Hey, I was just wondering what you guys thought the best WM6 browser was. I'm currently running Picsel and besides the long page load times, it's going great. It also eats up an unhealthy amount of memory so I was wondering if anyone managed to expand the system memory. I've heard mixed opinions about different Opera versions as well as Webby so any experienced reviews on those would be awesome as well. Of course Deepfish is great but still can't get my hands on it, so oh well.
im running opera mobile 9.5 and love it, havent had a memory problem yet, and rite now there isnt a way to expand memory w/o taking the device apart
mike21pr said:
im running opera mobile 9.5 and love it, havent had a memory problem yet, and rite now there isnt a way to expand memory w/o taking the device apart
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i tried 9.5 and it sucks on m ogul icons are so big i liked the older version
much better
opera 9.5 renders nicely, but it is slow and as the previous poster said; most icons and menu options don't work (as it's made for a VGA device).
I'd stay with Opera 8.5 which works very nicely.
im using skyfire and its been working great. havent run out of memory yet while using it. and it supports flashlite 3 so it fully works with things like youtube
Y'all must have the wrong version of Opera 9.5. There's plenty of post about it. There's a QVGA cab made, the works just fine on the Mogul.
I too use Skyfire, and it seems like the best option for pages with animation, video, sound, flash, etc.
Opera, is very nice though. I wish, it played flash and stuff like Skyfire.
I'm running both Skyfire and Netfront v3.5. Netfront seems to be a little quicker, though skyfire works pretty well, just takes some time to render the different zoom levels.
Going to have to try the latest versions of opera mini/mobile since I haven't used them in a while.
Using Skyfire and Netfront 3.5. Skyfire is great for multimedia, but doesn't seem to handle downloads yet, while Netfront 3.5 is great at downloading but is pretty disabled because it's still in the technical preview phase...I do want to try the camera-based navigation when it launches though! Haven't tried Opera in a long time.
Where do you find this Skyfire?
you have to be on a waiting list for skyfire. go to their website, skyfire.com, and you can sign up, but ive been waiting for months and havent received my invite yet. itll be a while but sign up now.
dzuchowski said:
i tried 9.5 and it sucks on m ogul icons are so big i liked the older version
much better
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you must have tried the vga version, i have the qvga and its quick and looks greaT!!
so far ive used the majoity of the versions of Opera ad i must say that the 9.5 is working great. there are a few problems but they r minor and b fixed w a few taps. as for Skyfire...i just signed up back in early april so i dont expect to get my invite for another couple months since there r ppl on here saying that theyve signed up months and months ago. btw, ive heard rumors of a web browser called "Re-vmp'd". its supposed to be an almost exact duplicate of the 3G iphone browser...no sure how accurate that info is but its worth a shot.
L8rz,
Kaz
The ipone uses a mobile version of Safari. it works well, but doesn't have flash support, so hopefully they added that in with the version that ships with the 3g iphone.
Skyfire doesn't render jack. It just pushes pre-rendered images to your phone; the faster your internet the faster skyfire is. (Also consider their server speeds etc)
I'm also pretty sure flash works the same way, it's just streaming video/audio. At least this is the feel I got based on average latencies of either technology.
It does burn ~9mb of ram though, but remains fairly constant there. It may use less on the release version after they switch out of debugging releases.
I use Safari. there is an open source port of it availale on sourceforge.net made for wm5/6
friguy33 said:
you have to be on a waiting list for skyfire. go to their website, skyfire.com, and you can sign up, but ive been waiting for months and havent received my invite yet. itll be a while but sign up now.
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"waiting list"? lol....i got it from softpedia.com (freeware download). totally legal, and publicly available. (see attachment)
crobs808 said:
"waiting list"? lol....i got it from softpedia.com (freeware download). totally legal, and publicly available. (see attachment)
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im curious, what username and password are you using to log into the the skyfire browser. that is of course, assuming that your leet googling skills have allowed you to realize that the skyfire browser, even the one linked, is a closed beta, only available to beta testers. yes, you can download it, no you cant use it...
Mills00013 said:
im curious, what username and password are you using to log into the the skyfire browser. that is of course, assuming that your leet googling skills have allowed you to realize that the skyfire browser, even the one linked, is a closed beta, only available to beta testers. yes, you can download it, no you cant use it...
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if you signed up on their site a month or two ago, you can use the login credentials you provided then. if you didnt sign up for the beta, then yeah, you are right, the CAB is useless to you. i logged in with the credentials i supplied 3 months ago, im using it. nothing to write home about. crashes when i go to any site that has an animated GIF, lol...great browser.
