Develop Bugs

The Best Internet Browser

helo all
What is the best and the fast internet browser for HTC Universal using 3G connections ...
anyone have an experience ??
cheers..

If you ask me, Opera 8.60 and Netfront 3.3 are the only two contenders in this area.
After having extensively evaluated both of them I have put my money on the Netfront 3.3 now available in commercial versions
Regards

i hv used both of them. Opera provides the fastest internet experience and also the best internet experince. Pages get loaded pretty quickly

Hi kdskamal,
I absolutely agree with you that page loading in Opera 8.60 is faster than on Netfront 3.3. Furthermore the page rendering on Opera is also closer to the desktop experience. But one thing which made me opt for Netfront 3.3 is that if you load really large pages then the scrolling gets really slow and almost unusable. For example try the site www.pocketpcdubai.com and you will notice the difference.
The other thing which made me prefer Netfront 3.3 is the fact that this is the only browser whcih can handle file attachments at the Hotmail site. Finally support for flash objects was again another plus for me to buy netfront.
Regards

Opera seems to provide the best functionality and performance.
If you want to preserve Microsoft integration and services, stick with IE, but you will suffer from sluggish performance and minimal features.
Catch 22

If someone gets me an open source, I can build an awesome browser :lol:

Opera 8.6 is highly recommended
Preferably with a registry hack to act like IE6 (I use Tweaks2K) to ensure that you can still do all the secure stuff. The registry hack just allows you to load pages that may be a little strict about what browsers can view them.

I just installed Opera, and works great. Only pda pages will be shown very small, but that's why there's a zoom function. :lol:
The only thing is that the LogMeIn plugin you have to install for using this function doesn't seem to work with Opera, only on Microsoft IE or is it just me again???

Of the two (Opera and Netfront), I prefer the new Netfront 3.3 - install a narrow font on your Universal, and you can render all pages comfortably in the normal screen area. The stylesheet support is definitely the more complete, which gives perfect page layouts every time. Opera seems a bit quicker, but I find the occasional inability to tap select links to become incredibly infuriating.

Has anyone else tried Minimo yet? (Mozilla's Mobile Manifestation of Firefox)
For browsing purposes I have found it to be superior compared to others. The viewing area is huge (you don't need to set your Universal to VGA).
However, its downfalls are the amount storage and memory it uses. Additionally, it doesn't support Flash.
I'm sure future versions will be improved.
But like I said, give me an Open Source and I'll work on something :lol:

New IrisBrowser The Opera Killer?

the new release of IrisBrowser is out with FlashLite support
and using webkit.
It's faster than Opera in my first tests.
Looks very promising now.
http://www.irisbrowser.com/download/download3.php
What do you think?

cheers for the heads up - downloading now - sounds promising.

Tested with the Official FlashLite 3.1 from here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=483240

yes really nice browser but the navigation could be more intuitive. but i think he works great and fast and thats it

Fast? Are you sure... it seems to be uite slow in loading. The operation is fast, and scrolling once loaded nice... but nothing special.

iris is pretty slow over gprs but not bad on wifi, it does however render much better than any other mobile browser..

Iris, Opera, Skyfire
I like the opera for the nice smooth look around in websites thing.. And iris is nice animations between wesite changes it like fades but it seems its kinda the same as opera to showing websites.. But it can´t show every website with flash content.. And i found a browser that can do it.. Skyfire new release now for Touch HD with wvga screen.. It takes all sites flash content and everything.. It is also fastest browser of them all.. Im not sure about if it works with edge.. I only have 3g and HSDPA.. In mobile browser type "get.skyfire.com" like internet explorer, opera diddent work for me to download skyfire in.

jalv3000 said:
the new release of IrisBrowser is out with FlashLite support
and using webkit.
It's faster than Opera in my first tests.
Looks very promising now.
http://www.irisbrowser.com/download/download3.php
What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried version 1.0.1.6. a few days ago. Is this the same version or newer than that?

this one is 1.1....really nice.

