You’ve made the switch from Mobile Safari and have gotten warm and fuzzy with Google’s iOS version of Chrome. But it just doesn’t feel right. Sometimes it’s snappier, other times slower. Trust me, I know how it is. Don’t fret just yet — you don’t need to upgrade your hardware. If you have a jailbroken phone and are willing to spend a few dollars (literally), you can get Chrome running just as well as Safari.
You’ll need to hit up Cydia for the following tweaks, but once installed there’s nothing else you need to do.
Nitrous
Price: $US0.99
Denied access to iOS’ speedy Javascript engine, Nitro, no Mobile Safari alternative can hope to compete, performance-wise, with Apple’s native option. That’s where Nitrous steps in, granting any app that uses the UIWebView class the speed benefits of Nitro.
Because it’s a blanket effect, Nitrous can boost the responsiveness of apps other than web browsers, if they are dependent on UIWebView. The only issue is that Nitrous will set you back $US0.99, but that’s hardly unreasonable.
If the only UIWebView app you use is Mobile Safari, you can happily give this a miss.
AdBlocker
Price: $US2.19
The speed of the average broadband connection, combined with the power of even the most budget-conscious desktop machine, makes the performance impact of advertising a lot less noticeable (unless of course the sites you visit a stuffed full of them). For smartphones however, especially if your device isn’t cutting edge, ads often make your browsing experience feel downright woeful, be it from sluggish scrolling, a lack of touch responsiveness or having the layout shift magically under your fingers.
In this world, an ad blocker can work wonders. You could whack a bunch of exceptions into your device’s hosts file, or you could just grab AdBlocker from Cydia. Again, it’s a paid-for tweak, though $US2.19 won’t bust the bank.
A Word On Chrome Tweaks
It might be tempting to install a number of the Chrome tweaks available in Cydia, but I’d recommended giving them a pass. I found, at least on my iPhone 4, that installing some of the Chrome customisers and gesture add-ons made the browser unusable at worst. Perhaps it’s the smaller screen that makes getting the gestures correct, or the UI lag the tweaks add, but the negatives outweighed any efficiency gains.
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