In the previous article "Which brand is the most bloated? Comparison of the purity of domestic mobile phone systems" (can be searched and viewed on the homepage), many friends complained that the built-in browsers of major systems are the hardest hit areas of advertising. At the same time, all the built-in browsers of the system are uninstallable, which shows that the manufacturers have given the browser a very high priority.
Considering that most users are not computer players, the most commonly used or even the only one that will be used is the system's own browser. As a traditional Internet entrance, the user's browser experience naturally determines the quality of the system experience to a large extent, and it is easy to form an impression of its advertising.
So, is it really so difficult to use the built-in browsers of major domestic systems? Today, let's post them one by one to see who has the most ads and is the most difficult to use!
Test model:
华为Mate 60 Pro——HarmonyOS 4.2
小米14 Ultra——HyperOS 1.0
OPPO Find X7 Ultra——ColorOS 14.0
vivo X100——OriginOS 4.0
荣耀Magic6 Pro——MagicOS 8.0
魅族21 Pro——Flyme 10.24
红魔9 Pro+——RedMagic OS 9.0
In some previous system comparisons, considering a wider range of user groups, I mainly chose Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Honor, the five major brands, and many friends pointed out that some slightly niche brands should also be added. Therefore, this time, I have also added the Meizu and Red Devil (Nubia), which are the most nominated by everyone, for a total of seven brands.
The seven models selected are also the main flagships of each company. It can be said that they each represent the upper limit of their brand system experience, if on the flagship model, there are a lot of various pushes, ads, and hidden ads, and other low-end models will only be more and not less. So, even if you're not using a flagship phone, you can use the results as a reference.
Xiaomi has the largest data usage
It's still the old rule, before the test, all models were upgraded to the latest system version, the browser was also upgraded to the latest software version, and other settings were kept factory default. To get closer to everyday usage, activate each phone's browser first and then view its initial app data. This will be referred to as the brand or system name in the text.
So, is it recognized that a more concise and pure system will have a cleaner browser? From the perspective of browser application data occupation, it seems to be like this, as shown in the following table:
From the point of view of browser data storage usage,Xiaomi browser after the version update,After activating and using it once,The data reached an astonishing 1.09GB,It's hard to imagine,After a period of use,How much its storage footprint will be。
Huawei, OPPO, vivo, and Honor belong to the second echelon in terms of application data size, and the initial occupation has reached about 400MB~700MB. The smallest occupancy is Meizu, and then there is the Red Devil. The Red Devils have also undergone a browser upgrade, but it still only has 272 MB.
The reason for such a large difference in data volume is related to the underlying algorithm mechanism of each system to a certain extent. But more importantly, it is closely related to the kernel, functions, plug-ins, ads, interaction design, data refresh, etc. used by the browser itself.
Meizu is the most refreshing, followed by OPPO
Which of these factors affect such a large gap in their data volume can be found in the comparative use.
First of all, among these seven mobile phones, the most fresh and refined is none other than Meizu. Unlike the other six browser pages, which are crammed with dozens of classified channels, novels, videos, shopping, etc. Only Meizu's browser page and search page can be described as "a blank piece of paper". That's why it's only 100 MB of data.
Meizu browser is literally "a blank slate"
The next slightly better is OPPO. It can be seen,OPPO browser is after some "decoration",The default home page is"Vision",The search box is placed in a conspicuous position in the middle,The upper half of the screen only has simple icons,The lower half of the screen is some aggregation functions,It has also been designed and beautified,At least in terms of appearance,It is the best among the other six brands。
Of course, this kind of treatment may only exist on flagship devices like the Find X7 Ultra, and I also took a look at the other OPPO K12 phone in my hand, and its browser homepage is still the usual information page.
OPPO Find X7 Ultra和OPPO K12浏览器首页对比
Looking at the browsers of several other brands, I believe that I don't need to say, you have already appreciated it. After opening it, the so-called recommended news comes to your face, which is essentially a variety of explicit titles, low-quality pictures, and short videos of marketing accounts, the purpose of which is to get your clicks.
