Mobile web browsing is always a bit of a struggle. If the browser is too loaded, its too slow. But if the browser is speedy, it normally means it doesn't do enough.
I have 4 browsers on my phone (5 if you count Opera Mini).
Here's how I use each one:
Internet Explorer:
Stock browser, great WAP support. I use PIE (pocket IE) when I need to go to a site I know is designed specifically for mobile phones, or if I need to quickly check something on a website. It's my "Speedy browser" if you will.
I have this set as my default browser for compatibility reasons so that if an application needs to load a page, IE will run and I typically won't have any issues.
Pros: Fast, supported by carrier/manufacturer/microsoft, quality WAP support
Cons: Lack of/poor javascript support, almost purely mobile browser (no desktop-like feel), restricted file-type downloads, weak download support
JB5:
I installed it because everyone says its good, but I never found a real use for it. It's slower than IE, but doesn't do enough in my opinion. Moving on...
Pros/cons left out for lack of testing.
Opera Mobile: (beta verson 8.65 - expiring Oct 1, 2007)
Takes a few extra seconds to load the browser, and browsing the internet is a little slow. However, the sacrificed speed goes to adding a nearly full desktop browser with JavaScript support as well as a download manager (with no file type restriction), multiple window support, and powerful page compression options.
Of all the browsers on my phone, Opera Mobile is definitely my current favorite, but it does have its flaws - speed for one. It's not the slowest (see MiniMo) but its no speedster. It's definitely slower than JB5, and does lock up occasionally (probably simply because its beta). There are bugs, showing that it is still not a finished product, and it does fail at render certain pages on various occasions.
Pros: Rich in feature, Excellent JavaScript support, Download manager without file-type restrictions, pause/resume downloads, nice "desktop-like" browser feel on a mobile browser
Cons: Slow, beta and buggy, expires oct. 1 and is not free, multiple render issues and failure to load images
MiniMo: (Mini Mozilla - version .2)
I was surprised when I installed this one to see that it actually worked on Smartphones. The first time I installed it, I thought the buttons didn't work so I removed it. Then I decided to give it another shot. Now I discovered how it works:
Left softkey - Cycle selection area (Tab-bar, Web Page, Navigation buttons)
-Hold - Main Menu
Right softkey - Cycle click-able objects (page links, individual buttons)
-Hold - Quick menu (Find, FullScreen, Back, Forward, Reload)
Center button - Select highlighted object
Okay, MiniMo is by far the slowest of all the browser at loading. It takes quite a while to load the browser, and the page loads are comparable to Opera Mobile, whereas they are tolerable, but still slow. I believe it does have an easier time accessing the network than Opera Mobile does, but don't have any hard proof of that.
The Navigation of this application is very difficult and take a lot of getting used to, but the browser is definitely the most powerful of all listed here. It can even handle Google Maps.
As for page rendering - it has an option called "SSR", which I assume to be Small-Screen Render", however, it seems that it can't be disabled. The pages still render in full, but do not fit-to-screen and there is no option for such.
Pros: Practically IS a desktop browser, full render-capabilities, nifty font size up and font size down buttons, RSS support (not a feed-reader alternative though)
Cons: Painstakingly slow, beta bugs, no "fit-to-screen" option, difficult menu system and navigation, weak download support (similar to PIE's)
Opera Mini (stable, v3):
The included HTC Midlet Manage is garbage in my opinion. However, it's the best I can get my hands on, so it's what I use. OperaMini is as mobile of a browser as it gets. From what I understand, it used a proxy which compresses the site (including resizes pictures) before transmitting them to your phone. This makes the browser surprisingly fast. It has a nice UI (if only the midlet manager would allow fullscreen) with transitions and runs fairly well. However, it is unable to download files. In the event it is presented with a file to download, it will open the device's default browser (in my IE) and direct it to the file.
Pros: fast, compressed pages, excellent mobile browsing
Cons: Unable to download files, unable to load a selection of sites in decent quality
Opera Mini 4 (beta):
At the time of writing this, the browser crashed and/or freezes far too often to get an idea of how well it works. Does look fairly promising though.
In the end, I'll use IE if I want speed, Opera if I want features or a desktop like feel, and MiniMo if Opera fails to render the page. Opera Mini might come in periodically, maybe if I'm stuck in a GPRS area.
So, what do you guys use and why?
Opera Mobile sometimes crashs and I have to plug out the battery to end this. So i removed it.
