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Is there a way to make the browser look like a PC not a mobile device. I would like it to open web sites as a full page not the mobile version.
xlch59 said:
Is there a way to make the browser look like a PC not a mobile device. I would like it to open web sites as a full page not the mobile version.
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Open the browser and enter the following in the address/search bar: about:debug then enter. Nothing will change with the current page but now go to settings. You will see a Debug menu. Select that then tap "uastring" and choose "Desktop".
type in about:debug znd hit enter.
Go into your settings, select debug and change the UAsfring setting to desktop
The about:debug does work, but my Xoom looses that setting after opening the browser a few times. Anyone know of a way to make it permanent?
What I am noticing is that the setting it keeping, but it is like the sites are saying "Oh, you think you are a 'Desktop' but I know better you clever XOOM" Bam! Mobile site.
Argh...
Anyway, each time I see this I go back into the debug settings and sure enough it is still set to 'Desktop.' I try the site again, and I get redirected to the mobile version.
-Loc
not sure if its the same because I haven't done this on my xoom, but on my droidx, when I change the uastring after a while it goes back to mobile (a couple don't because of cookies) but if I do about:debug and go look at the uastring it still says desktop but its really lying to you because it isn't and I have to reselect it or select android then reselect desktop. I hate how it does this, looks like it kept the setting but it really didn't.
When the UAString is set to "Desktop", the device uses the following useragent:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16
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Click to collapse
Why is it trying to emulate Safari? Just a little stab at Apple? Wouldn't it make more sense to have it emulate Chrome or Firefox?
And if any devs are out there, could someone PLEASE give us an option to set our useragent manually? It's frustrating to have sites think they can go around restricting content to mobile devices.
Locarian said:
What I am noticing is that the setting it keeping, but it is like the sites are saying "Oh, you think you are a 'Desktop' but I know better you clever XOOM" Bam! Mobile site.
Argh...
Anyway, each time I see this I go back into the debug settings and sure enough it is still set to 'Desktop.' I try the site again, and I get redirected to the mobile version.
-Loc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Miñe is doing this also. I went to pcmag.com and did the whole debug thing and it still says desktop but is still giving me the mobile site. Ugh!
I set about:debug as a bookmark to make my life a little bit easier until this is resolved.
You can also use a different browser like dolphin. Am i the only person that has not run into this problem? I'm using the stock browser and all my sites load as desktop, even facebook (seen someone comment on that site).
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
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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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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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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
Call it a flaw or a design feature, but at this time Google, in Gingerbread, has not given us a robust way to confidently browse in Full site desktop mode as they did with the Mobile View settings option in earlier versions of Android. You can root your device and permanently alter the User Agent string, but if you don't want to root you are left with the about:debug work around but that solution has flaws.
It requires the user to put the browser into debug mode.
It does not survive a browser restart.
Now there is some debate as to whether the browser restart issue is a design feature or a bug, but getting into these types of debates is like trying to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Until a permanent solution is found, there is another option. Use HTML switches to force the browser into full screen mode.
Most web sights that are aware of and serve platform specific content to mobile devices have a switch that can be used in the address to force a desktop presentation. Often this is not publicized or even visible through any direct link, but with a little digging you can work it out.
My web surfing patterns are not complex. Except the occasional random browsing, I seem to visit the same pages day after day. The trick is to find the switch required to force those mobile aware web sights to always serve you a desktop version.
I have 45 bookmarks set on my Xoom I only have problems with 10 of them, and have found solutions to 8. The holdouts are CNETTV and Chase
Starting in post #2 are the switches I have found that work for the sights I visit. I will continue to add to this list as I find others, or as others are provided to the thread in user posts. You'll find most web sights are not built from scratch from either native HTML, JAVA, VC++, C#, or asp, but are built from publishing packages like VBulletin which have common code conventions. As I find conventions that work, I use trial and error on a new problematic sight until I have found the right switch for that site.
Look at what has worked below and try to find others and share. . . . Happy Hunting.
