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Brave Browser Hands-on: Fast, Secure, Amazing Internet Browsing

Brave Browser Hands-on: Fast, Secure, Amazing Internet Browsing

Recently, I became fascinated by the world of cryptocurrencies and alternate coins and specifically the technology and products behind it.

Until a short while ago, I really thought that these cryptocurrencies are things that try to replace “real” money, but they’re not.

They are actually backed up by amazing products and concepts making life easier and better. They are the next big thing, the evolution of everything tech-related.

And so I got my hands on the Brave internet browser. This happened today, just a few hours ago actually, and I’ve been impressed by it so far.

And I have to admit, as a website owner, I am a bit worried about Brave because it does change the way the game is played and especially how website owners like myself are getting paid for their hard work.

Basically, Brave is an extremely fast internet browser with built-in adblocking features. It makes navigating any website a breeze, focusing on the thing that should matter the most: content.

It also plays a big card on keeping your browsing history, habits and everything you do on your browser private. Your data is not shared with anybody.

Not even the Brave team. And this is huge in today’s world where any service and website wants to track your every move.

So in today’s article, I am going to share my first impressions on the Brave browser after playing with it for a while. I am going to write an more in-depth review soon, but until then this article should do.

Brave – the browser built for the end user

For the person using Brave, things are looking great. The browser itself has a beautiful design and you’ll feel right at home when you launch it for the first time. In terms of looks and the way you navigate it, it’s very similar to Firefox or Chrome.

Useful info when you open a new tab. My stats after using it for several minutes.

It couldn’t be otherwise, since the main man behind it is Brendan Eich – the creator of JavaScript and cofounder of Mozilla.

So a man who really knows what he’s doing and somebody who already created one of the most popular internet browsers in the world. I am a big Mozilla fan (still using it as my default browser, actually), so I have a lot of respect for this guy.

But is Brave good enough to take over the world?

It sure is. Although in a beta stage and still under a lot of development, Brave looks like a winner to me. The main thing that I love about it is that it’s extremely fast and, no matter what type of website you’re loading, it’s working flawlessly and it’s loading them quickly.

This is a win in my books – and it should be in yours too since nobody likes to wait for ages for websites to load.

The browser’s preferences – just one click away.

The Preferences window has everything you need in order to fully tweak the browser – but you can modify some options (mainly ad-blocking) on a per-website basis.

Just a few clicks here and there and you’re done. You have complete control over your internet experience and you’ll be surprised how good the browser is.

One extremely important feature (which is something I am sure we’ll see copied by the big players out there) is the https upgrade.

Basically, the browser automatically takes unsecured connections and encrypts them, making sure that the data you transfer is safe.

Today, other browsers give you warnings when the connection is not encrypted, but do nothing about this. Brave solves the problem easily, basically helping blog and website owners along the way. And, of course, the user visiting said websites.

There is also one extra feature that most people won’t be able to take advantage of, but one that has the potential to actually help website owners in the future.

We’re talking about the Brave Payments program, which is something that allows you to contribute some money to the websites you visit.

Basically, you turn this on, set a monthly budget of $5 to $20 and the browser will automatically make the payments to the publishers, based on the shares they have.

This share is calculated based on the time spent on the said blogs and how many times you visited.

You also have complete control over the websites that get some of your money and those who don’t.

It’s absolutely beautiful and something that more people should do: say no to the annoying ads, but still send some money towards your favorite websites to help their owners and writers keep their job and be able to feed themselves and their families.

The only problem right now? Payments are made using Bitcoin, which is something that the vast majority of internet users still don’t use.

Therefore, even those who would like to reward the websites they visit might have a more difficult time actually doing so.

So this is one of the biggest challenges of the Brave browser at the moment, but I am sure that the brilliant minds behind it will find a way to make it work.

All in all, for the end user, Brave is perfect. Nothing more, nothing less. Perfect. The payment thing?

That’s something for the webmasters and blog owners to worry about – and they sure will. But until then, this browser still remains an amazing choice for all users worldwide.

Best part? The Brave browser actually saves you money by not loading a ton of ads and trackers that you do (unknowingly) when browsing the internet.

This goes for mobile traffic, of course, where you usually pay by GB, and the company actually did some research and shared some data on how much you’re actually saving.

In their research, they used the biggest news sites out there, but even the smallest ones add up to the total costs:

Have you tried the Brave browser yet? You can download it on its official website and give it a go. It’s also available for Android and iOS. My take? You’ll love it!