Dolphin Browser and Google Search

[Bswartz95]

What's the verdict regarding the Dolphin Browser and power consumption. Is it greater than the stock browser?

 

[Ruh17]

I'm a pretty heavy user during the day and i don't notice any difference in powers usage between the stock browser and Dolphin

However.....

Just got the latest update to Dolphin today... and they got rid of the only reason I use it over the stock browser. You no longer have access to the notification bar!!!! WHY!!!!????? Why would you do this dolphin? Now i have zero reasons to use this browser over the stock browser. Boooo
I hope people using Dolphin enjoy that extra 2 millimeters of screen space

Why even create an app for an Android phone if you are going to get rid of the notification bar? Wasn't that one of the main perks of the Android system? Ugghh

^^^
The above is hogwash. I am removing my size 12 foot from my mouth as we speak.

 

[Bswartz95]

I'm a pretty heavy user during the day and i don't notice any difference in powers usage between the stock browser and Dolphin

However.....

Just got the latest update to Dolphin today... and they got rid of the only reason I use it over the stock browser. You no longer have access to the notification bar!!!! WHY!!!!????? Why would you do this dolphin? Now i have zero reasons to use this browser over the stock browser. Boooo
I hope people using Dolphin enjoy that extra 2 millimeters of screen space

Why even create an app for an Android phone if you are going to get rid of the notification bar? Wasn't that one of the main perks of the Android system? Ugghh

Wait, I downloaded it today and have access to the notification bar. You have to wait for the page to load completely, then it appears.

 

[Ruh17]

Not for me, did you get the new latest update today? Pages are fully loaded and no notification bar.
Only reason i noticed is because i was reading an article online, while driving, and eating a cheeseburger, and i received a text message. But, had no way to view it anymore without exiting the browser. ..
Also now if you push menu there is an entirely different menu..
....

EUREKA!!!! In the new menu there is a tab to click to have your notification bar visible... Duh!

 

[Ruh17]

Yes, you did get the download today... as you previously stated and i glossed over.


The new menu actually improves Dolphin a lot, gives you a few more options.

I retrack and redact and take back my previous diatribe about the awful people who created Dolphin. You are back in the circle of trust boys.

 

[Lloyd Christmas]

I set Dolphin as my default browser.

If I use the Google search widget, it opens up the stock browser, then if I click a link, it opens the link in Dolphin. wtf?

How can I make the search default to Dolphin?

eta: what is the pay version of Dolphin and is it worth it?

Anybody have a clue to the OP problem? I'm experiencing this as well and I have the latest update too.

 

[MisterMcGoo]

Anybody have a clue to the OP problem? I'm experiencing this as well and I have the latest update too.

Dude, awesome moniker!

 

[Bravo311]

Not to take sides but I installed the Dolphin Browser on Monday and did notice my battery drained faster than before with the same amount of daily usage. I didn't clear my cache or anything. I unistalled it on Thursday and my battery life went back to normal. Nothing scientific, just my own personal observations.

 

[Bswartz95]

Not to take sides but I installed the Dolphin Browser on Monday and did notice my battery drained faster than before with the same amount of daily usage. I didn't clear my cache or anything. I unistalled it on Thursday and my battery life went back to normal. Nothing scientific, just my own personal observations.

I found the same to be true on my phone.

Any other browsers? I've been reading about xScope. I can't find it in the Market though. Is that not for the 1.5?

 

[CTS]

How do you change default browsers? I've got both loaded and now I'm getting Dolphin whenever I click a link; I'd like to experiment w/it for a while before committing.

Also, I see all the various "L" "W" gestures you can do with Dolphin, but where's the pinch feature? I'm running Android 1.5; is there a chance that's the problem?

 

[BoulderAndroidFan]

I was a faithful Dolphin browser user--even after their recent update. But I've gone back to using the stock browser. I found out I liked it better overall. It seems to load webpages much faster than Dolphin, and it's integrated with phone so tightly that even if Dolphin is set as the default, the Google search button will initially try the stock browser then load Dolphin like Apollos's original post question. I like how bookmarks can be organized alphabetically, newest or, even better, by most used. I also find the interface more intuitive and takes less steps to open new sites and move about the web. I'll miss the "read later" feature and pinch and zoom in Dolphin, but overall, I'm back to using the stock browser all the time. Also, I remember Steve Jobs dissing how mobile sites look so bad compared to full websites when he introduced the iphone a few years back--touting pinch and zoom as the answer to view full sites on tiny screens. But I think that mobile optimized sites are cleaner, faster and yield information much better on smartphones than full sites. Mobi iNet is a great app that categorizes and identifies many great mobile optimized sites like a giant bookmark folder. I'd take any of those mobile sites over the full sites on my Eris any day without fear of losing any content. Enough of my rant!

 

[deman89]

I don't think you can do that. There were a few things that irked me about the Dolphin browser and that was one of them (using different programs instead of just using Dolphin itself to open or view something). I didn't like not having an option to bring the bookmarks over from the standard browser over to Dolphin either.