iplayer on iris
bbc iplayer doesnt even work on it so how is it good

Had tried out almost every release in the past, and this version is a big improvement over the past's. It is better than I have expected, but is still not good enough. I can't download file correctly, just see garbage on the screen. Just like Opera, it cause havoc to smart keyboard such as Tengo and TouchPal.
One nice thing that it excel over Opera is that it has shows a miniaturised webpage with a red rectangle representing the currently view area, and you're able to drag that red rectangle around to quickly move from one part of the web page to another other part quickly. I wish Opera Mobile can do that rather than having to swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe....swipe, swipe....swipe.
I like the fact that just like Opera Mobile, you can double tap to zoom in and out.
Yes, I think the rendering is slightly better than Opera Mobile but not as good as Opera Mini.
Speed wise, I rank them as Opera Mini being the fastest, Opera Mobile second, and Iris Browser last.
Still prefere Opera (both Opera mobile and Opera mini). Have been using Opera Mini lately and begin to prefer it over Opera Mobile.
But, I can see that given time this could be improved to an extend worthy of contending against Opera.

I prefer Netfront cos : in Iris the keyboard don't appear when you're in a textbox, and the doubletap to zoom is painful because when you want to tap on a button, it's so hard than you double tap everytime.

eaglesteve said:
Had tried out almost every release in the past, and this version is a big improvement over the past's. It is better than I have expected, but is still not good enough. I can't download file correctly, just see garbage on the screen. Just like Opera, it cause havoc to smart keyboard such as Tengo and TouchPal.
One nice thing that it excel over Opera is that it has shows a miniaturised webpage with a red rectangle representing the currently view area, and you're able to drag that red rectangle around to quickly move from one part of the web page to another other part quickly. I wish Opera Mobile can do that rather than having to swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe....swipe, swipe....swipe.
I like the fact that just like Opera Mobile, you can double tap to zoom in and out.
Yes, I think the rendering is slightly better than Opera Mobile but not as good as Opera Mini.
Speed wise, I rank them as Opera Mini being the fastest, Opera Mobile second, and Iris Browser last.
Still prefere Opera (both Opera mobile and Opera mini). Have been using Opera Mini lately and begin to prefer it over Opera Mobile.
But, I can see that given time this could be improved to an extend worthy of contending against Opera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this. Opera mmini offers the best "net experience" smooth and fast. Not perfect, though.
Does anyone know if it is capable of multiple pages or tabs?

jalv3000 said:
Tested with the Official FlashLite 3.1 from here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=483240
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've installed both Iris Browser (like it!) and Flash Lite 3.1 from this link above but flash contents won't show up on my HD - just a white screen ... what do I have to do?
Eriol

i tried this out today on wifi and also on HSPDA and i much prefer the opera browser then this one, its just not as fast for lookin at things on the internet, its not as easy to go and click on things, or work your way around the page.
i have yet to try flash properly on my htc HD, the only way i have used it so far was with skyfire (new wvga version).
anyone prefer this browser?

I really love this browser.... simple and easy to use.....

Hello
For me I like it a lot it's fast and the zoom is working well
It's supporting the landcaspe...
personnaly I'm converted

just tried 1.1.1. it's not bad but needs some work. Zoom in /out + scrolling around is slow compared to Opera (build 15529), switching between tabs is fiddly (you have to go into the menu to switch, no fast button like Opera), address bar is tiny (and keeps hiding itself) plus it's a memory hog (or it has a memory leak - had to reboot my phone after surfing just one website).
to summarise, it's promising but still needs quite a bit of work.

New version available 1.1.3
http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/

jalv3000 said:
New version available 1.1.3
http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info
installed working great

opera 9.7 landscape and zoom?

Hi, I have a new UK rhodium
unfortunately, the built in opera 9.5 (build 16643) browser crashes on too many pages (including some that i need to use). So i installed 9.7. Firstly, the rendering is faster - which is nice. but the zoom bar doesn't work with it (although i can hold and zoom with the popup), which might suffice. however i cant get it to go landscape. has anyone a fix/workaround for this?
Another problem, which drives me nuts, is that entering URLS using the on screen keyboard is really slow (inside opera). I think opera is trying some sort of URL completion or something. but you press a button and there is randomly a delay. then you hit it again and get two and then delete, which there is also a delay, then you get two deletes and so on. it's infuriating! can this be switched off??
thanks for any info,

I have the same issues with Opera 9.7
Another alternative you can try is Skyfire. It has issues of its own - for example I find the rendering is sometimes poor quality and blocky - but it seems a fairly good browser in general and worth trying.
Also, it supports Flash out of the box.

the rendering is terrible! totally blur-tastic!

