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xScope, a multitouch pinch zoom browser

I am a different type of developer, but have been a part of the same misconstrued commenting. Never will everyone be happy. Making this latest release a free upgrade to those of us who paid for the first copies is a huge step of unselfishness, and most appreciate it very much. Maybe we should start a new thread though for version 6 discussion?

Keep up the good work ...
 
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By the way, the old paid version is giving free at xScope.net.
So what does that mean? Can we load that and then "upgrade" to the new version? But, if un-install is necessary or you get the FCs how does that work?

And what exactly is this new trial version? Will it fully function, except for the watermark or what other restrictions are there?

It's too bad people don't read and didn't see to uninstall first, but it's also too bad there's not a way to not need to do that and avoid the FCs.
 
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Wow I read some too. You are absolutely making right observations here. So polarizing.

I can't leave my existing paid users and then make another app. I am committed. I am definitely expecting all those frustrations and angers. I wish I could vent my angers too but at the end, I remind myself that I am 40 years old and I'd better spent my limited time wisely on issue.

By the way, the old paid version is giving free at xScope.net.

Maybe the best thing would have been to A) MAKE THE INSTALL INSTRCCTIONS IN CAPS SO THEY ARENT EASILY MISSED or B) Make the pay version of original xScope upgradable to the paid version of new xScope, but then have two separate free versions of new and old.
 
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So what does that mean? Can we load that and then "upgrade" to the new version? But, if un-install is necessary or you get the FCs how does that work?

And what exactly is this new trial version? Will it fully function, except for the watermark or what other restrictions are there?

It's too bad people don't read and didn't see to uninstall first, but it's also too bad there's not a way to not need to do that and avoid the FCs.

Well, the market knows if you actually paid for the previous pay version or not and thats how the upgrade is done. You cant get the apk from his site I would assume and then just update it through the market for the new one.
 
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I really like the new smooth animations, and I am LOVING the cached previously viewed pages.

A few things that I miss, and a few suggestions (Please, I am NOT trying to tear down this app, I LOVE it and have been a long time paid user. Take my opinions however you like):

1. (This is the most critical loss IMO) I miss the ability to hide the tabs, UNLESS there is more than one (then the tabs always appear at the top until you get back down to a single tab again). I know that the option is still supposedly there in the settings, but it doesn't work. As it is, no matter what I choose in the options, they are either always there, or always hidden. Also, if this were again made a possibility, it would make the tab selection in the bottom bar redundant.

2. The Quit option is buried deeper into the bottom bar (maybe if the tabs were in use, the tab button could be changed to a quit button?).

3. The bars appear by default when opening the browser, and then I have to make them go away. I would prefer it to be the other way around to where I would have to make them appear.

4. I miss the ability to separately access the bottom bar by hitting the menu button, and the top address bar by swiping downward.

5. The sub-level options in the bottom bar need to have labels appear when the options are highlighted/pressed/selected... then again, maybe not. I'll get used to them soon.

6. The sub-level option bar could be lowered. The height of its display seems to especially become a problem in landscape viewing

7. We could maybe use a setting to disable the opening/closing animations.

8. Clicking a tab no longer dismisses that tab (I REALLY miss this option!). Instead it gives options to either create a new tab or dismiss the current tab... I prefer the old format where clicking a tab would dismiss it, and clicking the '+' tab would create a new tab.

9. Clicking the address does not allow access to the address. Instead it pops up an option to either access the address or open the page options, which is redundant because clicking the star next to the address opens the page options.

10. Pinch-Zoom opens links. Multitouch input should disable selections.



Overall, the performance increases are GREAT! But I am not a fan of the screen-intruding redundant-content popup options at the top of the screen, and the forced "all or nothing" access of the option bars in general. A GREAT start to v6 though!

Edit: And I'm not a huge fan of the new icon... not that it effects the use of the app though (and I can swap it out with bettercut).
 
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Well, the market knows if you actually paid for the previous pay version or not and thats how the upgrade is done. You cant get the apk from his site I would assume and then just update it through the market for the new one.
Agree, so then what's the point of giving away the .apk free on his site? It's not worth the pain to go get a new file and install it manually every time the program updates.

Still trying to get an answer on what exactly "trial" means in this case. Big watermark forever or something ceases to work eventually?

I think that's part of the reason for the negative comments in the market. Need to better explain what's going on.
 
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I'm getting used to it. You can't seem to edit a bookmark's title, but you can go into the default browser and do it so there is a work around. Maybe it's me. When you edit a bookmark do you save it by hitting "Save to SDcard"?

I wish the developer's website had useful information instead of some silly game they are playing with (why should I enter the address of the White House into the box? I just want info and documentation on the app I paid for.)
 
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To edit bookmarks:

On the bottom of the bookmarks page click "Manage bookmarks"
In the list, just click what you to edit. From there you can:
-Change the bookmark title
-Change the bookmark URL
-Set as your homepage
-Delete the bookmark

When done just hit "back" and everything should be saved - you may need to refresh your bookmarks page though for the changes to occur.

Edit: Actually, sometimes this seems to work and sometimes not. It seemed to work in the trial but not in the full version maybe? Odd...
 
