I think many people know this but just in case you don't. Many sites detect when an iPad is browsing the site and redeliver any Flash video content as HTML5. This is both less taxing on your CPU and usually higher quality. On the XOOM it also runs full screen which is nice.
Here's what you do.
Download Dolphin Browser from Market
During the Setup it'll ask you what user agent you want - select iPad!
Now you're set. Any site you visit (try Engadget and some CNN pages) you'll notice that pages load video with HTML5, just tap it and the XOOM will load them full screen and it's buttery smooth and crystal clear.
Anytime you want the iPad browsing experience, just launch Dolphin HD - done
Here it is in full, if someone wants it.
Code:
Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/7B334b Safari/531.21.10
You can do the same with the default browser in the xoom. Just go into debug and instead of choosing desktop choose I pad. Now every site will think your an ipad
Are you sure it's less taxing? Flash 10.2 has hardware accelerated video playback with a new stagevideo object
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/stagevideo.html
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
ebpman said:
You can do the same with the default browser in the xoom. Just go into debug and instead of choosing desktop choose I pad. Now every site will think your an ipad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do u get into debug?
droidrev71 said:
How do u get into debug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in the address bar do
about:debug
when you hit enter it will look like nothing happened. go into the settings menu and you'll find a debug category. pick your useragent there.
when you're done do
about:debug
again to exit debug mode (remove it from the settings menu)
This trick does not stick.
ebpman said:
You can do the same with the default browser in the xoom. Just go into debug and instead of choosing desktop choose I pad. Now every site will think your an ipad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tired of the about:debug hopefully a fix is coming soon....
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
TheWh0leTruth said:
Tired of the about:debug hopefully a fix is coming soon....
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I understand its up to the developers of websites to differentiate between "Android" which is tablets, and "Android Mobile" which is phones.
Dolphin is the bees knees on my xoom I love the side to side features... all ready uninstalled the stock browser
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
martonikaj said:
From what I understand its up to the developers of websites to differentiate between "Android" which is tablets, and "Android Mobile" which is phones.
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Click to collapse
You are correct, but isn't that a little ridiculous? I mean the other browsers deliver us a desktop experience with no problem. I guess I understand the desire for the browser to be recognized as Android-specific, but relying on websites to change their code ultimately results in a less-than-ideal experience for the user. I don't know what a website's motivation would be to change their code. From their standpoint, I think it would seem like we are expecting them to make changes so that our substandard app will work. The websites will probably catch up, but meanwhile, shouldn't the stock browser be able to bring us as satisfying an experience as a third party app does?
nbowes said:
The websites will probably catch up, but meanwhile, shouldn't the stock browser be able to bring us as satisfying an experience as a third party app does?
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Click to collapse
The websites would never catch up if that was the case. Right now the best way to deal with it is write to page owner that have this problem and complain.
Why not just change the user agent? Am I missing something?
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Magnesus said:
The websites would never catch up if that was the case. Right now the best way to deal with it is write to page owner that have this problem and complain.
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Click to collapse
You make a very good point here. And I guess the sites in question are actually the better sites that redirect a user to alternative content (low-res video or non-Flash pages) based on the browser's signature. Since they already consider that, they may be more likely to respond to user requests and feedback and change their code. Our browser type should begin to show up in their web traffic reports, too. But I think it'll be a slow-going change because in the whole lineup of browsers, we're a minority. Personally, I'll be more apt to open Dolphin to view a page that isn't displaying in desktop mode, long before I would hunt down a webmaster email address and send a note. I'm not even sure exactly what to ask for in the note. If anybody would care to provide a post with some proper terminology, that might help the cause.
ChongoDroid said:
Why not just change the user agent? Am I missing something?
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I understand it, we can select "desktop" as our user agent, but that identifies our browser as "android" which a lot of sites interpret as "android mobile" and redirect us to mobile content anyway. I have also read where some folks can't get the setting to stick through a reboot.
nbowes said:
You make a very good point here. And I guess the sites in question are actually the better sites that redirect a user to alternative content (low-res video or non-Flash pages) based on the browser's signature. Since they already consider that, they may be more likely to respond to user requests and feedback and change their code. Our browser type should begin to show up in their web traffic reports, too. But I think it'll be a slow-going change because in the whole lineup of browsers, we're a minority. Personally, I'll be more apt to open Dolphin to view a page that isn't displaying in desktop mode, long before I would hunt down a webmaster email address and send a note. I'm not even sure exactly what to ask for in the note. If anybody would care to provide a post with some proper terminology, that might help the cause.
