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Hey all. I'm new to the forum and have been looking at all the stickies and wiki on the phone but I'm still looking for some good applications. I just got my 8525. Its a great phone but i was disappointed to find that it doesnt have a full HTML web browser. Its a feature I was spoiled with when I had my Nokia N80.
Is there an application at there that will support the full webpages. I've tried opera mini and opera mobile with no luck. I've also upgraded to WM6 in hopes of it but nothing.
Any help?
And what other applications do you recommend? I tried loading a few but with no success. I'm mainly looking for games, full web browser and a really good multimedia player.
piscel is the best its a samsung app
Picsel Browser has a nice interface, but it does take a little while to load, and does have some problems with certain websites.
Recently Opera Mini 4 was released and it is small, loads fast, and displays pages quite well. Check it out here:
http://www.operamini.com/
Just use it through your MIDlet Manager.
opera mobile is pretty nice and not java like mini
it's not free though
I'm getting ready to load thunderhawk from bitstream..will let you know..
Sometimes I feel like its just as bad as the stock web. But I do like the copy and paste in Dolphin HD.
The opera browser is smoother than the stock browser.
yeah dolphin sucks! i'm thinking of trying the firefox browser
yeah firefox is a good browser u should also take a look at skyfire great browser
Is there a google chrome one out yet?
I liked skyfire, but I dont like all those random buttons at the bottom of the screen. I wish there was a google chrome one
Have you tried dolphin mini?
Miren browser is the best one I've found.
Sent from my rough sketch of a Vibrant on a brick.
Xscope is pretty good too. Seems to be nice and smooth for me.
Miren keeps opening up new tabs every time I open my web browser. I noticed I had like 12 tabs of the same screen :/
I noticed Xscope opens a new tab every time I open the browser. Is there a way to stop it?
itsLYNDZ said:
Sometimes I feel like its just as bad as the stock web. But I do like the copy and paste in Dolphin HD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It helps if you mention which ROM you are using to recommend a good browser, I will report experiences running Froyo.uvka6.
I use 4 different browsers on my phone, each for specific purposes.
For most sites I use either Miren or Dolphin HD 2.3.0 (it's an old version but it's not laggy like 3.x & 4.x). Miren has copy paste too. When I want to view Flash-based sites I use Dolphin (standard, not HD):
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mgeek.android.DolphinBrowser.Browser&feature=search_result
It's not as feature packed as HD or Mini but Flash videos play super smooth on this browser, probably due to low overhead.
Opera Mobile is kinda quirky, some sites still won't dislay properly (just like the desktop version) and flash support is limited to ads. There is one feature in that Opera Mobile surpasses all android browsers: The ability to download from file hosting sites such as filesonic, fileserve, mediafire, etc. that simply won't work with other android browsers. It's why I keep it on my phone, when I need to download Opera Mobile is the man!
I'm not a big fan of proxy-based browsers such as Skyfire or Opera Mini. My biggest beef with Skyfire is on certain sites like ESPN.COM you can't choose which video to play, it will only play the first video on that site!! Grrrrrrr!!!!!! I don't like the GUI either. Skyfire is worthless if you are running Android 2.2 or higher since flash is built-in. If you are running Android 2.1 or lower and want flash then your only choice is Skyfire.
Firefox is currently RC but sloowww and no flash support but so far the only android browser to support scrollbars.
There are a few others out there (xScope, Maxthon, UCWEB, Infinity, Boat). I'm going to give the same advice I always give. Try them all and decide which one you like best. All browsers have their pros and cons but it all comes down to personal preference.
itsLYNDZ said:
I noticed Xscope opens a new tab every time I open the browser. Is there a way to stop it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That never happened to me but I did experience a few force closes with the latest builds so I went back to 6.0.5. It takes longer to load but is more stable than new builds.
I really love the opera mobile browser, its pretty smooth and faster than stock.
Lifehacker did a comparison of some mobile browsers recently:
http: // lifehacker. com / #!5785273 / android-faceoff-which-browser-wins-out-on-speed-features-and-usability
(Can't post outside links yet, just remove the spaces)
I like Miren Browser.
