• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

xScope, a multitouch pinch zoom browser

There seems to be a rather important issue with xScope at the moment, it doesn't seem to want to close properly - CPU usage is still ~40-90% after closing (even when clicking the exit button), and the only way to resolve it is to use a task killer to kill the process. Just had a quick look around the internet and it seems that other people are having this problem as well, many more without realising it I imagine. Even when turning off the device - it stays hot and burns battery like nothing else, meaning I basically have to go back to the stock browser until it's fixed. I'm running rooted 2.2 with sense on an HTC Desire for what it's worth.

I've also got a feature request - an option to clear tabs on exit, it's a little annoying clicking a shortcut to a webpage and it opening up two tabs, your old page and your new one. It would be better if there was an option to clear them on exit. Otherwise, best browser on Android !
 
Upvote 0
There seems to be a rather important issue with xScope at the moment, it doesn't seem to want to close properly - CPU usage is still ~40-90% after closing (even when clicking the exit button), and the only way to resolve it is to use a task killer to kill the process. Just had a quick look around the internet and it seems that other people are having this problem as well, many more without realising it I imagine. Even when turning off the device - it stays hot and burns battery like nothing else, meaning I basically have to go back to the stock browser until it's fixed. I'm running rooted 2.2 with sense on an HTC Desire for what it's worth.

I've also got a feature request - an option to clear tabs on exit, it's a little annoying clicking a shortcut to a webpage and it opening up two tabs, your old page and your new one. It would be better if there was an option to clear them on exit. Otherwise, best browser on Android !

I agree with that feature request, but the way I'd prefer it is if you could have a separate icon on the home screen that would always give you a fresh xScope. I often don't know when I exit whether or not I'll want those tabs back again or not.
 
Upvote 0
busy preparing xScope 6. It is backbone is coded from scratch (new Engine you can say that). Appearance will be similar on first release though. Sorry for not updating for a while.

Back to CPU thing. Here is how the flash works as I understand it. Since flash is not natively implemented as an integral part of webkit (webview), it tries to 'pretend' to be part of a webpage (like a slice of webpage). So this means that flash has to have some sort of mechanism to constantly monitor if its 'parent' (NOT in native webview hierarchy)'s status. It is doable but Adobe's implementation is VERY problematic in my personal view. I am forced to work around all the bugs. Some bugs are reported to Adobe and they admitted but couldn't come up with a fix quickly.

xScope code itself has nothing to consume CPU if:
1. you have no background downloading
2. no malicious javascript running
3. no deamon flash running

As for feature request, I will get back to those after 6 is over.
 
Upvote 0
9/7 on xScope 6.0

Still long way to go. But it is relative stable and usable now.

Again, this is totally redesigned in terms of navigations and handling of pages.

xScope, for better or worse, has been a product of genuine and original piece from very beginning. We have been worked really hard on this new update. Thank you for your patience! We wanted this new release to really improve users's productivity!
 
Upvote 0
9/7 on xScope 6.0

Still long way to go. But it is relative stable and usable now.

Again, this is totally redesigned in terms of navigations and handling of pages.

xScope, for better or worse, has been a product of genuine and original piece from very beginning. We have been worked really hard on this new update. Thank you for your patience! We wanted this new release to really improve users's productivity!

Awesome!
 
Upvote 0
Well I don't understand how the cpu could be accessing flash on my samsung epic when its not implemented on my phone? I've ran task manager force closed every running process under apps other then xscope and its still jumping up to 45% cpu usage? This happens under the free version and paid version. Loving this web browser hoping a solution is figured.
 
Upvote 0
Absolutely no looping or self-refreshing code here. The paradigm is always like
Request from user action (click a button, a link, ...) --> xScope responds --> call webkit to render result --> Done (idle doing nothing like any other apps).

When in background, it will be idle completely (except downloading of course if you have any pending).

Well I don't understand how the cpu could be accessing flash on my samsung epic when its not implemented on my phone? I've ran task manager force closed every running process under apps other then xscope and its still jumping up to 45% cpu usage? This happens under the free version and paid version. Loving this web browser hoping a solution is figured.
 
