Xiaomi has released its Internet browser called Mint for everyone on Google Play store. The Xiaomi Mint Browser, originally shipped as a part of MIUI on company’s smartphones, can now be downloaded on any Android phone. It has an interface similar to the Google Chrome for Android and Vivo’s native browser, comprising the elements such as a URL bar, popular websites, navigation buttons, and a microphone button for voice search.
Available in the Google Play store as ‘Mint Browser – Lite, Fast Web, Safe, AdFree’, the browser can also be sideloaded via its APK file that’s available on MIUI Forum. The Xiaomi Mint Browser is touted to offer an ad-free experience, however, there isn’t an ad blocker in the browser nor can it be downloaded as an add-on. It is also not clear whether the browser will collect the browsing data and use it for targeted ads. Xiaomi is known for providing a mobile ecosystem heavily served with advertisements, something that the company has itself confirmed.
Apart from this, the Xiaomi Mint Browser has the navigation buttons on the bottom, the extreme right one opens options such as ‘Bookmarks & History’, ‘Manage downloads’, ‘Tools’, and ‘Settings’. There is also an Add Bookmark icon denoted by a ‘star with a plus sign’, a Share button, and an Exit button. The Mint Browser supports Night Mode, which inverts the colours on the page – white turns to black and vice versa. This is suitable for Internet browsing in the night.
The Google Play store listing of the Mint Browser mentions four features – Tiny Size, User-friendly Design, Voice search, and Full-featured UI. The Xiaomi Mint Browser weighs just 11MB in size and can be downloaded on devices running on Android 4.4 or higher. The user can sign into the browser to access the bookmarks saved in the cloud. However, there is no tool available to import bookmarks from other browsers. There is a Reduce data usage feature that will compress the websites to use less data on metered connections.
