Are there any browsers that have the back button (like on the bottom) on the touch screen? I tend to try not to use the buttons a lot but when I am browsing, I need to go back. Can anyone name some browsers?
I know Opera Mini 5 has a back button but that is compressed pages. I want one that's not. Any?
Hi , dolphin uses touch screen gestures and you can programme then to do all sorts of things. The standard gesture for back is like a backwards L.
Sent from my X10i using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Steel
The Browser app 'Steel' has on screen back and forward buttons on.
Is very cool imo, can work as a 'desktop' browser or 'iphone' as well as mobile, so can browse full webpages on it
Nice. Steel works great! It's like an addon for the Android Browser. Thanks!
The dolphin browser is good but don't like the gestures. I rather hit a button rather than make a mirror style L. It also doesn't have an option to display the back button on at all times on the bottom for dolphin browser.
Dolphin is great but i don't understand why it doesn't have gestures for zoom in/out.
And also i don't understand why do i have to press the button in corner to use gestures
Net Front Life
You might wanna try Net Front Life browser. Is has your softkeys and more, like nicely hiddn tabbed browsing
try miren browser. it has a back button on the screen when you touch the screen once while on a web page otherwise its hidden
Sent from my X10i using Tapatalk
I personally like SkyFire. It has back button too!
Try dolphin mini "it's very nice on memory and cpu usage"
you get all kind of osd plugins.. so there should be one for what you need.
OmegaRED^ said:
Try dolphin mini "it's very nice on memory and cpu usage"
you get all kind of osd plugins.. so there should be one for what you need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
dolphin mini is awesome
and green color looks good with GreenGlow theme
Test Setup: All tests were performed on the ACS SRF 1.1 rom, with a 1.3ghz overclock and governor set to "on demand". Wireless was over an Actiontec wireless-g router connected to FIOS 30/30 fiber. The phone was connected to a wall plug throughout each test, as I don't think even my extended battery would have lasted 4 hours of screen on time, overclocked, with constant wifi use and cpu stressing. All tests were also performed in landscape mode. No idea if that would have an effect at all on any of the load times or benchmarks, though I doubt it, but it certainly impacted my opinion on usage of screen real-estate.
Test methodology:Before each browser is tested, the phone is restarted and allowed to finish media scanning and settle in for a minute so that each browser has a level playing field. Each site loading test is an average of 3 visits using wifi and after each individual test the cache of the browser is cleared. All load tests are performed with flash "always on" except for Opera Mini which has no flash capability. The Flash rating for the stock Browser was set at 3 so that I may easily score other browsers better or worse than the stock browser. All tests were performed in the exact same spot so that no browser had a stronger wifi signal. All of the rundowns that I give in the second post are basically play by plays of things I discover about the browsers as I use them and my particular gripes with them.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Flash Video: I used the site http://labs.worldtv.com/ to compare playback in each browser.
*Bookmark import is specifically to import bookmarks from the stock browser. Many of these browsers have options to sync with a particular service or with your computer's bookmarks.
Best Flash content browser: Opera Mobile Web Browser
Best everyday browser: Miren/Dolphin Browser Mini/Opera/Dolphin Browser HD
Coolest feature: Miren Panorama mode, Opera Mobile amazing flash playback
Best potential: Firefox v4.0.1
Note: Nothing here is scientific although I have tried to reduce as many variables as possible while testing. A lot of the things I tested were judgement calls on my part, especially relating to flash, scrolling and p2z behavior. Also, my opinions/needs may not be the same as yours.
Browser Rundowns
now w/links
Stock Browser: meh. I am usually a giant fan of stock browsers, and used one up until Froyo hit. This thing is just buggy and annoying. Also, a lot of you have used it so judge for yourselves.
Miren Browser: This is pretty much my daily browser, so I am obviously biased. Amazing gesture controls and a wide array of settings. Allows you to see tabs on screen, auto hide tabs, set tabs to always be on screen, etc. Same for the address bar. Full screen mode maximizes space for the website. Launch page gets you 8 shortcuts, search, URL, downloads, history, bookmarks links. Of course you can disable this launch page. Panorama mode loads each webpage to the "right" of the previous one, so a quick swipe from the left to the right pulls up INSTANTLY the page you were just on. Allows for VERY quick browsing.
