Dolphin update deals final blow!

[JonKyu]

Honestly I don't care about pinch to zoom. I just want faster loading times and smoother scrolling.

<Rant>
You're gonna hate me for this anecdote but oh well lol, I recently just jailbroke my 3rd gen ipod touch and can now multi-task, and figured I'd play around with it for old times sake (since I barely touched it since I got my droid). I noticed that I can surf sooo much faster on my measly ipod than I can with my droid and honestly I don't get...At first I was impressed how fast I could surf, then I got kinda annoyed that the droid's browser is annoyingly slow. Then I got annoyed at how much the stock e-mail/calendar apps pale in comparison to Google's own mobile websites :\ come on google...really? Couldn't you copy and paste your website to your app or something, and make the damn browser faster to load?
</Rant>

SO if anyone can direct me to a browser that loads faster than the stock PLEASE point me in the right direction. I don't care about pinch to zoom-in or any other bloated features I just want faster loading and smooth scrolling!!

 

[DigiK]

JonkYu,

Xscope is going to be the closest thing to what you're looking for. The aesthetics and bookmarks need some polish but the minimalism of Xscope makes up for that. It's obvious the Dev has carefully thought about what comprises a minimal yet functional browser/UI and implemented it fairly well. The UI is better integrated than Dolphin, since you can access the sidebar without leaving the browser window. Could use a few of the dolphin niceties, though, like double-tap to expose tabs/nofication bar, swipe to change tabs, & user-agent mode. Currently there's no way to create a new tab w/ custom url if you have 'tabs hidden if only one' enabled, but double-tap to expose would fix this.

Overall, I like it--it just gets out of the way and let's you browse. Give it a try.

**Also if anyone out there has a full .apk of the previous version of Dolphin, let me know. I'd like to compare xScope and Dolphin 1.x side-by-side. Thanks!

 

[JonKyu]

Cool, I guess I'll just go try it out since it seems like a viable alternative. I hope it loads things faster. I might try Dolphin out again also just as a comparison.

JonkYu,

Xscope is going to be the closest thing to what you're looking for. The aesthetics and bookmarks need some polish but the minimalism of Xscope makes up for that. It's obvious the Dev has carefully thought about what comprises a minimal yet functional browser/UI and implemented it fairly well. The UI is better integrated than Dolphin, since you can access the sidebar without leaving the browser window. Could use a few of the dolphin niceties, though, like double-tap to expose tabs/nofication bar, swipe to change tabs, & user-agent mode. Currently there's no way to create a new tab w/ custom url if you have 'tabs hidden if only one' enabled, but double-tap to expose would fix this.

Overall, I like it--it just gets out of the way and let's you browse. Give it a try.

**Also if anyone out there has a full .apk of the previous version of Dolphin, let me know. I'd like to compare xScope and Dolphin 1.x side-by-side. Thanks!

 

[rothenbj]

I've tried Dolphin a couple times, most recently a few days ago. My friend with an iPhone insists pinch zoom is the ONLY way to use a mobile browser. I tried it in Dolphin and it didn't work well enough to even consider useful and I uninstalled it again.

"My friend with an Iphone insists..........". I insist your friend is an Iphoney.

It's a shame you can't think for yourself.

 

[rothenbj]

I also do like the fact that it has settings, so you don't have to you P2Z if you don't want too. There is alot more customizable about this browser than the others. You can go to settings, and inable 3 different zooming methods. Two are one handed.
1st Pinch to Zoom
2nd + - zoom on screen
3rd and actually my fav if I am browsing in standard and not landscape is the hold option. It brings up 4 option tabs by your finger 2 of them are zoom in and out.

That is a great feature because it is a slower zooming in and out, so it is easy to not overjump your desired zoom setting. Some of the things that people are complaining about are in adjustments that can be made in the settings menu. I guess some just need to explore apps better.

I understand some not thinking the UI is good or something, which is a good reason for not likeing, to each his own, but if you haven't taken the time to explore the apps and trying to see if you can make the adjustments that you wish it has you shouldn't just say it can't do it.

Excellent post and spot on as far as zoom options go. That four choice semi-circle is better than pinch or double tap on my opinion.

 

[sarreq]

I've been going back and forth with my browsers. At various times I use the stock browser, Dolphin and xScope. At the moment, I prefer xScope, but in reality I'm just biding my time until Firefox for Android is released. I'm guessing that's what I'll be using exclusively as my primary browser eventually.

unfortunately, the Fennec team is being pissy, and have said that Firefox Mobile won't be on Android until Google allows them to develop it using AJAX instead of JAVA.

