Many of the most favoured browsers on smartphones are designed with his flaw. Chrome for Android is a culprit. Samsung’s “Internet” is a culprit as well. Even newer ones like TECNO’s HiOS and UBuntu OS’ browsers are guilty too.
Have you ever used a mobile browser and wondered why the address bar, refresh icon, favourite icon and others are all placed at the top of the screen? Has it ever inconvenienced you to reach up there each time when your hands are usually firmly planted at the bottom to the middle of the phone? It is especially pronounced when you are using anything with a display bigger than 5 inches.
The modern mobile browsers that get it 100% right include Microsoft’s Edge, the default Windows 10 Mobile browser and the BB10 browser. ALL user controls and interactions are at the bottom of the screen, and they are so refreshing to use.
The iPhone’s Safari browser gets most of it right, but leaves the address bar and refresh button at the top of the screen. A similar arrangement is found on UCBrowser and Opera mini – the address bar, Speed Mode and refresh buttons are at the top of the screen while everything else is at the bottom.
Hopefully, we will see more mobile browsers embrace better usability in terms of placement of navigation and other menu items. Android browsers, in particular, need to improve in this aspect.