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We have a few browsers to choose from, stock, Dolphin HD, Skyfire and the upcoming Opera Mobile and Firefox Mobile
Stock browser is not the fastest according to some tests, the champion goes to Skyfire
Dolphin HD beats stock over functionality from my own use, but is the slowest among the three
Opera Mobile is known to consume 80% less data, but user comments are not so positive
Firefox mobile is now available for G2, haven't try yet
So whats your pick?
Almost every site I would go to has an app so there is no need for my browser, so I stick with stock since its not used often...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
o>c said:
Opera Mobile is known to consume 80% less data, but user comments are not so positive
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Let me clarify:
Opera Mini is browser, which compresses data - when I was using Galaxy i7500 it was the fastest browser (not only in downloading pages, but in rendering too).
Opera Mobile is normal browser, not compressing data. I did not test it, but comments aren't very good.
I been using Dolphin HD. I like the side bar bookmarks, and the gestures. Plus it is faster than the default, IMO
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I am digging dolphin HD too on the g2.
I tried dolphin when I had a slide and it was HORRIBLY slow (even overclocked to 844mhz). It's smooth like butter on my g2 clocked at 1.497 and flash works great.
I have been loving the Firefox, get all my bookmarks synced without any other crap app. The Beta2 release is a bit better than the first, but little things still dont work correctly. For me the only thing not working properly are the shift and alt keys of the physical keyboard. They work but you have to hold them down while pressing the other key. Not a biggie, and the browser runs smooth as glass for me.
i use skyfire in desktop mode for facebook and everything
Love Dolphin HD for the plugins like desktop mode and speed dial. Also I'm digging the gestures and themes. And of course the tabbed browsing with thumbnails available is fantastic! Best over all experience if you have good data speeds.
I did numerous speed tests using a stopwatch with Dolphin versus stock on very large pages. It was basically a tie with flash either enabled or disabled.
Opera Mobile is VERY fast! Great card style thumbnails for window switching (stock neeeeds this). But no flash, desktop mode, and doesn't render the whole page at once. The partial rendering adds speed but if you scroll quickly its annoying. Still has a few kinks. I recommend keeping Opera handy for super slow connections.
I have Firefox, Opera and Stock installed. And honestly I use the stock more often than any other browser. It seems that the other browsers are terrible at compatibility when browsing non-optimized sites. I use forms a lot and they are awful.
In Firefox each time I typed something into a form-box or selected something from a drop-down menu it had to reload the page. Frustrating to say the least. At least in Firefox they work; in Opera, the forms work half of the time. If I can't log in, what's the point?
Stock may be somewhat slower at rendering, but its compatibility saves me a lot of time.
I've been testing the default, Skyfire, and Dolphin HD for 4 weeks and I typically choose Dolphin now as my GoTo browser. Here are the three main reasons:
1. I need the ability to Toggle between Desktop and Mobile on various sites
2. I tweet about a lot of Websites and the Dolphin Tweet plugin actually grabs the Title of a page while simultaneously shrinking the URL, yet still allows me to edit.
3. I also read a lot of pages and if they don't have a mobile version, I use a plugin for Google Mobilizer to strip away formatting and make it easy to read.
Since I have a G2, I use Menu+S to pull up Share options with Dolphin Tweet. I also use Menu+M to use Google Mobilizer. Keyboard shortcuts are handy.
As for speed, they are all pretty comparable. I still use Skyfire on Flash Video sites.
Hope this helps!
Ghostcreamy
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
why are you leaving out xscope? its a perfectly legitimate browser which is the fastest by far.
Firefox is a little late! Dolphin was firefox to me when I had the G1, firfox should just but dolphin and change the name.
ms93 said:
Let me clarify:
Opera Mini is browser, which compresses data - when I was using Galaxy i7500 it was the fastest browser (not only in downloading pages, but in rendering too).
Opera Mobile is normal browser, not compressing data. I did not test it, but comments aren't very good.
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Click to collapse
Anyone know if the Opera mobile will the same kind of forum posting that mini can do? I HAVE to use opera for posting online for school as no other browser will handle the way it works.
It's a great browser with many spiffy features. The only thing that is sort of odd is that it duplicates my bookmarks. I have one set that occupies the top half and a duplicated set that occupies the bottom half. But, I have yet to come across any who have reported this.
I have used this browser on the stock ROM, ICE ROM, and now Gorilla's DHD ported ROM all with the same results. I'm wondering if there is some other app that is interfering with the importation of the bookmarks in Miren.
