Safari on iOS absolutely flies. I don’t know what exactly Apple have done to optimise the browser, whether it’s some sort of hardware acceleration or similar, but compare it to Chrome on iOS and Safari blows it away.
Turn your attention to the desktop and the story isn’t so sweet. Chrome is by far the best browser with the most functionality. So thinking back to iOS, Safari could probably do with some of the functionality that makes Chrome so awesome in the desktop environment.
Here’s some mockups of some features that would be welcomed into Safari for iOS to improve its functionality.
Safari Omnibar
An Omnibar is one of the killer features that must come standard in any browser I use. It is absolutely essential, and for something so small. Desktop Safari has it, so why does the iOS equivalent not? An Omnibar allows the text space to be used to directly jump to a URL, or to enter search terms. The text field is clever enough to either take you to the requested website, or insert the search term into Google.
That same Omnibar can be used to pull results from a search query or a website right from within the text entry itself, without even having to go over to Google.
Safari Bookmarks
Bookmark design is something that also is addressed in the mockup, and something Safari on iOS again needs improvement on.
It is implemented elsewhere in iOS, and also in the desktop equivalent, so it shouldn’t be difficult to bring this feature to iOS as well.
The problem we currently have it Chrome on iOS is ok, but it’s not great and can be fairly slow. Safari on iOS is very quick, but lacks some simple functionality you’d expect to find in any browser.
What’s your perfect combination?