I want to make a (more recent) comparison of web browsers available to us on the ASUS TF101 and TF201 tablets, something that is useful. In my experience we don't have all that many threads that are Really Good on this subject, that don't get bogged down with noise and opinion drowning out the signal after a while.
The browsers, web sites, and procedures I will use for testing are being collected HERE as they are written.
I am open to suggestions of things to test as long as they don't cost me $$$, are legit, and hopefully widely used by communities of people in general. If it has issues with the stock browser in HC/ICS/GB/Froyo in fast/simple usage, like crashy crashy! Then I am more likely to test a suggestion.
Note for mods: this is cross posted in the forum for both tablets.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
On my free time, I downloaded:
- Opera Mobile
- Maxthon
- Dolphin
- Firefox
- Firefox Aurora
I used the PeaceKeeper browser benchmark by FutureMark and tested each one.
The top scoring ones were all very similar: Maxthon, Dolphin, and Stock.
The middle ground browser was Opera.
The really low scores were Firefox and Firefox Aurora.
Maxthon, Dolphin, support more codecs and look pretty Chrome-like.
Is miren browser working for the prime?
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Nevermind I see it.
Interesting thread..liking forward to the results. Pretty extensive list you have of browsers. I have 5 of them out the list. MAXTHALON, OPERA MOBILE, ICS+, BOAT BROWSER, DOLPHin HD, and stock. The best performing for me are opera mobile, stock, n boat browser. SOMETHING happened after ICS update that drastically improved stock browser performance. It use to be my worst performer. BOAT browser is great also n runs flash very well. Just have to get used to its setup. OPERA mobile of course is always fast n only drawback is flash not working right on Prime version of Opera Mobile.
I've settled on Boat Browser. I've not experienced the lockups or pages not loading that all the other browsers that I've tried. It does take a while to get used to the format but if means no lockups I'll keep using it.
OK, I just ran almost all of the ones you listed through the peacekeeper browser test. The results are below. Each browser was only run 1 time and if its not listed it means the browser was not capable of giving me a score
Xscope - 378
Stock Browser - 361
Maxthon - 343
Boat - 369
ICS browser+ - 369
Opera Mobile - 274
Ninesky - 361
Angel - 375
Sleipner - 376
Dolphin Pad - 376
Firefox - 273
These are not in any particular order and I also only tested one opera and one dolphin, not all of them. Hope this gets the thread started.
Was also going to bench all with browsermark but the stock browser wouldn't get through it without crashing.
Higher score is better?
I've been using BOAT since I heard about it here.
Also, does everyone set their agent preference to desktop?
yes higher is better. Give xscope a try and you will see. I like setting my agent to iPad for some reason things just look good and flash still works unlike on iPad
Maybe we can merge these two together, and keep one good resourceful browser thread. Also, does this forum support multiple people being able to edit a post?
Not that I know of but I've been using the gdocs document for test procedures and a spreadsheet on gdocs for results, and those do support that. I planned ahead, else it'd all be a plain text file I could feed into perl lol.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
OPERA MOBILE just had a huge update today, finally. Supposedly fixes flash in Hc and ICS and compatibility issues with ICS. Going to test it out.
---------- Post added at 09:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 AM ----------
Checked it out, seems they completely removed flash from opera mobile. Now there is no option for flash. Go to websites n it'll tell you flash or Java not installed or something similar.
Took another look at changelog and it says its known Flash has issues on latest version of ICS 4.0.3. Seems like we took a step backwards on opera now..lmao. hopefully next update will add 4.0.3 support SMH
timgt said:
yes higher is better. Give xscope a try and you will see. I like setting my agent to iPad for some reason things just look good and flash still works unlike on iPad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never do this, because im sick of companies thinking ipad is the only tablet. I set mine to Android, and happily deal with anything that comes with doing that.
I grabbed X-Scope Pro free on Amazon a few months ago waiting for the chance to use on a tablet and so far I love it. I have been having issues with the stock browser closing randomly while surfing and that hasn't happened once in X-Scope. So far, so good.
