In Depth: Best browser 2012: which should you be using?

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Tweet Page 1: Best browser 2012: which should you choose?

As you'd expect, IE9 integrates well with Windows 7. The interface divides opinion but we really like it

Competition among browsers is more fierce than ever.

Google's knocking out new versions of Chrome at an alarming rate, Mozilla's been pulling nightshifts to improve Firefox, and Microsoft's rejuvenated IE team is doing great things with its browser.

There are great browsers from Opera and Apple too, not to mention mobile browsers for smartphones and tablets.

So which browser should you be using?

Let's find out which ones offer the best blend of power, expandability and all-round awesomeness.

The best browser for speed

We tested the latest official releases of the big browsers: IE9, Safari 5.1, Firefox 9, Chrome 16 and Opera 11.6 to see how they performed on the desktop. All of the big browsers deliver speedy browsing, but there are still differences when it comes to things such as JavaScript performance, which affects the speed at which web apps and complex websites work.

In the Sunspider JavaScript benchmarks Firefox left its rivals in the dust, storming through the tests in a hugely impressive 189.4ms. Safari was next with 219.6ms, followed by IE9 (247.9ms), Opera (254.3ms) and Chrome (291.0ms). We saw similar results in Windows Vista, with Firefox narrowly pipping its rivals to take first place.

These figures are based on brand new installations without any plugins, extensions or similar: once you start loading your browser up with goodies, performance is likely to take a nose-dive.

WOW: Firefox is the speed king on Windows and on OS X, but there isn't much in it: all the browsers are swift

The best browser for add-ons

You can get add-ons for all the main browsers, but Firefox has the edge here: its huge number of add-ons and Greasemonkey scripts mean that its reputation as the Swiss Army Knife of web browsers is well deserved. It's far and away the most expandable web browser, and it's got the best browser sync features too. Bear in mind, though, that all of the main browsers are expandable, and while some - such as Safari - don't have enormous libraries of add-ons, you can still get the essential ones such as ad blockers, Twitter utilities and Gmail notifiers.

Opera deserves a special mention here because it's more than just a browser. It has integrated email, newsgroups and IRC chat, the Opera Unite file server, Opera Turbo to improve performance on crappy mobile connections, and Sidebar-style widgets for games, web applications and utilities.

The best browser for Windows 7

Safari's the first to fall here: it just looks odd on Windows, and doesn't offer anything over its rivals. IE9 and Opera are both very nice to use on Windows 7 and make good use of taskbar pinning and jump lists, but Firefox has the edge in both speed and expandability and it's our pick here.

UNEXPECTED?: Opera's a joy to use and worth considering if you like the idea of widgets, integrated email and file sharing

The best browser for Windows Vista

IE9 flies on Vista - it hammered through Sunspider in 193.7ms - but Firefox is faster still, scoring 192.2ms in the same benchmarks. Safari ran through the benchmarks in 224.4ms, Chrome 246.6ms, and Opera in 251.2ms. Firefox isn't just the speediest browser on Vista, but the most expandable too.

The best browser for Windows XP

Internet Explorer takes an early bath here, because Microsoft doesn't make IE9 for its ageing OS. That leaves Safari 5.1, Firefox 9, Chrome 16 and Opera 11.6; of the four, Chrome demands the least RAM and hard disk space, making it the best bet for older XP systems. That means Chrome's the best browser for netbooks too: its more modest hardware requirements are a boon on relatively low-spec machines.

The best browser for OS X

Firefox was massively in the lead on OS X Lion, rocketing through Sunspider in 153.8ms compared to Safari's 209.2ms, Opera's 214.7ms and Chrome's 225.3. However, it's worth noting that while Safari's figures look good on paper, they don't reflect the way it chugged through the benchmarks as if it were wading through treacle.

Firefox's speed is countered by what we think is a faintly horrible interface. If that isn't your top priority then Firefox is the best browser for Mac users; if it annoys you, then Opera or Chrome is a better bet. While Safari is a perfectly decent browser, its rivals performed better in our tests.