Install G-Config - the classname of Opera 9.7 is different, so the G-Sensor doesn't recognize it for the auto-rotation. It works fine for me now...
I still can't get the zoom-thing working though.

Had exactly the same issues with Opera 9.7.
Further it hasn't allowed me to download anything. The Screen appeared but as it didn't let me save anything.
Guess there has to be a lot of tweaking to make 9.7 really usable. So far I stay with 9.5.

You would not be able to download anything in Opera 9.7 if Turbo mode is on. Turn it off and you should be able to.

Don't think the solution has been found yet for the scrolling function... any ideas? I'm thinking it's a registry hack similar to GSensor

thanks for the g-config tip. i was hoping the zoom is a reg hack too. how did it work with 9.5 - it can't be a lot different.

Anyone make any progress on this? I hate Opera 9.5... I simply cannot click links with a reasonable degree of consistency... Opera 9.7 is a lot better... but the scrolling function is something I need.

Slaman:
Found the same- hitting links, even zoomed in, seems to be a hit or miss affair.
Can't wait for Fenec to make a beta debut! Was supposed to be summer... we'll see.

I just uninstalled 9.7 because of both the lack of autorotation and the lack of zoom, although it does render faster. How do I do the g-sensor hack?

jblade1000 said:
I just uninstalled 9.7 because of both the lack of autorotation and the lack of zoom, although it does render faster. How do I do the g-sensor hack?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to sound like a jerk... but there were only 10 posts in this thread before you posted. You couldn't skim through them to find the answer for your question?

The zoom function is enabled in the SmartScroll registry key. It's in HKLM/Software/HTC or HKCU/Software/HTC. I can't remember which. Anyways, just replace the 9.5 path with the 9.7. There, scrolling solved! Also, I don't like Skyfire anymore since it seems to be built exclusively for QVGA devices (it uses pixel doubling, which is really noticeable and ugly on this huge screen).

elazullizard said:
The zoom function is enabled in the SmartScroll registry key. It's in HKLM/Software/HTC or HKCU/Software/HTC. I can't remember which. Anyways, just replace the 9.5 path with the 9.7. There, scrolling solved! Also, I don't like Skyfire anymore since it seems to be built exclusively for QVGA devices (it uses pixel doubling, which is really noticeable and ugly on this huge screen).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see any SmartScroll registry key in either of those two locations...

So close!!!! I added a new folder called "Opera Mobile" under HKLM/SOFTWARE/HTC/SmartTouch and then added two keys:
(DWORD) WheelCount = 12
(String) FullPath = "/Program Files/Opera Mobile/opera9-ml.exe"
and now the zoom thing along the bottom scrolls page up and down! Now I just need to be able to figure out how to convert the page up/down scroll command into zoom!!!

Any update getting the zoom to work?

Video playback on Opera 9.7
What do I need to download for flash to work on opera 9.7 or 9.5 for that matter? Flash lite or somethin?

finally anyone know how can fix the slide zoom bar? on opera 9.7?

Search and Ye Shall Find:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=486502
2nd subject down
Joe

Joe Pinball said:
Search and Ye Shall Find:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=486502
2nd subject down
Joe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the same reg tweak that slaman posted about above; it makes the zoombar scroll in Opera, but it doesn't make it zoom. Anyone know how to make the zoombar zoom in Opera 9.7? Thanks

Does Opera Mini web browser work with tmobile tp2????

Wondering if anyone has been able to install and successfully operate opera mini. This is one of my favorite browsers. When I installed the cab file it didnt load. I then went to the site and tried to download it and it would not open. If anyone has been able to do this or if you are able to find a solution I would be very grateful if you posted a working cab of the browser here in this thread. Thanks in advance!

Yes. it's my browser of choice, although the Jblend java manager sucks. hold on while i find the cab for you
*edit*
download the Opera Mini - large fonts (VGA) cab and put on your phone. You don't need the opera mini tweaks.
This will install Jbed java manager & install Opera Mini for you.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=398567

Thanks for the quick response. I went to the link and attempted downloading the cab. The cab file says its 2.90mb but for some reason my tp2 is only dling 1.37mb. So the cab is not working. Anyway you can post the cab file here so I can download it direct? I need another source cause that site isnt cooperating with my phone.

