Samsung Internet 17.0 Improvements
The new version of Samsung's mobile browser comes with improved anti-tracking functionality. The privacy feature is enabled by default for Samsung customers in several dozen countries, including the United States, South Korea, many European countries, including Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and Iceland.
The previous version of the Samsung Internet Browser supported anti-tracking functionality, but had it disabled by default. Users may go to Menu > Settings > Browsing privacy dashboard > Smart Anti Tracking to enable or disable the privacy feature in that browser.
Samsung did not provide specifics in regards to the enhancements of the anti-tracking feature in the new release, only that it is improved in the new version of the browser.
The built-in privacy dashboard is now accessible via the browser's quick access panel. A tap on the entry opens the dashboard, revealing the number of trackers blocked. Users may change privacy settings right on the page as well.
Samsung notes in the release announcement that its browser supports external security keys for two-factor authentication now; this is an alternative to SMS-based or App-based verification options.
User Experience
Samsung Internet Browser 17.0 introduces support for tab groups. Users may open the tab view of the browser to drag & drop tabs on to each other to create tab groups. Tab groups consists of multiple sites, which improves organization, especially for users, who have lots of tabs open in the browser.
Samsung notes that the search experience has been improved for local data. Bookmarks, History and saved pages searches may process searches with common typos to return results to the user. Phonetic matching is now also supported, and Samsung's translation service supports five additional languages, which brings the total to 26.
