Microsoft has released a fourth and final platform preview release of Internet Explorer 9.

This latest release scores 95/100 in the Acid3 test, compared to the first platform preview which only scored 55/100. For comparison, Firefox 3.6 scores 94/100.

Also new in this release is full support for hardware accelerated HTML5, improved SVG support, and improved JavaScript performance. A more detailed list of changes can be found in the IEBlog.

A public beta is widely expected in September 2010.

The updated preview release includes support for the HTML5 video tag, canvas tag support and embedded fonts using the WOFF standard.

“The third Platform Preview of Internet Explorer 9, available now, continues the deep work around hardware acceleration to enable the same standards-based markup to run faster. This is the latest instalment of the rhythm we started in March, delivering platform preview releases approximately every eight weeks and listening to developers. You’ll see more performance, same markup, and hardware accelerated HTML5″ wrote Dean Hachamovitch
General Manager, Internet Explorer.

This latest release performs well in benchmarks, now scoring 83/100 in the Acid3 test, up from 68/100 in the last platform preview. SunSpider testing shows the browser is almost on par with the recently released Safari 5, which our own testing confirmed.

Willing testers can check out the IE9 Platform Preview release from the Test Drive IE website.

WebKit is the popular rendering engine found powering Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome browsers.

A demonstration of an early build on a BlackBerry devices showed real promise, with fast rendering speeds and scoring a perfect 100/100 in the Acid3 test.

No news of when to expect the new browser, but we will let you know when we have more information.

A video demonstration of the browser in action can be seen after the break.

“Opera 10 showcases a sleek new design coupled with our new Turbo technology, which keeps Web pages loading lightning fast, even if your connection slows down” says the spiel on Opera’s homepage.

Other new features include an in-line spell check, full Acid3 compliance and mouse gestures.

A full run down on features and download links for Windows, OS X, and Linux can be found on the Opera 10 site.

Safari 4 contains over 150 new features, including a screen reader, basic HTML5 support, and a much improved JavaScript engine. A full list of new features can be found online.

The latest release is now the first browser not in beta to score a full 100% in Acid3 tests, which tests a browsers support for JavaScript and CSS3.

Safari 4 can be downloaded from the Apple Safari website.

The results are pleasing, with the browser clearly heading in the correct direction. Graphed results are below.

The results for the Acid3 test were to be expected, with both Opera 10 Alpha and Beta 1 scoring 100%, better than Opera 9.64′s 85%. In comparison Internet Explorer 8 only scores 17% in the Acid3 test.

The V8 Benchmarks also look good, with Opera 10 clearly ahead of Opera 9.64. Noticeable, there is not much improvement between the Alpha and Beta 1. This test has a base score of 100, and everything over that is better. Opera 9.64 scored 164, while Opera 10 Alpha scored 192 and Opera 10 Beta 1 scored 193.

The SunSpider benchmak results are also looking good. This time there is a noticable improvement between Opera 10 Alpha and Opera 10 Beta 1, with these browsers scoring 4760ms and 4616ms respectively. Opera 9.64 scored a respectable 5523ms.

Overall it looks like Opera 10 is going to be a great release from Opera, with a hugely improved rendering engine, along with a much much faster JavaScript engine. Congratulations to the Opera Desktop team and I egarly await the final release of the browser.

Opera fans can download Opera 10 Beta 1 from the Opera Beta website.

The release is incredibly impressive, with over 150 new features, including support for some HTML5 elements along with improvements in the rendering engine.

Safari 4 also scores an impressive 100/100 in Acid 3 which tests a browsers standards compatibility. Opera 10 alpha and Safari 4 beta are now the only two main web browsers to reach this feat.

Safari 4 includes a new JavaScript rendering engine called Nitro. It’s claimed to be 4 times faster than Firefox 3.1 and 6 times faster than Internet Explorer 8. Benchmark results should be out soon.

Users can download Safari 4 beta for both Windows and Mac today.

Opera 10.1 Alpha includes many new features, including the long awaited auto-update, an inline spelling checker, and scores a perfect 100/100 in the Acid3 test.

A full run down can of other new features can be found on the Opera Desktop Team’s blog. You can download Opera 10.1 Alpha 1 using the links below:

Download Opera 10.1 Alpha 1 for Windows
Download Opera 10.1 Alpha 1 for Windows Classic
Download Opera 10.1 Alpha 1 for Macintosh
Download Opera 10.1 Alpha 1 for Macintosh (Intel-only)
Download Opera 10.1 Alpha 1 for UNIX

Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 Acid3 Results

After testing Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 on the Acid3 test, the new browser scores an impressive 89/100. This compares to other browsers as follows:

• Firefox 3 scores 71/100
• Opera 9.6 scores 85/100
• IE7 scores a dismal 12/100
• IE8 Beta 2 scores 21/100
• Safari 3.1.2 scores 75/100
• Safari 4 Beta 100/100

This is a great improvement and a step to being fully standards compliant. Mozilla still have some work to go to get to that magic 100 mark, but things are heading in the right direction.

• Web standards improvements in the Gecko layout engine
• Added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties
• A new tab-switching shortcut that shows previews of the tab you’re switching to
• Improved control over the Smart Location Bar using special characters to restrict your search
• Support for new web technologies such as the <video> and <audio> elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, web worker threads, SVG transforms and offline applications.

You can download the Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 from the Firefox beta page. Currently the beta is available in over 35 languages.

I hope to put the browser through a few tests to see how it benchmarks in both Acid3 and JavaScript tests shortly. Stay tuned…