I just wanna throw this out there, but Google Reader is the GOAT thing you can have if you read the news online. Set a bookmark on your home screen, subscribe to the feeds to the sites you like, and you've lost most of the problems you'll have with your browser. It's faster, neat and clean, and it's all in one place. Plus, you don't have to check to see if there's new stuff, it'll tell you.

Google's taken over my (internet) life, and I couldn't be happier.

I love the app NewRob for that, though no need to use browser at all...

 

[BoulderAndroidFan]

How do you change default browsers? I've got both loaded and now I'm getting Dolphin whenever I click a link; I'd like to experiment w/it for a while before committing.

Also, I see all the various "L" "W" gestures you can do with Dolphin, but where's the pinch feature? I'm running Android 1.5; is there a chance that's the problem?

Dolphin/settings/uncheck "Always check default browser" if you don't want the choice between Dolphin and stock when launching a browser, and uncheck "set as default browser" if you want to go back to using just the stock browser all the time.

 

[CTS]

How do you organize bookmarks on the stock browser? I ported mine over from Firefox, but I don't see a Firefox-like "organize bookmarks option."

I was a faithful Dolphin browser user--even after their recent update. But I've gone back to using the stock browser. I found out I liked it better overall. It seems to load webpages much faster than Dolphin, and it's integrated with phone so tightly that even if Dolphin is set as the default, the Google search button will initially try the stock browser then load Dolphin like Apollos's original post question. I like how bookmarks can be organized alphabetically, newest or, even better, by most used. I also find the interface more intuitive and takes less steps to open new sites and move about the web. I'll miss the "read later" feature and pinch and zoom in Dolphin, but overall, I'm back to using the stock browser all the time. Also, I remember Steve Jobs dissing how mobile sites look so bad compared to full websites when he introduced the iphone a few years back--touting pinch and zoom as the answer to view full sites on tiny screens. But I think that mobile optimized sites are cleaner, faster and yield information much better on smartphones than full sites. Mobi iNet is a great app that categorizes and identifies many great mobile optimized sites like a giant bookmark folder. I'd take any of those mobile sites over the full sites on my Eris any day without fear of losing any content. Enough of my rant!

 

[BoulderAndroidFan]

How do you organize bookmarks on the stock browser? I ported mine over from Firefox, but I don't see a Firefox-like "organize bookmarks option."

Launch stock Browser/press Menu (on phone)/Bookmarks (lower left option)/press Menu on phone again to see bookmark options such as sort by, thumbnails or list view, edit, etc. Unfortunately, you can't organize into folders, but at least you have some useful sort options. In Dolphin, I was using their category labels--but it was a lot of work and still wasn't as useful as accessing most used or alphabetical listing of bookmarks.

HJow did you import your Firefox bookmarks?

 

[BoulderAndroidFan]

There is another way--though it's pretty labor intensive, to organize bookmarks into folders on your homescreen. You can add shortcuts of bookmarks by longpressing on a clear spot on your homescreen. Keep at least one clear spot to keep adding bookmarks then dragging them over to a relevant folder that you've created. That's about the only other way I know to organize folders of bookmarks. It takes time and homescreen real estate, though.

 

[CTS]

Launch stock Browser/press Menu (on phone)/Bookmarks (lower left option)/press Menu on phone again to see bookmark options such as sort by, thumbnails or list view, edit, etc. Unfortunately, you can't organize into folders, but at least you have some useful sort options. In Dolphin, I was using their category labels--but it was a lot of work and still wasn't as useful as accessing most used or alphabetical listing of bookmarks.

HJow did you import your Firefox bookmarks?

1. I'm not seeing that sequence. When I press menu, Bookmarks shows up as the center-top option. (Refresh is lower-left.) I click Bookmarks, then menu again, and the only option I see is "bookmark last page."

2. I exported my Firefox bookmarks (by opening "Organize Bookmarks," clicking on the third of three buttons--the icon is indescribable, by me anyway--and clicking "export html." I exported to me desktop.) Then I moved that file to my phone, after attaching the phone to my iMac with a USB. Then I used an app that uploads the file to the browser--either "My Bookmarks" or "Bookmarks Importer," can't remember which one.

Come to think of it, if you just get those free apps, they provide instructions.

 

[BoulderAndroidFan]

1. I'm not seeing that sequence. When I press menu, Bookmarks shows up as the center-top option. (Refresh is lower-left.) I click Bookmarks, then menu again, and the only option I see is "bookmark last page."

2. I exported my Firefox bookmarks (by opening "Organize Bookmarks," clicking on the third of three buttons--the icon is indescribable, by me anyway--and clicking "export html." I exported to me desktop.) Then I moved that file to my phone, after attaching the phone to my iMac with a USB. Then I used an app that uploads the file to the browser--either "My Bookmarks" or "Bookmarks Importer," can't remember which one.

Come to think of it, if you just get those free apps, they provide instructions.

That's odd. When I hit Menu with the stock browser up (on an HTC Eris), I get 6 square panel buttons on the bottom of the viewer in this order (clockwise from bottom left) Bookmarks, back, forward, add bookmark, more, and windows (which is center at the bottom.) Anyone else get this too?

 

[CTS]

For reference, I've got a Moment running 1.5. I see, from bottom left: refresh, go, bookmarks, new window, more, and forward.