By so far, WM isnot support JAVA so perfect(run JAVA in full screen,with network connecting and sound), now i'm using JBlend. It's a changed version,someone change the program so it can show full screen, but it doesn't have network connecting function.
Mozilla is toooooo slow.
So i choice IE and UCWeb(A Chinese program and it's server is also in China,see more at www.ioicn.com.cn).
Hmm, are you talking about Opera Mobile (the actual WM app) or Opera Mini (the java application)?
And thanks for that UCWeb ...I'll take a look at it....
thelostsoul said:
Hmm, are you talking about Opera Mobile (the actual WM app) or Opera Mini (the java application)?
And thanks for that UCWeb ...I'll take a look at it....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The WM Opera beta,maybe because it's beta.
dtsme said:
The WM Opera beta,maybe because it's beta.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Not the Java one?
I haven't really had that much of a problem with it freezing or crashing on me and use it a lot.
Also see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=323651
I am very happy with my Woot Gtablet but one problem I have with all the browsers(Stock, Opera and Dolphin) is that certain websites only work with IE. I changed the user agent in Dolphin to "Desktop" but still can't get into sites that have a pop up dialog for user authentication. I have disabled pop-up blocker in the browsers, but still no luck. You guys can try this site:
http://explore.lsc.edu and try to sign in. I see the "401 UNAUTHORIZED" message because the pop up authentication dialog doesn't appear. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Honestly... don't get your hopes up. since IT uses a proprietary rendering engine, unless Microsoft ports it to linux and open-sources it, or someone ports WINE to android, it won't happen. Both seems nearly impossible...
You might want to try out the Firefox port for android to see if it you have better luck than with the other browsers.
You could try using a custom user agent in dolphin browser
That looks to be a Sharepoint Server website, which is only going to work fully with IE. Sorry.
the previous android phones i'd been using on t-mobile all provided real, desktop/laptop-like web browsing experiences on the phone. not the constrained and formatted for mobile web http://[B]m[/B].espn.com type browsing. so i was a little disappointed when i activated my optimus v on virgin for the first time today and started browsing to notice that the mobile web always loads websites in the constrained format.
is this a limitation of the handset? is there a setting in the mobile browser that you can perhaps change to view it in real html? or is it a limitation of the network even (virgin/sprint)?
Every serious webpage has somewhere at the end of page an optiom to change to desktop version. For example when you go on Google it gives you desktop/html onl/mobile options.
By defult the site is responsible to decide which version to bring you. It does that by reading you device type, which saiz android.
For example facebook forwards you to touch.facebook.com on smarthphone and m.facebook.com for featurephones.
Any yes browser has a setting to "fool" site what you are using. You can chance user agent in setting all browsers can do this, the options are android/iphone/desktop.....
But i leave this to android, if you chance to desktop you will see desktop facebook, which is much worse than touch version. It is easier to just find at the bottom the link to change to desktop version for sites that think android should be viewing mobile optimized, sily them.
Change your browser's user agent to Desktop or something like that. Skyfire, Dolphin HD, etc lets you do that easily.
For the default browser, check this link.
Recently I discovered that when I enter something like d android in the address/search bar of Dolphin HD it redirects to the dictionary.com site about android. Same for all other words: d word always redirects to the corresponding article.
The strange thing is when I wrote Dolphin support about this asking if they could add some more sites beside dictionary.com the reply was there was no such feature at all in Dolphin HD.
I definitely get redirect though and that happened on both ARHD and Affinity ROM. And it only happens with the Dolphin HD browser, not Opera nor the stock browser (whose engine Dolphin btw uses).
So does this redirect happen for any of you as well? Just open the bar where you'd normally enter google searches or addresses and type d anything. I'd really like to know where this redirect comes from - of course it's also possible the support just had no clue that feature exists.
It happens for me too on the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus.
It doesn't seem to make a difference which search engine is set in Dolphin Settings and it doesn't seem to matter what user-agent is used.
It seems like a feature of Dolphin browser.
"of course it's also possible the support just had no clue that feature exists."
I searched a bit and I couldn't find this feature mentioned or documented anywhere. So, that possibility seems likely. Weird.
Ok, interesting. I'll just wait if some more people can confirm this and then ask the support again. Because it's actually a very handy feature.
For example w abc could open a wikipedia article, y video would search for a video on youtube and so on.
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