UC Browser English: Separate search and URL fields, not interchangeable. When you hit menu>Search you can't begin typing, which is annoying, you have to hit the text field. By the end of the test this annoyed me way to much to admit. Settings are confusing. A third of the screen is wasted with buttons and the name of the current site you are on and the notification bar. Full Screen gets rid of all controls. No address bar, you have to hit Menu>URL to enter a new address. Doesn't render a google search correctly. UA options annoying as hell. Had to manually type in URL's for some desktop sites. Startup page is a lesson in how to waste space. Built in file browser . . . don't get the need for that. Night Mode and day mode brightness settings, reading mode. Browser infuriated me personally. Took 5x longer to test than any other. Had to go to the mobile site on my desktop, then click the "full site" link, then chrome2phone it to my phone and choose this browser from the list I had installed for CNN and Engadget. And since there is no address bar to tell you the URL you are currently at, I had to do this for every test, as I wasn't using "refresh" to test the web page loading times. Flash appears to be "always on" with no apparent way to adjust this. I hate this browser.
Angel Browser: Seriously the most amazing array of settings that I have seen on a browser. Force closed on my constantly though. Had to uninstall it and re-install and reboot several times. Literally couldn't visit a single website without it force closing, which made testing . . . . difficult. The custom gestures are AMAZING. I personally have no use for them, but some of you will. Allows you to perform almost any action by a custom drawing of your choosing. Want to go to google.com when you draw a goat on the screen, this browser can do it. Not a fan of not having an address bar visible. You should install this thing just to see the plethora of settings and options, its frankly amazing. Couldn't get a single one of them to work since this browser refused to even go to one of its default bookmarks "google.com", but damn the possibilities if it didn't completely stink. If you could get this to work, please tell me how you did it.
Dolphin Browser HD: Allows for extensive customizability with a ton of add ons that each add a certain functionality. Gesture controls are fantastic. Visible address bar when you scroll to the top of a page or hit the menu button. Tabs and address bar disappear as you scroll. One of the uglier browsers upon initial install, it allows for theming through the settings. A nice amount of UA settings allows you to visit desktop pages automatically. A bit of wasted space in the tabs and address bar. I personally was never a fan of Dolphin HD, but after testing it and looking through the settings and theming options, I am hard pressed to explain why anymore. Pretty sure you can make this browser into anything you want it to be. Don't have time to extensively customize this to my liking, but I recommend you check it out if thats your kinda thing.
Opera Mobile Web Browser: Absolutely beautiful start page. Simple and well laid out. Trades Menu button functionality for a big red O in the bottom right corner, not a fan of that. Beautiful animation when you hit the URL or search text input fields. Hope my first google search on it was a fluke, as it took nearly 30 seconds . . . Absolutely DESTROYING the other browsers in the Acid3 and HTML5 and V8 tests. URL and search field slides away as you scroll down, but a sixth of the screen is absolutely wasted by the navigation bar. Luckily you can turn this off in the settings so that it only appears when you hit the menu key. I guess that is the functionality they saved for the menu key. URL field will not search like the stock browser does. Search field saves your previous search, which is a pain because you have to click on it and then delete it. Pretty sparse settings options. The fewest easily of any browser tested until this point. Holy java did it destroy the other browsers in sunspider .91. WOW. Easily the best yet in playing flash, but disappointingly has the worst flash controls. Double tapping does not fit the video to the window size. Nearly flawlessly played the flash video. It puts the stock browser to shame with its flash playback. For this reason alone you should all have it installed. Yet another browser that refuses to give desktop websites, and this one has no UA settings to change. If its anything like the windows mobile version there is an "about:config" you can delve into for more settings, but its disappointing that they didn't include that in the main settings. Yep, opera:config gets you into more settings, but instead of telling you what UA you are spoofing they give you numbers, great, thanks opera. 1 is opera, 2 is firefox and 3 is IE6. Aaaaaaaand none of them seem to do anything for cnn.com. Had to use the chrome2phone trick. CNN optimizing for Opera or something?? Not using Turbo mode either. Had to run them twice and make sure everything was loading on the page. Looks like somebody isn't getting uninstalled immediately after I am done testing. May have spoken too soon, just crashed on me. Engadget also doesn't give me an option for the full site. WTH. The browser seems to get stuck sometimes loading a page. The page is fully loaded and scrollable, but the progress bar never finishes. No other browser has done that.
Edit: Just realized this browser is 30mb. That is gigantic. At least you can move it to SD, but still . . . Maybe the size is why its so smooth??