 

[rothenbj]

After supporting the Dev for his previous hardwork and paying the $5, I really wanted to like 2.00; but unfortunately the Dev turned Dolphin into a great example of how NOT to design a mobile browser--even for super phones like Moto Droid and Nexus. There are innumerable NASTY coherency issues with respect to the UI and additional bugs that have made the program generally unstable, even leading to system instability. At this point, I'm even considering uninstalling it and reverting to 1.X.

I now consider this browser the epitome of bloatware and a resource hog. For instance, the Dev went through all that trouble to add a tab expose utility, and the implementation doesn't even show all six tab previews on one screen? Why do I want to SCROLL through the previews one-by-one? This is jsut a waste of time, as it replicates the same effect as scrolling through tabs one-by-one

It's quite obvious MGeek had his head in the sand ignoring user requests for simple improvements/bug fixes. Instead the dev ran off to completely revamp a UI that wasn't broken to begin with. Ironically, dolphin 2.0 is now less user-friendly than the old version. I guess this is just the greatest thing ever, though, if you like to spend more of your time dealing with a contorted, buggy user interface and less time actually using the internet....


Just some comments I sent the Dev below:

• User input now laggy and susceptible to 'ghost' inputs
• Notification bar is no-longer displayed on tab expose. It's nice to be able to quickly view notifications without having to go out to the homescreen.
• Preferred the slim expose bar signifying hidden menu at the top previously; the shadow is less elegant. New hidden menu bar at the bottom is redundant since it's quite obvious that pressing [MENU] will reveal that menu.
• Some people seemed to have liked the volume pg up/down function. Maybe bring this back as a settings option. It's nice to be able to control musicvolume though, since alot of people usually listen to music and read simulataneously.
• Appreciate the added pop-up url bar on menu-press, but as soon as you click it, it changes to the system default url entry which creates a big loss of continuity. Why not make this url bar active with voice search--the same as on the Dolphin Home Screen? The bookmark and share icons can be moved to the lower menu.
• My biggest UI issue is the organization of the two-level pop-up menus which generally bury functions in places that takes too long access them:
  • First level pop-up menu:
    • I would consider extending this menu to two rows of 5 icons to include the essentials, so you don't need to go to second level menu as often:
      • Top row NAV: [BACK][STOP][HOME URL][RELOAD][FORWARD]
      • Bottom row page Utilities: [BOOKMARK][SHARE][TAB PREVIEW][DOLPHIN HOME][LEVEL 2 MENU]
    • Currently, the [HOME] icon takes you to the Dolphin Homescreen or 'Stage' as I'll call it. This icon should be used instead for User Home URL, as the home icon is the universal symbol is pretty much universally accepted for this shortcut.
    • Likewise, the icon you are using in Row1, Column 2 of second-level menu would be better used to signify the Dolphin Homescreen/Stage
    • Make the gesture overaly full screen width & connect visually to the bottom menu--don't float it. Remove the 'M' in gesture window, as it is distracting.
  • Second level pop-up menu:
    • TOO MANY icons and once again occupies too much screen real estate. You could easily decrease the size for each icon/hit-box to make things tidier. Would prefer to see some of the current webpage not occluded above the menu. Once again, visually connect to the bottom menu--don't float it.
    • Remove the following to compact the menu if you reorganize the first-level menu as suggested:
      • Share page, Home Page, Gestures (redundant since already 1st-level)
      • Downloads; can also potentially be moved to the Dolphin Homescreen (Stage), since it's not necessary as a page tool
      • Exit...are people really that dense that they can't figure out how to long-press the back button?
    • Doing this, you'll get a compact, two-row second-level menu.
    • You could also consider just removing the second-level menu icon from first-level menu and make this accessible via hitting the [Menu] hardware key twice. Users would quickly find this on their own.
• Other fixes
  • As I mentioned previously, you should fix pinch zoom to not zoom out greater than page extents. Instead as user zooms back out toward 100%, you should begin to translate the page so that the full width and no more is displayed when at 100%. The current behavior is sloppy.
  • See if you can fix the Facebook full site tool bar floating/disappearance problem. A lot of people use the full site, since the current official FB app is pretty lacking.
  • Icons look muddy/low resolution. Consider not using outer-glow/shadows for your icons or toning it down.
  • Consider updating the help page to show the most basic operations/shortcuts of using the browser FIRST.

The developer hasn't yet responded to my email. He's either swamped in complaints & too busy fixing the mess he created or just apathetic to user imput at this point-- quite a divergence from just a while ago when he was very vocal about responding to user input.

