Database Users

HW Accelerated Web Browser ?

so with the new gingerbread roms does it enable the hw acceleration for the web ? as i see jumps from 2.2 to 2.2.1 for samsung vibrant was significant in terms of web browser speed.
its almost like iphone .

i know opera browser has hw acceleration its super-extra smooth

It's easy to be super smooth when you don't have to deal with flash.

darinmc said:
It's easy to be super smooth when you don't have to deal with flash.
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Haha, true! Also when you use compression (Mini does, and I think it's optional in Mobile).
I wonder why more apps don't use hardware acceleration. Why have such a powerful GPU if it's essentially only going to be used for games?

darinmc said:
It's easy to be super smooth when you don't have to deal with flash.
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Opera does use flash you can enabled it always on. Which I do on flash sites. The opera mini can't though haven't seen anything else. That has hardware acceleration blame Google for not implementing it yet.
Sent from my demonSPEED Glacier using XDA Premium App

Even with Flash turned off, android default web browser looks very slow and jerky (in terms of zooming and panning). And NO, web browser in gingerbread is not hardware accelerated.
I'm trying out Opera Mobile on my Legend, using CyanogenMod 7 (which is based on gingerbread), and its reeeaaaally fast (in terms of zooming and panning and even text re-flow) compared to the default browser! How i wish something like this can be implemented on the default browser. I've turned off Opera Turbo, so i think my connection doesn't pass through opera servers. Although there are some websites which opera doesn't render correctly (e.g. gmail.com)
How possible is it for someone to implement hardware acceleration on the UI of the default android browser, without google implementing it? does anyone know?
I'm really not a programmer, so if someone is able to do it, then MANY will be very very happy, i guess!

raydm said:
so with the new gingerbread roms does it enable the hw acceleration for the web ? as i see jumps from 2.2 to 2.2.1 for samsung vibrant was significant in terms of web browser speed.
its almost like iphone .
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Click to collapse
I believe samsung is implementing hardware acceleration on their android web browser on their recent OS releases. Im not sure though when did they started doing it (right).

About Opera mobile - is it possible to enable google search via the address bar?

kimbernator said:
About Opera mobile - is it possible to enable google search via the address bar?
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on my phone, opera looks like this (see attached).
beside the address bar is the search bar, isnt that good enough? or does it look different on your phone?

Best Browser - Boat Browser Mini

I have found a browser faster and more functional than Opera Mini so I thought I would share it.
Boat Browser Mini.
It is seriously freaking awesome.
Anyone else tried it and think it is currently the best mobile browser ever?
Posted from my xperia play and boat browser

I've been a Dolphin user since my Hero, tried many others incl boat but none come close to Dolphin.

What makes Boat Browser so much better than Opera?

zerojay said:
What makes Boat Browser so much better than Opera?
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Opera mobile is extremely fast and most importantly, smooth.
Boat Browse matches and exceeds speed and smoothness.
Opera mobile mini can't do flash. Boat browser does. And does it very fast and smooth.
Opera full is sluggish and slower.
Boats ui is simplistic, speedy and amazingly easy to use.
I have yet to see a browser faster or smoother.

Forgot to mention that browsing with the dpad seems to work extremely well too in boats. I know other browsers can do this. But it just all seems to work better in boats.
Give it a try.
I used to use dolphin over wifi and opera mini mobile over 3g. But boats is faster and smoother than eithet of these whichever way you are connected.

i will try it an let you know

That browser is a wanna be iphone browser
Anyway its not bad
I think skyfire is pure android and is the best although it doesnt support flash
Sent from my R800i using XDA Premium App

dsswoosh said:
I have found a browser faster and more functional than Opera Mini so I thought I would share it.
Boat Browser Mini.
It is seriously freaking awesome.
Anyone else tried it and think it is currently the best mobile browser ever?
Posted from my xperia play and boat browser
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it after seeing this thread and sorry but didn't like it, looks plan and basic, performs no better than the standard built in browser and dolphin hd.
I really like Dolphin HD, some cool features on that one

Mostly I use the native android browser wich works pretty good. Sometimes it wont download stuff and then I use Miren browser wich is the browser used in MIUI custom roms. I really liked the look of MIUI when I had that flashed on my htc desire hd and yes I know it is alot like IOS UI, still liked it alot, very smooth and nice themes.
Regards Dousan...