Opera Mini web browser: Wow, this looks pretty damn similar to Opera Mobile. Who would have thought. *Acid3 test is kinda invalid because it rendered the page all sorts of messed up. It got a great score but it certainly did not pass the test. Not looking good for this one, html5 score is pathetic. It can barely render the browsermark test. Correction, it CANNOT render the browsermark test. Seriously, why does this browser even exist when Opera has one that destroys all of those tests and looks IDENTICAL. Also, doesn't look like this browser supports flash either. So far this is the most pathetic browser I have tested. It looks beautiful but is the only one that has failed these basic browser tests. Just failed sunspider. Wow. *And there is no option to clear the cache. So these results should be faster than the others. Yea, its basically just reading from the cache, these test numbers are worthless except for the initial page launch. CNN number is invalid, I will do the others with only the initial page load. There we go, back to normal. Upon reloading a page, it would always take 2.5 seconds, which is obviously just reading from cache, which you cannot clear. I would rather have the non functional Angel Browser installed than this browser.
Skyfire:Immediately I hate this browser. The menu button is basically worthless because they load it with links to facebook and twitter and you have to scroll all the way to the right to get to options. And then the options only deals with the stupid links that the menu button brings up. Basically the menu button is completely wasted and the settings are hidden in a down arrow to the top right of the browser. Good amount of settings. Nothing special though. URL and search and controls hide while you scroll, which is good. When you search, it brings up a bunch of stupid links like facebook and stocks and twitter and amazon which consumes a quarter of the screen. Getting on my nerves and I haven't run the first test yet. Everything was going well in the Browsermark test, until it failed. God, that menu pops up everytime you do anything. Who needs a link to facebook THAT handy that its never more than an inch away and one tap from being launched? If I remember correctly, Skyfire does server side rendering for flash video content, so the flash test should be HEAVILY in its favor. And it gets the slowest sunspider .91 score of all the browsers. *OK, flash is weird on this thing. Its mediocre directly as a flash player. Worse than the stock browser but not awful. It gives you the option though, when a video is present, to tap a "video" button that is on that menu bar ive been talking about, and then they will basically transcode the video on the server and serve it to you in presumably HTML5, which is very smooth, but also a very wonky solution. At least the UA that is used allows for the full site option on all of the websites I tried. Force closes whenever I try and open bookmarks. Super.
Boat Browser Mini: This is the browser that caused the thread where I came up with the stupid idea to run these tests and posted that I would. Better be worth it. Off to a good start. Minimalist look with a start page "about:blank". Signs of good things to come? Menu button is actually functional, imagine that Skyfire developers . . . . Baidu option in the settings leads me to believe this is a chinese developed browser much like Miren. Very clean settings layout and a fair amount of settings, nothing special though. Haha, testing what the buttons did and apparently it doesn't like it when you try and bookmark "about:blank", it crashes instead. Very iPhoney like feel to it, if that makes any sense. Love the universal URL and search bar, just like chrome has. Every browser should have that in my opinion. Weird, looks like a bunch of settings snuck out of the settings menu and made it to a seperate "advanced" menu. Not liking that your two choices seem to be to have the browser in full screen mode where you lose the address bar and navigation controls or having it in normal mode where the address bar tucks away nicely but the navigation controls needlessly take up the bottom fifth of my screen in landscape. Wow, this browser really doesn't like NYT.com.
xScope Browser - Web & File: Copy chromes look much? Not that I'm complaining, but wow blatant. Hmm, menu button hides everything and puts it in fullscreen. Neat fly-in effects. Settings menu is annoying. Not a ton you can tweak, but a good amount. Theming seems to be available as well. Again, love the universal address bar. Wow does this browser waste screen space though. Almost half of the screen in landscape is taken up by the notification bar, address bar, tabs and navigation bar. No settings to auto hide these, which is lame. File browser is comical. Ever open up "c:\" in a browser on your desktop, thats its file browser. Tabs are visible on top, and their is also a button in the navigation bar. They seriously want to give you access to your tabs. Hmm, scrolling auto hides the notification bar, but leaves the gigantic tabs, address bar and navigation bar. Smart. Certainly scoring well in the synthetic benchmarks. Ugh, this waste of screen space is annoying me. Why are you not tucking away like a lot of the other browsers do? This thing was obviously not designed to play flash. It plays, but the window is all over the place. Double tapping makes it semi full screen, but then double tapping again does nothing. You have to pinch the screen to see the address bar or navigation controls again. Flash is not its strong suit. This is literally the only browser I tested that had the NYT hide its full screen page. Every other browser had the option to view the full site. Had to change the UA from "computer" to "ipad". Weak. This settings menu is seriously pissing me off its so terrible. This browser makes me feel like I am back in the Windows Mobile days with the extra small menus obviously not designed for input from the human finger.
