GKL

Based on personal experience from having used it for a while, what is the best browser app for Android tablets that works consistantly well without having problems ?

Thanks in advance for any help !

Wattsy

Dolphin for me. Runs quickly and I paticularly like the layout.
Although very recently downloaded Chrome but only used a couple of times so unsure at the mo as to whether better than Dolphin.

Rachel A

I personally use Dolphin simply because it has addons for Pocket and Evernote.

Boat is another very good browser.

Chrome is OK - has one or two nice features but feels somewhat lacking right now. The potential is definitely there though. Chrome also requires ICS or Jelly Bean.

XScope I tried some time ago and wasn't impressed. I understand it's had a significant rewrite since then.

Maxathon looks pretty decent and there's also a desktop version it can sync to.

At the end of the day it really comes down to personal preference though.

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GKL

Looks like 2 votes for Dolphin !

Thanks for the feedback, the main 2 I had previously read were worth trying was the Chrome and Dolphin, but I wanted to see what others would say.

I was originally leaning towards trying Chrome, but I especially like the comment about Dolphin running quickly (slow apps can be so painful ) so now I am considering making Dolphin my choice even though I still might do a little more research before deciding for sure.

Thanks y'all !

UrsusVIIILXXXVII

Besides the stock browser, I have Dolphin, Firefox and Chrome ins. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Some sites work better on one browser than the other.

deXtra

I use opera mobile It's some sort of habit for me. Use it for a long time on Android.

GKL

other than the consideration that "Some sites work better on one browser than the other" do you have a favorite, if you could only use one, which one would you choose ?

STEye

I am a fan of the Chrome browser that comes with the Nexus 7. It is very fluid and isn't buggy!

justaneonlol

Opera is my favorite. Love the layout, love that it auto fits to the screen as you zoom in and out, etc.

UrsusVIIILXXXVII

If I absolutely had to choose one, right now it would be Firefox for me. There's still a lot of sites that use flash and Firefox can handle it. It's not blazingly fast and I'm not a fan of their tab switching interface (that win goes to Chrome).

Dolphin was my go to browser with my old Droid X. One of the best things I love about it is the custom gestures you can create. Instead of just keeping bookmarks, I made gestures that would take me to whatever sites I wanted. It's about on par with Firefox but they both can be slow if there's a lot of add ons installed.

Chrome, apart from no flash support, is a great browser. It's smooth, fast and the tap to zoom for text can't be beat. I also like the feature of a little window popping up if you tap somewhere on the screen that has links close together. Take forums for example. The line of pages for a thread can be tricky sometimes. Say you want page 4 but you accidentally tap the link to page 3. Chrome shows a zoomed in bubble basically to double check that what you meant to tap is actually loaded. The tab interface I mentioned earlier is great. Besides the tab button that shows each tab card style, you can switch by sliding either from the left or right edge. The fact that it's only available for ICS or Jelly Bean does leave a ton of Gingerbread users out in the cold.

One other thing some people may like is that Firefox and Dolphin have an actual exit feature whereas Chrome and the stock browser can't actually be completely closed like that. Android is designed to take care of memory on its own but sometimes it's easier if an app can be closed without having to go to Settings/Apps to do it.

Don't know if any of that makes your choice easier. My advice would be just to give each one a try for a few days. They're all free so why not, right?

kct1975

My favorite is Nine Sky

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Adauth

Dolphin mini for me.

GKL

Thanks for all the replies and various suggestions, like one poster said, they're all free so why not try each one.

I think I might try Dolphin first, and perhaps only try other ones if Dolphin does not work for what I need it to do or if it turns glitchly.

I just checked the Dolphin page on Google Play and it said:

★ #1 Mobile Web Browser on Android Market
★ Over 10,000,000 total downloads
★ #2 on CNET’s 100 Android Apps for 2011
★ #1 PC Mag’s "The 40 Best Free Apps for 2011"

itsallgood

You might want to check out Dolphin Beta, which is a new browser, that might be for tablets. I am using it on my smartphone and I really love it. Its fast, have a lot of features, love the tab layout and customization and add ons.

ngrygier

Dolphin is my personal favorite.

GKL

Thanks !

I haven't tried it yet, will likely download it for my tablet within the next day or two.

I just hope they do not force automatic updates, I have read comments on some highly rated apps where users said they were really happy with the app and had been using it successfully for a long time, but as soon as the developer issued an update they started having problems.

as the old saying goes ......if it's not broke - don't fix it !

(IF the developer does do an update - make it optional - because some of us might want to wait till after others have used the update for a while to see if it has glitches to be fixed first)

bruce73

Are there plans in the works for Chrome to support Flash? It's kinda surprising it doesn't.

Rachel A

None whatsoever. Flash on Android pretty much over. Adobe no longer offers it up to be downloaded to new users.