Since the first time i used it I had also the feeling that it was a very smooth and fast browser, and I have used them all. I used to use Xscope but I don't like its interface and it doesn't seem to be that fast anymore. Would like to see some comparing tests between xscooe, opera mini, skyfire and boat.

can't find this in the market. anyone has a link?

yamilito said:
Since the first time i used it I had also the feeling that it was a very smooth and fast browser, and I have used them all. I used to use Xscope but I don't like its interface and it doesn't seem to be that fast anymore. Would like to see some comparing tests between xscooe, opera mini, skyfire and boat.
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I've gone back to opera mini for 3g connection. The loading speed is easily the fastest out of all browsers. I use opera main for wifi.
Would use boats for wifi because it is smooth as hell, but opera link synchs all bookmarks etc.
If opera mini had flash support, I would use it for everything. Shame it can't do flash.

Boat browser has been pulled from the Market due to a violation of some sort. Does anyone know why?

The fact that it has been pulled from the Market makes me wanna try it even though I am happy with the native browser (except the copy-paste thing which is very difficult to use)

The UI is a complete ripoff of Mobile Safari in iOS, that's probably why it was pulled.

I've just tried it and I think its awesome. Thanks for the post...

I personally prefer the miui browser
find it on the market

Anywherr to get the boat browser?

SuperDeform said:
Anywherr to get the boat browser?
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There are a few ways.....try 4shared.com

I emailed the developer about why it was pulled from the market; their response was that they had compared their browser with the competition in their description, which violated Google policy.
In the meantime, you can download the current version of the app from their (extremely minimal) web site, boatgo.net.

How smooth is the browser?

I know the stock is not as smooth as IOS but what about hardware accelerated browsers like dolphin and opera? Is it silky smooth like the ipad?

Mine stock seems pretty damned smooth. It renders text quickly and once everything is up it scrolls with no hesitation. Of course I have plug-ins set to "on demand" so normally its like the ipad, no flash.

Even with activated flash it's smooth.

As an owner of both an iPad (1st gen) and a TF (Stock and Dolphin) my experiences are:
Websites optimised for tablet/mobile - No difference worth noting
Full desktop websites with lots of pictures - TF faster to render, Ipad a little smoother to scroll
Websites with flash and lots of dynamic content - TF wins hands down.
At the end of the day both of these devices look awful next to Chrome on win64 but they are starting to feel like decent browsers.
Completely subjective: All in all the iPad always "feels" a little smoother to me at everything. Web, just using the OS and everything. But it's a funny comparison - It's quite clearly not as good at any of the individual tasks and slower in general but somehow feels more graceful at the same time. I geuss that's the whole thing with apple though. Personally - I prefer the functionality of the TF.

With the latest update of opera I don't see how it can be smoother
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

If you turn off the open GL rendering the browser is extremely fast. The rendering isn't even needed.

With the new Opera Mobile 11, I could finally go back to the 2010 mode instead of the classic mode on xda.....

eli.kennedy said:
Websites optimised for tablet/mobile ...
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Oh, that reminds me, that I forgot to mention, that my stock browser is set to desktop instead of mobile ... the later makes no sense on a WiFi-only tablet in my opinion ... except when tethered to a cell phone maybe.
Also worth mentioning is, that the stock browser doesn't render some bad designed sites correctly ... e.g. golem.de
As a good alternative for such cases I use the tablet version of Maxthon, which is realy great, but also has two downsides ... it doesn't have a fast scroll button and it has problems with popup content like the player of accujazz.com radio. The stock browser does a better job here though not perfect.
Maybe a third browser is needed
I didn't try Opera so far because it's said, that flash implementation is still Beta state.
Personally - I prefer the functionality of the TF.
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As all others here too
As long as you aren't a professional photographer, who needs the more accurate colours & higher colour depth (real 24 bit) and RAW image conversion iPad is the worse choice.
Hackers might be the second group of people who might prefer the iPad ... I noticed, that WiFi hacking tools e.g. are available there, but not on android ... astonishing fact, isn't it?

I find HC browsers faster than the iPad one (I only tested iPad 1) on most sites. On some with a lot of flash they can be slow. Smoother? Didn't notice, didn't care.
eli.kennedy describe the differences quite accurately to what I experienced.

stcardinal said:
If you turn off the open GL rendering the browser is extremely fast. The rendering isn't even needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine appears smoother with it on.

