Vivaldi 3.3 for Android released with address bar at bottom option
Vivaldi launched the first beta version of its mobile web browser for Google's Android operating system about a year ago. The browser included several customization options that most Chromium-based browsers lack, including support for displaying a tab bar in the browser or options to display scrollbars, something that is common only in desktop browsers.
Vivaldi 3.3 for Android introduces new customization options and other new features. Vivaldi highlights two of them in a blog post on the official company website.
The first brings customization options to the browser's address bar, as it is now possible to move the address bar and tab bar to the bottom of the screen. The default position is still at the top, but users who prefer a bottom position may configure the browser now to achieve that.
Some users prefer the bottom position for the address bar as it is easier to reach when using handheld devices. Vivaldi for Android users may select Vivaldi > Settings, and there the "Address Bar at Bottom" option to display the bar at the bottom. If the tab bar is displayed, which it is by default, it is also displayed at the bottom.
The following screenshot shows a comparison between tabs at the top (default, on the left), and tabs at the bottom (on the right).
The tab bar is above the address bar if the bars are displayed at the top, and below the address bar if the bars are displayed at the bottom. Vivaldi users who don't need the tab bar can disable it in the settings.
The second feature that is highlighted on the blog improves the browser's built-in ad-blocking and tracker-blocking functionality. Vivaldi 3.3 supports page-level blocking now. Vivaldi Technologies introduced the feature in the desktop release of Vivaldi 3.3 which the company released earlier this month.
Users providing their own sets of rules can now use the ‘document’ option in block rules to block whole pages. This is a step towards greater compatibility with the uBlock Origin rule set.
Chromium, the core of the Vivaldi browser, has been updated to version 85 as well in the release.
Vivaldi users should receive automatic browser updates provided that Google Play or a comparable service is installed on the device. The new version can be downloaded from Google Play.
@Allwynd:
It’s just the UI that feels sluggish – any benchmarks show that Vivaldi is as good as other Chromium browsers when running web-apps etc.
Vivaldi on Android is fine and I’m glad they are continuing to offer more options.
However, the desktop version of Vivaldi is so sluggish and riddled with bugs that are not in other Chromium-based browsers. I love the team and I love their attitude, but I can’t use Vivaldi as a primary browser.
Anyone else feel this way?
Yeah, Vivaldi on PC is really horrible and borderline unusable. I tried it for like 3-4 days and after that, my patience ran out and I uninstalled it. Definitely has issues that other Chromium browsers don’t have as well as being slower than the rest of the Chromium browsers on everything – loading the browser itself, loading websites. The way it behaves with tabs, downloads and other things is also different from other Chromium browsers and I haven’t found out how to make it behave as I want it to.
I don’t think I will be able to use it even in another 5 years or so… if it even exists then.
@Allwynd:
It’s just the UI that feels sluggish – any benchmarks show that Vivaldi is as good as other Chromium browsers when running web-apps etc.
I haven’t really encountered any bugs on Vivaldi Desktop. At most, sometimes I need to click twice on a link for some reason.
My problem is the Android version – it’s quite good and definitely better than Chrome, but it can’t measure up yet to Opera or Firefox with Addons.
@anona:
I’ve already submitted several bugs to the Vivaldi team, and I’m happy that they’re already working on them. One of them prevents me from loading the audio streams on some of the UK’s most popular radio stations’ websites. A bug that doesn’t occur in either Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Edge or Brave.
@Bryan:
Exactly the same here. Lovely browser, great team, but a million little annoying bugs which are unique to Vivaldi among all Chromium browsers.
Vivaldi for desktop is working great. Daily use, work and leisure. The devs. are looking quick on major issues and come on the forum for details and to explain their work, snapshots builds are released even on the weekend. You just don’t know to use it.
@bryan.
They need to make fixing bugs more of a priority rather than bringing in new features.
Terrific browser otherwise and i do not notice any sluggishness or huge bugs myself.
How does Vivaldi mobile compare to Bromite (what I’m using) from a security perspective?
@Anonymous
Both are based on Chromium, so they are the same in terms of security (defense against exploits etc.). Bromite is more private though – privacy ≠security.