Try Opera Mobile Beta 9.7. It has Turbo. The thing is FAST!!!

I have Opera Mobile. I would like Opera Mini. I just cant seem to download the entire cab from that site

unfortunately the cab is too big to upload. download it from that thread on to your computer & then move it to your phone

wow that sucks. i am going to try downloading it with my Kaiser then. My computer is currently down and awaiting repair so I am screwed for the moment. I cant even flash a new rom :-(

dkb218 said:
Try Opera Mobile Beta 9.7. It has Turbo. The thing is FAST!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for this!
mini is for smaller and simpler smartphones

dkb218 said:
Try Opera Mobile Beta 9.7. It has Turbo. The thing is FAST!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but the zoom bar does not work. Any other way to zoom in?

leckig said:
but the zoom bar does not work. Any other way to zoom in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's why i went with Mini, since the scroll bar doesn't work. Plus i love the syncing bookmarks feature.

I just gave 9.7 beta a try and to be honest I didn' notice a speed boost over the Opera browser that already comes packaged with the tp2. Even with turbo on i noticed nothing. Also its a very glitchy beta version. I miss mini :-( I will probably try the 9.7 once its finished but I still believe mini is the fastest.

The Great Malaki said:
I just gave 9.7 beta a try and to be honest I didn' notice a speed boost over the Opera browser that already comes packaged with the tp2. Even with turbo on i noticed nothing. Also its a very glitchy beta version. I miss mini :-( I will probably try the 9.7 once its finished but I still believe mini is the fastest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, the one that is installed is perfectly fine and you dont have to worry about all these bugs

Just wanted to thank you again for posting the cab. I was finally able to download it using internet exploer and its working great. Just my 2 cents, 3g plus opera mini equals fastest mobile internet experience ever only to be rivaled by wifi which is not so mobile.

You're welcome. I hear ya buddy, I like Opera Mini more than any of the other mobile browsers except Safari. I still use it even though I have full 3G & could Opera Mobile, but Mobile just sucks, right along with IE.

xnifex said:
Yes. it's my browser of choice, although the Jblend java manager sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are the trade-offs between using Jblend vs. Jbed?
It's been a while since I've used Jbed. I remember it had a background mode, which Jblend still doesn't have. And I'm not crazy about how Jblend throws a wobbly when I change screen orientation.
But, beyond that I don't know how the Jblend version on the TP2 compares with the current Jbed. I haven't found any good comparisons that were less than a year or two old. Even the MIDlet Bible is out of date now.
I don't have a particular attachment to Jblend, but saying it "sucks" isn't a real compelling argument against it. Are there any real performance comparisons you're aware of between Jblend and other JVMs?

I base my statement off the fact that if you open/close the keyboard, the whole thing crashes/resets/whatever... That right there was the deal breaker.

orb3000 said:
+1 for this!
mini is for smaller and simpler smartphones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use mini instead of 9.7b w/ turbo.
Why:
Mini is an order of magnitude faster in real life.
9.7b is still buggy as hell, often crashing.
Scrolling on 9.7b is painfully slow and redraws take a long time compared to Mini Opera.
Granted, one must install the above linked JBED+signed Opera Mini+associated quick link to get anywhere near usable installation of Opera Mini, and even after that one has to tweak the font size.
But once this is done, there's no contenst - at least for me. Mini Opera is waaaay faster than Opera 9.7b with turbo enabled.

Faster is not always better
both mini and mobile are great versions of the browser
what I like more from mobile is that is more complete more similar to a laptop browser, yes mini is faster but I still prefer opera mobile!
I have plenty of free memory and RAM to run it smoothly
And let´s wait to have the final stable release! that would be great!
just my opinion,

Mini is not just a little bit faster, its a lot faster. At least for me it is. Sure Mobile has more of a desktop look and feel and offers a more complete webpage experience. Thing is I dont need all the fancy flash animations and things of that nature when I am just trying to quickly check a website like this forum. I have both mini and mobile in case I have a problem with a certain site and even mobile gave me problems which made me resort to IE just to download a cab file.
I do have one problem though. Anyway to make the images larger on mini? I dled the hi res version as suggested and now all pics and certain buttons are very tiny. I tried settings and changed the image quality but this did nothing for the image size. Any solution?