The best browser for privacy

All of the browsers we tested had excellent privacy protection including private browsing and warnings of suspicious web pages, but IE9 is marginally ahead of the pack here: its tracking protection enables you to subscribe to lists that tell specific kinds of websites not to track you, which is potentially more useful than a global "do not track" option.

The best browser for HTML5

All of the main browsers support the important bits of HTML5, but when it comes to full standards support Chrome and Firefox are in the lead by a significant margin. According to the excellent Caniuse.com, Firefox and Chrome score 89% for HTML5 standards support, with Safari at 78%, Opera 74% and IE9 52%. If you add CSS support into the equation the scores are 87% for Firefox and Chrome, 83% for Safari, 75% for Opera and 59% for IE.

LAGGING BEHIND: All the browsers support key HTML5 features, but IE9 lags behind when it comes to full standards support

The best browser for Android

The stock Android browser is pretty good, but we think Opera Mobile has the edge for smartphones: it's got a lovely interface, goes like the clappers - we've previously described it as "comically fast" on decent kit - and synchronises well with its desktop cousin. On tablets, the standard browser is still our preferred option: while Dolphin for Pad and Firefox are looking pretty nifty, they're both still in beta.

CACHE KING: Opera Mobile for Android is particularly good on mobile phones. It's "comically fast" on decent kit

The best browser for iPad

The lack of tabs in Apple's Safari drove us daft on the original iPad, but now it's got tabbed browsing and iCloud syncing we think it's the best browser on the platform, especially on the iPad 2: in our experience it's faster and more reliable than iCab Mobile, considerably nicer to look at than Atomic Browser, and less likely to dump you back to the home screen for no good reason than non-Apple browsers.

NATIVE THE BEST: Tabbed browsing and iCloud synchronisation make Apple's own Safari the best bet for iPad owners

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Tags: browsers, IE9, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome, softwareTweetreddit!Stumbleupon  Your comments (8) Click to add a new commentjaydeetee

October 5th 2011

8. I use Chrome most of the time, but it crashes a lot. I'd use firefox or opera if they weren't so flaming ugly. They've either got the stupid button for all the options or the totally transparent (and therefore useless unless you've got 20/20 vision) menu bar that sits on the top like an afterthought pushing down the viewing screen size and isn't able to be moved so it can be put next to another one on the same line or something like that. Proper ugly and impractical. It's Chrome or IE9 for me until firefox and opera change that.

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mayer

May 30th 2011

7. i think a best browser should be like avant browser .there is no memory leak ,fast and easy to use & customzie the inferface .actully ,the best browser is the one that suitable for you .For me,it's Avant browser

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wrongd0g

April 12th 2011

6. If ever I read a "review" with a preconceived outcome, it has to be this one.

The fact the authout couldn't even be bothered to know that Opera is available for Mac is a serious worry.

Just as laughable is the +1 for Firefox for supporting greasemonkey, despite Opera supporting Greasemonkey for 8+ years.... And clearly he doesn't realise that both Mozilla and Microsoft are cheating the sunspider tests. (Firefox does not display anything during the test, IE9 has hardcoded optimizations for Sunspider that only work on that site).

Truly shocking "reporting" from a "tech" site.

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urael

March 12th 2011

5. C'mon, Gary - Opera has been available for Macs for quite some time now, or did you think it's recent inclusion in the App store was just a marketing gimmick?

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/opera-jovial-over-browsers-17+-mac-app-store-rating-933089

Astounding ignorance of this standard really casts a pall over the rest of your reporting.

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flunka

March 3rd 2011

4. I'm surprised to see you finding IE9 the fastest. Surely you ought to conduct more benchmarks and tests to confirm this before saying it's the fastest? It's also been suggested that IE9 was specifically optimised to ace Sunspider, but this performance isn't necessarily seen outside of the benchmark situation. (Google 'Did Internet Explorer 9 Cheat In The SunSpider Benchmark?').

