360, QQ, and UC are in a battle to see which Android browser is better for grabbing train tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush?

The first day of the Lunar New Year will arrive on January 18, making the 2017 Spring Festival come earlier than ever before. This also means that countless Chinese people who have left their hometowns to study and work will be busy preparing for their journey home for reunion with their families.

To put it bluntly, it's time to get ready to grab train tickets.

There is no doubt that facing the huge number of people traveling during the Spring Festival, it is difficult to get a train ticket, which has become an unchangeable reality every year when returning home. In recent years, various PC browser products have launched ticket-grabbing functions, which has helped users a lot. However, with the rise of mobile Internet, smartphones now have a higher user usage rate than PCs. Using mobile browsers to buy and grab tickets has naturally become a rigid demand of society, and is also a major trend in the development of mobile browser functions.

From the user perspective, the three major mobile browsers, 360, QQ, and UC, occupy the vast majority of the mobile browser market. Which of the three can perform better in the Spring Festival ticket rush is closely related to the core demands of users.

Ticket purchase interface: WAP mode VS APP mode

The first point to judge whether a product is good or not is whether users are willing and happy to use it. For example, when buying train tickets with mobile phones, we already have the official 12306 client, so whether the mobile browser experience can be better is extremely important.

360, QQ, UC browser version information

It should be noted that the objects of this horizontal comparison are 360 ​​Mobile Browser 8.0.0.124, QQ Mobile Browser 7.1.2.2880 and UC Mobile Browser V11.2.8.885.

QQ, UC, 360 mobile browser ticket grabbing entry interface

Starting from the function entrance of buying train tickets in each browser, QQ and UC do not have preset shortcuts related to train tickets on the function page. Instead, users need to install "Grab Train Tickets" and "Train Tickets" from the browser's plug-in store. In contrast, 360 Mobile Browser puts "Grab Ticket King" in a prominent position on the search page, which shows a better understanding of users' actual needs at this stage.

Of course, whether or not the ticket purchase function is available is just a small difference for each mobile browser, but when you want to buy tickets with a mobile browser, the difference becomes increasingly larger.

QQ mobile browser ticket purchase interface

Here, the ticket purchasing interface of QQ and UC mobile browsers is basically operated on the WAP version of the web page, which is based on the third-party web pages of Tuniu and Taobao respectively. Although the ticket interface and functions are not much different, the experience on the WAP web page will not be very good after all. For example, when QQ browser displays the secondary menu for filtering train ticket information, there is already interface tearing.

UC mobile browser ticket purchase interface

360 mobile browser ticket purchase interface

As for the 360 ​​mobile browser, although you are not asked to install an additional 360 train ticket APP, it still tries its best to treat the ticket purchasing function as an independent APP, and the experience is far better than the operation of WAP web pages. It is particularly worth mentioning that the ticket booking information of the 360 ​​mobile browser comes from the first-party data of 12306. It is no exaggeration to say that you can basically understand that this is an enhanced version of the 12306 mobile client launched by 360.

Ticket buying process: the same ticket has three prices

In order to test the actual ticket purchasing situation of the three mobile browsers, we tried to buy train tickets for popular routes during the Spring Festival travel rush. That is, we bought the same G101 high-speed rail ticket from Beijing South to Nanjing South, departing on January 13, on three mobile browsers at the same time.

UC, 360 login interface

It should be noted that before purchasing tickets, different mobile browsers require the use of different network account verifications. The ticket purchasing function of QQ Browser is provided by Tuniu, so although you do not need to register, you need a mobile phone verification code verification; UC Browser, which purchases tickets through Taobao, requires you to log in to your Taobao account first; and 360 Mobile Browser relies on the 12306 official account. If you have purchased tickets on 12306 before, you can import your identity information with one click, without having to fill in complicated identity information like in QQ and UC Browser.

Because the number of selected tickets was not limited, the booking process was relatively smooth on the three mobile browsers, but different situations occurred when submitting the order and making the payment.

QQ Mobile Browser Train Ticket Price Details

First of all, in terms of price, the second-class high-speed rail ticket had a total price of 443.5 yuan. Except for 360 mobile browser, which was finally sold at the original price, the final price given by UC browser was 473.5 yuan, and the price given by QQ browser was as high as 553.5 yuan.

UC Mobile Browser defaults to 30 yuan insurance

According to their respective price details, we can see that QQ Browser, by default, adds travel insurance and a voucher package that the user may need in the future to the shopping cart, which increases the total price of the train ticket by 90 yuan. UC Browser also defaults to you purchasing 30 yuan of travel insurance.