Chrome will never support Flash. It's geared for HTML5.

Metroid Prime

Dolphin Browser.

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aysiu

For the longest time I used Dolphin and kept coming back to Dolphin. Now I'm on Opera Mobile. Tabs are easier to manage now, and tabs actually will load in the background and not reload when you select them.

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bigoldthor

+1 for Dolphin. Chrome has crashed numerous times on my Galaxy S2 ATT running ICS. Took the whole phone down. Has great potential, though. Like some of the features the earlier poster mentioned.

Dolphin is just fast and I love the way it zooms and autofits. I don't use gestures and add ons.

Tried Opera, Firefox, UC Browser, and all had issues or quirks that just didn't work for me.

YMMV

UrsusVIIILXXXVII

There's been many times when an app I use has an update available but if I see in the change log that it's just a minor update like bug fixes, and I'm not experiencing any bugs, I'll just ignore it until a more substantial update comes out. Just make sure you don't have automatic updates checked in the Play Store.

GKL

Not that the other browsers might work ok for some users, it seems like Dolphin is getting the most overall positive comments, so I'll likely be giving Dolphin a try within the next day or two.

Thanks for the info on making sure I don't have automatic updates checked !

chengkai

i love maxthon browser . fast and flexible easy to syn bookmark from pc browser.
The most special is that you can customize your own browser. try to search "custom browser"

colmmcgrath

Google chrome is the most ideal browser for tablets

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Last edited by colmmcgrath; January 30th, 2013 at 05:19 AM.

AliceWonder

Personally I prefer Opera Mobile.

I've used dolphin, but Opera Mobile just feels better to me.

vph

Hi to everybody!

Any idea which browser can play links like:
mms://some_address/some_file.wmv

I can't use a player as I need it for online subscription based TV where I need to login first then select the file or channel.

Thanks,
vph

Last edited by vph; August 23rd, 2012 at 07:57 AM.

Rachel A

Sounds like you'll be playing DRM protected content. AFAIK Android is not capable of playing DRM protected WMV files.

vph

well, I'm not familiar with DRM but on a normal computer I first login and then when I click the link, it opens VLC player. I think that if the browser had the ability to open external applications based on different protocols ( mms:// in this case) it would work.

itsallgood

I don't have auto updates checked, since I prefer to see what apps are being updated, what the update is for and what people are saying about the update. It does take more time to update apps and I have to check for updates at least every few days. But, it has worked for me.

Rachel A

Apparently there is a beta player for Android.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-android.html

vph

Thanks Rachel, but even if I have VLC I still can not make the browser use an external application. I don't want to manually copy&paste the address from the browser to the player. This is why I'm looking for a browser which can do that.

chanchan05

Weird. On my phone the stock browser asks what player I want to open a video on. I Actually choose MoboPlayer

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vph

I find it strange too. I'm playing in the moment with a mini PC
(Wholesale Product Snapshot Product name is HongKong Post Freeshipping IPTV MK802 Allwinner A10 Android 4.0 RAM 1GB ROM 4GB 1.5GHz PC Mini TV Box Smart Android Box) which is with Android 4. Maybe my problem is just a bug specific to this product.

AliceWonder

Could it be an html5 video?

vph

I don't know. I just found something I missed: my provider's site is suggesting to use Daroon Player. I'll try it later today.
But again, if the browser doesn't ask for external application even the best player is useless here ;-)

Last edited by vph; August 23rd, 2012 at 01:13 PM.

kurtyyyyyy

Boat

vph

I tested Daroon Player and it did the job. Now the browser is asking for a external application and then it starts the player.

Thanks to everybody who replied and tried to help!

Rachel A

So glad to hear you're off and running. Good job!

Enjoy those videos

GKL

Well, I've tried Dolphin some over the past few days and so far it is working fine for me !

(the built-in browser did not work even close to as good as Dolphin)

barwink

I'm not objective since I have my browser out on the play store
Spearmint web browser - it's based on FF open source code with built in ad-block and a different UI and design

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=iron.web.browser.spearmint&feature=sear ch_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImlyb24ud2ViLmJyb3dzZ XIuc3BlYXJtaW50Il0.

perfum

personally i use opera.but also suggest for dolphin. both are good.

funpig

+1 for Boat, after trying Opera and Dolphin.

It is pretty lightweight and will wrap text so I can see all the text on the page when I zoom without need to pan back and forth. Some website videos do not work well, but then I revert to the stock browser which seems to play all the videos (Galaxy Tab 7 plus).

mplevy

I have Dolphin, Firefox and the stock browser on my phone with Chrome as an additional on my tablet (it has ICS while my phone doesn't). I prefer Chrome on the tablet and the stock browser on my phone. I actually hardly ever use Dolphin or Firefox. The nice thing about Chrome and Firefox is the settings/password/bookmarks sync to the PC versions.