They removed the plugins setting from OM as well. Maybe b/c it's really just flash in practice, and adobe isn't making a plugin for Android 9 someday. Or maybe it only applies to Android 4.0.3 devices --- looking at the what's new.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
A good site to test, and I didn't see on your chart, is www.espn3.com. That is their streaming video site and plays live and recorded sporting events. It is super heavy on Flash Video.
I watch it all the time, but it will not load and play in Opera (which we all know has problems with Flash).
I got an alert that Firefox has released a big update. I havent tested the old FF, but i might give it a shot, i liked the screeny they showed in the news article!
By the way guys, it would probably help to distinguish between browsers that are essentially just overlays on the stock browser, using the same HTML rendering engine, versus browsers that use their own HTML renderer.
Browsers like Dolphin, Boat Browser, and ICS Browser have roughly the same performance as the stock browser because they are all using a variation of the Webkit rendering enginer, whereas Opera and Firefox are using their own.
My spreadsheet always notes the rendering engine as possible, and assumes stock when no detail otherwise is found.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
So I got bored today and decided to review browsers by benchmarking them and giving a general description of each with their pros and cons... So here goes.
FYI:
- Browsermark is a somewhat popular benchmarking service I found.
- My setup I am using: Ineffabilis Deus unlocked/s-off nothing else
- I am using my home wifi. To eliminate any possible 3g/4g issues
- I tested each browser 3 times and chose the middle score of the 3.
- I had previously unistalled the stock browser so no HTC contestant here.
1. Boat Browser
Score: 69580
Review: Very clean browser using relatively little space. Quick at loading most everything. Has flash. The only con I've really noticed is that the search bar can be counter intuitive some times. Basic features with themeing capability.
2. Boat Browser Mini
Score: 72946
Review: Half the size of boat browser with less interface customization. Still includes minor theme support and is suprisingly quick. Flash supported.
3. Chrome (stable)
Score: 84518
Review: Now stable release. Suprised its the highest? Me neither. Best when it comes to its ability to extend your desktop's chrome with its bookmarks and tab syncing. Does not support flash and has a somewhat buttonless interface. Lack of customization currently. And boy does this thing suck up memory. 55mb for me.
4. Dolphin HD
Score: 78076
Review: A solid second place but this comes with some bulk. The gesture system built in is nice but it can be a hassle. Now it has included a S-Voice knock off. Basically this is what firefox is but on you phone... and good.
5. Dolphin Mini
Score: 64019
Review: Probably the best interface in the bunch. Still has gesture for those who like it. Ugly green themeing. Unfotunately has lost favor from dev and has only seen 2 updates over the last year. Has some redraw issues occasionaly.
6. Opera Mobile
Score: 23012
Review: Really? That bad? Some people swear by it and I think it is nice but wow. Has good dev support and has a clean interface similar to boat. Doesn't seem to like some websites that are graphic intensive.
7. Firefox ("NEW")
Score: 40651
Review: WAAAYYY better interface. runs a little smoother. Benchmark dropped a ton from 54k to 41k... they are getting closer and farther away at the same time.
Additional:
Opera Mini and Opera Mini Next both failed the rendering tests. Most likely due to data compression systems that have been built in to the browsers.
Ninesky failed the specifically the 4th rendering test. Not sure why.
Maxthon failed the DOM test on browsermark. I have no clue why.
nice, thanks. I mainly use stock browser but I have chrome beta installed.
If anyone is willing to take a couple of minutes to run the HTC stock browser through this test and to anyone using the Stock ICS browser like on slimrom.
shoot me the results and I'll post them. Remember use wifi.
updated to reflect new firefox and stable chrome.
Hi,
I like working on the website Codeacademy.com, and would love to do so on my android tablet (kindle HD), or even my phone (razr HD). However, every browser I've tried has had a terrible time with this website: browsers love to zoom in too closely when I start typing, they have trouble scolling in a text window within the main window, etc. (just try it, you'll see what I mean).
Does anyone have any suggestions for a browser that would fare better? Or perhaps dolphin has an add-on that would mitigate the problems? I have trouble believing that I'm the only one who likes to use this popular website on an android device.
Any help is appreciated.
EDIT: The kindle is restricted in its browsers by default, but I haven't had any trouble downloading apks and sideloading, so that's not a limitation to worry about.
