SurfCube Wins Microsoft Innovation Award, V3.0 Released with YouTube support

SurfCube is an alternative web browser for Windows Phones. It’s actually using Internet Explorer under the hood for all of its rendering so you can expect sites to still load and look the same but you get the SurfCube frame and additions. I’ll get more into the extras you get (for those of you who don’t know) but the news is that it’s now been recognized by Microsoft itself by the issuance of an Innovation Award in the Smartphone Application. Considering it’s an alternative browser to the native Windows Phone browser that’s a pretty big accomplishment for them to get this. And they’ve also released an updated version that now works with YouTube. This is significant because they are now the first and only third party web browser that can handle YouTube in the Marketplace. And did I mention you can get it for free (with ads) or you can pay $2 for an ad free experience?

Here’s the complete description of SurfCube:

The most popular, fun and feature-rich web browser for Windows Phone for free – and with Youtube support!
“…showing it to all my buddies who have iPhones, Android phones, or Palm phones. They sometimes think about getting the phone just because of this browser. It is revolutionary.”
The browser fills the entire screen, and the controls are placed on the sides of a cube which can be rotated in 3D. But SurfCube is not just about the looks, it is also a feature rich browser (“FUNctional” as one of our users put it):
– The best tab support on WP7
– Share a page via Twitter
– Supports landscape and portrait orientation
– Orientation lock allows you to read in any position you like (on the bed for example)
– Desktop Mode: choose between the regular and mobile versions of websites (First among third party browsers!)
– Search – search the web with Google or Bing
– Private mode for when you want to buy gifts for your spouse 🙂
– Can run under the lock screen so returning after being powered off is instantaneous
– History and favorites to help finding that website again
– Bandwidth saver mode – for websites that don’t have a mobile mode, you can save a lot of bandwidth, making downloads faster and filling your download quota slower. Even images can be turned off for a truly fast and low cost browsing!
– Save Images to your phone
– Youtube video playback (to remove ad, buy the full version)
– Many more features are coming soon!
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Version History
V3.0
– Youtube video playback
– Performance improvements
– Tutorial improvements
– Can now start in Landscape mode if Orientation lock is on
– Shows message when private mode was on last time the app was quit
– Fixed “mini joystick” problem
– Other misc fixes and improvements
V2.5
– Initial Free release

If you haven’t tried it out, maybe the Microsoft seal of approval is enough of an assurance that it’s the real deal so give it a go.