Maxthon: Universal URL and search bar is a plus. Not a fan of the default color, but there are theming options available. The address bar tucks away when you scroll leaving the tabs up top, which is how I usually like things, but there is a massive navigation bar at the bottom which I cannot remove in the settings without going full screen. There doesn't seem to be an option to set flash to "on demand" and I am unsure by looking at the settings whether it supports flash at all. Everytime you touch the screen you get a button popping up allowing you to go full screen and next to it is a button that allows you to go into WAP mode. This button changes to an "add rss feed" button if you are on a compatible website. Not a fan of the gesture drawing on the screen, but that is probably because I am not a big gesture guy. You can turn off gestures in the settings which gets rid of the drawing of your touch. There is flash and it works about the same as the stock browser. Would like to be able to set flash to ondemand though.
Dolphin Browser Mini: Upon loading it up for the first time, it looks almost identical to Dolphin Browser HD. Gone are the right and left panels which I did not care for in Dolphin Browser HD, but left behind are AMAZING customizable gesture controls. The settings menu is simple and straightforward and fair amount to tweak. The add-ons from Dolphin Browser HD are gone. This is basically a simple version of that browser, which I kind of like. The menu button is simple and gives you quick access to bookmarks and settings. I don't get why they take up 30% of the menu with a tab switcher though when the tabs are always present at the top of the screen. Maybe if you were in fullscreen mode it would be useful. There is an options button next to the address bar which is really useful. Gives you the option to send/share/save a page and also a "find on page" option, which is awesome. One thing I don't like is that you have to click Menu>toolbox>settings, just an extra step and overall not that big of a deal. Toolbox gives you some great options like taking a screenshot of an entire webpage or backing up your settings or private browsing for those times that you don't want your phone logging what you are looking at.
Firefox v4.0.1: At first glance there seems to be very little to tweak in the settings for this browser. Once you get playing with it for a while, you see kind of why this is. This is a VERY well thought out browser. The address bar is also can be used for search by tapping the magnifying glass and choosing a service. Swipe to the right and it reveals your tabs on the left of the screen. Swipe to the left and it reveals your navigation controls on the right of the screen. The menu button brings up settings and add-ons, which look like they will be very useful. There seems to be a fair bit of checkerboarding while pinching to zoom and scrolling. Wow, this browser certainly is well built. 2nd highest Acid3 score and best HTML5, Browsermark AND Sunspider score. Aaaaand no flash support. OK, it seems like Firefox is missing User Agent switching in the settings. Had to download an add-on called "phony" to enable that feature. Kind of mediocre loading times for webpages, which is DOUBLY surprising because 1) Firefox isn't loading flash which almost all of the other browsers had to do, and 2) Firefox had by far the best cumulative benchmark scores. Wow, some cool site options when you visit a site. If you tap the site icon on the top left you get site options such as saving the page as a pdf, find in page and sharing options. ***Ran a bunch of tests on Firefox 5.0 beta, and it appears to be nearly identical performance wise to 4.0.1. They added a few new features and the browser seems to be a little smoother and more polished. Also, neither v4.0.1 or v5.0 likes Launcher Pro running in the background at all. Everytime I press the home button I have to wait for LauncherPro to startup again. May be an issue with my particular setup, although no other browsers did this.
Dolphin Browser HD v5.0: Setting up this browser for the testing is a TREAT. The settings are vast and its easily the prettiest looking settings menu I have seen on any of the browsers. I hope the rest of the browser carries over these awesome UI elements. Really like the universal search and address bar. The browser looks pretty much like the Dolphin Browser HD that you know. The tabs and address bar tuck away when you scroll like the default browser. Looks like version 5.0 is scoring the exact same as the previous version in the acid3, v8 and html5 benchmarks, so don't expect any major performance boost by updating, but you can rest assured that you aren't going to update to something thats slower I guess. The amazing customizable gestures remain as do the add ons and the quick swipe left or right to access them or bookmarks respectively. Pinching to zoom seems to be improved in this version as well.