Upvote 0
Just a few quick comments after using this browser for a few hours:

First off, I like it. I'll def be using this over stock browser but Opera has several advantages over xScope so keeping that one installed for now.

Not tested speeds yet but it doesn't seem as fast as Opera to load pages (doesn't opera do some clever page optimizing before it's sent to your phone?). I also noted that xScope lags during general use compared to Opera. I have a Hero, so it's not the fasted cookie out there but Opera always seems slick and fast to scroll around pages. xScope seems sticky when scrolling pages (sometimes), as does the stock browser.

Could we have an option to hide the tabs? I have the option to have full screen when only using one tab, but can't we have it so you can have fullscreen no matter how many tabs you have? ie use vertical slide once to reveal tabs and again to reveal page menu?

I'd like an additional option when holding finger on an image to view the fullsize image in a separate tab.

I disabled the swipe for tabs because I kept swiping between tabs accidentally when I was actually just trying to scroll around a page. Would be nice to be able to customise what swipe gestures do as with Dolphin Browser.

That's all for now ... I really should be working.
 
Upvote 0
Opera renders websites on their servers and sends your phone a completely optimized version of the website to your phone I believe. So no browser that does the rendering on your end will ever match Opera speeds.
On a fast connection with a fast phone, I think other browsers can match/beat Opera.

I loved opera mini on my WM Touch Pro. It was light years faster than Opera Mobile or any other browser.

On my Droid X, the speed of other browsers is at least close enough to opera mini that it's not worth losing javascript and having pages not rendered as nicely that I no longer use it, unless somehow I have a really slow 1x connection.
 
Upvote 0
Bolty,

Those are very valid observations. Opera takes your request and process it at its server, then return its processed webpages. It can be very efficient for heavy websites but drag on light weight websites.

Wait for xScope 6. It will give users a all new level of speed. It will also have different tab handling mechanism too hopefully solving your problems.

Just a few quick comments after using this browser for a few hours:

First off, I like it. I'll def be using this over stock browser but Opera has several advantages over xScope so keeping that one installed for now.

Not tested speeds yet but it doesn't seem as fast as Opera to load pages (doesn't opera do some clever page optimizing before it's sent to your phone?). I also noted that xScope lags during general use compared to Opera. I have a Hero, so it's not the fasted cookie out there but Opera always seems slick and fast to scroll around pages. xScope seems sticky when scrolling pages (sometimes), as does the stock browser.

Could we have an option to hide the tabs? I have the option to have full screen when only using one tab, but can't we have it so you can have fullscreen no matter how many tabs you have? ie use vertical slide once to reveal tabs and again to reveal page menu?

I'd like an additional option when holding finger on an image to view the fullsize image in a separate tab.

I disabled the swipe for tabs because I kept swiping between tabs accidentally when I was actually just trying to scroll around a page. Would be nice to be able to customise what swipe gestures do as with Dolphin Browser.

That's all for now ... I really should be working.
 
Upvote 0
I have been trying this browser out today and I have two comments.

Double tap on stock zooms in and aligns text to an easily readable level. It its quicker than any manual zoom method. I may be doing something wrong but xScope doesn't seem to do this?

I cannot find a back button or a forward button. Am I missing something? hardware back button is very slow and leads me to going back further than I intended.

I really like the browser and am looking forward to version 6. Well done!
 
Upvote 0
Bolty,

Those are very valid observations. Opera takes your request and process it at its server, then return its processed webpages. It can be very efficient for heavy websites but drag on light weight websites.

Wait for xScope 6. It will give users a all new level of speed. It will also have different tab handling mechanism too hopefully solving your problems.

xScope, whats the ETA on version 6.0? Can't wait man! Keep up the good work....
 
Upvote 0
The engine is done. Working on UI now with a talented guy:D
Hopefully two or three weeks.

It is going to be only for high end phones (Droid minimum).

Do you really belongs to the xScope team? I was just wondering if it's possible to use 3d hardware acceleration for graphics, like safari on the iPhone - or like does LauncherPro on Android. Can you do this? Please, PLEASE DO IT. I'm tired of slow scrolling :( and my htc legend has got a GPU that sleeps 95% of the time :(
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones