ZapBrowser Brings the Palm Pre’s Browser to iPhone

It seems indie iPhone developers have some obsesion with the Palm Pre’s UI. Not too long after the Pre was released, we started seeing Pre inspired themes in Cydia. In fact, we here at iPhoneinCanada wrote about how to “Make Your iPhone Look Like a Palm Pre“, including changing the font, with “Font Swap”.

Then, just last week, we saw the must coveted feature of the Pre arrive on the iPhone with “ProSwitcher“. This app, in conjuction with “Backgrounder” gives iPhone users the Pre’s backgrounding apps capability, with “cards”, and everything.

Now, we have “ZapBrowser”, which imitates the Pre’s web browser. It features full screen, tabbed browsing, with the card style of the WebOS. This browser is pretty fast, with a simple UI. You have a menu button, at the top, that gives you access to your bookmarks, new tabs, with easy buttons to open links in Safari, or to email them. When you have a couple of tabs open, you get a little blue button, bottom center, to access your “cards”, and swith between tabs.

Actual browsing is comparable to Mobile Safari. Speeds are pretty close, when loading pages. Multitouch, copy/paste, and landscape mode are all supported.

Check out this quick demo video I whipped up:

Overall, this browser is an okay alternative to Mobile Safari, especially if you’re going for the Palm Pre look and feel. ZapBrowser is available for jailbroken iPhones, in the Cydia Store, for $1.99. You may have seen this in Cydia as “PreBrowser”, but the name has been changed to “ZapBrowser”, most likely due to Palm complaining. 😉

Thanks for reading again this week. Check out Green Candy for more iPhone releated tips and tricks, and follow me on Twitter @rorypiper.