As funny as this sounds I have tried many of the programs previously listed. I am back to using PIE! Not without some additional programs though.
I have a program called MultiIE that enhances PIE to allow much more in the way of options. Best about this program is that it adds TABBED browsing to PIE! And yes it works but EATS memory like candy. Downside is that its not free.
I also swear by TCPMP & FlashVideoBundle. While not full flash will at least work on YouTube and several other select sites. Best about these is the ability to download & save any YouTube videos you want.
These programs ONLY work with PIE. That's why I've stuck with it.
Yea still
There is no browser that is capable as skyfire, supports flash 7, 8, and 9. Browses faster than piscel, ie, netfront. Smoothest page navigation by far. It just lacks a few features, but keep in mind it is a beta. But I wouldn't trade it for all the other browsers. If I didn't have skyfire I would settle for netfront but it seems to eat crazy ram. You have to close it before phone is fully functional again.
Related
The best thing about Opera for me is the tabs, which is a godsend for GPRS usage. However due to the lastest version of Opera being a buggy piece of crap (worse than the beta imo), i am forced to use IE again.
I remember reading something about a program that added tabbed browsing to IE, but have forgotten what it's called. Does anyone have any idea's?
PIEPlus 2.0
are you using any other programs on the background?
Opera final has been very stable for me, it does not lock up when loading pages like the beta, doesnt have the landscape change mode bug as well.. Double spacing bug is also gone... The rendering is simply amazing and comes close to my desktop version of firefox easily! :shock:
I got my device overclocked, though (240mhz), and i dont have much else installed like themes memory-hogging apps like wisbar advance 2.
I used it for 2 days almost all the time and i was so impressed i didnt even wait for the trial to run out, i already bought it. Very very impressed with it.
spb pocket plus does it and a lot of other stuff
ftxbrowser is a free pie addon with tabs - see here http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=44177&highlight=
a bit old but still works and you dont have that annoying keyboard popup problem!
zeuzinn said:
are you using any other programs on the background?
Opera final has been very stable for me, it does not lock up when loading pages like the beta, doesnt have the landscape change mode bug as well.. Double spacing bug is also gone... The rendering is simply amazing and comes close to my desktop version of firefox easily! :shock:
I got my device overclocked, though (240mhz), and i dont have much else installed like themes memory-hogging apps like wisbar advance 2.
I used it for 2 days almost all the time and i was so impressed i didnt even wait for the trial to run out, i already bought it. Very very impressed with it.
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No, nothing else running. Takes 30+ seconds to load up and then constantly freezes on pages for a few seconds or just crashs. I'm not the only one either. Shame, because it does render pages much quicker than IE and copes with java better too
MultiIE v4.0.d71
MultiIE v4.0.d71 does a nice job.
http://www.multiie.info/
For those of you fortunate enough to be beta testing Skyfire, I just found out that they released an updated beta. It is a lot quicker, gives you an option to make Skyfire your default browser, and has an option to install a start screen search box.
The new version also adds Flash to Windows Mobile. Haven't played around a lot with it yet, but looks promising. Looks like they are listening to everybody's comments/complaints.
Downloading it as we speak, I'll let you all know as soon as I run it through afew tests. Lord knows it needs a speed increase. the load times were silly.
Edit: Hmmm, seems my download link + sms link I got are still to the Skyfire_6843_PPC50.CAB link. Do not see or have access to the 0.8 beta.
EDIT EDIT: Wow I am stupid. That is the 0.8 beta. Running it now. lol i'll give feedback shortly.
WooHoo thanx for the info!
Awesome, thanks for the heads-up!
thx... installed it
Well after 8 hours and they finally fixed the authentication server error I have been able to use it. For those curious 0.8 does have a vast improvement in the speed and usage factor for the browser. I do like the way it runs however I have to admit that the scrolling and zooming feels clunky and just not very fluid. However this opinion is based off of using Opera 9.5 beta and it's functionality.
It has greatly improved in the browsing used with it and having flash working now is a very nice addition. But I still prefer Opera based despite the annoying out of memory error that pops up occasionally mainly due to the appearance and fluid browsing capability.
I do however look forward to a finished product as I am more then sure these issues will be addressed. Good chance they'll get my money for a purchase
scrolling still needs work. I get the checkers at the bottom. also, I notice a huge memory leak when using it. I Need to soft reset.