Whilst IE9 is impressive in some ways, one of the main sticking points for me is that I just can't bear using a browser without spell-check. It's become a necessity of a modern browser, and I really can't see why they won't add it. There's a spell-check addon, but it uses the traditional method of clicking a button and going through each incorrect word, not an instantly-appearing underline with access to suggestions via right-click. I also find the lack of addons and customisability to be an issue.

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dom0410

March 2nd 2011

3. @bradavon: I have IE9 RC installed on my laptop and it is a lot faster and smoother than IE8. The UI has been completely reworked as well although I don't like it; the topmost bar does nothing at all apart from hold the minimise/maximise/close buttons, which is a waste of space. Why the designers did not put the address bar or the tabs here is beyond me.

I find it hard to recommend Firefox to anyone at the moment. As it comes it has too few features and I'm really not a fan of add-ons as they slow the browser down and you have the hassle of finding, installing and managing them. Firefox 4 should change things performance wise but it will still be reliant on add-ons for many features.

My favourite browser is Opera 11.01 for a number of reasons. It's fast, really fast, and a relatively small download for the amount of features that it packs. Whenever I have to use a computer which does not have Opera installed I find it extremely awkward to browse the internet without mouse gestures. I think mouse gestures are the one feature that for me makes Opera my browser of choice. Speed dial is another solid feature, as is the download manager which lets you pause/resume downloads and handles bit torrents. That said Opera is not without its flaws, the layout of the default UI is not to my taste; I find the Wand button unnecessary and I prefer to have the refresh and home buttons to the right of the address bar, not to the left. I also find the status bar on all browsers to be unnecessary and in Opera it is turned on by default (I think FF4 will come with it turned off by default). Finally I find Opera sometimes hangs for a few seconds, although this issue is much less severe since 11 was updated to 11.01.

I haven't tried Safari on Windows, I don't really see the point. I looked into it and it was a huge download and if it is as bloated and slow as iTunes on Windows it really isn't worth touching. And as for Chrome, I wasn't won over by the UI and feature-set. Mind you that was a long while ago so I ought to try it again some time.

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bradavon

March 2nd 2011

2. As to best browser, it comes to down personal preference: Firefox, Opera and Chrome are all excellent.

IE and Safari have always been rubbish. I've not yet used IE9 but I doubt much has changed.

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bradavon

March 2nd 2011

1. Opera 11 exists for Mac.

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In Depth: Bristol's community-built wireless network

Bristol's community-built wireless network

In the unlikely surroundings of Bristol's Windmill Hill City Farm - a community project half a mile south of the city centre - we found ourselves drinking coffee in a unique computer lab.

More than a lab, it felt a bit like a second-hand computer shop, with walls lined with shelving stacked with refurbished beige boxes waiting to be sold.

The workbenches, which formed the core of the lab, were lined with old thin clients donated from the NHS, while a repurposed P4 desktop to power them all sat in the corner.

Far from being symbols of an outdated project, though, this was just how those who built the lab envisioned it.

RECLAIM AND REPAIR: A healthy stock of second-hand computers waiting to go to those who need them most

We were guests at Bristol Wireless, the "social enterprise working to bring connectivity, computers and IT skills to all sectors of society". It's a project that's enjoyed great success over the past 10 years, and it's all been built on the back of Linux and free and open source software.

And it's not just a successful project, it's cool too: much of the equipment is homemade, it encourages learning and hacking, and it embodies the spirit of Freedom 2 of the Free Software definition - the freedom to share so you can help your neighbour.

When we first discovered it, through a comment on TuxRadar, we immediately wanted to find out more. The project was founded in 2002 as an off-shoot of the Easton Community Centre (ECC). For those unfamiliar with Bristol's geography, Easton is a vibrant and diverse inner-city area with community centres, cafes and pubs; it's also listed by the Government's Indices of Deprivation as one of the most deprived areas in the country.

