Hi all,
Only had my Transformer Prime for a few days and still getting to grips with it. It's been awesome so far, with just a couple of niggles! It came with ICS pre-installed which was interesting as I've never used an ICS device before. I have had a couple of issues with poor wifi but from browsing the forums here I can see its a bit of an issue...
The biggest problem I have had so far is Flash. I bought the Prime for my wife mostly and she likes playing the Flash games on Facebook. It took me a while to get a browser to actually play the flash games and annoyingly all the browsers still show the mobile site so I had to redirect to www.facebook.com and not m.facebook.com. Chrome said no plugin was available to play this file type, Opera Mini showed the flash content upside down and mirrored... I cant actually remember which browser is on at the moment but it was the only one that would play the games.
The problem is that the game is really slow and basically just plays like an animation and doesn't detect presses/clicks.
Is there a better browser that will play the games or is it a hardware limitation of the tablet that the flash games are just too much?
Thanks
Dolphin HD is a great web browser and allows you the option to permanently place the browser in 'desktop' mode so no mobile sites. I've played Facebook flash games using it. It works. Its not as fast as it should be but the games work fine.
I really like Chrome but Chrome seems to load most sites in mobile mode which I hate. I don't even like to use mobile mode on my GNex. I don't get it. Most phones these days and especially tablets are powerful enough and fast enough to render full HTML. Its stupid were forced to view mobile sites.
At any rate, give Dolphin HD a shot!
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-6
opera mobile for me performs the best when it comes to flash.
I had forgot about Dolphin! That was my fave browser on my Optimus 3D until Three took exception to it and accused me of tethering!
I will give it a try.
Thanks all.
Give "ICS Browser +" a try, i find it to be the best performance and i used to use dolphin all the time.
However i think youll remain disapointed by flash in any browser, they all have a lag effect and never run as they should in a normal browser.
P.S. Remember to set the user agent to Desktop and make all plugins run automaticaly.
Danny-B- said:
Give "ICS Browser +" a try, i find it to be the best performance and i used to use dolphin all the time.
However i think youll remain disapointed by flash in any browser, they all have a lag effect and never run as they should in a normal browser.
P.S. Remember to set the user agent to Desktop and make all plugins run automaticaly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
stock browser performs much better than chrome on the prime (on my htc sensation i prefer Chrome because of the tabs)
I'm constantly switching. I was using Chrome when it first came out - somehow flash in it would work for me but i had to press the screen twice, one to load the "picture" and then once again to load the flash. It no longer works now.
I use ICS Browser + and Opera Mobile, exclusively. Opera more so. It hasn't crashed once, very very stable, and I love being able to open 25+ windows in the background and navigate from each to read the stories or forums from them. When something doesn't load properly (rare) i pop out ICS Browser + or stock browser. I was using dolphin back in the day but it was really lagging when scrolling down quickly. For me it's Opera = used it a few times before but since their new update - extremely stable!!!!
I find ICS Browser + to be the smoothest.
Don't forget to change to performance mode in settings.
You say you have tried opera mini. Have you tried opera mobile instead? Best browser i've come across so far for that sort of content.
Related
Is there a better browser for the Vegan 5.1 release? The Facebook website in particular has a problem with the bottom-docked chat bar scroll up the screen and getting in the way of games and posts.
Thanks!
Jim
I have seen the problem your talking about on Facebook. I haven't used any other browsers on it besides the default, an old version of fennec and the crashy veiwsonic one. When I get back home ill check out how fennec does on Facebook. I know dolphins a popular browser but I've never tried it. Does anyone know how it does on the gtab?
Decided to use my precious limited data on my Htc Aria, Xda app
I've been really happy with Dolphin HD on Vegan 5.1. The up and down gesture controls are pretty helpful.