The iPad2's browser is much faster and smoother than the iPad 1's. It renders about 4 times faster.
I find the ipad2 browser much smoother than anything on my transformer. If browsing is the reason to have a tablet, AND you do not care about flash, than the iPad2 is a great choice.

jerrykur said:
The iPad2's browser is much faster and smoother than the iPad 1's. It renders about 4 times faster.
I find the ipad2 browser much smoother than anything on my transformer. If browsing is the reason to have a tablet, AND you do not care about flash, than the iPad2 is a great choice.
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Really, I can't understand why anyone smart enough to hangout on XDA would be recommending a locked-down, locked-in turd like the iPad2 (which is basically the default choice for people either too stupid, or too lazy to explore alternatives).
Sure there may currently be a lag problem with the Transformers browser when docked with the keyboard, but there are plenty of workarounds, like using the vastly superior Opera 11 browser, and it's doesn't affect page rendering speed, which blows the iPad2 out of the water.

CrazyPeter said:
... lag problem with the Transformers browser when docked with the keyboard, but there are plenty of workarounds, like using the vastly superior Opera 11 browser...
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I didn't know this is a known problem. I just got my Eee and dock and have been trying to fix this lag on a browser issue, but no go.
I tried changing the browser (Dolphin HD), change the Keyboard (Uses Asus and Android).
What is the workaround?

Heavily embedded java severely slows down the browser which is not an issue on other HC devices, or in fact, on the TF with Opera 11 so it should, and will get fixed.
Other than that, the browser is really zippy. As zippy as the Ipad 2. When your on par with speed, plus chrome bookmark syncing, tabbed browsing and flash, its no contest whose the winner.

zillah1985 said:
Heavily embedded java severely slows down the browser which is not an issue on other HC devices, or in fact, on the TF with Opera 11 so it should, and will get fixed.
Other than that, the browser is really zippy. As zippy as the Ipad 2. When your on par with speed, plus chrome bookmark syncing, tabbed browsing and flash, its no contest whose the winner.
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I have tried accessing website with little Javascript embedded and still see the lag in both stock browser and Dolphin HD. So are you saying, currently, ONLY Opera 11 does NOT exhibit this problem?

Opera 11.1 seems to be the best, smoothest, most fluid browser yet. I prefer it over the stock, firefox, dolphin, etc. It just is so damn near-perfect.
What we'd like I'm sure is a full desktop port of Firefox and Chrome so we all have access to those delicious addons and extensions.

lanwarrior said:
I have tried accessing website with little Javascript embedded and still see the lag in both stock browser and Dolphin HD. So are you saying, currently, ONLY Opera 11 does NOT exhibit this problem?
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For me at least.
This page here:
http://proximityone.com/demographics2020.htm
was lagging for me in the stock browser, and works perfectly in Opera. I also can type in XDA easily while in Opera but in stock I cannot. Goggle instant works well in Opera but in stock it does not. Google apps such as reader, gmail, etc.. within the browser works well in Opera while the stock does not. This is the pattern I am making an assumption on.
All of which are non-issues in the stock browser for the Xoom. So, something has to be up with the stock browser.

zillah1985 said:
This page here ... was lagging for me in the stock browser ...
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Strange, it works nice in my Stock Browser and scrolls pretty fast and smooth.
I also can type in XDA easily while in Opera but in stock I cannot.
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I currently write this answer in the stock browser without problems, except a slight keyboard lag. Btw ... the Android keyboard seems to work better in the stock browser than the Asus one.
Very strange, why do we have such different experiences? You Run Android 3.1, don't you?

Yes, I am running 3.1 in stock ROM, rooted. No any other customizations

lanwarrior said:
Yes, I am running 3.1 in stock ROM, rooted.
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Mine isn't rooted so far. Can the rooting play a roll?

WOW!!! Dolphin browser 7 is stupid fast!!!

It's like the stock browser on steroids. I gave up on this browser month's ago and never thought i'll go back affer the countless FCs and lag. What did they do differently this time?

I tried the HD a while back and then uninstalled it, after it kept FC'ing me in Google+ trying to read Yegges post. Has it improved that much?

Opera is still faster. I used to love dolphin HD, but one day I installed every browser I could find and ran some tests. The conclusion, opera was blazingly faster. I also downloaded this new Dolphin and still prefer Opera.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium

ThEiiNoCeNT said:
Opera is still faster. I used to love dolphin HD, but one day I installed every browser I could find and ran some tests. The conclusion, opera was blazingly faster. I also downloaded this new Dolphin and still prefer Opera.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
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Can't figure out how to force opera to display deskop settings.

