Microsoft recently made Project Spartan available alongside the newest update of Windows 10. It is the company’s second web browser after Internet Explorer, and from hours of testing, we can only conclude that Spartan is not yet ready for prime time.
Yes, we know that Project Spartan is currently in the testing phase right now, but we need to point out its shortcomings to users who might be interested in using the current build of the web browser as their daily driver.
Project Spartan
First of all, Spartan is quick to launch and quick to load web pages. So far, we have yet to come across any problems with the browser rendering web pages correctly. In fact, several websites that have problems with Internet Explorer where rendering is concerned, works great in Spartan, and that’s great.
Still, folks should be wary of using YouTube since videos do not yet work properly in full-screen mode. Sometimes, the comment section will refuse to load, a problem we’ve come across in the latest version of Internet Explorer for Windows 10.
Apart from that tiny issue, Spartan has done a good job so far.
Features we like:
Probably the best thing about Spartan right now, is the ability to make Web Notes on any website. We can see where this feature could work in the workplace for companies with an online presence. Maybe one day we here at TWC might make proper use of Web Notes.
We also like the ability to be able to highlight a word and ask Cortana to bring up the definition. She does this by popping up in the sidebar, so gone are the days of searching Bing for the definition of words.
Finally, another useful feature here is Reading View. Microsoft first brought this feature to Internet Explorer on Windows Phone 8, and we have seen it in other browsers in the past. As it stands, Reading View is nothing unusual, though it is still an awesome addition to Spartan.
The problems:
Spartan in its current form is buggy. There are times when the browser will hang for a few seconds before kicking back into gear again. Furthermore, the History does not yet work, and there are no option for extensions at the moment. Microsoft did say in the past that it plans for extension support, so that is something we should look out for in the future.
All in all, Project Spartan is a work in progress, and we can’t wait to see what Microsoft has planned when other features are released in future updates.