P.S. if you're curious to what user agent string is being sent go to WhatsMyUserAgent. Here are the User Agent (UAString) returns reported by WhatsMyUserAgent on the Xoom by manipulation of the UAString selection within the Debug applet. Is "applet" what you call it in Android?
User Agent (UAString) when the browser is first loaded into memory:
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 3.0.1; en-us; Xoom Build/HRI66) AppleWebKit/534.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/534.13
Android selected as the User Agent (UAString):
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 3.0.1; en-us; Xoom Build/HRI66) AppleWebKit/534.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/534.13
Desktop selected as the User Agent (UAString):
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_6_3; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.16 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.16
iPhone selected as the User Agent (UAString):
Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7
iPad selected as the User Agent (UAString):
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/7B367 Safari/531.21.10
Froyo-N1 selected as the User Agent (UAString):
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; Nexus One Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1
Google
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&output=html&nomo=1
Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/?desktop_view_default=true
Engadget
http://www.engadget.com/?m=false
Pocket Now
http://pocketnow.com/?mode=desktop
CNET
http://www.cnet.com/?qwr=FullSite
Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com/?unmobile=true
Wells Fargo Bank
https://www.wellsfargo.com/?fullsite=mba
Bank of America
https://www.bankofamerica.com/homepage/overview.go?MobileRedirect=false
Accursed Farms
http://www.accursedfarms.com/?m=false
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/?force-full-site=1
Motorcyclist Magazine
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/index.html?fullsite=true
Best Buy
http://www.bestbuy.com/?redirect=no
CBS
http://www.cbs.com/?nm=true
IMDB
www.imdb.com/?mode=desktop
RESERVED for future expansion
Thanks for the information! This, whether a design flaw, or a bug, is most definitely annoying. Hopefully there will be a permanent fix shortly.
There are a few permanent options if you have root. The simplest is to just change the default User Agent string in framework-res.apk, which is what I did.
sangreal06 said:
There are a few permanent options if you have root. The simplest is to just change the default User Agent string in framework-res.apk, which is what I did.
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Click to collapse
Could you please post how you did this?
Interesting ... How did you do it?
Please if you can explain in detail
sangreal06 said:
There are a few permanent options if you have root. The simplest is to just change the default User Agent string in framework-res.apk, which is what I did.
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Click to collapse
Instien said:
Thanks for the information! This, whether a design flaw, or a bug, is most definitely annoying. Hopefully there will be a permanent fix shortly.
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Click to collapse
There is nothing to fix, the UA string correctly says 'Android' in it. Its the fault of web designers assuming all android devices are phones.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Bauxite said:
There is nothing to fix, the UA string correctly says 'Android' in it. Its the fault of web designers assuming all android devices are phones.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
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So the fix is to start contacting web sites and pointing to Google's UA information in hopes that this is fixed server side. Does anyone have a link to UA definitions to be forwarded with the request? Or is this something that Google really needs to get out?
The Dolphin HD 4.5 browser lets you set various 'User Agent' types. I've had it crash at times, the icons/buttons are not 'optimized' for a tablet, but for the most part I'm happy with it...and I'm not rooted
Gorgonesh said:
So the fix is to start contacting web sites and pointing to Google's UA information in hopes that this is fixed server side. Does anyone have a link to UA definitions to be forwarded with the request? Or is this something that Google really needs to get out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12391549&postcount=23
--that's a suggested Email to send to website owners asking them to adjust their code to recognize "android" as a tablet capable of a desktop experience rather than relegating it to a mobile experience.
Also, for the OP:
Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/?desktop_view_default=true
I think your idea of using these HTML directs is a good one, because that allows us to leave our browser agent settings intact--important because web owners need to see the increased number of Android tablets accessing their site in their traffic reports before they will feel motivated to accommodate them. If we are spoofing other browsers, the true nature of our devices won't be well represented in the traffic reports.
Bauxite said:
There is nothing to fix, the UA string correctly says 'Android' in it. Its the fault of web designers assuming all android devices are phones.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it is not that they are assuming all Android are mobile. It's that they are assuming all Android phones are Mobile Safari instead of parsing the entire User Agent string. See the extractions in post 1. When we select 'Desktop' we are spoofing User Agent to report us as a Mac desktop. In Android 1.6 to 2.2 this spoofing could be made permanent by de-selecting 'Mobile View' in the browser settings.