Opera button-Settings-advanced-user agent
You better make sure you have the right opera also, because they have an ultra fast one that only displays in mobile views.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium

The problem with opera is that the fonts are too small compared to stock

klau1 said:
The problem with opera is that the fonts are too small compared to stock
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Click to collapse
So just change the settings

how do you do that? there is just zoom
and if you use zoom on websites with tables, the tables will also become bigger, requiring an excessive amount of horizontal scrolling. which makes it pointless

klau1 said:
how do you do that? there is just zoom
and if you use zoom on websites with tables, the tables will also become bigger, requiring an excessive amount of horizontal scrolling. which makes it pointless
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The stock browser fonts are bigger because it uses what it refers to as a "wide viewport." Basically it just enlarges the page to make the fonts and other UI elements match the rest of the Android OS, which are huge compared to the standard fonts and UI elements of desktop operating systems. For instance, the typical task bar on a desktop OS is 24 pixels tall, while Honeycomb's notification bar is 48 pixels tall. If the fonts appear small on your tablet screen, it's because the tablet screen has a much higher DPI than a typical desktop monitor, and current websites are not designed for such a high DPI. Opera is simply displaying the pages as they were originally intended to be displayed on devices of 1280x800 resolution. The problem is that 1280x800 screens used to be 14-15" instead of 10.1".

where have you found v7?? I only see dolphin HD v6.2, dolphin mini 2.2 and for pad v1.0 in the market...

It's not going to be stupid fast, it's going to be the same speed as the stock Android browser, BECAUSE DOLPHIN IS THE STOCK ANDROID BROWSER.
How hard is it to understand that DolphinHD is justa skin on the standard browser, using the same rendering, the same javascript engine, just with a different UI.
Opera Mobile will smoke dolphin, as it's the only mobile browser to use hardware acceleration (not even stock one does), and it very fast anyway.

Tried all browsers. I like Opera best because of the GUI and because it's the fastest IMHO.

Browser, browser, all I want is one with a good working ad blocker.

34Ford said:
Browser, browser, all I want is one with a good working ad blocker.
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Firefox + adblock plus works as good as the desktop version in terms of ad blocking. Sucks in all other terms though.

It can be downloaded from Android market? It seems I only get Dolphin HD 6.2 when I search browser.

CrazyPeter said:
It's not going to be stupid fast, it's going to be the same speed as the stock Android browser, BECAUSE DOLPHIN IS THE STOCK ANDROID BROWSER.
How hard is it to understand that DolphinHD is justa skin on the standard browser, using the same rendering, the same javascript engine, just with a different UI.
Opera Mobile will smoke dolphin, as it's the only mobile browser to use hardware acceleration (not even stock one does), and it very fast anyway.
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Opera mobile does not use hardware acceleration hahaha. Scrolling websites on opera is like 15 frames per second while default browser scrolling is silky smooth like iPad.

cowballz69 said:
Opera mobile does not use hardware acceleration hahaha. Scrolling websites on opera is like 15 frames per second while default browser scrolling is silky smooth like iPad.
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Then there is something wrong with your opera. Scrolling in Opera is silky smooth on all but the most intensive web sites.
the only reason I keep Dolphin installed is because the Flash Hardware Acceleration fix does not work on Opera, when that is finally fixed, dolphin will be gone too.
3.2 was suppose to bring hardware acceleration for stock browser, but I don't think it did.

For those looking for an ad blocker... Search the market for AdFree....
Seems to work great for me....
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

gottahavit said:
Then there is something wrong with your opera. Scrolling in Opera is silky smooth on all but the most intensive web sites.
the only reason I keep Dolphin installed is because the Flash Hardware Acceleration fix does not work on Opera, when that is finally fixed, dolphin will be gone too.
3.2 was suppose to bring hardware acceleration for stock browser, but I don't think it did.
Click to expand...
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open gl rendering is built in to the browser since honeycomb was released, Opera mobile does not have open gl rendering, disable open gl rending in default browser and it will scroll just as bad as Opera.

cowballz69 said:
open gl rendering is built in to the browser since honeycomb was released, Opera mobile does not have open gl rendering, disable open gl rending in default browser and it will scroll just as bad as Opera.
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Opengl and other technical assertions aside.... You are in the absolute minority of users who actually has a better experience with the stock browser. In there lies the truth. If everyone was experiencing the same performance as you seem to be saying your getting, then threads like this and other browsers in fact would not exist! It's simple supply and demand.
Stock browser blows for the vast majority of users, whether on stock or custom roms /kernels.

stock browser vs chrome

Both from a factual view and a personal preference view what do you guys think is the better browser of the two?
I found with the jb update the Stock browser began to load faster than chrome although the keyboards generally still worked badly in forums, swype being worst.
With chromes new update I find it to be about equal. I've tried running the ms fish HTML test on both and it doesn't run well on either so I didn't find that a good test to give any solid facts but right now I prefer chorine purely based on using it to write in forums but other than that they seem to perform roughly equal as far add I can tell. What do you guys think?