There is also skyfire and xscope
Okay, I installed Dolphin on my Gtablet. It seems like a nice browser and a little more adapt for tablets than the regular android browser in froyo. It still dosnt seem to be better with the facebook chat bar. To tell you the truth I wasnt expecting the bar to work at all in any browser in android when i fist got my gtab. Im hoping for better browsers soon. If you take a look at the demo of the moto Xoom, It looks like they might have put chrome in honeycomb, if so it would be much better than any browser for android right now.
They are all sorta lacking
Skyfire has a nice feature in being able to easily switch between mobile and desktop rendering of a web page. I find their little toolbar at the bottom of the screen that lets you integrate with Facebook to be annoying and there's no way to turn it off. The tabbed browsing isn't very friendly. You have to access it from a button on the control bar which opens another screen to select the tab. I never did figure out how to close a tab. It is pretty speedy. It's the only one I tested that isn't compatible with my Netvibes homepage--I don't know why, so I don't know what other sites might trip it up.
For me, Xscope was noticeably slower than the others in rendering pages. It's tabbed browsing works well, more like a computer browser's would. This one seemed to be the best at keeping flash-based items framed where they are supposed to be in relation to the rest of the webpage. (The facebook chat bar still rides up on this one...it rides up on all of them.) I don't like the fact that you cannot save webpages/bookmarks as shortcuts on the device's desktop with this browser.
No reason to talk about Opera Mobile.
I am using Dolphin. The tabs are best of the bunch. Swipe right and the bookmarks show. You can save bookmarks as shortcuts on the desktop. It's not quite as fast as Skyfire, but faster than Xscope. It does get to acting flaky sometimes--like trying to enter a term into the search field on the XDA site here. I've had it shut down a few times. To me, this ones features and usability set it apart from the others.
I mainly use Dolphin HD but have also installed Dolphin Mini and I really like it on the Gtab.
There's also a newer browser named Miren Browser. Check the market for it. It supports full flash and has tab browsing. Pretty neat.
Scott
Miren and Dolphin HD are my "go to" browsers on this.
Miren just "looks" nicer for some reason then Dolphin HD. I tend to use Miren more for aesthetic purposes.
Either browser sometimes gives me download errors when I try to download. Once in a while (more often then not) I get the following error when trying to download: "Can't download as file size is unknown" and then it just quits.
Any one have any ideas how to fix that?
I'm also for Dolphin HD. Lately it's been FC-ing on me, but I'm not blaming Dolphin itself (I'll be repartitioning today).
Dolphin Mini, seems to be geared more towards the g-tab. I've tried several of the others and mini works best for me.
I just put vegan on my gtab but many of the applications wont show up on the market and when i find them via browser it says they are not compatable with my device ie launcher pro and any of the dolphin browsers. I love HD on my droidx and would love to have in on my gtab aswell
riverfenix729 said:
I just put vegan on my gtab but many of the applications wont show up on the market and when i find them via browser it says they are not compatable with my device ie launcher pro and any of the dolphin browsers. I love HD on my droidx and would love to have in on my gtab aswell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All u have to do is look at the sticky that says READ HERE FIRST. its got a market fix that will let u access everything
Via TT
take a look at firefox. Was using Dolphin, but this is much faster.
I have been using dolphin browser hd. It has been working well on my g-tab
Swyped from my St0n3d VEGAn 1.0 Beta 5.1.1 G-Tab
On the G-Tab I have tried most of the browsers.
Dolphin HD is my favorite so far. I am really looking forward to their public beta of the tablet optimized version.
Skyfire is fast, but I HATE that bottom bar.
Firefox 4 is out for Android, but the website graphics are bad compared to others. Some type of optimizing I am guessing. Despite that it is still slow.
I need to try Miren. I have not had a chance yet.
Being a tablet as opposed to a phone I would love for them to just release full Chrome on it.