Any of you see this too?
I always used to look forward to Acidcow Gifdump pages, but ever since I've put ICS on its like it can't handle a page full of gifs, it's slow, like 1 frame every 5 secs, and doesn't even complete the loading of the page. There's usually about another 5 that it doesn't even try to load.
Gingerbread could display these pages fine.
I've tried stock browser, opera and dolphin. All the same result, and this phone was factory reset after the gingerbread update and ICS was put on.
It can handle single GIFs, but a page of them is like being on an early pc
I used stock for a little while and was really liking chrome on my N7. I just went through a few ROMs and settled on one (see sig) which has the original android browser on it just like Galaxy Nexus has. My question is why would anyone use that over chrome? What are the pros and cons of each browser?
Thanks in advance.
Some use browser due to it supporting flash, personally I stick with browser because I'm used to it, like the quick settings function, and have all my bookmarks saved with it so all I have to do is sync.
I do keep chrome installed as I do have occasional use for it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
well i havent played with the new chrome version(s) but back then when most of us tried chrome it was hella 1) buggy 2) slow 3) didnt support flash. and i believe it had that annoying feature of constantly refreshing pages (again not sure if newer versions have smoothed everything out)
and the fact that it's the stock browser was quick, snappy and that it was able to synce my google bookmarks too, it was a winner winner
Chrome is trash. It's slow, no flash, text is blurry. The only redeeming quality is that it syncs with chrome desktop.. But even that isn't enough to save it from being a horrible mobile browser
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 02:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 AM ----------
The constant refreshing pages is annoying as heck. Hate that! Safari on my iPad Mini does the same thing. Pisses me off. It's not even a memory issue either, cause I'll leave the tab and come back and it still refreshes smh
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
thevuman said:
Chrome is trash. It's slow, no flash, text is blurry. The only redeeming quality is that it syncs with chrome desktop.. But even that isn't enough to save it from being a horrible mobile browser
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 02:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 AM ----------
The constant refreshing pages is annoying as heck. Hate that! Safari on my iPad Mini does the same thing. Pisses me off. It's not even a memory issue either, cause I'll leave the tab and come back and it still refreshes smh
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
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So true !
I was a die hard Chrome fan on my laptops etc, so when it came to Android I never looked back.
Until literally a couple of months ago, I though I'd give a different browser a go.
I'm afraid to say, EVERY other browser I tried, was better than Chrome.
Being rooted, I replaced the default N7 browser with the AOSP browser and side-loaded flash. It works great. Fast browser and excellent flash videos.
AOSP browser is just smoother than Chrome... a light feather gossamer touch is all that is needed to scroll up or down - and apart from frighteningly fast page download speeds, it's also Adobe Flash compliant.
The one feature missing, that would make the AOSP browser a 10 marks out of 10 browser is 'text-flow' (pinch zoom, and text 'flows' and automatically reformats into the space created, instead of going off the edge of the screen). But even Chrome doesn't have this feature.
Dolphin Browser Beta - (http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dolphin.browser.lab.en&hl=en) has 'text-flow' , but unfortunately isn't entirely stable... and doesn't support Flash.
An interesting new contender is the (relatively) new WebKit version of Opera...
Opera Browser Beta - (http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.opera.browser.beta).
Smooth scrolling and a nice 'clean' interface... supports 'text-flow'... but not particularly fast... and doesn't support Flash. Like Dolphin Browser Beta, it's also a bit flaky.
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So for me, it's going to be the AOSP browser everytime... it's fast, smooth and supports Flash. It's not perfect, but it's the best Android browser available... IMHO, of course.
Now... what was that question about Chrome again?.
Rgrds.
Ged.
I can live with Chrome pretty much, it's slowly getting better with each update. But it would be follish to reject the fact that AOSP Browser is faster and simply more appealing in terms of UI. Though the address/search/control bar in the upper part of the screen takes too much space, while Chrome's panel is minimalistic (though nowhere as close as Opera Beta one - the smallest bar evar)
Lack of Flash support in Chrome is again not a big trouble, since it's not OFFICIALLY supported in 4.1.x and above => Browser tends to crash from time to time forcing me to completely close it and reopen with opening all the tabs again or wait until it opens the same cached tab again until it hangs dead once more. HTML5 is more than enough (at least for the sites I visit from my tablet)
I'm thinking of changing browsers from Chrome soon, lately EVERY click gets that popup balloon and I have to click it again, even if there is no other buttons around what I pressed, it's getting kinda annoying. And what they do with the text, instead of just displaying everything nicely, browsing the forum looks awful. These two 'features' should be disabled somehow, other than that I don't mind chrome. It's not the best, but not the worst either.