To be honest I have not found any better than stock. I don't care for gestures, synch or any fancy features, all I want I a fast browser that doesn't lag while reading and rendering pages. Stock is awesome, chrome not so much. Flash seems to work on stock and if it didn't video and mx player do a good job.
I'd like, however, that it would organize pages as opera mobile does. Opera's brilliant in this. Sadly is rather buggy in other departments. That's the only thing I'm missing. Other than that, stock is just about perfect and that's what I use.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Premium App

Some good points well made, since Google make both browsers its strange that they should be so different though maybe stock is optimised to each device and chrome is one size fits all.
I love a lot of things about chrome but for raw speed as far as I can tell like you say, stock is the Best in that department. Difficult to Test without 2 phones

stock browser all the day
its faster smoother have more feature like full screen mode
but chrome has cool feature too but its suck :silly:

The stock app is awful, I have Firefox, Chrome and Skyfire installed on my S3

None. I don't like the stock browser's messy menu configuration. Chrome is just... odd. I rather enjoy Dolphin, but I've been using Boat Browser for a while now, and I've grown fond of it...

dodgebizkit said:
Both from a factual view and a personal preference view what do you guys think is the better browser of the two?
I found with the jb update the Stock browser began to load faster than chrome although the keyboards generally still worked badly in forums, swype being worst.
With chromes new update I find it to be about equal. I've tried running the ms fish HTML test on both and it doesn't run well on either so I didn't find that a good test to give any solid facts but right now I prefer chorine purely based on using it to write in forums but other than that they seem to perform roughly equal as far add I can tell. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
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Chrome causes S3's running Jelly Bean to reboot when you use cut and paste, so I'd have to vote for the stock browser, or dolphin, or firefox, or any other browser.
Seriously, try it. Load up Chrome (on your GT-I9300 Galaxy S3) and long-press on an area of text, select some text and then either press on the selected text or press the copy icon (two overlapping rectangles). Do this between 1 and 20 times and your phone will reboot. It's great!

after so many months, the chrome browser sucks, i admit it looks nice, cool features, but its so laggy, even scrolling mobile sites, its a joke, i feel sorry for the nexus 4 owners

Nothing beats the fluidity of the stock browser. Sure, it might not be fully compatible with all the websites but it is miles better than having frustration over laggy scrolling found in Chrome.
Moreover, the browsing convenience and speed using Quick Controls is unmatched.
I don't know why Google doesn't implement these things in Chrome.

Stock is noticeably smooth in scrolling.

i think stock is better but chrome has better sync abilities with desktop

Back before I was an android user (and therefore didn't pay much attention) I'm sure I read that they intend to eventually replace stock with chrome as default browser in android... Is there any truth to this? I hope not, while I love having chrome I like to have the choice, and the different things that stock browser has.

I really want to like chrome... I really do. I keep giving it a chance for a few days every time they push an update out. The deal breaker for me is the lack of full screen mode and the relatively choppy scrolling in general - emphasis on 'relative' ! I guess if the stock browser wasn't so smooth (and very fast to use with quick controls) I would be perfectly happy with chrome.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

The new JellyBean stock browser seems very nice, has some features from ICS Browser+, this is from my limited time playing with it at least. Which of them all probably would make this one my favorite browser, but of course it could be because it is new.

thaBuzzed said:
I really want to like chrome... I really do. I keep giving it a chance for a few days every time they push an update out. The deal breaker for me is the lack of full screen mode and the relatively choppy scrolling in general - emphasis on 'relative' ! I guess if the stock browser wasn't so smooth (and very fast to use with quick controls) I would be perfectly happy with chrome.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
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Couldn't put it better myself. I also "give it a chance" every now and then... but get annoyed about the same things as well as lack of flash support.
When referring to "stock" browser, I feel the cm10 stock browser is also far superior to stock Samsung however...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

kickassdave said:
Couldn't put it better myself. I also "give it a chance" every now and then... but get annoyed about the same things as well as lack of flash support.
When referring to "stock" browser, I feel the cm10 stock browser is also far superior to stock Samsung however...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
+1, totally agree. Though since I am making UCCW theme's, I kind off have to link my widgets to Chrome for universal support
Still use the Stock CM10 browser more though. Chrome sometimes feels slow and not so smooth when scrolling.