As I understand it, we can select "desktop" as our user agent, but that identifies our browser as "android" which a lot of sites interpret as "android mobile" and redirect us to mobile content anyway. I have also read where some folks can't get the setting to stick through a reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Desktop is not android. Android is android just like iPhone emulates an iPhone... about:debug or dolphin browser? Cmon
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
ChongoDroid said:
Desktop is not android. Android is android just like iPhone emulates an iPhone... about:debug or dolphin browser? Cmon
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I select "desktop" in the stock browser, it gives me a very different experience than when I select it in another browser, such as Dolphin. I am under the impression that selecting "android" would tell a website that I am on an android phone, and it would render the mobile version of the site. I don't want that, so I selected "desktop" but still often get directed to mobile versions of sites. I thought I read that the reason for this is that selecting "desktop" identifies the browser as "android"...as opposed to "android mobile." I guess sites aren't coded to recognize "android" as being different than "android mobile" and render the mobile version.
The suggestion has been to notify site owners of the problem and ask them to update their code. I think to do that effectively, I need to fully understand the issue, and I'm sorry but your reply didn't help me with that.
Android user agent is for tablets. Desktop is for desktop. Not many sites are setup to render pages for a tablet that's why you get the mobile version when set to android.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
But...I'm getting mobile versions when I'm set to desktop.
Thank you for your replies. I think Chongo has made a pretty solid case for the Dolphin browser.
Dolphin is one of the best alternative.
I am using the Dolphin Mini on my Nexus S just because of this user-agent issue, plus tabbed browsing, quick bookmarks, etc.
It is not as fast as the stock one, but the speed is still fast enough to enjoy the experience.
I read that Dolphin is still not good enough on Honeycomb. They have updated it, but still choppy.
We can hope that the developers are hard work to bring it up to speed with Honeycomb, better stability, faster with hardware acceleration. Certainly, this will be realized quickly as I read Google developer posted detailed information about hardware acceleration on Honeycomb:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/03/android-30-hardware-acceleration.html
nbowes said:
But...I'm getting mobile versions when I'm set to desktop.
Thank you for your replies. I think Chongo has made a pretty solid case for the Dolphin browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Btw, anyone can really catch the stock browser user agent string?
I am interested to know "exactly", the exact string text, what is the user agent string of the stock browser, default setting and when set to desktop via about:debug.
And also from the Dolphin set to "desktop".
Thanks if you can do this for us.
nbowes said:
But...I'm getting mobile versions when I'm set to desktop.
Thank you for your replies. I think Chongo has made a pretty solid case for the Dolphin browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to type ' about:debug' every time you reboot and in some cases after clearing your browsing history or after the browser stops. In other words, 'about:debug' does not stick. But your settings are remembered, so you won't have to keep changing your user agent, you'll just need to keep typing 'about:debug' in your address bar. The easier way to tell if you're still in debug mode is by clicking the menu icon and seeing if you have expanded options or not.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
gogol said:
Btw, anyone can really catch the stock browser user agent string?
I am interested to know "exactly", the exact string text, what is the user agent string of the stock browser, default setting and when set to desktop via about:debug.
And also from the Dolphin set to "desktop".
Thanks if you can do this for us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://my-addr.com/ua
For me, Safari is listed when in both desktop and android mode. When in android mode, platform shows as unknown.
With Dolphin in desktop mode, the agent is Chrome and the platform is Win7.
I don't have Xoom, so I cannot test that
But, I tested using my Nexus S, and here is the result:
Dolphin in Android mode:
Browser name: Default Browser
Platform: unknown
Operating System: Linux, Smart Move!!!
User Agent: Safari
Dolphin in desktop mode:
Browser branch name: Safari 3.1
Browser name: Safari
Browser version: 3.1
Platform: MacOSX
Operating System: Mac OS X
User Agent: Safari
Stock browser in Android (default) mode:
Browser name: Default Browser
Platform: unknown
Operating System: Linux, Smart Move!!!
User Agent: Safari
Stock browser in desktop mode:
Browser branch name: Safari 5.0
Browser name: Safari
Browser version: 5.0
Platform: MacOSX
Operating System: Mac OS X
User Agent: Safari
They are all using "Safari", no word "Android" mentioned.
nbowes said:
http://my-addr.com/ua
For me, Safari is listed when in both desktop and android mode. When in android mode, platform shows as unknown.
With Dolphin in desktop mode, the agent is Chrome and the platform is Win7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One good thing about being automatically sent to the mobile version of a site?
Gizmodo.com
The mobile site is vanilla and plain but DAMN it's better to look at than that new mess of a website they've put up the last couple of months.
/rant
I think the issue here is why can't the Stock browser settings stick when you change the user agent. Dolphin seems to work perfectly fine after rebooting or after a browser crash. If the Stock browser did the same thing, after changing it to desktop, I don't think anyone would have an issue.
FYI Google addressed why this happens in their Android Blog:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/12/android-browser-user-agent-issues.html
Basically, the browser reports itself as Android, but not Android Mobile (as someone else suggested).
Websites currently sense if you are using Android and assume its a phone (because it always used to be), but now they should key of the word "Mobile" instead.
This does have drawbacks, but from an engineering perspective, it is the "correct" way to do it. Hacking the user agent is bad practice - its important for web admins to know if a lot of tablets are accessing their website, for example, so they can make sure the site works well for them. If Google set it to spoof a windows desktop, web admins would never know how many tablets were being used, and may be serving their users with a less than optimal page for tablets without realizing it.
