}
Four dollars isn't bad for a month of web browsing, considering I was going to do it for free anyway. That's what I thought to myself after opening my Brave Browser this afternoon and seeing this:
Any time I receive a useful cryptocurrency token, it makes me feel alive. I remember the internet before this stuff existed. These tokens vividly evoke the bright future being made possible by blockchain technology.
It's not a bad feeling to get every time I open up my browser! Who knows? Maybe that little splash screen showing my monthly BAT earnings is increasing my overall happiness. I don't check it unless I'm already opening the browser for something else, but whenever I see it, I get a little dopamine.
After a month, I am used to using Brave. It feels like my home browser, finally taking me away from the Microsoft Edge web browser I've used since building this PC half a year ago.
Invisible is Good
The best word to describe the Brave browser experience is invisible. Hear me out, I mean this as a compliment. I don't want to notice my web browser while I am using it. If I notice the browser, it usually means something went wrong.
I notice my browser when I'm failing to find an old bookmark or struggling to update my ad-blocker settings. I notice when it fails to load pages or has compatibility issues.
Brave doesn't have much of that going on. I load up web pages and they run fine. The home page is the most notable part of the experience, and it's great. The different default backgrounds are mostly blockchain related, sometimes showing ads for major crypto products (which I receive BAT for viewing).
That's my home page today.
I am not so sure about the "Time Saved" aspect of Brave. At first it seemed to load pages a bit slower than Microsoft edge. I'm not sure why. I stopped noticing this after a few days -- either it stopped happening, or I just got used to it.
One other issue I have had is that live streams on Twitch don't seem to load very well if I watch them in Brave. At first I thought I was having internet issues before I realized that loading the same stream in Microsoft Edge would run flawlessly. Idk what is up with that.
These are small issues. I could troubleshoot them and see if there's a fix, but I don't care that much. Regardless of that stuff I'll continue using Brave as my "daily driver" web browser from now on. It is my favorite browser I've tried in a long while.