 6/10.
Speed:
Internet Explorer 9 is lightning fast. Like Google Chrome fast. I am extremely pleased on the remarkable work that has been made to make this a better browser, and in the advertising campaigns that Microsoft have made, this is evidently that point that Microsoft are trying to get over. That IE9 is lightning fast. And for once, Microsoft weren't lying! (Sorry my Apple fanboy dark side is coming out!) After doing speed tests with Chrome and Firefox, IE9 is faster than Firefox 4.0 RC1 AND Google Chrome 10! To be honest, I was amazed. There are numerous videos on YouTube, doing speed comparisons between these browsers, and from all that I have seen, IE9 always comes out on top for normal web browsing, the Fish Tank test, and the Acid3 test. Kudos Microsoft. Therefore I am giving the speed of IE9 a very well deserved 10/10.
Security:
This is another feature mentioned several times by Microsoft in the Internet Explorer 9, and from what I have experienced, it is a pretty safe browser. Nothing exceptional however, but a very reasonable upgrade from IE8. An upgrade is always good, and IE has always been safe anyway so therefore I feel this deserves 8/10.
Windows 7 Integration:
There are a lot of cool new features in IE9, but my favourite has to be the awesome Windows 7 integration. The Windows 7 integration, lets you run your internet page as an application and is very nifty. Say, I'm running Twitter, I can drag the tab to my taskbar, and the famous 't' icon will show up, and when I right click, I can go to any available pages such as my Direct Messages or Mentions. I have found this to be extremely useful anda brilliant idea I never thought I would need, but loved. I am giving this a 10/10.
Overall, for it's time, this is the best Internet Explorer yet. There are countless new or tweaked features on IE9, but to cover them all would take me years, but compared to previous unsatisfactory so-called "upgrades" to Internet Explorer, as I said before, I am very impressed! Therefore I urge everyone who is either running Windows Vista or Windows 7, to upgrade to IE9 as it is a fast, secure and a much better browser compared to previous generations, so well done Microsoft!
If you want to learn more about Internet Explorer 9, or to install it on on to your Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC, go to BeautyOfTheWeb.com where you will find all necessary pictures, videos and links.
Ross Jamieson Mar 20, 2011 at 4:20 PM
Reader Comments (3)
Sorry, but IE still doesn't live to be a 'good' browser. Chrome is much better, and supports far more newer technologies.
@Stuart
Who says IE9 has to beat out Chrome for it to be considered a good browser?
As far as I'm concerned, IE9 did outperform Chrome in the tests mentioned in the article. However, Chrome from personal experience still works much better on low performing notebooks AKA netbooks. IE9 still stutters a little on my ASUS 1215N.
Although I love Chrome, doing personal tests did prove that IE9 did beat it, and it all depends on your computer's spped on a whole anyway, these were all tested on a very powerful PC.