UC Browser

UC Browser is very popular on mobile devices, and now it's finally available for Windows desktop too. It looks very similar to Google Chrome, but has some additional features and is more personalizable. 

Chrome with extras

UC Browser joins an ever growing list of browsers based Chromium, which explains its immediate similarity to Google Chrome.

This means the browser is unlikely to have any issues supporting normal web standards so, wherever you point UC Browser, you'll see sites functioning the way they are supposed to. This browser gets similar results to Chrome in popular efficiency tests, although in some cases it's comes out slightly worse, but not noticeably so from a user perspective. UC Browser can also be set to view websites as if it was Internet Explorer, just in case.

Chrome extensions are also supported, and can be installed directly from the Chrome Web store. It's compatible with the majority of extensions in the store, but not all of them.

One additional feature of UC Browser is UC Free WIFI, which turns your computer into a WIFI hotspot so you can share your connection with mobiles and other devices. The browser can also block online ads, using the lists from AdBlock - this feature is not activated by default. 

If you don't like it, change it

Many alternative browsers specialize in personalization, and UC Browser is no exception. It has a button especially for this, so you can change theme quickly and easily. As of right now, there aren't a huge number of themes to choose from, but those available are of a high quality and significantly change the look of the browser. This is in contrast to Google Chrome themes, which offer only subtle changes. The list of background images is pretty large, with hundreds of categorized photos to choose from.

You can choose from two start screens, one which is similar to Opera's Speed Dial, and another which is made up of elegant bubbles you can personalize with your favorite websites. 

Perfect if you already use it on mobile

UC Browser is an interesting alternative to Chrome that is easy to use, configurable, and provides some useful additional features.

Without a doubt, the overall experience isn't so amazing that we'd recommend throwing Firefox or Chrome in the garbage. However, as it synchronizes perfectly with its mobile versions, it's highly recommendable if UC Browser is already your mobile browser of choice.