Me too
I am looking for it too. It would be awesome if codecademy made an android app for its exercises
jwdink said:
Hi,
I like working on the website Codeacademy.com, and would love to do so on my android tablet (kindle HD), or even my phone (razr HD). However, every browser I've tried has had a terrible time with this website: browsers love to zoom in too closely when I start typing, they have trouble scolling in a text window within the main window, etc. (just try it, you'll see what I mean).
Does anyone have any suggestions for a browser that would fare better? Or perhaps dolphin has an add-on that would mitigate the problems? I have trouble believing that I'm the only one who likes to use this popular website on an android device.
Any help is appreciated.
EDIT: The kindle is restricted in its browsers by default, but I haven't had any trouble downloading apks and sideloading, so that's not a limitation to worry about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried it too and it's very frustrating. Thanks for mentioning CodeAcademy since I only knew about it since I read your post
Sent from my Kindling Fire A-Pad
dncjor said:
I am looking for it too. It would be awesome if codecademy made an android app for its exercises
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed-- though I feel like they shouldn't have to! This website isn't doing anything particularly advanced--it's just a text box to type in--and I feel like one of the myriad android browsers should be able to handle it. Especially since each one has a different unique problem with the website.
Okay, looks like Maxthon browser works tolerably well. Good browser overall, actually.
Jwdink,
Good to know Maxthon worked for you. I tested many, including Maxthon, and I always get the same problem.
When I click on the box to type, and try to move it up or down, everything goes white and I have to find the box again...
I tested with chrome, opera, firefox, dolphin, dolphin beta, and others less known browsers, and always the same problem happens
Now I'm gonna test with firefox beta..
I emailed codecademy some days ago concerning this matter but got no answer
Did you notice the site doesn't have a mobile version? Maybe if they can create one, it could fix the problem
jwdink said:
Okay, looks like Maxthon browser works tolerably well. Good browser overall, actually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maxthon didn't fare to well for this task on my rooted Kindle Fire running Gingerbread .......I sometimes have success with the latest release of Firefox (not the nightly edition) but many times will have to refresh the page to get the coding input box to respond "halfway" normal.
Even on my Windows 7 laptop the site has issues and I've tried IE9 and the latest Chrome. Maybe I'll try Firefox on the laptop today. On the tablet I find myself reading the tutorial from the website on whatever browser I'm using but will not try to implement the code there. I'll just open up my good old text editor and code there using what I learned on the site and then run the code on "x" interpreter (in my case the Python) and it's much easier to do it that way.
When I have the lesson running correctly I will return to the website and "attempt" to complete it on there either possibly with Android Firefox or on the PC so it will keep track of my progress. Otherwise I would get WAY to frustrated trying to get every little step to run in the browser's input box!
And yes, a dedicated app for this website would be ideal
Sent from my SCH-R880 using xda app-developers app
Huh, sounds like this site just isn't designed to work on anything but a traditional PC... I wonder what the big difference is?
Codecademy answered my email. Here it is:
"Original message
DEC 31, 2012 | 07:17AM EST
Please, I am a codecademy student and want to ask if you have any recomendation for a good way of using the site on android devices, because it is very difficult to do the exercises on the browsers for android.
For me, and others users, like this guy:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2073107
and, I believe, many others students, it would be very very useful if you could make a codecademy app for android, where we could do the exercises.
Thanks for reading...
Douglas
Sent from Samsung Mobile
JAN 02, 2013 | 03:26AM EST
Linda replied:
Thanks for the nice feedback! Unfortunately we're at the moment focusing on the learning experience with desktops and laptops and support for mobile phones and tablets comes only later.
Linda
Customer Support
Codecademy"
I took the liberty of showing this xda topic to reinforce the importance of this matter for more than one student. And, as the topic had only a few comments when I wrote the email, "This guy", is you 'jwdink'
You could try Naked Browser, which till now has given me a cohesive desktop like interface,
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fevdev.nakedbrowser&hl=en
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think its very effective to work on codeacademy from your tablet especially if you aren't using a real keyboard. Codecademy has problems with browsers in osx and windows and I can't imagine how it would work on a tablet which browsers that do much less. Codecademy gives me issues everytime I use it, some courses are sometimes impossible to complete unless codecademy themselves fixes them. Python last summer was uncompletable due to weird errors which tooks weeks to fix.