GedBlake said:
The one feature missing, that would make the AOSP browser a 10 marks out of 10 browser is 'text-flow' (pinch zoom, and text 'flows' and automatically reformats into the space created, instead of going off the edge of the screen). But even Chrome doesn't have this feature.
Rgrds.
Ged.
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Click to collapse
If you zoom to where the text goes off the page, double-tap the screen to make the text flow reformat back to fit the screen.
Groid said:
If you zoom to where the text goes off the page, double-tap the screen to make the text flow reformat back to fit the screen.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I know about the 'double-tap'... it just enlarges/zooms... but doesn't reflow - or at least on my version of AOSP browser it doesn't.
If you have (or know of) a version of the AOSP browser that does that... then I would be most interested in it.
So any download links, CWM/TWRP flashable's... or even something I can 'push' to /system... or maybe flashable ROMs... that would be most appreciated.
Such a browser - (AOSP, Adobe Flash Compliant... and Text-flow capable) would be the sine qua non of browsers... IMHO.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Yes, if I just double-tap it zooms or zooms back. But if I have zoomed the text too much to fit the screen, a double-tap will re-flow the text to fit the screen. The ASOP browser I'm using shows in All apps as Version 4.1.1-eng.sparkyman216.20120801.074324. I think I got it from an XDA thread but I'm not sure which one. It is dated 8/5/12 and is about 1.6 Mb. I have the .apk available if you want it.
Groid said:
Yes, if I just double-tap it zooms or zooms back. But if I have zoomed the text too much to fit the screen, a double-tap will re-flow the text to fit the screen. The ASOP browser I'm using shows in All apps as Version 4.1.1-eng.sparkyman216.20120801.074324. I think I got it from an XDA thread but I'm not sure which one. It is dated 8/5/12 and is about 1.6 Mb. I have the .apk available if you want it.
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Sounds ideal!
And it also sounds like 'not all AOSP browsers' are born equal!
I would definitely be interested in a copy of your .apk... probably going to have to too screw around with some ODEX stuff to make it work.
But if I can get text-flow working in an AOSP browser... with Flash Support... that would be great.
Rgrds,
Ged
OK, the process once you get the browser.apk file: you must be rooted and have a root file explorer like 'Root Explorer' or 'ES File Explorer'. Navigate to /system/app, mount as R/W, and rename BrowserProviderProxy.apk and BrowserProviderProxy.odex by adding a .bak extention (i.e. browserproviderproxy.apk.bak). Copy browser.apk into /system/app. Verify the permissions are set as owner=Read Write, Group and Others as Read. Restart the N7. Place a shortcut for Browser from the app drawer on your dock or home screen. Try it out. (Sideload Flash from the Adobe website if not already installed.)
I just noticed you have a custom rom and kernel. I don't know if this works with that combination. I'm stock rom, and kernel and rooted. You might want to check some cyanogenmod forums. If you want to pm me with your email, I'll attach the browser.apk file.
Dolphin. <<<<<<emphasis on the period.
Sent from my cell phone telephone....
Actually this is not a question, just a statement in case any people from Samsung are reading, they should get their stuff right.
What I like about Chrome browser was the way it "fits" the text of web pages in comparison with the stock browser which makes everything look so small. (Text, not photos)
So after some searching with the settings (accessibility) on the stock browser, I managed to get the same exactly text fitting on the screen, as Chrome.
The bug is this:
Every time I close the browser and re-open it, it doesnt perform the settings I've made.
If I go to the settings menu, the settings are there but not applied on the web page.
If I make a minor change and go back, they are applied.
But again, if I close the browser and re-open it, the page appears with stock settings although if I check the settings, my settings are there.
Only by making another change, it applies the rest of the settings I made.
And again the same thing... Close the browser, re-open it... Page opens with stock settings.
Get your stuff right Samsung guys.... This is your flagship mobile at the moment.
(ofcourse if anyone has a solution to this, although I've tried everything, it is VERY welcome)
A lot of people are quite unhappy with that. If I'm not wrong, it's called text reflow. Just use other browser apps. I prefer firefox. It's less buggy than chrome.