Ad Blocker for DX

[droidborg]

I did a few searches here and didn't come up with anything.

On my desktop I had trouble with the loading speed of certain sites, particularly forums, because of ads. I use Firefox and installed ad blocker and the problem went away.

Is there an ad blocker for the stock browser on my DroidX that actually works and doesn't have any bugs? I see in apps there are several offered but none have 5 stars the best is 3.5.

If I dl a different one from the internet can I run it and have it load on the browser or is apps the only way to go?

On a somewhat unrelated topic: can I use my micro SD card as a removable drive like on a computer? Such as save files to it and then access the card to view or run them. I can't find a way to get to it on the phone. Also is there a way to select whether something goes to the card or to the hard drive?

New to the smart phone/ pocket computer scene. But liking it.:greendroid:

 

[LifeIsABeach]

The Dolphin HD browser has plug-ins one of which is called Adblocker which should do what you want. If you are rooted there is also an app called AdFree that will block adds in any browser/app.

 

[harrellj]

+1 for Dolphin + AdBlocker.

As for accessing the SD card, download a file manager app, like EStrongs or Astro. When you're asking about how to determine if something goes to the card or the hard drive, are you talking about the internal memory? If so, the only way to control that is to be on 2.2, which since you're stock, you won't have just yet. I believe the DX has plenty of internal storage though, so you shouldn't run into low memory issues for awhile, hopefully. If you get really nervous about it though, there's an app called DiskUsage which tells you how much space is being used in internal memory and on the SD card and even what the largest files are.

 

[droidborg]

I haven't rooted yet. For one I'm not sure what it would gain me except the ability to us my phone as a hotspot without paying for it but I'm not sure I really need that either. I'm not supper geeky so customizing isn't that important to me if it does what I want it to as is. I'm also waiting for the 2.2 update to roll out and see what that does. They purport that it will improve a lot of things. If not them maybe I'll check more into rooting.

I looked at another thread where people were rating the stock browser vs after market ones and so far the stock is in the lead. Some people say they have had stability problems with others and/or have lost the ability to pinch zoom. I can't see most stuff if I don't zoom so I need that and so far I'm pretty satisfied with stock except the slowness, which has a lot to do with 3g and also ads loading.

So are you guys basically saying that there isn't a good ad blocker unless I go with Dolphin? Btw what do you think is superior about Dolphin?

I guess while we are at it school me a bit on why I should root. Please.

Thanks

 

[harrellj]

I love dolphin for the addons, but I switched to it ages ago when the stock browser didn't support pinch to zoom (only double-tapping). So yes, it supports pinch to zoom and has since last December at least. I also prefer its tab handling over the stock browser. Since its free, why not download it and try it out. If you hate it, you can uninstall it.

Yeah, yeah.. I'm on my phone. So?

 

[droidborg]

I dled Dolphin HD last night and adblocker.

Dolphin seems ok but I don't really see the huge advantage over the stock browser and I have had some issues already.

The ads on the home screen are annoying for one but I could get rid of that I think if I give them some money.

Having the favorites on a hidden screen to the left is convenient. Perhaps as I compare the two more I will see more advantages. Froyo 2.2 could help too.

At times text will overlay other text or pics.

It doesn't like to self center the main screen between the hidden menus on either side but if you play with the size you can get past this. The pinch to size is actually better than stock however.

I was playing a Youtube vid last night on adblocker and paused it for a few minutes and when I came back it was a black screen and no matter what I did I couldn't get it to play any Youtube vids after that. It works now so I guess you can't pause too long??

Ad blocker is almost useless. It takes way too much user input and doesn't seem to even auto remember some blocked ads for future use. On a PC you just enable an ad blocker and it blocks them all and every couple of months you get an update. With this one you have to go to a site you frequent long click on each ad then another screen pops up and you have to click again to block it. It worked on some but not all ads I tried to block. Plus every time you open that page again all the ads pop up initially then some of them go away. So you are still having to wait for all that. It might be better than nothing but not much. Maybe there is more to configuring it than I am aware of but I don't really want to have to configure it at all. I want it to just do it's job like Ad Blocker Plus for Firefox. Not that there is likely anything better out there but hopefully there will be soon.

Another thing I have noticed that makes things slow in both browsers, which could be a setting I don't know about, is that say you are on a forum and you decide to read a post, then when you go back to the main page it has to load it all over again rather than popping up from the cache. Is this something that just hasn't been developed yet on smartphones?

Sorry that I don't have only positive things to say about Dolphin or Adblocker but that is what forums are for right, sharing information.

Any input is welcome.

 

[droidborg]

I just wanted to say that I have spent a bit more time with dolphin h d and I'm sold. It is working pretty well for the most part and any glitches could just be my getting used to it. 2 things that are really great are tabs and gestering.

So...thanks for the heads up.

Now I have to figure out tap to talk to make this easier.

Swyped from dx