Sailfish Browsers
 

What are people currently using as browsers on their Jolla phones?

Initially, I used the native browser, and while I found that did the job initially, with recent updates, it's just gotten slower and slower. Now it's at a stage where it's almost unusable, with pages slow to render and very unresponsive when navigating.

This led me into installing Firefox (Android version). This improved things a bit, but I still find that a substantial number of sites (particularly those with lots of Javascript) perform very poorly. The alternative is to use mobile versions of sites, but these fail to even render properly in most cases.

What are others using, any thoughts on hacks or tips to improve things?

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Using the native browser. As an opposite to your findings, I have found that it gets better and better each release, and have experienced no problems of slowness with it. (just shows that different people have different expectations...)

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

I'm not that happy with native browser speed as well - even though it got a bit better with Sailfish OS 1.1.4.28.

Most of the time I use "Web Pirate" (available from OpenRepos/Warehouse). Works great for me and I like the way it plays videos (even adds cover-actions for video playback). It also offers more traditional tab browsing and you can add shortcuts to website like in Firefox.

Otherwise I also use Firefox Android app (mainly because of sync feauture).

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Like NokiaFanatic and unlike juiceme, I have also found that each update makes Sailfish Browser less and less usable. Sometimes it is that it gets slower, other times that the new UI makes it less intuitive to use. This got to the point that I stopped using it altogether two updates ago and switched permanently to Webcat as my main browser. I nearly forgot about Sailfish Browser, except for cases when I tap on a link in an email and this opens the built-in browser. Is there any hack for that? Make another browser the default?

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

there was an opera browser in early sailfish demos in 2013 . Does someone know what happened or it was the android version

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

I've become pretty accustomed to the default browser, and it fits my needs well enough. I'm not a heavy user to be honest, mainly just BBC Sport, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit, but it renders the mobile versions of those sites just fine, so I've not felt the need to change. No real need for bookmark sync with such limited use. Anything more complex and I'll switch over to my Surface Pro.

I use Weather or MeeCast for weather, Feed Haven for news, YTPlayer for extended YouTube sessions. It works.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

It was probably the MeeGo version that you could also install on Nemo.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

There's a hack described here: https://together.jolla.com/question/...fault-browser/

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

I'm using the built-in browser since the previous update that brought the new UI and since I've discovered that disabling IPv6 in about:config makes it lightning fast. But I still have WebPirate installed just in case (and Webcat is nice as well, but I don't have that one installed anymore).

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Has anyone seen this? I saw it linked on reddit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8tjBpWCM0E (Chromium in Emulator)

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

stock browser also for me. Works fine, and unlinke @pichlo, I find the new UI way more intuitive than the old one.

I just miss the sync feature.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

https://together.jolla.com/question/...ious-problems/

^ this may contribute to the slowness in native browser

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Webpirate, as it's the only native browser that's reliable, fast and offers an user-agent option.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Following the broken landscape edge swipes in 1.1.4.28, I can no longer trust certain apps (not that it is their fault). This has forced me to revert back to Sailfish Browser.

I must say that after a few days, I found it quite acceptable. The one thing that sucks BIG TIME is the icons in the bookmarks screen. The list as it was before was much, much more usable. Ho hum.

EDIT:
Oh and I almost forgot. Even more annoying than the icons is the page reloading when you leave and come back to a tab. But that is a known issue.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

webpirate because it allows me to leave tabs playing videos while i do other crap.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

This doesn't not occur all the time. It depends on the phone memory load. But if you have only the browser opened, you can switch between 2/3 tabs without reload.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Delete all bookmarks that were there from previos sailfish browser versions and regenerate them, the icons will look better.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Yes, I know. That unpredictability does not help much though.

BTW, I was browsing the other day with 3 tabs open. Nothing else was running, just the browser. I do not remember what exactly was in the tabs but I do remember that I was reading the page for about two minutes when the browser suddenly died. Not immediately after loading the page, but with quite some delay. Weird.

Thanks for the tip. Now the star icons have been replaced with miniaturised screenshots of the pages. Whether it is "better" is up to everyone's personal taste.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

I use Firefox (and occasionally Opera) in Alien Dalvik most of the time, since it's much faster, better UI and better features.

Otherwise mostly WebPirate, and sometimes WebCat.

Almost never SF Browser. It's slower on some websites than WP & WC, but more importantly has a fraction of the features. Also, it STILL can't connect to browser-based wifi login (great job on that Jolla), so if you want to connect to that type of wifi you have to use WebPirate or Webcat.

The last 2 versions of SF I had to stop using Android browsers in AD, as the OOM app killer was so easily triggered. It's still present in the latest Early Access release, but less constant so I've been able to go back to it. This was the main reason I got the Nexus5 (RAM).

P.S. On the Nexus 5 under SF I use WebCat over WebPirate, as the latter doesn't scale properly yet.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Pages with hi-res favicons show that instead. Try spiegel.de or goldem.de

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Is there any native way to play Vimeo videos? Someone said that Android Dolphin Browser would do the job, but how about native browsers? Or perhaps other apps, like YTPlayer for Vimeo?

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

(not using Android, except in rare occasions)

My default web browser is WebPirate, although there are still some wishlist items not yet completely fulfilled. When I'm willing to stay stealthy or suspecting some kind of censorship, I'm using the stock browser with TOR running in the background.

Remark: Opera Software is a member of the Sailfish Alliance; as far I am concerned, I'm still wondering why.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

My biggest issue with the default browser is that "Close All Tabs" is right next to "Open New Tab" in the pulley menu. It bothered me for a while, and then I just deleted that entry from the QML file.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Is 32x32 hi-res? 'Coz that's what TMO has and the TMO bookmark icon has also changed to the screenshot.

Actually, I wish the browser would not insist on updating the icons every time it starts. Every time I visit a certain supermarket (that provides free WiFi for its customers that is on my network list), the browser pops up asking me to log in, as per this TJC post. And every time it does, all my bookmark icons are erased and replaced with the default stars. Note this happens without me doing anything at all. Most of the times I only notice when I get back home and want to use the phone.

Why do bookmark icons have to be updated any other time than when the bookmark is created?

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

I've tried Sailfish default browser and like many, I find it a little slow and quirky.
Firefox fared a little better, but has recently started causing some weird behaviour. It will freeze momentarily and disable the Ghostery plugin on it's own, the screen will also become unresponsive with certain swipes and when I minimise Firefox I find the apps running in the background on my homescreen (clock and calendar) have shut down.
Started using Opera yesterday and found that pretty stable and very quick. It was my browser of choice on N900 and I'm beginning to like it on Sailfish.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

No thats not hi-res. Have a look:

http://abload.de/img/20150507221620h3yot.png


That doesn't happen here.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

This has been my experience too,

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Over the weekend I downloaded all the browsers (both native and Android) that I could lay my hands on and tested them on my most commonly used websites. The results of my trial were conclusive. By far the best browser for my use case has been Opera (Android version). It's got the cleanest, most pleasing UI, it has some nice features (Opera Turbo to reduce mobile data transfer and the ability to switch your user agent between Mobile/Desktop) and in terms of rendering websites, it was able to take everything I could throw at it. I found it much faster than the native Sailfish browser (which is grindingly slow on pages with heavy JS usage) and does a much better job at rendering pages than Firefox.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Sorry about the delay. It happens every time you start the browser when the phone is connected to WiFi but the WiFi is not connected to the internet. The example I provided: at the supermarket, on a known network, but waiting for enterung the login details, is the most obvious but it is reproducible at will by e.g. disconnecting your hone WiFi router from the internet.

It affects bookmark icons created from favicons rather than from the miniaturized screenshits and appears in three stages:

1) First, the icons appear only as black squares.

Attachment 37259

2) After a certain timeout, which I have not figured out, the black squares are replaced with the notorious stars.

Attachment 37260

3) Once the internet connection comes back again, the icons are refreshed properly.

Attachment 37261

It has been like ever since I remember and is still like that in 1.1.6.xx. I really wish the icons were downloaded once when the bookmark is first made and left be.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

I also want a native Chromium :)

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Coming back to browsing on Sailfish again after a couple of years of only using it for calls and emails, I am on the lookout for a native Sailfish browser that can handle YouTube and eBay. I even went as far as installing Android support and the DuckDuckGo browser, but I found it just as bad as the native Sailfish Browser.

1) YouTube
"Liking" comments or typing replies is an absolute nightmare, and editing my own comments once submitted is not possible at all.

Example:
When I tap on the "like" button, I expect the browser to accept as a "like". Instead, it opens a menu like this:

Attachment 41713

You may call it a minor inconvenience, and you may well be right.
Other cases I mentioned like handling the replies is much worse, almost to the point of being unusable.

2) eBay
Browsing is almost OK (on a par with other mobile browsers), but I get a big red banner on top telling me I am using an unsupported browser when I try to make a payment.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

I would recommend checking out Angelfish from Chum and since you have app support, Brave and Firefox for Android.
For YouTube I use microTube and I’m more than happy with it!

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

I don't use the native SFOS browser, I do use Iceraven-browser, Fennec F-droid, Midori Android or Firefox ESR in a Linux container as alternatives.

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Thanks, guys. for your suggestions. The trouble with them is that all of them are of the "why don't you try [...]" kind. That's exactly the problem, there are way too many to try. I am looking for a specific answer.

I am not looking for, "I am using browser X and I like it".
I am looking for, "I am using browser X and it works with eBay."

Re: Sailfish Browsers
 

Brave works great with everything if you don’t want to try anything else, plus the Adblock and everything else. I recommended both with FF because I use them both in most platforms, but either of them work just as good!