The final ticket price of 360 mobile browser is the same as the original price of the train ticket

Although it is possible to manually close additional purchase options other than train tickets in QQ and UC browsers, and we cannot say that it is wrong to require users to purchase travel insurance by default, for most consumers, if these options can be selected by the user or prompted by the system before the order submission page is displayed, it will obviously be more acceptable than the current practice of "not actively informing".

QQ, UC, 360 payment methods

In terms of online payment methods, QQ browser fully supports WeChat, Alipay and bank cards for ticket purchases, and you can also get discounts through Tuniu Wallet; UC Browser, which is backed by Taobao, naturally requires you to find an Alipay account; 360 Mobile Browser once again conforms to the official routine of 12306, supporting bank cards of major banks and Alipay online payment.

Ticket grabbing function: monitoring and reminders are the key

When it comes to grabbing tickets with a browser, the first thing you need to realize is that the browser only helps you increase your chances of successfully purchasing a ticket when there are no tickets available, or when there are refunds or re-releases. It cannot find an extra seat for you in a full carriage, nor can it really "grab" the ticket from other users who have bought tickets. The key to grabbing tickets with a browser is whether it can always understand the ticket sales status and quickly remind you to click to buy.

It is worth mentioning that among the three mobile browsers compared this time, UC Browser does not seem to put the ticket grabbing function in a prominent position in the product, so the ticket grabbing link is mainly a comparison between QQ and 360 Mobile Browser.

The "Niu Qiangpiao" function of QQ mobile browser is still provided by Tuniu. It is generally no different from the previous common ticket grabbing methods, that is, you enter the ticket purchase information and the browser will help you to swipe the ticket, but users still need to pay an additional 5 yuan for the railway ticket agency fee.

What is more interesting is that QQ Browser's "Niu Qiangpiao" has also launched an additional entertainment-oriented activity called "Help Niu Qiangpiao". Judging from the activity rules, the main purpose is to help other users grab tickets so that they can have the opportunity to exchange for Tuniu travel coupons. You can get 0.1 yuan when your ticket grabbing task is assisted by others, and you can get a reward when you reach 5 yuan. Frankly speaking, such an activity is not very attractive, especially during the busy Spring Festival travel period. Do you really have the heart to collect 50 0.1 yuan to exchange for a 5 yuan coupon?

On the contrary, 360 Mobile Browser did not choose to expand a variety of novel activities, emphasizing ticket monitoring and user reminders, the two most direct and effective core points in the ticket grabbing process.

The 360 ​​mobile browser itself has the function of monitoring the status of train tickets. Just enter the train number you want to buy a ticket, and it will automatically swipe the ticket for you. When there are remaining tickets, there will be real-time sound and vibration reminders on the phone. It also has a high-speed mode for Wi-Fi environments and a low-speed mode that takes traffic usage into consideration. Basically, the phone can grab tickets without interruption in all kinds of environments.

In addition, the cloud ticket grabbing service provided by 360 mobile browser is the product of cooperation with Ctrip Train Tickets. Users do not need to register or log in to a Ctrip account. They can start grabbing tickets by entering the train number. The cloud ticket grabbing service will also display the success rate of the tickets. If you fill in alternative train numbers and alternative seats, the success rate will increase. It is quite thoughtful.

Finally, users can pay extra fees to speed up ticket grabbing, with 20% speed increase for 20 yuan and 30% speed increase for 30 yuan. If you use the acceleration, you will be given coupons of different amounts, and if you fail to grab a ticket, you will get a full refund. Such value-added services are not difficult for most people to accept, and because it is a service provided by Ctrip, the payment methods have also increased accordingly. Savings cards, credit cards, WeChat, Alipay, and Baidu Wallet should cover all current mainstream mobile payment methods.

So, after some experience, in the competition of conquering train tickets with mobile phones, the three major mobile browsers 360, QQ and UC show different characteristics.

QQ's partnership with Tuniu and UC's leverage on Taobao both reflect the integration of cross-border resources in the Internet field. 360 Mobile Browser, relying on its years of development in PC browsers, has extended the ticket grabbing and purchasing experience to mobile devices, and can better understand user needs.

There is no doubt that for Chinese people, buying train tickets to go home for the Chinese New Year is a big event. It has gone through several stages, such as queuing at the platform, making reservations by phone, booking tickets on computers, and now grabbing tickets on mobile phones. This is the result of the evolution of the times and the development of science and technology. At the same time, it has prompted various domestic Internet manufacturers to use the purchase of train tickets as a new product competition point on different terminal devices.

Perhaps the upcoming Spring Festival travel season will be a new watershed that determines changes in the mobile browser market.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.