xnifex said:
I base my statement off the fact that if you open/close the keyboard, the whole thing crashes/resets/whatever... That right there was the deal breaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's definitely a nuisance, but so far it hasn't been a deal breaker for me. I use TouchPal as an on-screen keyboard most of the time, although I wouldn't give up the TP2 keyboard...when I feel the need for it, it's great. I still don't know if I'd label Jblend with "sucks", since I don't know how its performance compares overall, but if I changed orientations a lot when browsing and had to keep re-running Opera Mini, I'd be switching JVMs too!

Which internet browser should be used?!

Hey guys, so as far as I know, most people use the Opera browser and that the IE browser is really slow. But I also found the Skyfire browser, but I have also seen mixed reviews on that. On my PC I used Google Chrome (which I love!), anyone know if Google is going to come out with a WinMo browser? (Yeah, I know that they have their own OS but thats not the point). Thanks!

khoyifish said:
Hey guys, so as far as I know, most people use the Opera browser and that the IE browser is really slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They seem about the same to me. Though I can't get opera to work when on wifi.
But I also found the Skyfire browser, but I have also seen mixed reviews on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, It used to work great for me about a year ago on my BlackJack II, But over the last year it seems to have been getting slower and slower, and buggier to boot. I thought maybe it would work like a breeze on the tilt2 having a faster processor etc... but seem to be the same old mess. Sometimes it loads up really fast, others it times out, tells me no connection, or just forgets its loading a page. Seems to be pretty hit or miss if people still have a good experience with it.
On my PC I used Google Chrome (which I love!), anyone know if Google is going to come out with a WinMo browser? (Yeah, I know that they have their own OS but thats not the point). Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, they are not. They only did that for windows desktop to pull people into the google experience on the desktop so they will be more willing to switch to chromium OS. It's the same "marketing" strategy that apple uses when they force safari and quicktime on you when you install itunes. But Google plays nice and doesn't install itself behind your back.

I pretty much just use Opera 9.7. Seems to work as well as anything. If you're looking for something like Skyfire (compressed proxy based browser) Opera Mini works pretty well, standalone version linked.

Opera 9.7 for me too. I prefer the scalable zoom over the 2 fixed zoom levels of Opera 10.
Once in a while, I will use Skyfire. A few sites seem to render better on Skyfire then Opera. But its Opera most of the time for me. Opera seems to be faster, and has a better zoom control.
IE is amazingly slow on my phone.

Skyfire FTW!!!

Opera 10 is working awesomely for me

Opera Mini 5 with the embedded Java package that someone here on XDA put together.
Mini is SO MUCH faster that Opera Mobile. Not even close IMO. It also seems to render most webpages better.
Skyfire is ok, but I tried an older version which was a bit buggy, not sure if their latest releases are better.

If you want to see flash then Skyfire for sure. For other things I use Opera 10.

@ those using Opera 10: anyone successfully got the zoombar working. I thought I read somewhere about people working on this? I find 10 faster but as previously mentioned, control over zoom is needed.

I've been using SkyFire for about 6 months and I have loved it, BUT!!! the past couple days it has been total crap. They say they are fixing it on their forums... We will see... Opera it is for now.

agrickard said:
@ those using Opera 10: anyone successfully got the zoombar working. I thought I read somewhere about people working on this? I find 10 faster but as previously mentioned, control over zoom is needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Opera 10 only have 2 zoom levels built-in (no scalable zoom), so the zoombar isn't going to work. I don't believe a hack is possible, since there is nothing there to hack (no scalable zoom to link the zoombar with).

Thanks for all of your opinions. I might try Opera Mini out when I get back home. But ill probably just play it safe for a while, in regards to Skyfire.

opera is a nice browser but it's pretty slow in my opinion. I have yet to try opera mini so I may give it a try. So far my fav is skyfire because it's the fastest that I have ever used. I think MS should just buy skyfire and put it in their windows mobile. It may help them to sell their windows mobile phone>
anyone know if our zoom bar can work with opera mini? One of my problem with skyfire is the zoom bar not working with it.