Thanks for the information. I was getting to return my xoom because of this.
I started doing this (the OP's suggestion) a while back. Some sites are more difficult than others, but I've found the correct settings for the sites I frequent on the Xoom. Like the OP, my web browsing is fairly predictable, so it hasn't been a huge issue for me.
Here's another one:
IMDB
www.imdb.com/?mode=desktop
I was just gonna say... why not use Dolphin HD ...
MitchRapp said:
I was just gonna say... why not use Dolphin HD ...
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Click to collapse
Dolphin is an option, and it doesn't have the User Agent issue. I'm experimenting with Dolphin HD now and things look promising. The last time I tried Dolphin, about a month ago, it crashed constantly. I researched it today and found that in the last few weeks they have done several updates specifically to address the stability of the browser on the Xoom. It looks like they may have made good progress.
None the less the option presented by this thread is option to those who choose to continue with the stock Android browser.
I use firefox for sites with that issue. It has an add on, Phony, that allows you to change the user agent in the browser settings. Flash seems to be hit or miss though.
Sent from my Evo running myn's masterpiece
I use Skyfire, which has the toggle button at the top to easily switch between desktop and mobile view.
Just use Dolphin mini..it never force closes on me.You can set it to desktop too
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
From Motorola's web support:
Change default settings to view full web sites instead of mobile view
•In the browser address bar type "about:debug" without quotes.
•Click the browser's settings button in the upper right.
•Click settings.
•Click Debug.
•Click UAString and select Desktop, then back out to the browser.
Sites that you visit will now think you are a desktop. Change it back to Android for the normal experience.
Is there a way around this? A lot of times I'll click a link and get taken to a mobile version of that site
I have the Wifi only model and browsing on the Xoom on my home wifi this still happens.
mikejet said:
Is there a way around this? A lot of times I'll click a link and get taken to a mobile version of that site
I have the Wifi only model and browsing on the Xoom on my home wifi this still happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into the browser and type about:debug in the url press enter and then go to the settings and it should bring up a debug menu at the very end of the list. go to UA String and change it from android to desktop. should solve the problem.
znfrazier said:
Go into the browser and type about:debug in the url press enter and then go to the settings and it should bring up a debug menu at the very end of the list. go to UA String and change it from android to desktop. should solve the problem.
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Click to collapse
This solves the problem until the browser is closed. Next time the app is loaded, it is loaded back into a mobile mode.
Something people need to realize is that the browser UA String for Tablets is "Android" and Phone is "Android Mobile".
Most websites who do detection are probably only looking for either the word "Android" or "Mobile" to redirect. You will have to give websites time to adjust for the change. Send an email to the site admin.
Also, there is a hack in the development threads to solve this permanently, by broadcasting UAString as Mozilla(if I remember right) , Which could cause issues for websites that detect Mozilla to fix certain bugs, the work around that they may being using could potentially not work on android or cause a problem with viewing.
There won't be a perfect solution, all browsers are different, and you just have to hope that the website is updated, or trick it into thinking you are a desktop - which works most of the time.
Kcarpenter said:
This solves the problem until the browser is closed. Next time the app is loaded, it is loaded back into a mobile mode.
Something people need to realize is that the browser UA String for Tablets is "Android" and Phone is "Android Mobile".
Most websites who do detection are probably only looking for either the word "Android" or "Mobile" to redirect. You will have to give websites time to adjust for the change. Send an email to the site admin.
Also, there is a hack in the development threads to solve this permanently, by broadcasting UAString as Mozilla(if I remember right) , Which could cause issues for websites that detect Mozilla to fix certain bugs, the work around that they may being using could potentially not work on android or cause a problem with viewing.
There won't be a perfect solution, all browsers are different, and you just have to hope that the website is updated, or trick it into thinking you are a desktop - which works most of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't it make more sense to identify itself as "Chrome"?
Kcarpenter said:
This solves the problem until the browser is closed. Next time the app is loaded, it is loaded back into a mobile mode.
