My review of Vivaldi on Android

[MindFullOfMush]

I have tried literally ALL of the Android browsers out there. I have found that Vivaldi has the BEST and most convenient bookmarking menu system of all of them apart from Microsoft Edge. Most of these browsers are Chrome based so under the hood it is only a matter of what custom features each has. So we already know it's going to perform like Chrome which means its going to work just as well.

Vivaldi on PC also has done the best job for useful custom features and best UI experience. With Edge coming in close 2nd. And firefox 3rd. But all this is useless if any of these fail certain security concerns

Firefox is not chrome, but has the stock primitive bookmarking system so is a non-starter when it comes to android

With DEX on android then you will understand that android os allows multiple/split windows which is a game changer for browser user-ability but only if the browser allows it.
BOTH Vivaldi and EDGE allow Multiple instances of the browser to be opened at once. All the rest prevent this.
BOTH Vivaldi and EDGE will allow resizable windows. Of the chrome based browsers out there, most don't allow this. this becomes important if you use DEX multi-tabs do not solve certain problems

So why is EDGE a non-starter regardless of the great features?
EDGE

• Does not allow for cookies to be deleted on app exit. Has only 3rd party cookie deletion
• Does not allow custom search engines apart from mainstream ones.
• Does not allow turning off WebRTC (forget using a VPN if you cant disable this)
• custom Sync is exposed and NON-encrypted within Microsoft
• No ability to export/import bookmarks
• Disabled Add-Ons
• Locks out having custom home pages

So in essence, Edge will leak all your activities.

So what does Vivaldi have that works?

• DOES allow for even 1rst party cookies to be cleaned on exit and offers an exception list
• DOES delete 3rd party cookies
• DOES disable WebRTC
• DOES allow custom home pages
• DOES use end to end encryption on sync
• LIMITED and fixed search engine choices.
• ADD-ons also disabled

So this put's Vivaldi in the top tier list. but there are a few things that bother me.

It defaults to using doh dns which they call secure dns. Just be aware that your dns is going to their choice of dns and using a different method than ordinary DNS which isn't a bad thing. but they can point it to google dns and you wouldn't know the wiser in automatic mode.

No import/export of bookmarks apart from sync. Only DuckDuckGo browser allows for this. So no way to keep your pc and androids in sync without using the cloud.

The problem with sync regardless if it's secure your automatically giving away your ip address to one centralized server because it access's that server when you open the app on both pc/android. This means regardless of VPN your always known at least to their server regardless if the data is encrypted or not. So for some reason, ALL browsers apart from one (duckduckgo browser) want you to trust everything you do into their cloud. This for many reasons is a privacy leak. With Vivaldi PC version you can backup your PC profile (outside of vivaldi) but this not a solution for the Android version. So without sync you have no ability backup or your android version.

Apart from that, Vivaldi actually wins the android browser war this includes beating Brave browser from a convenience standpoint. For that matter Vivaldi's PC version also exceeds Brave and Chrome and Firefox and Edge.