Yahoo Axis browser: a new experience

Axis is an app for searching and browsing the web on an iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, and a browser plug-in for desktops (yes, on your computer this browser actually works inside the browser you are normally using). Like all of Yahoo’s search, it is powered by Bing.

The biggest difference between Axis and what you would expect from any search application is that the search results page doesn’t exist. Instead of the page with links and short descriptions of websites you see on Google, Yandex, Baidu and so on, Axis shows you a row of page previews, which you can swipe through without changing the page you are on.

The image search in Axis (pic below) allows you to see the images in a slide show without opening individual pages they are on. It’s a bit disappointing though that you don’t have an option to choose between search categories like videos or news, but, maybe that is to be added in the future.

To make life easier, Axis synchronizes all your searches, findings and bookmarks between the different devices you use it on. So, for the owners of a few different Apple gadgets it’s definitely worth trying.

As for me, I’m one of those [boring] people who proudly call themselves conservative and refuse to embrace any kind of novelty until it proves absolutely necessary.  Since Axis is quite a bit different from what I’m used to, I will probably keep searching on Google.

If you’re still wondering how the thing works, watch the demo video below (or try it out yourself – it’s already available). Yahoo also made an ad for Axis – you can see it here!

Whether or not Axis will challenge Google’s indisputable leadership in search, it’s definitely something new. Tell us what you think of it in the comments!