Dolphin HD has some nice features, but it seems to present a condensed version of my favorite daily newspapers. I've tried typing in the full url, but it changes it and won't seem to present the normal view, that the stock Vegan browser presents. (An example, AZcentral.com.) Anyone know of a fix. Meantime I will try Miren. Can't get firefox to download to my Viewsonic, as Google does not recognize it as a android device. (I heard that going back to stock rom will fix that??)
jeffhvt said:
Dolphin HD has some nice features, but it seems to present a condensed version of my favorite daily newspapers. I've tried typing in the full url, but it changes it and won't seem to present the normal view, that the stock Vegan browser presents. (An example, AZcentral.com.) Anyone know of a fix. Meantime I will try Miren. Can't get firefox to download to my Viewsonic, as Google does not recognize it as a android device. (I heard that going back to stock rom will fix that??)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's probably on the newspaper's web site, reacting to the fact that it is a mobile browser. Go in to the Dolphin settings and change the user agent to Desktop, and see if that helps.
I know about sky fire, fire fox, dolphin. But honestly it doesn't seem like any of these are a better alternative to the stock web browser. Dolphins ability to view desktop pages is cool though. Can anyone recommend a browser that is actually all around better than stock or does such a thing exist?
XScope is not bad. I use DolphinHD myself.
http://androidandme.com/2010/04/app...-the-fastest-alternative-browser-for-android/
I like Miren Browser the best out of all I have tried. It's a very simple UI with tabbed browsing, and I find it to be the fastest of the browsers I have used (I'm sure many people would disagree with this, but on my phone this is what I've found). Hope this helps!
xscope and miren are the best. xscope is due for another major update.....cant wait.
My vote is going to have to go with Miren as well. I have been using it for the past week and a half and i have to say, it's slightly faster, and it fits well with my blue theme. Simple UI, advanced features when I need it, all around solid browser. Dolphin HD seemed a little slow for me all the time, but then again, other people may have diff experiences.
To me it's a toss-up between Dolphin HD 4 and Miren. Both are fast and feature packed. Dolphin mini was ok but lacked add-ons that I use with HD.
Opera Mobile 10 seems to work best for download sites such as filesonic, etc. but is a little slower and usually re-directs you to mobile websites even when setting the 'Mobile View' option off.
Xscope 6.x seemed to be the most feature-packed and perhaps the most bloated. It was considerably slower in loading AND rendering pages than all the other I've used.
Don't even waste your time with Firefox - it's the slowest of them all and has a lot more development to go before it can be a usable browser on android.
Skyfire is different than the above because it uses proxy servers to render content so it appears faster because of this and also has video capabilities. Since it doesn't connect to websites directly and instead uses proxies you may experience slow connections or no connections (happened to me a few times). The main advantage is you can view flash video content from sites like CNN.COM and ESPN.COM. If you are running Android 2.2 or higher you can view flash content directly and therefore Skyfire it not really needed.
Opera Mini works similar to Skyfire in that it uses proxy servers to view websites but doesn't have video capabilities (last time I checked).
I don't really like browsers that use proxies (UCWEB is another), I want a direct connection to websites just like on my PC.
I haven't really found the 'perfect android browser' since I sometimes I find a site that works better with one browser than the other which is why I keep Dolphin HD, Miren and Opera Mobile. I guess my main browser would have to be Dolphin HD.
gorealmighty said:
I know about sky fire, fire fox, dolphin. But honestly it doesn't seem like any of these are a better alternative to the stock web browser. Dolphins ability to view desktop pages is cool though. Can anyone recommend a browser that is actually all around better than stock or does such a thing exist?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dolphin mini is my favorite. its about the same speed for me on the vibrant but on my girls mt3g slide it is super fast. dolphin mini not dolphin hd
Opera mobile is my fav. Reminds me of Firefox for desktop.
My second is Firefox mobile.it jusy doesn't seem as fast as Opera IMO.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I have a little problem. I love the opera mobile browser....but each time when I am browsing and decided to switch to another application on my vibrant, for e.g messages, yahoo messenger e.t.c. when I try returning back to opera mobile to continue from where I stopped using the task manager it just open opera mobile afresh with all the tabs I was reading gone. does any one know the solution to this?
xScope is fast but the UI is hideous. (no offence but I really hate the UI).