One result of the deprivation is that the area was late to join the digital revolution. In a bid to help rectify this, in 2002 the ECC received a grant of £170,000 to build an IT centre to provide local residents with internet access. As part of this, a 2.2Mbps ADSL line was installed at the centre.

"It was a lot of money," explained Rich Higgs, one of Bristol Wireless's longest serving volunteers, "but they didn't really know what they were doing with it." It was 2002, and the dot-com bubble had just burst, so there were quite a few under-employed IT people in the area, including Rich and his friends who rallied around to help.

Their main focus was the new internet connection. It was a significant amount of bandwidth - few people had internet access, and nobody had anything faster than 512kbps - and they immediately recognised the impact such a connection could have.

Their first website, captured by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, on 24 November 2002, said: "By now we all know the benefits of computers, so far as education and research go. It would be a crime not to reach out and grasp these benefits, making them available to all."

Shared vision

BUDGET BUILD: Some of the equipment used to build the first wireless network, including a cantenna

So that's exactly what they set out to do - share the connection with as many people as possible. They began talking about the best way to go about it, and settled on the idea of a wireless network as the easiest way to share the connection throughout Easton.

They had no money to begin with, so all of the equipment was home-made - as the website explained: "A policy of lowest-cost solutions was rather rudely forced upon them." Although, as the website also notes: "This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the project has become a study in conservation and the re-use of materials."

Their first piece of equipment was a series of 'cantennas'. These ingenious devices, otherwise known as 'tin can waveguide antennas', can significantly extend the range of a Wi-Fi connection for virtually no cost.

As well as being made of a tin can - the project found that a J&B whisky tin was the best solution - the only other components they require is a tiny and cheap connector and a bit of wire. Of course, as clever as the cantennas were, they were useless without the wireless cards to generate the signal, and the routers and servers to connect them to the ADSL line.

By this point, however, the project had begun to garner some attention from the wider Bristol community - as Rich recalls, it "had grown into something". The first wireless routers were made out of old PCs donated by the University of Bristol. The team stuck some wireless cards in these, installed Linux and put them to work as the routers on their new network.

Other donations, in the form of time and equipment, came from Psand, a local hosting and web development company. With all the pieces in place, the team turned on the network and, considering that all the equipment was home-made - some of it salvaged from bins in the city centre, it was an incredible success.

It stretched from the ECC, up the entire length of Chelsea Road, and could even be used in Whitehall - more than half a mile from the ECC. Given that most Wi-Fi networks have a range of just 300ft outside, that represents a nine-fold increase.

WI-FI TOILET: This toilet has the best Wi-Fi reception in the country

Andy Sabel, another volunteer, was working at the ECC at the time. He remembers a great deal of energy and enthusiasm surrounding the team: "These guys were around, ranting about Linux and doing interesting stuff." It was more than enough to excite local residents and non-technical ECC members.

After the network was turned on and working, the project started to take things further. They began setting up other key community buildings with the equipment to connect to the network, and with the computers they'd need to use it. In 2004, the project's website announced that: "After some initial problems… the installation at Greenhaven elderly residents' support accommodation is now up and running."

They managed to provide Greenhaven with two computers running Red Hat Linux, which were placed in a communal area and connected to the nascent network. This was just one of nine such installations that the project would carry out in short succession.

As these installations came online, and demand for access to the network spread to other parts of the city, the original infrastructure needed to be developed further. In particular, there was demand for the network to reach across Stapleton Road. This meant that the project needed to get an antenna on top of Twinnel House, a council-owned tower that would give them a direct line of sight to much more of Bristol.

Expanding the Bristol Wireless network

Usually at this point, plans are scuppered by British bureaucracy, health and safety laws or Nimby (Not In My Back Yard) attitudes. But you'll be pleased to learn that the council supported the project, gave access to the tower's roof, and the network continued to spread: from this point, the furthest it could reach was Long Ashton, a distance of almost five miles.