I use Dolphin and I love it. Opera is faster (atleast it seems so), but it doesn't let me log into Sprint.com (wont allow me to select the password field). So I just stick with Dolphin. I'm ALWAYS interested in trying out something new, though!
I'll give SRF stock browser a try, I've never even touched it. lol
Overstew said:
I use Dolphin and I love it. Opera is faster (atleast it seems so), but it doesn't let me log into Sprint.com (wont allow me to select the password field). So I just stick with Dolphin. I'm ALWAYS interested in trying out something new, though!
I'll give SRF stock browser a try, I've never even touched it. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its fast, but buggy. Doesn't like auto-rotation either.
muyoso said:
For this reason alone you should all have it installed. Yet another browser that refuses to give desktop websites, and this one has no UA settings to change. If its anything like the windows mobile version there is an "about:config" you can delve into for more settings, but its disappointing that they didn't include that in the main settings. Yep, opera:config gets you into more settings, but instead of telling you what UA you are spoofing they give you numbers, great, thanks opera. 1 is opera, 2 is firefox and 3 is IE6. Aaaaaaaand none of them seem to do anything for cnn.com. Had to use the chrome2phone trick. CNN optimizing for Opera or something?? Not using Turbo mode either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can change the user agent, although its not as easy as it should be, the upside it that it works almost 100%.
Open Opera 11, enter opera:config in your URL-bar, hit enter. The second last point in the menu is USER PREFS, click on it.
Now you will be presented with a very long list of customization options. Go and find "User Agent Strings". This field is blank as default.
Now you can put one user agent of your choice into that list:....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used:
Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.0; U; en) Presto/2.7.39 Version/11.00
Found it here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12288976&postcount=15
Ya need to include Maxthon browser.
It is the best looking one,had themes,faster than Dolphin HD and goes back to previous page instantly without realoding it!
I been using nothing but Dolphin HD for a year now but im begining to like Maxthon more,only thing that Dolphin HD got that i miss is swypeble side panels.Other than that Maxthon is better in every way.
I need second opinion on this one,is it me or is Maxthon actualy faster at loading pages than Dolphin HD?
Maxthon reminds me of Miren but better looking and more polished and faster.
Now that is how you do tests, nice work, but if you looked at the memory and cpu time those browsers use (other then stock) its crazy, I forget what the worst one was 4 months ago when I tested on my Moment, I think Miren was the worst.
Sent from my MyEC05OCE v2 using XDAPA...
ecooce said:
Now that is how you do tests, nice work, but if you looked at the memory and cpu time those browsers use (other then stock) its crazy, I forget what the worst one was 4 months ago when I tested on my Moment, I think Miren was the worst.
Sent from my MyEC05OCE v2 using XDAPA...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't doubt it with the panorama mode. We are pretty well off with ram though, so ram was less of a concern for me to test.
lviv73 said:
Ya need to include Maxthon browser.
It is the best looking one,had themes,faster than Dolphin HD and goes back to previous page instantly without realoding it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Added to the OP.
If you use Opera 11 for desktop, you can import bookmarks using Opera Link.
tbob18 said:
If you use Opera 11 for desktop, you can import bookmarks using Opera Link.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, if only I could get Maxthon's theme w/ dolphin. It'd be perfect!
Angel Browser seems to work fine for me, it feels pretty quick on some sites, but on heavy sites it does slow down quite a bit.
In V8 I got 208 @ 1ghz, similar in performance to Dolphin Mini.
There sure are a lot of options, not really sure what do with all of them.
Overstew said:
Haha, if only I could get Maxthon's theme w/ dolphin. It'd be perfect!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i feel same way.Another thing that Dolphin could use is instant back button,Maxthon can go back a page without having to reload it,it saves alot of time.
But i would reather have Maxthon with Dolphin interface(the way Dolphin's menus work but keep Maxthon's look) because i think that Maxthon loads pages quicker and thats with flash enabled,now imagine how quick they would load if Maxthon had option to dissable flash.
tbob18 said:
If you use Opera 11 for desktop, you can import bookmarks using Opera Link.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea. A few browsers had similar options. I was trying to limit it to importing bookmarks from the stock browser on the device.
tbob18 said:
Angel Browser seems to work fine for me, it feels pretty quick on some sites, but on heavy sites it does slow down quite a bit.