I was using Dolphin Mini for a very long time, it's lighter and faster than HD. I've just switched to Opera Web recently but I haven't decided if I want to keep it yet.
belushi7 said:
I have a little problem. I love the opera mobile browser....but each time when I am browsing and decided to switch to another application on my vibrant, for e.g messages, yahoo messenger e.t.c. when I try returning back to opera mobile to continue from where I stopped using the task manager it just open opera mobile afresh with all the tabs I was reading gone. does any one know the solution to this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using any task killer? If you are, stop using it.
If programs still get killed too fast, get minfree memory manager, set it to a value that gives you more room for apps running at the same time.
Maxthon was posted in the main android dev forum on here a couple weeks ago. I have been using it some and like it so far.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
I use Dolphin HD and love it. As a LastPass user, it has the built in browser plugin that is essential for me.
Try the Miren browser, it's nice, can do flash just like the stock google browser, and home pages when opened up.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Dolphin Mini
+1
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I've had my DX2 (rooted) for about a week now. Since rooting, I've gotten improvements in many of the oft-mentioned areas except for web browsing. Seems when I launch the default browser, it is slow to load the homepage (Google Search). If typing in a url, it seems equally as slow to resolve to the target page. Is anyone else experiencing these issues and is replacing the browser the eventual solve? I haven't yet tried FF or Dolphin, but would be willing to do so if that will speed things up. Or if there are other tweaks/tunes that will help, I'm open to trying them as well. Thanks so much in advance!
The stock browser for me was really laggy. I always use Dolphin HD, especially since it is the main browser I use on my Asus TF..Try it, or even Miren Browser, it's kinda fast too.
I don't like Firefox on my phone (or my laptop that much). It is always laggy and freezes on me.
AdFree Android + Plugins on Demand = win
SwiftLegend said:
The stock browser for me was really laggy. I always use Dolphin HD, especially since it is the main browser I use on my Asus TF..Try it, or even Miren Browser, it's kinda fast too.
I don't like Firefox on my phone (or my laptop that much). It is always laggy and freezes on me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will give that a try this evening and report back on the results!
Hey,
So.. I just recently got my hands on the prime and was trying out different browsers.
I've just found out that Maxthon created a tablet version browser and was fairly impressed with it however, I'm experiencing issues with sites that plays videos, e.g. desktop youtube site, it causes issues when you try to fullscreen the video and the connection of the browser just completely cuts off.
Either than that, everything works great and beautifully to I must say. A definite much more attractive and in someways, faster UI and browser in my opinion.
What are your opinions? and if your experiencing the same issue as me, are there any fix available to get around this issue?
Cheers!
briian_ said:
Hey,
So.. I just recently got my hands on the prime and was trying out different browsers.
I've just found out that Maxthon created a tablet version browser and was fairly impressed with it however, I'm experiencing issues with sites that plays videos, e.g. desktop youtube site, it causes issues when you try to fullscreen the video and the connection of the browser just completely cuts off.
Either than that, everything works great and beautifully to I must say. A definite much more attractive and in someways, faster UI and browser in my opinion.
What are your opinions? and if your experiencing the same issue as me, are there any fix available to get around this issue?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never heard of it. But after ICS, I don't really care for other browsers since the stock one is working fine.
briian_ said:
Hey,
So.. I just recently got my hands on the prime and was trying out different browsers.
I've just found out that Maxthon created a tablet version browser and was fairly impressed with it however, I'm experiencing issues with sites that plays videos, e.g. desktop youtube site, it causes issues when you try to fullscreen the video and the connection of the browser just completely cuts off.
Either than that, everything works great and beautifully to I must say. A definite much more attractive and in someways, faster UI and browser in my opinion.