Improved interface but still VERY slow. IMO, not worth it until they deal with the speed issue, which has been there from the start.
I'm not sure what exactly happened today, but I uninstalled 0.6, installed Skyfire 0.8 this morning and put the phone in my pocket. About 2.5 hrs later I noticed that my pocket was a little warm. I pulled out my phone, noticed that my data connection was active and my nearly full battery had about 15% remaining life! I did a soft reset and the phone cooled down to normal again. Anyone else have this happen? I don't want to use Skyfire if it is causing my connection to stay on and my battery to die.
I'm amazed that you got 2.5 hours -- I was down to 50% in about 40 minutes of moderate use -- this app currently still eats battery... My biggest gripe followed by the delays/unreliable bookmarking in the app... The bookmarks ultimately work, but it may be the next day before they show up again after being "gone"...
It has new features and is better looking but ultimately it is unusable. The previous version was stable, this thing just lags, hangs and won't quit. I find myself having to terminate its process and/or soft boot or it will run in the background and obliterate battery life. At least for the Mogul, this update has been a big step backward. Maybe more RAM would help things?. I wish Opera would get a decent hardware keyboard capable non diamond v9 product out. Opera mini has a good feel, but is the worst of the bunch with memory usage (at least until Skyfire .08) and no downloads, Opera 8.65 feels ancient and ie is a very sad joke of a browser. Right now, I have 4 browsers on my phone and none are even close to being acceptable as my main browser, not to mention light years from Safari on the iPhone.
can't wait for VGA version.
First of all, Skyfire is a great product with real potential to be the hands down best mobile browser.
Some observations on 0.8:
I like the fact that text entry is now done in the input field (saves the step of pressing "ok".
Video playback has been improved.
FILE DOWNLOADS work!! One less reason to swap back and forth to IE.
The main thing I do not like is the zoom "improvement". It's cool that it tries to decide for me what to zoom into, but I miss being able to size the zoom box to exactly what I want.
Thank you and keep up the great work.
Don't know if you guys have checked this out but I tried it on my Blackstone and have to say that it was the best mobile browser I have used. Handled flash video quickly and played flawlessly. Not sure how long the trial is for but worth checking out....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=512479
Ya, it's hands down great. I'm sticking with this for as long as the trial lasts. Though I'm gonna avoid any private sites (like the bank) since this probably renders the pages in some server first (I don't see how else this speed could be achieved).
I gave up
flash vid thing was cool ...I had success with opera mobile 9.5 and flash light but am now having trouble with it ...none of this stuff is that great...
Anyone else had a chance to play with this yet? It seems to be a really early release and doesn't run all that well but looks really promising. I have installed it on the tp2 with no bad results and had a clean uninstall but it doesn't seem to be for our device and needs a soft reset after install to open up. Runs slowwwwww so be prepared for that. Oh yeah its a web browser from mozilla.
Gonna have to pm me for this one too guys, sorry tried to upload it to media fire but it just keeps freezing at 65.34% and I cant get it to upload all the way.
They keep releasing broken betas. This is not the first beta they had. 'Sounds' promising only.. when one try to use it, it gets totally disappointing.. UI is terrible. Speed is non existent. Keeps crashing on pages..
No offence to the fennec development team.. I love Firefox as a PC browser. I still mainly use Firefox as my default browser.. But on my WM phone? I don't think so.
for me, fennec is great, it starts up slow, ja, similar to firefox in pc....
but all other things, such as menu, features, add inn features, security, etc, is what i needed, it also load the website ina very convinience view compared to others anyway.
try loading this forum using fennec and compare it to others (opera, ie, skyfire) and you'll know what i meant.
the operation is not too smooth, the placement of the menus on the left and rite side also needs improvements (because it is designed for touch pro, why not optimizing for soft menus?)
anyway, its a good start
I don't like the sluggishness and jerkiness of the stock browser. Is there a better third party browser that you particularly like? Is there anything that uses multitouch gestures?
eaglesteve said:
I don't like the sluggishness and jerkiness of the stock browser. Is there a better third party browser that you particularly like? Is there anything that uses multitouch gestures?
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I've settled on Skyfire. It's not perfect, but it's the best I've found.
MacGuy2006 said:
I've settled on Skyfire. It's not perfect, but it's the best I've found.
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Will try out everyone that you guys recommend.
Skyfire has at least one advantage over the ****ty native browser - it supports file download other than apk file, whereas the ****ty native browser can't even support file download. I can't believe how crippled it is, and wonder if that **** is from Google or Samsung.
