I've been looking for a replacement for chrome for the longest time (ever since they changed the switch tab gesture). I used Next Browser for a little while, but it kept freezing and required frequent restarts. Tried opera and dolphin but didn't time them both (switching tabs took too many actions). I accidentally chances upon HB and I fell in love. I love the way we could customise almost everything on this browser. Now I've conducted my browser for optimised one handed usage and I'm so happy. Now if they only added the magnifying glass function like in chrome, when you tap on an area where there are 2 links, that would make this perfect!
Also, there are some options that don't seem to make a difference. For one, the address bar, bottom of bottom overlay does the same thing. And, the checking the "use Ui animation" doesn't change anything for me.. I'm using xperia z1 compact.
There's a work around for the lack of sync with Google Chrome : take advantage of the "Open in other app" feature. Just set it somewhere convenient and open the tab you wish to sync in chrome!