In addition to various news, there are dozens of channel categories, each of which is also covered with the above types of information. With so much data and a non-stop flow of information refreshed, it's no wonder that the storage footprint is not large.
Xiaomi, vivo, and Red Devil have the most built-in ads
The reason why Xiaomi browser has the largest data is probably inseparable from the number of ads. Ads occupy a prominent place in the middle of the first screen in almost every channel of the Xiaomi browser. If you accidentally click on it, you'll either be redirected to another app, an ad image, a video, or an app marketplace download page.
Similar to Xiaomi's situation are vivo and Red Devil, which also have ads on almost every classified channel. The reason why there are so many ads in the Red Devil browser and very little data occupation is speculated to be because the design of the browser is relatively "simple", with fonts, icons, and typography being very flat, and there is basically no beautification design at all.
The design of the Red Devil browser page is relatively "rudimentary"
I also found that,Under the financial classification of vivo browser,It also provides a special way to borrow money、Mobile phone recharge、Lottery、Quick entrance to credit cards,Needless to say,Jump to your own wallet application,I have done "Mobile wallet into an online loan platform?Six major brand wallet App comparison" (can be searched and viewed on the homepage),It can only be said that vivo is very thoughtful in borrowing money。
In addition, in addition to all kinds of information and aggregated information, each browser also has built-in functions such as reading novels and watching short videos (except for Meizu). The vivo browser also has a "Screening Room" category, where you can watch numerous free movies and TV series. The Red Devils have also added a special short drama section, which can be said to be quite up to date.
Vivo Browser's financial and auditorium channel classifications
In terms of browser functions, each can be plugged, and if it can't be plugged, it is hard to plug, and what is pursued is a large and complete. However, the basic function of the browser, the search box, has been placed in the top and most inconspicuous position, and it is also occupied by constantly changing search terms, most of which are eye-catching. Click on the search box, and a full screen of "hot search entries" will pop up.
For users, the browser, the entrance to the Internet, has been blocked by the crammed garbage.
Please note that privacy rights are involved
In addition to the multi-functional and pervasive ads, the permissions that these systems come with browsers are also worth paying attention to. In the table below, I've listed some of the sensitive permissions for each browser:
As you can see from the table, each system browser more or less involves some sensitive permissions, relatively speaking, Xiaomi is the least. This round is considered to be a game back,This is very consistent with the privacy and security that Xiaomi has been emphasizing,Most of the permissions,Prohibited by the system by default,Such as self-start、Location information、Photos and videos, etc.。
Xiaomi sensitive permissions are prohibited by default
In stark contrast to Xiaomi is vivo, which is also the only one that allows the browser to read audio, video, photos, and other privacy permissions, which need to be noticed and it is best to manually disable it in the settings.
In contrast, Huawei, Honor, and Meizu browsers obtain more sensitive permissions, Honor allows direct download of files without displaying notifications, and Meizu browsers also have sensitive permissions to read and write to the clipboard. Huawei and OPPO have also obtained the permission for device action and direction, which is actually a shake and jump.
I also found that although Xiaomi and Red Devil have fewer permissions, they and Huawei, Honor have a permission to modify system settings, what is this for? In fact, it is to set the default system browser. If you have installed a third-party browser, but when the link is redirected, it will always jump to the system's built-in browser, which is the impact of this permission, and you can turn off this permission in the settings if necessary.
Note that this is not to say that other third-party browsers or applications do not have these sensitive permission issues, but as a built-in browser and an application that cannot be uninstalled, many people may not pay attention to what permissions they have obtained as they do when installing third-party applications.
Therefore, for the built-in browser, it is natural that there should be higher requirements for the acquisition of sensitive permissions, which reflects the privacy protection claimed by these mobile phone manufacturers. But judging by the results, it is not ideal. To put it bluntly, it is difficult to talk about "conscious" from so many ads, drainage, and pushes in these system browsers, how can you expect it to do a better job in privacy protection?