Our tour through browsers of all shapes and sizes continues in earnest. On today’s special edition of the Showdown, we look at four iPhone-specific browsers.

Browser #1: Safari

Developer: Apple
Rendering Engine: Webkit
First Impression: “It’s nice. A little basic at times, but nice nonetheless.”
Ease of Use (Out of ten): 7
Positives: By now, we have all seen those iPhone ads that show off what the Safari browser can do. Good news: there is actually some truth in advertising for once. Everything works, from the zooming functionality to the on-screen keyboard to the vertical/horizontal “orientation switching.”
Negatives: No Flash. Everyone seems to complain about this, and for good reason. There is supposedly an “unlicensed” version coming soon, but we’re not holding our collective breaths.
Overall: 8

Browser #2: Mango

Website: http://leopardmac.tistory.com/
Developer: Guho Choi
Rendering Engine: Mango
First Impression: “They have a ‘report bug’ button that you can push easily. That does not make me feel secure. And while we’re on the subject, why is it constantly linking me to Safari? I don’t like that one bit.”
Ease of Use: 5
Positives: The “forward” and “back” commands are accompanied by a nifty “page flip” animation. Oh … and it’s yellow. That’s a plus, I guess.
Negatives: What exactly is it that we like least about Mango? Is it the absence of an adjustable screen orientation? Is it the nearly broken zooming options? Is it the fact that it desperately wants you to go back to Safari in the worst way possible? Truth be told, it is all of these things and more. Simply put, it’s a bad browser.
Overall: 3; “…And I’m being generous here.”

Browser #3: iCab

Website: http://www.icab.de/
Developer: Alexander Clauss
Rendering Engine: WebKit/Proprietary
First Impression: “It looks like Safari.”
Ease of Use: 8
Positives: iCab is seems to have more in common with the desktop edition of Safari than it does with the mobile version. Anything that one would want in a browser is here and (gasp) functional, including tabbed browsing, an advanced “find” feature, and full screen support.
Negatives: The full screen is a bit difficult to get out of.
Overall: 9

Browser #4: Journey

Website: http://www.apptism.com/apps/journey-web-browser/
Developer: Nathaniel Herman
Rendering Engine: Unknown
First Impression: [Singing] “Don’t stop believin’… [Pause] What? That that’s my first impression.”
Ease of Use: 7
Positives: It does everything it should be doing. That’s surprisingly hard to come by in a mobile browser.
Negatives: There is a button near the bottom right portion of the screen that looks suspiciously like that old “Netscape Navigator” logo. Hate to be a killjoy, but it has nothing to do with the legendary browser. It actually opens up a new tab. It took us ten clicks to realize that we would not be seeing Navigator on this day.
Overall: 7

And the Winner is – iCab. It’s everything a mobile should be and more.

…And there you have it. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for part two of our feature on advertising, technology, and you.