DAYS GONE PAST: An early router, including CRT monitor!

This all took place in Bristol Wireless's first few years and now the project is rapidly approaching its 10th birthday, so what's happened in between?

A significant development came out of the project's natural growth. As it served more and more people with internet, it outgrew ECC's 2.2Mbps connection, and now uses its wireless network to provide access to the Broadband Media Exchange's (BMEX) highspeed network. Bristol Wireless now provides many community projects with a symmetric connection burstable up to 10Mbps.

This might not sound fast compared to advertised domestic connection speeds today, but the BMEX network achieves these speeds far more consistently and provides uploads at the same speed as downloads. This has also led to a change in the way the project is run.

The BMEX connection has to be paid for, as does the continuous maintenance and upgrading of the antennas and routers across the city, so Bristol Wireless's services are now paid for. It's still staffed by volunteers and it doesn't turn a profit but it provides third-sector organisations with the cheapest IT solutions possible.

IT solutions is the correct phrase, too, since the team has, over the years, expanded its services in response to shifting demands. Starting from the deployment of those two Red Hat boxes, the team has gradually developed its knowledge of LTSP, the Linux Terminal Server Project. This means lots of people can use the same computer at the same time.

All the applications run on a server, which is then accessed through a thin client - a very low-powered computer that links the server with individual input and output devices. As Andy points out: "Originally it was a great way of disseminating bandwidth at our public access locations." They might not be powerful, but in locations where all that's needed is some internet, document editing or image viewing, they're the ideal solution: they're cheap, and can use as little as 11W while operating.

One of the team's more original endeavours was the creation of a mobile LTSP suite. It's not much more than half a dozen old laptops, a few extension leads and plenty of network cable all tucked into a box, but it's proved to be a very popular solution for events across the country.

MOBILE WI-FI: An LTSP suite - great for protests in fields

At the Climate Camps, for instance, the team was contracted to provide network access. They took along their mobile LTSP suite, powered it with some small solar panels and wind turbines, and connected it to the internet through a satellite link. This enabled protestors to communicate with the outside world, providing an alternative to the mainstream media.

The team has also started venturing into VoIP, using the Bath-based Gradwell trunk network to connect clients to the outside world. As you'd imagine, its solution continues to be entirely built around free and open source software and uses the FreePBX distribution as the switch.

THE BRISTOL NETWORK: The current extent of Bristol Wireless's network

Today, customers include the Cube Cinema, Fareshare SW, the ECC, St Werburghs City Farm and the Princess Royal Gardens sheltered accommodation, amongst many others. In effect, the team is now operating as a small, community telecoms provider, and since it's now supplying paying customers, quality of service is a matter of increasing concern.

In the interests of maintaining a quality network connection for as many groups as possible, Bristol Wireless does engage in active traffic management. The team uses Nagios to monitor the condition of the network and, if it sees a prolonged spike in network traffic, is happy to temporarily disconnect the source and ask what's going on. Without this, its VoIP service wouldn't be reliable, and there would be constant hassle from copyright holders.

Bristol Wireless's experience as a small ISP sheds some interesting light on the realities for larger internet companies too. The team sees great value in people being able to do whatever they like on the net, but when it comes to the day-to-day reality of ensuring that the network is always available, it's had to compromise on these ideals. It's no wonder then that larger businesses, who may or may not consider net neutrality important, need to implement traffic management policies, too.

As the project faced new challenges and sought to meet new community needs, the volunteers found themselves having to learn new skills. Indeed, many of the current crop started out with no formal training or qualifications, but relied on man pages and knowledgeable friends.

The sad death of a key engineer, Lloyd Cohen, and the departure of a number of other members, left the team feeling a bit vulnerable. With such a depleted pool of knowledge would the volunteers be able to properly maintain and support the network? It was a serious predicament, but one that was resolved thanks to the loyalty and goodwill of former staff.