Something people need to realize is that the browser UA String for Tablets is "Android" and Phone is "Android Mobile".
Most websites who do detection are probably only looking for either the word "Android" or "Mobile" to redirect. You will have to give websites time to adjust for the change. Send an email to the site admin.
Also, there is a hack in the development threads to solve this permanently, by broadcasting UAString as Mozilla(if I remember right) , Which could cause issues for websites that detect Mozilla to fix certain bugs, the work around that they may being using could potentially not work on android or cause a problem with viewing.
There won't be a perfect solution, all browsers are different, and you just have to hope that the website is updated, or trick it into thinking you are a desktop - which works most of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive haven't had to change it after the app closes out. it stays the same and it has fixed the mobile problem. I never have a mobile site pop up on my xoom since i've had it.
RayKinStL said:
Wouldn't it make more sense to identify itself as "Chrome"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, webkit is webkit. Chrome is webkit, safari is webkit, mozilla is webkit, and Android is webkit - however, each browser has its own changes for the way they want to handle things (Gotta love standards).
Mozilla is probably next to IE the most used browser, so it would make a little more sense to broadcast as it instead of Chrome. Chrome may actually be broadcasting still as Mozilla(it was at one time) or generic webkit, i can't remember.
This stuff changes monthly. And Android =\= Chrome its close, but not. From a web developers stand point there are several things that Android's browser cannot do that Chrome can (eg: 'Overflow:' )
isnt there a way to perma change the UA if your rooted?
HERE is the post about changing UAString for rooted users
along with some other goodies. Not sure if it works on Wifi Only yet - somewhere down there they where talking about it.
Code:
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Intel Mac OSX 10_6_3; 3.0.1; en-us; Xoom Build/HR166) AppleWebKit/534.13 (KHTML, Like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/534.13
Like i said, it Identifies as Mozilla - should work 92% of the time.
thanks for that. I MAY try it later.
I'll try the debug method when I get home. I haven't decided if I will root or not yet
Kcarpenter said:
HERE is the post about changing UAString for rooted users
along with some other goodies. Not sure if it works on Wifi Only yet - somewhere down there they where talking about it.
Code:
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Intel Mac OSX 10_6_3; 3.0.1; en-us; Xoom Build/HR166) AppleWebKit/534.13 (KHTML, Like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/534.13
Like i said, it Identifies as Mozilla - should work 92% of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI, all WebKit browsers identify as Mozilla, including the default mobile UA String. The string I used was just taken from the 'Desktop' setting. It is actually emulating Safari, not Mozilla. You are right though, that changing your user agent can result in unexpected behavior.
I think even IE still says Mozilla from the Netscape days
sangreal06 said:
FYI, all WebKit browsers identify as Mozilla, including the default mobile UA String. The string I used was just taken from the 'Desktop' setting. It is actually emulating Safari, not Mozilla. You are right though, that changing your user agent can result in unexpected behavior.
I think even IE still says Mozilla from the Netscape days
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are correct.
yea..... about:debug does nothing for me
monkeefied said:
yea..... about:debug does nothing for me
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Click to collapse
about:debug does not display anything. You need to go into the settings menu to see the debug options.
monkeefied said:
yea..... about:debug does nothing for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to settings then under "debug" you'll see the menu. when you put 'about:debug' in the bar and hit enter, nothing will happen.
Kcarpenter said:
HERE is the post about changing UAString for rooted users
along with some other goodies. Not sure if it works on Wifi Only yet - somewhere down there they where talking about it.
Code:
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Intel Mac OSX 10_6_3; 3.0.1; en-us; Xoom Build/HR166) AppleWebKit/534.13 (KHTML, Like Gecko) Version/4.0 Safari/534.13
Like i said, it Identifies as Mozilla - should work 92% of the time.
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Wouldnt push this to a wifi Xoom. You will boot loop since it is made for a 3G model. Framework-res cannot be swapped between the two models. :/
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
It worked, kind of. Maybe 70% of the sites are fine but some still recognize as mobile.
