Mobile internet company, UC Web, has enabled cloud downloads in the
latest update of the iPhone version of its web browser, UC Browser. This
essentially means that users can opt to download files on UC Web's
server and retrieve them at a later point in time. This function is
particularly useful when a user needs to download a large file and
doesn't have good connectivity or comes across something useful but
doesn't want to incur data costs and can retrieve the file later when
he's able to get Wi-Fi connectivity.
The company informed NDTV
Gadgets that users can get 70MB of server space (with no expiry date)
and 2GB of temporary space (valid upto 7 days) for storing files on UC
Web's server, by signing up for a UC account using their email ID or
Facebook ID. Users can store files larger than 70MB for seven days,
after which a push notification informs them about the expiry of the
temporary space. Whenever users encounter a downloadable file, they can
go to the download manager and choose to download the video in the cloud
on UC Web's servers. UC Web claims that the storage is secure and all
files stored are only accessible to the user who has downloaded them.
Besides
cloud downloads, the new release v8.9 of the browser also offers a
'watch offline' feature through which users can cache videos and watch
it at a later time inside the browser. It also features a Download
Manager that helps users manage their content in an efficient manner,
more or less acting as a file browser, automatically sorting downloaded
files in to pre-categorized folders such as music, video, images, and
zip files. The download manager also alerts the user prior to the file
download if that the file is not compatible with the iPhone, preventing
the user from downloading incompatible files, saving on both data cost
and time.
UC Browser also supports Gesture Control, which
allows users to open a new tab or switch between multiple tabs with the
swipe gestures. It also allows users to switch between Night-and-Day
mode and shuffle the themes of the browser by shaking the device.
Commenting
on the enhancements to UC Browser, UCWeb Chief Product Officer, He
Xiaopeng said, "iOS is our second largest smartphone platform and we
continuously strive to improve the mobile internet experience of our iOS
users. We believe that the new features embedded in our latest version
will keep iPhone users in step with the most current mobile and cloud
technologies - something that all iPhone users have come to expect."
UC
Web claims that the new version optimizes the mobile browsing
experience for iPhone users by combining cloud based webpage compression
technology and intuitive design which can reduce data traffic by up to
90 percent and offer users more control over content fetched from the
internet. The browser is available free on Apple's iOS App Store.
We
tried the cloud downloads feature and it worked for us without any
hiccups. However, we were not able to access popular web-mail services
like Gmail and Windows Live, which prompted us to switch to a modern
browser. We've sought a clarification from UC Web, and will update the
post with more information when we hear from them.
Following
the controversy over Nokia routing HTTPS traffic via its own servers
which led to the company issuing a clarification, we also asked UC Web
how the browser handles HTTPS traffic. The company informed that users
can choose to compress HTTPS traffic via UC Web's cloud server via the
Thunder Mode, or use the direct mode to communicate directly with the
HTTPS servers. It clarified that the cloud server does not store any of
the users' information.