With Astro filemanager the native (google!) Browser is able to do that too.
bayerischbeer said:
With Astro filemanager the native (google!) Browser is able to do that too.
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Thanks for this info bayerishbeer. Will get Astro filemanager right away.
How's opera mobile on the Galaxy S?
drleospaceman said:
How's opera mobile on the Galaxy S?
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Is Opera mobile available for Android? I can't find it in the Market Place.
theres no mobile, only mini, and its not that great, dolphin is pretty good tho
soraxd said:
theres no mobile, only mini, and its not that great, dolphin is pretty good tho
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Have used Opera mini on iPhone. It's really really lousy.
Will try out dolphin. Thanks!
edit: is it Dolphin Browser HD? or Dolphin Browser? What's the difference? I see.... HD is for Froyo.
The browser is bad? I'd always thought the Android browser was one of the best mobile browsers.
I never liked Skyfire on Windows Mobile - it's actually sending you screen grabs from rendering happening on their servers, so it was always laggy and slow to pan and zoom for me. Opera Mini is good if you don't have 3G data, since it's preprocessed and sent in a compressed form, but because the phone is rendering this custom preprocessed data and not the original HTML it doesn't support dynamic features.
Mithent said:
The browser is bad? I'd always thought the Android browser was one of the best mobile browsers.
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By iPhone standard, it is.
Mithent, are you using the stock browser? You've explored most of them I presume?
The stock browser works best for me. I've tried Dolphin, Opera and Skyfire and they all seem sluggish... Steel is good too.
Skyfire is sluggish, stock browser works great, no need to change it and it download all you want just learn how.
No problems with the stock browser here. It flies compared to Skyfire and works just as well as Dolphin.
Opera Mini 5.1 along with "Make it Default Browser"
Why?
- Opera is clearly the fastest in loading/displaying pages. Absolutely no contest
- 90% of the time I'm no under HSDPA coverage or Wifi, so moved megabytes matter
If only Opera Mini would get pinch zoom, then it would be perfect for me.
I don't need Flash or in-browser JS, which Opera Mini lacks.
For those occasions when in-browser JS is required, I use the built-in browser. Much better than Dolphin HD, which is very sluggish.
Try xScope. It works for me and somewhat better than Dophine.
I'll try all of them. So, the new ones that just cropped up are:
- Steel
- xScope
- Opera Mini (I hope it is not like the one on iPhone).
Thank you guys.
eaglesteve said:
I'll try all of them. So, the new ones that just cropped up are:
- Steel
- xScope
- Opera Mini (I hope it is not like the one on iPhone).
Thank you guys.
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I've taken a look at all these, and the one that I like the most is xScope. It is very similar to the Atomic Browser that I use on iPhone. The things I like about this browser are:
- I think it is faster than the stock browser and smoother too.
- One quick gesture to reveal the web address bar, and autotically hide it when page is loaded to give as much real estate as possible to the user
- One stroke gesture to move from tab to tab, exactly like what I was having in iPhone.
- Multitouch zooming, one finger zooming, as well as double tab to zoom in and out.
- Able to download more file types, although still not covering as comprehensively as what the Atomic browser for iPhone could.
- Able to open link in the background by long press. This usually is the way I consistently beat Opera Mini in terms of loading speed. In a forum like this, I open all the links that want to visit first, and buy the time I finish reading the first tab, the others are already fully loaded waiting for me to read. That means zero loading time effectlvely for all the links. Opera Mini can't do that.
- I wish there is a gesture (such as double finger swipe down) to close the current tab like what Atomic browser could do.
- Coupled with the higher resolution and bigger screen size, I feel that it is even more enjoyable surfing on Samsung Galaxy S than my 3GS.
I'm pretty happy with it for now, and would make it my main browser, until better one comes along.
One question: What is the difference between the free and paid version? What additionally benefits are there going to the paid version?
eaglesteve said:
Mithent, are you using the stock browser? You've explored most of them I presume?
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I've not had much personal experience with it - I still have a Windows Mobile phone at the moment, but will be getting a Galaxy S soon (will be as a carrier upgrade next month). The opinion I had of the stock browser was what I've seen of it when compared to the iPhone's Safari and Opera Mobile on WM (IE isn't worth thinking about), so was just a little surprised and wondered if it wasn't so great in real-life use. I didn't know you had to go through hoops to download things with it.
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with other options for Android, but I've tried Opera Mini and Skyfire on Windows Mobile. Given the nature of those applications, I doubt they're very different on Android.