Is xscope worth the purchase?

[jacko9000]

Opera Mobile gets around it by expanding the area so that it doesn't need to be scrolled. But if there's a lot of information in the scrollable area you can end up with a very long web page. At least you get to see everything, though.

 

[jacko9000]

Well, I can't find any more browsers which aren't WebKit based, and I've looked at a lot.

There is a massive gap in the market for an Android browser which renders exactly like a desktop browser. Google Chrome on ICS falls way short.

It seems to me that Android users are being misled into believing that they have an extensive choice of browsers, when in fact they have less than five; all those based on WebKit counting as one, plus the (very) few that aren't.

Hopefully this will change in the future.

Regards,
Jacko

 

[aysiu]

For me, browser choice is more about features and user interface than it is about using a different rendering engine.

 

[jacko9000]

For me, browser choice is more about features and user interface than it is about using a different rendering engine.

I agree that these are what make one browser more user-friendly than another. But if the rendering engine is not displaying the website properly, then these become secondary. By "properly" I mean according to W3C standards.

It's interesting to note that Google is launching an initiative to encourage web developers to make their sites mobile friendly. The fact is that web developers shouldn't have to do anything to make their sites mobile friendly. If the developer has followed W3C standards and the website works in a desktop browser, then it should automatically work in a mobile browser.

In other words, it's Google who should be making the effort to make the stock browser in Android behave properly. Web developers shouldn't have to do anything.

 

[Dead_Droid]

I believe I have tried most of them, and xscope really hasn't impressed me much.

I now have the feeling that I will be settling on Boat Browser. Its much faster than Dolphin with none such clutter. It doesn't make shady sales pitches like Skyfire does. Its more evolved than Galapagos, it's much better altogether than Ninesky (the biggest at over 9 MB, and also slower than Dolphin), while hardly as emasculated as any of the mini browsers (tried Dolphin and Opera versions) - this one plays streaming video! It's not the fastest, but it's the best I've seen of the non-mini browsers, the smart layout isn't too ugly, and it doesn't cause me headaches.

One of Boat's nice touches is 12, not just nine home-page shortcuts. Another is the bookmark access, you only need to push one button to access them. Adding new bookmarks doesn't get better, there's a button right by your URL - the process is simplified to the point of pushing that button, confirm, and forget about it. Love it!

 

[tcat007]

You just listed all the things I like about Xscope, and Xscope has unlimited BM home page shortcuts, and pinch zooms on all mobile pages. I tried Boat for about 3 months last year, but Xscope just seems to display many more pages much better. Just long press the URL to add to bookmarks. Also easier to go to full screen in portrait mode.

I believe I have tried most of them, and xscope really hasn't impressed me much.

I now have the feeling that I will be settling on Boat Browser. Its much faster than Dolphin with none such clutter. It doesn't make shady sales pitches like Skyfire does. Its more evolved than Galapagos, it's much better altogether than Ninesky (the biggest at over 9 MB, and also slower than Dolphin), while hardly as emasculated as any of the mini browsers (tried Dolphin and Opera versions) - this one plays streaming video! It's not the fastest, but it's the best I've seen of the non-mini browsers, the smart layout isn't too ugly, and it doesn't cause me headaches.

One of Boat's nice touches is 12, not just nine home-page shortcuts. Another is the bookmark access, you only need to push one button to access them. Adding new bookmarks doesn't get better, there's a button right by your URL - the process is simplified to the point of pushing that button, confirm, and forget about it. Love it!

 

[jacko9000]

xScope doesn't support HTTP authentication. None of the WebKit browsers do. A glaring omission by Google. Since only Firefox and Opera Mobile (non-WebKit browsers) support this, my browser choices are these two only. WebKit on Android is poor and is a web developer's nightmare. It's a disgrace that Google is trying to pass the buck to web developers when WebKit on Android is severely lacking.

 

[aysiu]

What do you mean by "HTTP authentication"? Can you give an example website?

 

[tcat007]

Basic access authentication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't really follow the techie side of this, and can't see how it effects anything I do. I have no problems logging into anything.

 

[jacko9000]

Hope this reply posts OK as I'm trying out a different phone.

HTTP authentication allows the server to ask the client (e.g. the web browser) to supply a username and password before, for example, downloading a file or viewing a web page.

All browsers should support this. On a browser which doesn't, the server asks the browser for the username and password. The browser then displays the dialog to ask for these details. But after they are entered, the browser doesn't pass them to the server and a "401 Unauthorized" page is displayed.

This bug was reported to Google back in 2008: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1353 but they never fixed it.

So if you haven't had any access problems yet it's because the web developer has implemented a workaround, which is time-consuming for them and they shouldn't have to do it in the first place.

But if you do have access problems in future, try Firefox or Opera Mobile and it will work.

 

[aysiu]

So if you haven't had any access problems yet it's because the web developer has implemented a workaround, which is time-consuming for them and they shouldn't have to do it in the first place.

Can you post an example of a page I would get this 401 error message on, a page that doesn't have the workaround implemented on?

 

[jacko9000]

Can you post an example of a page I would get this 401 error message on, a page that doesn't have the workaround implemented on?

Sorry aysiu, but this error normally occurs on sites which require registration and then payment for downloads, and I'm not a member of any.

But the 401 error question arises regularly on the internet, either from Android users who can't download files from a private location, or from web developers confused as to why their site doesn't authenticate on Android.

I think it's great that Firefox and Opera have decided not to jump on the WebKit train and are building their browsers from scratch. I believe they will benefit from this in the long run. However, in my opinion, neither of them is ready yet to be used as an everyday browser. I only use them when something doesn't work in xScope. But the speed of browsing in the Firefox 14 nightly builds is impressive.

At the end of the day, whatever happens, Google will be a winner because its search is integrated into both Firefox and Opera Mobile.

 

[aysiu]

Okay. So it's a real issue, but it's also a niche issue. That's good to know. I hope they fix it. At the same time, I've been using Android (and webkit browsers) since 2009, and I've never experienced the issue, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.