I'm about done though. Just give me 2.1 so I can root and enable pinch zoom on the native browser. This is the kind of mindless crap that's going to stunt Android's growth as a platform and forever keep it in the shadow of iPhone.

Very extensive diatribe. Can't understand why he wouldn't respond to you since everything you believe is so accurate and needed for the app to be acceptable to the rest of us. NOT! Find another browser to dissect.

 

[DigiK]

My opinion--take it or leave it, but I'm not going to apologize for posting it in a thread that critiques this browser.

Fact is that the some extended casual use quickly exposes the seriuos UI flaws, needless feature creep, sluggishness, and instability that make this browser much less transparent and cumbersome than before.This is a mobile platform with relatively limited computational resources, even for devices like Moto Droid and HTC Nexus. The developer has lost site of the platform he's developing for and the audience he gained with the Dolphin 1.x series.

You're right, I shouldn't HAVE to dissect a browser like this, so I've uninstalled and await something that manages to implement a fast, flexible, & intuitive browsing experience optimized for mobile use. In the meantime, XScope serves my purposes by just getting out of the way and being small, functional, quick, and stable.

 

[griz8791]

Huh. I've been using the new version exclusively since it came out and am thinking about cleaning the shortcut to the stock app off my home screen. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Scoobz]

My opinion--take it or leave it, but I'm not going to apologize for posting it in a thread that critiques this browser.

Fact is that the some extended casual use quickly exposes the seriuos UI flaws, needless feature creep, sluggishness, and instability that make this browser much less transparent and cumbersome than before.This is a mobile platform with relatively limited computational resources, even for devices like Moto Droid and HTC Nexus. The developer has lost site of the platform he's developing for and the audience he gained with the Dolphin 1.x series.

You're right, I shouldn't HAVE to dissect a browser like this, so I've uninstalled and await something that manages to implement a fast, flexible, & intuitive browsing experience optimized for mobile use. In the meantime, XScope serves my purposes by just getting out of the way and being small, functional, quick, and stable.

I, for one, appreciate the "rant." Anything, whether it be positive or negative, to make the browser better is a good thing. I hope the developer does listen to your points and considers them for future versions.

 

[Benjamin Crist]

I emailed the dev and he responded that he was interested in feedback. I've done the same for other apps.

I would suggest that anyone who wants to see a feature or request anything for an app to contact the dev directly. If you tell them politely what your request is and others do as well then you are more likely to get results. The dev for gTasks I've found to be very responsive, as well as the dev for gTasks - they both have google groups, but all devs have their emails in the market and some even have phone numbers, so it's usually pretty easy to get ahold of them.

 

[Froodychick]

I've tried Dolphin several times, and just can't seem to "click" with it. I really like the stock browser so will stick with that one. I still hold out hope for the firefox browser, but hope is fading....fading...fading....rising...fading.

 

[LrdElderon]

I've tried Dolphin several times, and just can't seem to "click" with it. I really like the stock browser so will stick with that one. I still hold out hope for the firefox browser, but hope is fading....fading...fading....rising...fading.

I think dolphin works just fine. I've tried almost all of them. dolphin 1, 2 various xscopes, milestones, default browser and I usually prefer dolphin. Sure it has some issues but ALL of them do. The browser works just fine. Don't they all use the same rendering engine anyway? so any anomolies like the facebook bar on full site, will be there on other browsers that alll use the webkit engine. maybe I'm wrong on that.

Only other semi contendable browser for most people to dolphin is xscope. I don't like a browser adding a task killer program and to do list.. it's just bloat. Also the ui looks like something made for mac os 1.0 or something. Not very prefessional looking at all. I hear he has artist working on a new ui which hopefully will help. Not a big fan of how his tabs respond to touch either. I like dolphin for that. touch a tab and it's open...

I just install all of them and use them randomly now just to see. I look forward to a fully functional firefox browser.

 

[Benjamin Crist]

For what it is worth I have found Dolphin to be the best for two reasons:

Tabs

Google Bookmarks Intergration - having my bookmarks available easily in the mobile app means I have the ability to store bookmarks in the cloud and read them on my desktop, netbook, or phone easily and that is pure win. The gestures and the social aspect are feature creep, pinch and zoom is nice, but not a big deal, but the bookmarks sync make this app great.

 

[s10v8drew]

when i got the latest update notification i went and read the comments on what pple thought about it. most every comment was bring back the old version. my curiosity got the best of me so i updated it...wish i wouldn't have now, new version is hard to navigate the options, and has locked up on me several times...i'm hoping that they fix some of these things with the next update...my $.02