So it will take some time for web admins to fix their sites, but unfortunately, this is the right way to do it. It would be great though if the about:debug settings were sticky. It might be bad practice for Google to design the tablet to spoof the user agent, but its fine if an individual user decides to.
-Taylor
It seems like the best option is to complain to webmasters who do not allow the option of leaving mobile mode on their sites.
If the option to view either mobile or full site is given then there is no need to spoof the user agent and the device would be properly tracked by whatever software the host is using. We need to complain more to the web admins if we will ever see the compatability that the ipad users currently have when browsing the web. At the same time the web admins need to know that enough of our devices are out there before they will see a need to create an alternative browsing experience. This is why I am against changing the user agent.
Edit: Perhaps Google had the same thought in mind and this is the reason the user agent setting does not hold after a reboot.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA Premium App
So, with it's desktop sized resolution, how can we set our browser to display "desktop" pages instead of "mobile" pages?
Donaldjbennett said:
So, with it's desktop sized resolution, how can we set our browser to display "desktop" pages instead of "mobile" pages?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Type in browser address bar 'about:useragent'
It won't stick after reboot probably, we need a browser tweak for that I think.
The about useragent is short lived...have to do it each time you powerip again.
Samsung is idiotic for not offering desktop options with screens like this.
Best options? ...third party browsers.
Two best (ie:fastest) with desktop options?
#1 boat browser mini FASTer than stock.
#2 Opera Mobile..
both have desktop settings and displays.
Faster than dolphin or Miren.
Wondering what the best browser is to closely mimic the desktop browsing experience, flash, etc on my N7. I love chrome and all its syncing features and seamless connection with my desktop, but the lack of desktop agent is killer.
thirtynation said:
Wondering what the best browser is to closely mimic the desktop browsing experience, flash, etc on my N7. I love chrome and all its syncing features and seamless connection with my desktop, but the lack of desktop agent is killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me chrome integrates the experience. For the first time I now use browser sync ! Out of curiosity are there any priority tasks you require flash for or jspust general browsing? Coming from Linux I am glad to see flash not included, after years of 100% CPU video playback and unusable webapps. I look forward to what the latest android / web APIs make possible.
You can push flash onto the device and use it with the aosp browser, Firefox, opera? Etc iirc
thirtynation said:
Wondering what the best browser is to closely mimic the desktop browsing experience, flash, etc on my N7. I love chrome and all its syncing features and seamless connection with my desktop, but the lack of desktop agent is killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lack of desktop agent!?!?! There is an option in the one and only settings menu to "request desktop site".
I like the Firefox beta.It works well with flash.If you install the "phoney" add on you can make websites think you are on a desktop or other device and get around some of the things they don't have updated apps for.It is the only way I could find to get hbogo and maxgo to work with the tablet.
http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2012/06/flash-player-and-android-update.html
Beginning Aug 15 adobe is phasing out flash from play store.
Expect your favourite sites to cater to the needs of the masses!
Lots of development for Chrome on WP8. Shame it's not actually from Google itself but I'm cool with Chromium or some like ported to it.
Reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/windowsphone/comments/15wcxn/chrome_for_windows_phone_project/
Pocket PC:
http://www.1800pocketpc.com/chromeconcept/34410/
to try and clone the Google Chrome browser over IE's interface
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Click to collapse
No, thanks
I've used chrome on my PC and I can honestly say that it sucks.
Chrome is best browser ever. Firefox sucks, about IE i don't want to hear.
IE, Firefox and Opera the best browsers, CHROME SUXX
robdevil said:
Chrome is best browser ever. Firefox sucks, about IE i don't want to hear.
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Click to collapse
Ok dude...chrome is the best now tryIE10, FF or Opera and be amazed
robdevil said:
Chrome is best browser ever. Firefox sucks, about IE i don't want to hear.
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Click to collapse
In Windows 8 Chrome sucks , IE rocks :laugh:
i really like to see IE Team open more to the developers, ABP team showed interest to make it available on IE, but they said it is deep locked.
While i am not saying that Tracker Protection from IE sucks, but it doesn't do a great job like what ABP can do for both Firefox and Chrome. One of them is the ability to block and skip YouTube short 30 sec Apps on any video that are enabled with ads. (while using HTML5 in trial mode can do pretty much the same thing, but not all videos on YouTube are able to be viewed under HTML5 mode)
And , being able to customize the browser to the way you want with persona or theme is a neat idea, even the bookmark bar on IE always show silver and it doesn't match the Windows Color Theme.
There are some features that i do miss from others browser as well on IE, one of them is the ability to drag and drop anything to the tab bar and the Browser will automatically open a new tab for you. (There are a lot of webpage doesn't format other website link under hyperlink).
I am just a little nitpicking about the visual of the browser, i don't doubt the performance of IE10 at all.