Also, something you should be doing is after you complete courses, go make something with your newly gained knowledge. I can go through every single course in there and might not have a full understanding without actually making something, plus, you have to get used to dealing with the unexpected because everytime you code, theres going to be some problem. You can't code much things comfortably in Android either, at least I haven't been able to.
Try using ucbrowser.
I've tried Firefox, dolphin, boat and maxthon but for me uc browser works best. I'm talking about web browsing in general, uc browser is my pick for mobile web browsing. I've never visited code academy on ucbrowser though. Give it a shot
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda app-developers app
Foxfire & disable autocorrect/autocomplete
To use codecademy on my rooted Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (n8013) tablet I used Foxfire (stable or beta) browser and I disabled the keyboard's autocorrection/autofill/autocapitalization functionalities.
Tested but couldn't use stock browser, Chrome, Dolphin and Opera. Tested but couldn't use Swype keyboard and Google downloadable keyboard. Something weird happens connected to the shift key.
Should say my Samsung's running stock (Cyanagenmod) Android 4.2.2, no bloatware. Don't know if that matters or not.
Espier Browser
Have you tried Espier Browser? I just tried it and I could resolve 2 python exercices successfully
thetearer said:
Try using ucbrowser.
I've tried Firefox, dolphin, boat and maxthon but for me uc browser works best. I'm talking about web browsing in general, uc browser is my pick for mobile web browsing. I've never visited code academy on ucbrowser though. Give it a shot
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, uc browser seems to be the best for codecademy, I have tried almost all the browsers named in this thread an with uc browser on android 2.1 all works fine to me.
luisfmp said:
Thanks, uc browser seems to be the best for codecademy, I have tried almost all the browsers named in this thread an with uc browser on android 2.1 all works fine to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
Im trying to use codecademy and khanacademy.org but im using a Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet (stock rom). Ive tried UC browser as well as many others (chrome, naked, firefox, dolphin, maxthon, boat, maybe more) with no luck. Code isnt selectable or pastable, and sometimes i cant even delete.
I dont have access to a computer at the moment and would really like to take advantage of the interactive tutorials on those sites. I even bought a mouse thinking it would make text selection easy but i now realise android mouse support is lame and just emulates a finger.
If anyone has any solution for this, please let me know.
jwdink said:
Hi,
I like working on the website Codeacademy.com, and would love to do so on my android tablet (kindle HD), or even my phone (razr HD). However, every browser I've tried has had a terrible time with this website: browsers love to zoom in too closely when I start typing, they have trouble scolling in a text window within the main window, etc. (just try it, you'll see what I mean).
Does anyone have any suggestions for a browser that would fare better? Or perhaps dolphin has an add-on that would mitigate the problems? I have trouble believing that I'm the only one who likes to use this popular website on an android device.
Any help is appreciated.
EDIT: The kindle is restricted in its browsers by default, but I haven't had any trouble downloading apks and sideloading, so that's not a limitation to worry about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello jwdink,
Thank you for asking this question almost two years ago. Like you, I recently stumbled across the delimma of learning to code at codeacademy.com with my nextbook tablet device.
The solution that works perfectly for me is to request the desktop version of the web browser.
A quick review of the steps involved (Recent Google chrome at time of writing):
Click the menu button
Select "Request desktop site"
The page will reload automatically to a closer version of codeacademy that you are familiar with on the desktop site.
Yuki
Yhurp
Sent from my GT-S5300 using XDA Free mobile app
Yuki Tow SvC App said:
Hello jwdink,
Thank you for asking this question almost two years ago. Like you, I recently stumbled across the delimma of learning to code at codeacademy.com with my nextbook tablet device.
The solution that works perfectly for me is to request the desktop version of the web browser.
A quick review of the steps involved (Recent Google chrome at time of writing):
Click the menu button
Select "Request desktop site"
The page will reload automatically to a closer version of codeacademy that you are familiar with on the desktop site.
Yuki
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much, currently on my Samsung Tab S 10.5 with a logitech keyboard, and works extremely well with codecademy now