In V8 I got 208 @ 1ghz, similar in performance to Dolphin Mini.
There sure are a lot of options, not really sure what do with all of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I could get it to work just to try out all of those settings. The thing refuses to work for me though.
muyoso said:
I wish I could get it to work just to try out all of those settings. The thing refuses to work for me though.
Click to expand...
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Strange, which rom are you using?
tbob18 said:
Strange, which rom are you using?
Click to expand...
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ACS SRF 1.1.
Just tried installing it again. Force closes the instant I try and visit a website.
What no dolphin browser mini? =/
Wow opera is so much better theb skyfire or dolphin feel wise
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I pretty much gave up on browser switching when I found dolphin mini. Its fast even on 1x and NEVER force closes. The start page bookmarks makes following phandroid and engadget even easier than their native apps.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
Hey all, I like using the phone one handed and zoom buttons are essential. I also like being able to zoom with just a tap, as opposed to more convoluted methods (xScope/Naked Browser, I'm looking at you...). But the stock Android zoom buttons are ugly and less functional than the ones I had way back when on 2.2 (Bionix for the Samsung Vibrant).
Could anyone tell me where in could find the images for the Zoom buttons? I'd like to replace them with the ones from an older ROM, mentioned above. Think it would be somewhere in the SystemUI.apk?
If anyone is curious, the buttons I would prefer are transparent circles with a black outline. They're a good bit easier to press and you can see elements that would otherwise be obscured.
I'm the developer of Naked Browser. Naked Browser has the option to enable/disable the zoom buttons. It also has the option to enable/disable one-finger zoom. It also allows zoom with just a double-tap. Am I missing something?
aminaked said:
I'm the developer of Naked Browser. Naked Browser has the option to enable/disable the zoom buttons. It also has the option to enable/disable one-finger zoom. It also allows zoom with just a double-tap. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh snap. No, it's just that one-finger drag zoom has poor performance (just isn't as smooth as it is on xScope). But I love your browser. It's why I mentioned it specifically. My niggle isn't to do specifically with Naked Browser or any other app, it's a system conflict. I think the stock zoom buttons are ugly and I want to swap them out with the zoom buttons I used on a different browser. It's easier to tap a round circle than it is to hit a little tic-tac. Also, the zoom buttons sometimes obscure elements in the bottom right and I have to wait until they fade out, so the transparent zoom circle buttons I mentioned in the first post would solve both of these issues. Rather than having you bloat up your fantastically minimal app, I'd prefer to do my own tinkering and fix the zoom buttons across my system.
I just wanted to say, your browser is fantastic. I found out about it just randomly perusing the big Android Themes and Apps forum and gave it a try. It's my default browser now. While I have your attention, if I could make a suggestion: you know how you have the swipe-from-edge toggle so the menu bars don't appear with unexpected frequency? It works great for making sure the bookmarks bar only opens with deliberate swipes. However, if you could provide a separate toggle for the address and tab bar, that'd be great. I never had a problem with the top bars appearing unintentionally. It's not much of a nuisance. However, in one-handed use, I have to reposition the phone in my hand and then swipe from the top to bring down that bar. On a big phone like the Nexus 4, you can understand how that extra little bit of effort adds up over a long browsing session.
Very cool. Thank you very much.
Let me address what you brought up:
One finger zoom in Naked Browser isn't as smooth as it is on xScope because:
- xScope is for newer devices. Naked Browser supports Froyo and newer and so far I've found that that kind of zooming isn't easy on older devices. That's really not much of an excuse because I could work on it. However, it could take days to figure out. I'm focusing on other features and bug fixes right now. Furthermore,
- I haven't used xScope in a long time but one finger zoom seems to work good enough in Naked Browser (no?). For comparison, it seems to work like crap in Google Maps, last I checked.
Regarding changing the zoom button pix, I use a smaller screen than you so I don't like the +/- buttons in a browser. I pinch zoom and I do it with one hand: small phone / big hands. Regardless, I'm adding your request to my list of items for the pro version.
Regarding adding the separate option for the menu gestures, I added those options (double swipe & swipe from edge) as afterthoughts. I feel that an experienced user of Naked Browser should turn both of these off because they've developed a feel for the menus, knowing instinctively how to avoid opening the bookmarks sidebar and top menu. For me it took about a week to get comfortable with it. Now, I think it is very efficient.