What are your opinions? and if your experiencing the same issue as me, are there any fix available to get around this issue?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the maxthon and found it quite useful at first. Its smoother than the stock browser. I have not try the youtube on maxthon yet about the fullscreen but when i tried to select text on a web page it will force close itself. Other than that maxthon has been pretty good for me.
I've tried just about every browser Android has to offer to find the best and I'm just spoiled from using Firefox on Windows 7 everyday, nothing Android has can touch it.
After trying everything I think I'm going with Maxthon, just wish they had more add-ons. Really want something like Ad-block Plus.
my browser of choice is opera mobile. but I do have Maxon. also. I do have to admit its the best looking out of all the browsers. its hard to describe but everything is rendered so well on it. Damn, can't describe it in words but its a real beautiful looking browser. All sites look so good on it. its a good browser. it has alot of potential. Still not a true tablet version though because it still has resoulution capability checkbox on the bottom. its more of an in-between version. still looks great. makes me wanna switch to it now...Brb..lol
Thanks for the great feedback guys.
In my opinion, for general browsing, Maxthon is probably one of the best as one of you had say, it really is smooth and everything is just rendered so well!
However, due to the common sites that I browse.. e.g. facebook for instance, when on the desktop site with Maxthon, and you're trying to view pictures, when the photo pops up infront of the news feed, it cancels the capability to scroll up and down to view the comments, instead it scrolls up and down the background which is the news feed.
And another disappointment is still the full screen capability of videos.
But either than, really happy with it.
However, I tried doing a comparison with sites and loading time, and trying to quickly clicking from one link to another with the stock and maxthon, both seemed almost equally matched.
the stock browser on the ICS of the prime does work really great but... it may be the look of the Maxthon that has won me over. But I still switch from one browser to another depending on my purpose.
Personally I'm a huge fan of Dolphin Browser HD. I use it on my Skyrocket and downloaded it last night on my Prime. So far so good!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
I use to play with other browsers but since ICS came out it has been the smoothest browser of them all, uninstalled all the others.
After ICS I uninstalled all other browsers. Stock one is great.
I really like stock browser too, I just wish there was a way to keep it in desktop mode by default. That's the only thing that really bothers me about the stock browser.
That's the reason I'm using ICS Browser+. Its the same browser as the stock one but with the added bonus of selecting a user agent so it can remain in desktop mode along with some other goodies.
I really suggest it to anyone who likes the stock browser but wants a little more out of it. As a plus the developer is a part of this forum and is open to suggestions on new features.
Can someone make this a sticky?
Since I've used my tablet, the one program/app I've kept switching and going back and forth has been the browser. Some do things well, while others do things just ok. I'd like to create this thread to list all browsers that work with the Transformer Prime tablet and list their strengths and weakness. This of course will be a "live" list and hopefully keep growing and be a good resource for lots of people. I just thought it would help. Since I'm no expert at all, I could at least start off with listing some of the browsers I use. Also, if this isn't even needed, let me know. No big deal.
Boat
Strengths -
Weakness -
Opera Mobile
Strengths -
Weakness -
Dolphin HD
Strengths - Gestures.
Weakness -
ICS 4 Stock
Strengths -
Weakness -
ICS+ 4 Stock
Strengths -
Weakness -
xScope
Strengths -
Weakness -
Firefox
Strengths -
Weakness -
Maxthon
Strengths -
Weakness -
Angel
Strengths -
Weakness -
Skyfire
Strengths -
Weakness -
Can you also put 'ICS Browser+' to the list?
Just interested to see people's opinion and reviews etc
Cheers.
I skip between ICS+ and Stock ICS
Maybe you would like to help with this? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1464268
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
I've been using Stock, Opera, and Dolphin HD, and so far I think I like Dolphin HD...
Dolphin HD just seems faster... could be mind tricks, but it does seem to load faster.
Opera, it's fast but I'm not used to the UI and don't really like it.