A number of those who'd gone on to new jobs created a top-down, systematic course on networking to bring the remaining members up to speed. It started out with simple home networking and progressed all the way through to Class-C, B and A networks and how DNS works - all before lunch. After lunch, they then dived into their own network to see how it all worked in practice.

Not only did this, as Rich puts it, "good ethos of shared learning experiences" prove vital to the continued success of the project, it also acted as a springboard for other members to gain experience and go on to find professional employment.

Matt Leonard, who arrived to join us during his lunchbreak, was the project's wireless guru before getting a job as a network engineer. Now that he's back in the area, he's getting involved again. "It was an awesome playground," he said, reflecting on his experiences. "At least in the early days before it was so relied upon - you could really get stuck in to networking and play with it in the real world."

Now, approaching its 10th anniversary, Bristol Wireless finds itself at a bit of a crossroads. There are a number of new customers it's waiting to bring online and there are also some new projects it wants to pursue. In particular, it's interested in building an install-and-go LTSP solution.

Its great worry, though, is that there aren't enough volunteers with either the time or the expertise to make this a reality. In the past, the team looked to Pete Ferne, its charismatic chair and leader, but he passed away last year. Now it hopes to find someone new, with fresh ideas, energy and enthusiasm.

WIDE REACH: Antennas used as the network spread - a touch more sophisticated than the cantenna

Whatever happens, the project has certainly made an impact over the past ten years and hopefully it will continue to provide an invaluable service to many of Bristol's best third-sector organisations for the decade to come as well.

In Depth: 10 tech trends to watch for in 2012

10 tech trends to watch for in 2012

Predicting the future is a tricky business. Some of our picks for 2011 didn't turn up - Augmented Reality remains a potentially great thing rather than a popular, useful thing - and others were damp squibs, such as Google's supposedly world-conquering Chrome OS.

2012 will be different, though: tech giants are finishing off some huge projects, and some of 2011's best things will get even better in the next twelve months. These are our picks for the top tech trends of 2012.

1. Windows 8 revolution

This is the biggie, and not just because of Microsoft's enormous user base: Windows 8 is a dramatically different version of the world's most popular OS, with particular emphasis on tablets.

The PC industry's in the doldrums just now and if Microsoft gets Windows 8 right, it could kick-start the entire sector; however, if it gets it wrong then the only company likely to be smiling is Apple. We'll know much more in February, which is when the public beta is expected to arrive.

2. Really good tablets

If 2011 was when the tablet market learned to walk, 2012 is when it'll learn to run. With Android there's Ice Cream Sandwich, delivering a vastly improved user experience across a dizzying range of devices; on the Windows front that proper, tablet-focused Windows we talked about above; and on the Apple side of things we've got the iPad 3 and its rumoured retina display.

3. Big names in big trouble

Some of tech's biggest firms face a rocky ride in the coming year: the Financial Times reports that the EU "plans to slam Google with a 400-plus page" statement of anti-trust objections before possibly embarking on legal action, while in the US the Federal Trade Commission has ordered Facebook to behave itself or face action. The EU's sniffing around Facebook too, with German regulators being a particular thorn in the social network's side.

Tech firms aren't just facing regulatory issues, though: sometimes they're happy to shoot their own feet. RIM's tablet adventures have been disastrous and the firm is in a mess, with its share price at a record low and staff having to scale mountains of unsold PlayBooks to get to work. We're exaggerating, but only just, and RIM isn't the only firm to make disappointing tablets: Dell's canned the Streak while HP had to slash prices to shift its TouchPads. Expect more unsuccessful tablets in 2012.

4. TV continues to change

The lines between TV and PC will continue to blur in 2012. Apple is working on an Apple TV that will apparently boast Siri voice control and close integration with iCloud and iOS devices, while TV giants such as Sony and Samsung will offer more connected televisions []. Away from the sofa Google's just redesigned YouTube to make it more like a traditional broadcaster, and firms such as Sky are expanding their programming to deliver video on demand on a range of devices.

