Bolt Browser is a Webkit based browser that has been available for a little over a year now. Bolt’s main focus is speed, and I must admit, it is fast. It is also a very lightweight browser taking up only .321MB on my BlackBerry.

Now Bolt isn’t the most visually pleasing browser, but how important is that to you? Do you really care how cool your browser looks and what the visual effects are, if there is something else out there that is just plain faster? With that said, one of the things Bolt prides itself on is that they never re-format web content, which means no option for mobile/column view. Now, me being a QWERTY BB user, I like my mobile view. I remember downloading Bolt the day it first released and not keeping it for that very reason. I have re-downloaded Bolt every time there was an update just hoping they added that option but always ended up disappointed and deleted it. When using a non-touchscreen device, I don’t want to have to scroll from left to right when viewing a web page. According to the Bolt forums, I’m not the only one that feels this way and I hope they eventually decide to give the users what they want.

Bolt 2.0 was recently released with several new features like streaming video, widget support, and tabbed browsing. Bolt now has web apps such as Wikipedia, twitter profile & search, Dictionary.com, and more. Bolt also has options to post a webpage directly to Facebook or twitter. Bolt is now up to 2.02 with another minor speed enhancement and now stays on my BlackBerry. My BlackBerry browser is still my first choice, but I sometimes use Bolt to view a page that the native BB browser has trouble viewing, or to open up an additional web page. All of which I wouldn’t need to do if BlackBerry would release their all new webkit browser already! Webkit for BB, where are you?! Bolt does render some sites much better than the current BB browser, but the only way to find that out is through trial and error.

If you’d like to give Bolt a try you can find it in App World or download it OTA at http://www.boltbrowser.com