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Home / Reviews / Apps and Games / Android / App of the week: Cake Browser review

App of the week: Cake Browser review

This new mobile web browser that skips straight to dessert is a little bit tasty

Interacting with a smartphone is a world away from using a notebook or desktop – and yet mobile web browsers basically remain mini-mes of their desktop cousins.

There have been few attempts to disrupt the status quo, and those apps that have tried – most notably, Opera Coast – have faded away. Perhaps people are stuck in their ways, but the pleasingly named Cake Browser nonetheless wants to tear you away from Safari and Chrome.

Its big idea: to turn the entire browsing experience into Google’s I Feel Lucky button. And it kind of works.

Dessert first

Dessert first

Cake starts out as a search screen. Type a term, tap the search button, and the browser loads what it considers the most relevant page, and loads more in background tabs. You then swipe between them.

This seems odd at first, and can occasionally be frustrating. There’s an absurdity to typing ‘Iceland’ when looking for tips on an upcoming trip to Reykjavík, and being confronted by directions to a nearby supermarket.

But there are advantages, too. You soon find yourself exploring web pages you perhaps wouldn’t have found or chosen on a standard results page, freeing you from browsing bubbles. And anyway, if you want the normal results list, it’s still there – you just have to swipe from the left after doing a search.

Bake off

Bake off

With Cake being all about shortcuts, it suitably provides fast access to specific kinds of search. Big, colourful buttons direct you to videos, images, news, and shopping. These make the process of getting at content feel quite snappy, even if the browser’s performance is sometimes sluggish (most notably on Android).

There are other downsides, too – little customisation, and some dubious data capture. (This is anonymised, but you can’t opt-out.) Also, you can’t add to the built-in search engines.

Most people won’t mind choosing between Google and Bing for web search (although DuckDuckGo would be a nice option). But shopping in the UK is ludicrously limited to eBay, Google, and – for some reason – Argos.

Food for thought

Food for thought

Ultimately, Cake Browser is unlikely to wrench you away from Chrome or Safari. Those browsers are mature, feature-rich, and fast. But that doesn’t mean Cake isn’t worth a download.

Cake might have its shortcomings and feel like a feature other browsers could soon steal, but it does offer a new, fun way to interact with the internet – and one that feels ideally suited to the smartphone.

That it might help you find new places to visit and new experiences is in itself a good enough reason to take a look.

Cake Browser is available for Android and iOS.

Stuff Says…

Score: 3/5

Flawed but interesting, Cake won’t be your main mobile browser but still deserves a space on your smartphone

Good Stuff

Interesting results mechanic

Quick buttons for media types

Simple gestural navigation

Bad Stuff

A bit slow, especially on Android

Can’t add new search engines

No full screen mode

Profile image of Craig Grannell Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.

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