I love the stock "look" and the favorites button in the top right corner. If only I could combine Dolphin HD and the stock browser
*Edit*
Hmmm, guess it was false news? Can't seem to get it to work anymore atm... Crap.
Ive used Stock, Dolphin HD, Opera, and Boat Browser. I can say with full confidence that the Boat Browswer has been the best browsing experience. I've used this for 3 days now zero fc or locks and smoother/faster than any other ones ive tried and has full flash support.
Damn... I just updated opera and flash still isnt working for me. I'm using dolpin untill i can get flash to work with opera. Never tried boat. Might look into it.
newellj79 said:
Damn... I just updated opera and flash still isnt working for me. I'm using dolpin untill i can get flash to work with opera. Never tried boat. Might look into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it says in change log log of opera that flash has issues with ICS 4.0.3. This new update took a step backwards as flash is not even in settings anymore. Of you go to a site that has flash, it'll say you need to install flash n enable Java.
demandarin said:
Yeah it says in change log log of opera that flash has issues with ICS 4.0.3. This new update took a step backwards as flash is not even in settings anymore. Of you go to a site that has flash, it'll say you need to install flash n enable Java.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, noticed the lack of flash settings as well...
But I think that when I go to youtube.com, click a flash video it opens in the youtube app but when I press back it goes back to opera and does play the video in the browser... Must check if I can reproduce it.
Amazing though that the opera team still hasn't got this working yet, insane actually.
I've tried stock, xscope and after that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do the type of browsing I do on my laptop (speed wise)
Then I tried dolphin HD. It has a 'desktop / tablet mode ' that optimizes it for tablet size and unlocks more functionality.
Overall it looks nice and has good features it, but I promise you the only reason I use it is because it simply loads all my pages faster -never cannot view a page (which I would get random pages show as unavailable with stock despite knowing for a fact they work on other browsers) . Also It does not lock up nearly as much as stock did with the old wait or force close window (which upon hitting wait lead to complete functionality again dope)
Finding it hard to figure out a way to update the original post. I would love others to be able to input their own information, which makes it a real "live" document. Like sharepoint folks.
That's why I chose to use Google Docs, lol
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Guys, I have a problem. I've been messing around in Titanium Backup deleting bloat and I accidentally uninstalled the stock browser. I made backup, of course, but when I tried restoring it, it just went on working forever.
I've tried restarting the tablet, I've even done a factory reset but it didn't help. The browser is missing from my app drawer and the bookmarks widgets are not working.
I've checked the system/app folder with Root Explorer. The file named com.android.browser.apk is still there but there is no .odex file. Should there be one? I tried reinstalling the app from this apk but it doesn't work.
Any ideas what else I can try? Also, I'll be extremely grateful if someone can provide any browser related apk and odex files.
EDIT: I've solved it. I've got the deodexed Browser.apk from this thread, placed it in the system/app folder and restarted. It works now.
BTW, the ICS Browser+ does not work without the stock browser.
That belongs in it's own thread or broadcast in an IRC channel, you could also just use ICS Browser+.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
From my personal experience, I am getting a ton of lockups and freezes with both stock and ics +... Dolphin Pad seems sluggish... will try Boat next.
Sent from my Asus Transformer Prime
slaman said:
From my personal experience, I am getting a ton of lockups and freezes with both stock and ics +... Dolphin Pad seems sluggish... will try Boat next.
Sent from my Asus Transformer Prime
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't go wrong with boat IMO. Have been an opera user on my phones for a long time. Having never heard of boat browser I gave it a go on my prime and found it blows every other android browser out of the water. I enabled the desktop user agent and since have not even felt the need to try any other browser. In fact, boat is now on my phone also, its that good. Also looks much better than opera which I always thought was ugly but couldn't give it up due to its superior smoothness.
Anyways, until a real chrome browser is available for android (still dumbfounded it isn't, ffs Google!) I don't see myself replacing boat.