# Best mobile browser to use with the forum on Android



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

*So which browser is best?*

For a long time I've had a Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 on Android 2.2.1 on a custom ROM (*****'s 9.5) and I've been using Dolphin HD and its been great. It's based on the stock browser but with custom features. The best thing has been the ability to zoom to the point where the text looks good then double tap the screen so the text wraps within the screen at that font size - so no need to pan. Cut and paste worked great with the inbuilt Swype keyboard on the phone - the only problem was the text focus moving off screen when you typed in the browser but it could be improved a little if you dragged left and selected full screen mode. This was an early Android issue with the stock browser and doesn't happen with later Android. The other good thing was this forum appeared exactly as it does on a PC with nothing missing - I need that.

Over time my phone has got a little slow with some websites and app load, and battery life has been suffering. So, I decided to upgrade to a Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 running Android 4.2.1. In comparison it's hugely faster and smoother and the battery life is far better. I've yet to install a custom ROM for some extra features but I've been testing.browsers to see what works best with the forum and in general and thought this might help others, or may generate some good advice. Here are just a few I compared recently...








*Dolphin HD*

I've found that the latest Dolphin HD is now very slow, especially with this forum and some other forums - to the extent that I had to install an older version rather than the latest. The stock browser also seemed slow - both seemed to struggle to render the screen.








*Chrome*

I tried Google Chrome which was much faster at redrawing the screen and panning around but there's no on the fly word wrap - You can use the accessibility setting to define a fixed font size for word wrap display when double tapping but it displays posts with seemingly random font size which is a pain when reading a thread.








*Opera*

I've found that Opera now has an auto text wrap setting and it does seem to display the forum as per PC with everything in proportion. This may become my default browser now. It's also fast to redraw the screen and works well with cut and paste for editing. I believe it's not based on the stock browser engine but a ground up implementation.








*Swype keyboard*

Ok not a browser but worth a mention. All the browsers I've tested with the later Android interfere with and replace the otherwise excellent Swype keyboard editing facility and disable some of it's highlight, copy and paste functions, replacing them with the native Android version, although you can still use Swype arrow keys and perhaps select all. Swype works with full function in other apps, so you've got to get used to losing its edit facility in a browser and using the native Android facility instead (seems to be either or) - but Swype's text entry is now phenomenal compared to former versions - it's so fast to type and there's none of the storing part word corrections as full words in the dictionary - now entry into the dictionary is prompted for confirmation and you can edit the dictionary. There's even a word prediction as you go along which is fun but I digress.

Let's hear your comments and get your vote for the best browser for Android. The poll is never ending and you can change your mind if you try something out and find it better


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

I use chrome on my galaxy tab 2 on jellybean, works fine. The stock browser was unusable after upgrading from gingerbread.


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## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

Android browsers have always been a bit of a pain. We're using KitKat on both phones (been using Android phones since FROYO on a HTC Desire & Wildfire), and JellyBean on the tablet. Until recently we have used exclusively Dolphin which does most things fairly well, however we did play with Puffin which was very fast but not as good at displaying sites correctly.

However I read a report Monday about the latest Firefox. I use Firefox on our PC's and it has been my PC browser of choice for about 10 years, but on Android it has been a big disappointment, being very slow. The latest version is (so far) a revelation and it looks like finally Firefox will become our browser of choice for Android.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I'll have to try Firefox again. The last time I tried it was too quirky and all the text was in italic which didn't aid faithful reproduction of a website very well but things change.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I decided to simplify the poll down to the individual browsers only and add more in. Undoubtedly there are issues with versions of Android but you've also got versions off each browser too so best kept simple. People can always post a comment. Unfortunately that's reset the pole but only Brian had voted for Chrome so I did too to keep it the same - perhaps you'll vote for me when I make my mind up Brian :wink:

On my 4.1.2 Android I've just tested the latest Firefox, Next and Puffin. I found Firefox has the same issues with the keyboard as Chrome and also like Chrome renders big and small text for different posts down a thread despite what size of text you tell it to use - so no better. Next Browser, surprisingly, integrated the Swype keyboard edit functions successfully but then fails by allowing the highlight to jump off screen so you can't see what you are doing. The screen redraw is also rendered slowly like Stock and Dolphin HD. Puffin too, displays big and small text in a thread and also has the Swype eyboard issues . More to test later. Overall I'm swaying to Opera so far.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I'm just trying out UC Browser and so far it's excellent. It wraps text automatically with all font at the correct size, really nicely in this text edit box as I type too, it's fast and it correctly integrates the Swype keyboard edit functions! It's got some very neat tools too and flash support. This is pretty sleek. This could be the one.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Just trying Maxthon - it wraps text by default and displays fonts at consistent size but it's very slow to draw the screen and clunky panning about, with no Swype keyboard edit integration. Not for me.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Opera mini - quick and has the word wrap function but a fixed small font size when entering text - a pain for tired eyes. You can change the default size but you can't do it dynamically. It does allow the Swype edit functions to work which is nice. Strange that it's big brother doesn't.

Having said that text wrapping seems to have stopped working and I had to force close to exit as it seems to get stuck in a loop. Not good.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Baidu - slow to redraw and type. Don't bother.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Boat - slow page draw. No text wrap. No Swype edit.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Easy Browser - same as Boat browser.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Link Bubble - slow to draw and too weird.


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