5. Voice input

We're loath to call this voice recognition, because it's bigger than that: natural language systems such as Apple's Siri are closer to virtual assistants or intelligent software agents than traditional computer voice recognition, not least because you're taking advantage of enormously powerful servers rather than the processing power of your device. Siri's currently in the iPhone 4S, but it's coming to other devices including TVs. Expect Siri's power to increase as Apple adds new functions and app integration, and expect imitators on other platforms.

6. More and more Ultrabooks

We like ultrabooks, the super-thin and super-portable Apple-inspired notebooks from the likes of Acer, Asus and Toshiba. We're not so keen on their prices, though, so it's good to see DigiTimes predicting that prices will fall by as much as 10% in early 2012, bringing Ultrabooks into the sub-$1000 price bracket. We're expecting to see as many as fifty new Ultrabooks at January's CES extravaganza, not to mention new, slimline MacBook Pros from Apple later in the year.

7. The end of boxed software

We predicted this one last year, but Windows 8 didn't arrive as early as we'd hoped: Windows 8 brings the app store model to the majority of the world's desktops, and between it and Apple's Mac App Store (not to mention the mobile app stores on iOS, Android and on Android forks such as Amazon's Kindle Fire) we're looking at the end of shrink-wrapped software boxes.

8. Everything in the cloud

The rise of mobile devices means that we expect to get our stuff on any device, anywhere we happen to be - and more often than not, that means storing our stuff in the cloud. Windows 8 makes much more use of Windows Live and services such as SkyDrive, while Apple's iCloud storage will be supported by more and more desktop and mobile apps. Content, too, will be increasingly cloud-based: music services such as Spotify, Google Music and iTunes Match offer cloud-based music delivery, while services such as Netflix UK and OnLive will deliver streaming movies and games respectively.

9. Mobile payments

There's more to mobile payments than near field communications (NFC) chips, although that's where most of the hype is currently focused. Ebay tells us that 10% of its UK payments are now made via mobile phones, while a recent survey by KPMG found that some 24% of people worldwide are making phone-based payments. Factor in the arrival of NFC chips in mobiles and NFC readers in more high street shops and it's clear that mobile money is going to be a big deal in 2012.

10. Censorship

While ISPs won't - and can't, under EU law - be forced to monitor everybody's online activities, demands for per-site censorship will soundtrack 2012. The BPI is already asking ISPs to block The Pirate Bay, while in the US the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act could result in entire sites being blocked by ISPs, search engines, payment providers and advertising networks as a result of a few users' bad behaviour.

Such US legislation could have global effects, because most of the world's websites are registered in the US: while SOPA is opposed by the tech industry's biggest names, it's widely expected to become law in time for the New Year.

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In Depth: Best apps for your new tablet or smartphone

Just got an Android or Apple phone or tablet for Christmas? Lucky you!

Both platforms have a wealth of apps, free and paid-for, that you can download and enjoy on your new device.

But with so many apps available, how do you know which ones to get? That's where we come in.

TechRadar is well known for its definitive lists of the best apps for Android and iOS, which we keep regularly updated.

So whether you're looking for the best games, apps to help you take control of your social networks, or apps to help you be more productive at work, we've got you covered.

Below are links to our most popular app roundups…

Best Android apps

50 best free Android apps

40 best free Android games

10 best paid-for Android apps

10 best paid-for Android games

30 best free Android 3.0 apps

10 best free Android apps for kids

10 best office apps for Android

Best iPad apps

50 best free iPad apps

40 best paid-for iPad apps

40 best free iPad games

30 best paid-for iPad games

Best iPhone apps

50 best free iPhone apps

40 best free iPhone games

20 best paid-for iPhone apps

40 best paid-for iPhone games

Best iPhone sat nav apps

10 best iPad and iPhone apps for mobile working

Best Windows Phone apps

20 best free Windows Phone 7.5 Mango apps

Best Windows tablet apps

10 best Windows 7 tablet apps

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