That being said, I may have messed up the gesture settings for larger screens as I don't have a tablet. What do you think about all this? Is it very hard to avoid opening the bookmarks menu? Tell me more about it, please.
Anyway, I hope you have luck changing the +/- on your devices and I do appreciate your feedback on Naked Browser. You're one of the few people I've seen mention stuff like this. Got my attention!
This is hijacking your thread for my app, so if you want to PM me or join me in the xda naked browser thread the feel free.
Thanks again, man. :good:
Hey, you've got a great app and I certainly don't mind helping it get more exposure. I know it's not a priority for you right now, but if it gets really popular, I'm sure you'll add a ton of lightweight features. That's how xScope became the best browser on Gingerbread!
On my Nexus 4, I've found that the bookmarks menu shows up by accident much more often than the URL/tab bar, and it's much more obtrusive when it does. It'd be nice to disable the bookmarks bar. I actually use the bookmarks menu a ton, so perhaps a better option would be to incorporate the menu button menu with the the bookmarks menu.
Also, I'm not sure if my options are causing it or its an inherent behavior, but it's inconvenient to have to scroll all the way to the top to bring up the URL/tab bar. I really wouldn't mind if it appeared every time I made any downward swipe. Maybe to accommodate other users, make the top half or quarter of the screen a zone that can pull up the URL/tab bar when the user swipes down from that region.
I basically want the navigation features of xScope but with the minimal, clean appearance of Naked Browser. I stopped using xScope because it's so bloated and unstable now. Naked Browser is 90% perfect for me. The 10% is just the menu behavior and tab navigation. xScope, for example, uses double tap and left/right to navigate between adjacent tabs while double tap and up/down to zoom. But if this decreases performance as it did on xScope, I'm happy with Naked Browser the way it is.
Maybe I need to optimize the swipe sensitivity for devices like the Nexus 4. I need to check one out, but for now the next update will reduce sensitivity somewhat. Regarding the separate gesture options, I had thought about adding them but I was resistant because I don't want to clutter the options view. However, I think it is the right thing to have and you've convinced me of how sorely it is needed. The next update will have them! I've tried it out and I like it.
If you press the device menu key it should show the top menu from anywhere on the page. Devices without a menu key should have 3 dots in a row that act as the menu key. Making it appear for every downward swipe is an interesting idea. I think that this would be more suited for larger screens though. I will make a note of this idea. There already is an option to start gestures from the screen edge for both URL bar and sidebar.
I haven't used xScope in years and it doesn't run on any of my devices. I think that if you give Naked Browser some time (about a week) you'll start to become accustomed to the menus. If you can get past the frustrating phase I think that you may find that the menus are very efficient. Of course, if the gesture sensitivity is wrong for your device then that's a different story. I really need to check this out.
Double-tap and swipe to change tabs shouldn't cause much of a performance problem (although I'd have to try it out to know for sure). I was going to allow customizations of this sort of thing in the pro version. For example, double tap and swipe to go quickly to the very top or bottom of the web page. The volume buttons could be used in the same way.
Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it!
I figured out where the zoom buttons are. They're in framework-res.apk/res/drawable-xhdpi.
I think I've tried every browser that will install on a rooted NT. I'm down to Opera Mobile (and Classic Mobile--are they the same but from different markets??) and Dolphin.
I like Opera because I can zoom and save my aging eyes a bit. I hate Opera because I prefer to browse in landscape mode and I have yet to find a rotation locking app that will keep Opera steady. It flips and flops, back and forth at unexpected times. And, of course, there is no setting in Opera for orientation. Right now I'm using Tasker to invoke first Wi-Fi and then the Rotation Locker plugin. It works almost always on opening and sometimes stays...but not always.
Is there something that will ALWAYS keep Opera Mobile in landscape?
I like Dolphin (although I once discarded it) because it CAN be locked into landscape and will STAY there. I love that I can set the lower hardware buttons to Volume control and Dolphin will scroll with them. Flash is sort of amusing (hooray I got it working!), but it's not a good reason to stay with Dolphin. I hate Dolphin because it has no way to zoom--except that it does, but only on its own terms. It automatically zooms when you need to do something like a form entry. In the Settings panel the admonition to show the zoom buttons is ignored. You can assign a gesture to Zoom. It will reproduce it and confirm that your scribble on the screen is a "match", but it ignores all gestures as far as I can tell.