Also, once I logged into youtube with my account it switched to the mobile version of the site for some reason.
i used Skyfire browser on here for a bit.
One feature I loved was that they had that dedicated button that changes mobile to desktop and vice versa.
wow i can't believe people still wasting time with stock browser..typing about:debug...just get Dolphin mini go to settings & set it to desktop then you're done for good lol...& furthermore it works better than Dolphin Hd
Ok, I have read literally hundreds of posts concerning desktop vs mobile mode in the browser. I have tried several browsers, and have switched them all into desktop mode via the settings. But, none, including the stock browser and Dolphin seem to work as promised. So, I have several questions:
1. What is it that allows a website to recognize an android phone or tablet and an
ipod touch as a mobile device?
2. Is there any way to permanently change "whatever" so that all websites
recognize my tablet and ipod touch as a desktop?
I'm using opera mobile and all pages works fine on desktop mode
xamilek555 said:
I'm using opera mobile and all pages works fine on desktop mode
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I tried one version of Opera last week and had no luck. Today, I downloaded Opera Mobile as you suggested and it worked just fine. Thanks for the suggestion.
But, the still should be a permanent fix for all Browsers. And, I would still like to know how a website recognizes a mobile device.
I believe they check the OS, not the browser, then redirect accordingly.
Running Honney Vil and stock browser and not seeing that problem, so probably does check the os, don't really know.
This is all based on what your browser "broadcasts" to the web server. I remember way back in the day, some custom ROMs had an option in the settings menu, even on the native browser, to set your browser type to one of many options, including "Android OS", "BlackBerry", "IE", "FireFox" etc... Most web sites are the ones in control of which page to display to you based on what browser it detects hitting the page. Below is an example of one of my web site's access log
Code:
[IP Masked} - - [24/Aug/2011:14:55:57 -0400] "GET /forums/viewtopic.php?p=28441 HTTP/1.1" 200 11347 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Baiduspider/2.0; +http://www.baidu.com/search/spider.html)"
[IP Masked] - - [24/Aug/2011:14:56:09 -0400] "POST /forums/posting.php?mode=reply&f=11&t=2900 HTTP/1.1" 200 3144 "http://[URL Masked]/forums/posting.php?mode=reply&f=11&t=2900" "Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.3; en-us; DROID X2 Build/4.5.1A-DTN-117-15) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1"
It's from those logs where it says things like "Android 2.3.3" that tells a server which site to load. Unfortunately, most developers have hard coded anything as "Android" to be shown the mobile browser. Other browsers, like Dolphin and Opera, are either broadcasting a different type of browser, or give the option to.
I have the settings in the stock browser set to viewing mode:desktop (under the advanced tab of the browser settings) and have not come accross any pages that get redirected to mobile. I'm running stock 3.1
Right, you send USER_AGENT info when you connect to a site and based on that - typically what the OS is - the site can redirect.
With 3.0.1 you had to type about:debug in the browser to get the debug menu in settings and there you could change the user agent string. In 3.1 we have that in the advanced menu but I still prefer the old way;-). Don't forget to clear the cache after you do that because the browser might have cached the redirect to the mobile site.
Thanks for all the info. I have the stock browser, Dolphin and Opera Mobile. I have the user agent configured to Desktop in all 3 browsers. All 3 work on most, but not all sites. Only Opera works on all sites that I have tried. It is very disconcerting for sure as I really prefer the stock browser.
jostarr said:
Thanks for all the info. I have the stock browser, Dolphin and Opera Mobile. I have the user agent configured to Desktop in all 3 browsers. All 3 work on most, but not all sites. Only Opera works on all sites that I have tried. It is very disconcerting for sure as I really prefer the stock browser.
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Click to collapse
Well, then it goes back to what I posted about the web sites themselves properly delivering the right site based on the user agent (thanks for reminding me of the name user agent gammaRascal!). The web designer has to write code to account for all the various user agents.
There are some other differences too. Try this website in the stock browser,
dolphin and Opera: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy
With the stock browser, the standings right below the picture on the left, is not complete.
with Dolphin, all looks like as on my PC.
with Opera, the page does not fit the screen.