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To edit bookmarks:

On the bottom of the bookmarks page click "Manage bookmarks"
In the list, just click what you to edit. From there you can:
-Change the bookmark title
-Change the bookmark URL
-Set as your homepage
-Delete the bookmark

When done just hit "back" and everything should be saved - you may need to refresh your bookmarks page though for the changes to occur.

Edit: Actually, sometimes this seems to work and sometimes not. It seemed to work in the trial but not in the full version maybe? Odd...

I tried your procedure with the same results. I think it's a bug in the new paid version as you said.
 
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Agree, so then what's the point of giving away the .apk free on his site? It's not worth the pain to go get a new file and install it manually every time the program updates.

Still trying to get an answer on what exactly "trial" means in this case. Big watermark forever or something ceases to work eventually?

I think that's part of the reason for the negative comments in the market. Need to better explain what's going on.

i think he put the apk on his site so if people would rather continue to use the old version they could still install it.
 
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I love the performance improvements. The animations are among the smoothest I've seen on my phone too from any app.

The few things I am missing as a long-time user of xScope.

* single-click close for the tab in focus
* the ability to swipe my URL bar and tabs down or back up.
* the ability to have my URL bar open while the menu commands are hidden.

In addition to the features and speed, what always appealed to me was how well it was suited to a power-user. Once you learned the ropes, you could do almost everything with one tap or one hold.

Great work overall, though.
 
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I agree with just about all of CriticalCritics points. And I miss when opening new tabs brought me to my bookmarks page instead of my home page. Maybe we could set it as an option?
CriticalCritic - I just logged in to post a couple of your observations, and you've hit 'em and more. #10 - Pinch-Zoom opens links - is IMO the most annoying, and I am sure that was just an oversight. Thanks for the detailed writeup. Let's hope xScope takes them to heart.
Thanks guys. I REALLY hope they are implemented too. I think droiiiiid put it best when he said:
...it was suited to a power-user. Once you learned the ropes, you could do almost everything with one tap or one hold.
The new version looks better and is faster functioning/processing, but you just couldn't beat the speed, efficiency, and intuitiveness of interacting with the old version.
 
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I really like the new smooth animations, and I am LOVING the cached previously viewed pages.

A few things that I miss, and a few suggestions (Please, I am NOT trying to tear down this app, I LOVE it and have been a long time paid user. Take my opinions however you like):

9. Clicking the address does not allow access to the address. Instead it pops up an option to either access the address or open the page options, which is redundant because clicking the star next to the address opens the page options. (Please remove this, I too find it an unnecessary step, it does make the whole process redundant)

10. Pinch-Zoom opens links. Multitouch input should disable selections.(This is really annoying and I too would like to see the sensitivity reduced)

Edit: And I'm not a huge fan of the new icon... not that it effects the use of the app though (and I can swap it out with bettercut) (Neither am I nor is anyone else I've seen commenting on the browser).

I personally grew tired of using Dolphin HD simply because it seemed to lag more and more each time I would use it. I started using Opera Mini, but the lack of pinch to zoom became a bit annoying; however I will say I did like how it handled tabs.

I found the new Xscope 6 browser today via one of the many forums I peruse and decided to give it a try, liked it enough that I decided to buy it. **side rant** I personally feel we as the Android community need to support our Developers and stop trying to share everything. We complain we don't have enough high quality apps, but when one comes along we don't respect the dev enough to buy him/her a cup of coffee.... I digress.

Of all the browsers thus far this is my favorite (visually speaking mostly). IMO it's also faster than the stock browser, let alone any other in the market place and is the cleanest / feature packed to date. My only gripe and please.... please let me know if there is an option to change this is that the pinch to zoom function does not format the text correctly at all! If I zoom in close, it doesn't scale the text to fit the screen or readjust the picture/text formatting. It simply scales the text along with the page and is just plain annoying.

Again, if there is a fix for this or I
 
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Lots of constructive discussions going on here. Thank God!
6 is totally different under the hood. Currently I still spent most of my time stabilizing it so technically, the testing burden is on YOU :D Bugs are expected and if you call it alpha or beta, I would agree.
After it is stabilized, I will start adding old features back and implementing many good suggestions here. I will spend quite sometime on coding lately so sorry can't reply every post.

SHO_ONE: Thank you for being so considerate and respectful. I imagine in real world you are a great guy to hang out with too.

Droiiiiiiiid: I need you to buy wife a nice android phone again, and then put xScope on it so I can earn $2 from you. It works out for both your wife and me and I can't think of any downside of that:D
 
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My only gripe and please.... please let me know if there is an option to change this is that the pinch to zoom function does not format the text correctly at all! If I zoom in close, it doesn't scale the text to fit the screen or readjust the picture/text formatting. It simply scales the text along with the page and is just plain annoying.

Again, if there is a fix for this or I
 
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Xscope does not reflow text properly. It only reflows at fixed font sizes so it will either enlarge or shrink the text size you want to reflow to the nearest step. My biggest gripe and hopefully it will be fixed.

One bug I found in the new version is that the button that shows the thumbnails of all open windows only appears if there is one one window open. Totally defeating the purpose of the button.

So what do you say xscope, think this could be resolved? Out would be nice to get the text to format correctly so that reading my favorite forum (phandroid) is a bit easier... Again, thanks for the comment. Next time lets call it a beer instead of coffee :)

Just wanted to add.... Thank you for an awesome app, keep it up!
 
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