Have I missed something with Dolphin? Is there a way to zoom on a screen?
Have I missed another browser that is actually working as "well" as these two?
[SOLVED ZOOM!] OMG! Dolphin does respond to gestures if you're not an idiot like me. Tapping the "dolphin" button in the bottom left corner gives three options. The middle one goes to a blank screen on which to draw a gesture and after you have done so, it returns to the current browser tab with the effect done! So you can program a "Z" or something for "zoom" and it WORKS!!!!!!!!! (so do all the other gestures, if you can remember that many)
Hey,
How did you manage to install flash plugin for dolphin? I though it only works with android 2.3+
nmyshkin said:
I think I've tried every browser that will install on a rooted NT. I'm down to Opera Mobile (and Classic Mobile--are they the same but from different markets??) and Dolphin.
I like Opera because I can zoom and save my aging eyes a bit. I hate Opera because I prefer to browse in landscape mode and I have yet to find a rotation locking app that will keep Opera steady. It flips and flops, back and forth at unexpected times. And, of course, there is no setting in Opera for orientation. Right now I'm using Tasker to invoke first Wi-Fi and then the Rotation Locker plugin. It works almost always on opening and sometimes stays...but not always.
Is there something that will ALWAYS keep Opera Mobile in landscape?
I like Dolphin (although I once discarded it) because it CAN be locked into landscape and will STAY there. I love that I can set the lower hardware buttons to Volume control and Dolphin will scroll with them. Flash is sort of amusing (hooray I got it working!), but it's not a good reason to stay with Dolphin. I hate Dolphin because it has no way to zoom--except that it does, but only on its own terms. It automatically zooms when you need to do something like a form entry. In the Settings panel the admonition to show the zoom buttons is ignored. You can assign a gesture to Zoom. It will reproduce it and confirm that your scribble on the screen is a "match", but it ignores all gestures as far as I can tell.
Have I missed something with Dolphin? Is there a way to zoom on a screen?
Have I missed another browser that is actually working as "well" as these two?
[SOLVED ZOOM!] OMG! Dolphin does respond to gestures if you're not an idiot like me. Tapping the "dolphin" button in the bottom left corner gives three options. The middle one goes to a blank screen on which to draw a gesture and after you have done so, it returns to the current browser tab with the effect done! So you can program a "Z" or something for "zoom" and it WORKS!!!!!!!!! (so do all the other gestures, if you can remember that many)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had good luck with "rotation locker". You have to long press the middle landscpe mode button (which on my nst has no text) to keep Opera running in the background. It then forces Opera back into the landscape mode despite disturbing events
prosty said:
Hey,
How did you manage to install flash plugin for dolphin? I though it only works with android 2.3+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't take credit for this (original thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1555549), but I may be able to smooth out the edges that this noob found a little intimidating.
1. Follow the link given in the post linked above to download the "flashupdate_signed.zip" file. Ignore the rest of the stuff there.
2. Unzip that file. You will need the three Flash plugin apks in the /system/app folder. They go on your SD card for installation later.
3. You can also copy the three .so files in the /system/lib folder to your SD card (or dropbox, or use ADB, etc.) These will need to be placed in the /system/lib folder of the Nook so you need Root Browser or similar with SuperUser rights.
4. When you have moved the three .so files to /system/lib on the Nook check that their permissions are the same as other files in that folder. Mine were not and I had to change the permissions to match the other files.
5. Reboot
6. Install the three Flash apks.
Note, this shows up as Flash 10.1 in my ADW Manager but when I go to test it seems to be 9.x. It works some places and not others, but I find that's true of older Flash plugins anyway.
Don't forget that you have to enable Flash in the Settings for Dolphin as well.
I have just installed "rotation locker" on my NST, and it works just fine with both Opera Mobile and my PDF readers. Thank you! I assess it through a long-press of my top-left Nook Button, and can switch back and forth between portrait and landscape modes at whim.
richardcoop said:
I've had good luck with "rotation locker". You have to long press the middle landscpe mode button (which on my nst has no text) to keep Opera running in the background. It then forces Opera back into the landscape mode despite disturbing events
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't understand this at first but I was able to set Tasker to use this background option of Rotation Locker just for the few apps (like Opera Mobile and Crosswords(US) that resisted locking into landscape. Works like a charm! Thanks for the tip