Viewing websites is painful - maemo.org

MenoRikey | # 1 | 2008-12-29, 22:01 | Report

I just received my N810, so maybe I need to do some tweaking, but viewing and surfing websites is a painful experience, so far. Web sites take forever to load and it's not my connection since I use the same wireless connection for my laptop and it's fine. The nokia connects to the sites quickly, it just takes a long time to load everything.

I understand a lot of websites aren't made for small machines/screens, but then again Nokia shouldn't be advertising this thing as an INTERNET tablet. I didn't buy the thing to look at mobile versions of websites, if I wanted that I would stick with my Dell Axim. I won't even get into how bad it plays embedded videos.

Also, when I try to finger scroll, if I'm not over a blank area on the webpage, it tries to highlight content. If I try to scroll with the scrollbar, it's jerky and way too fast.

I've only been using it for a couple days, so maybe there's something I'm missing or need to tweak, but out-of-the-block I'm disappointed with the "internet" experience.

Last edited by MenoRikey; 2008-12-29 at 22:04.

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quipper8 | # 2 | 2008-12-30, 01:17 | Report

of course it is not as fast as a laptop but it is the best browsing device i can put in my pocket.

when i want to browse faster i turn off flash and javascript. you can also increase cache size although i didnt see much benefit from that.

Chris1051 | # 3 | 2008-12-30, 02:38 | Report

it is a bit slower because it is loading content. ( I really wish it had ad blocking technology )so it doesnt load all these stupid ads bogging down

MenoRikey | # 4 | 2008-12-30, 03:10 | Report

Do you guys use finger scrolling to scroll websites? I can't see myself using the scrollbars to scroll websites when the screen is a touch screen.

Maybe I was expecting too much from something called an "Internet" tablet, but I thought the web experience would be flawless. It's like they just threw a web browser onto the machine and did nothing to make it work more efficient.

I mean, the thing doesn't play media well, it's not for PIM/PDA, to me, its made for browsing the web and it's slow and clumsy. I must be missing something (or just fell for the marketing).

Den in USA | # 5 | 2008-12-30, 03:14 | Report

I almost always use a stylus instead of my finger.

fragos | # 6 | 2008-12-30, 03:44 | Report

Originally Posted by Chris1051 View Post

it is a bit slower because it is loading content. ( I really wish it had ad blocking technology )so it doesnt load all these stupid ads bogging down

There is an adblock browser addon but browser performance will suffer with it.

eliagp | # 7 | 2008-12-30, 03:47 | Report

I use my fingernail or the stylus ^^
Really, for the price and portability the internet is fine. I tried the latest phones the other day at a carrier store, and nothing even came close to my N800 in terms of browing. I was quite proud. Before I bought I checked the speed on youtube so I didn't get any surprises. Maybe you would be better suited with a netbook or similar.

D'ohboy | # 8 | 2008-12-30, 05:41 | Report

Um, this maybe a dumb question but did you update to the newest OS2008? Maybe it's just me but almost every update has increased the browser speed.

benny1967 | # 9 | 2008-12-30, 09:15 | Report

Originally Posted by MenoRikey View Post

Web sites take forever to load and it's not my connection since I use the same wireless connection for my laptop and it's fine. The nokia connects to the sites quickly, it just takes a long time to load everything

What website? And, more important, how long is "forever"?
The sites I use on a regular basis load almost instantly. (One exception is internettablettalk.com, but it loads slow on my laptop, too, because of its exceptionally bad HTML.)

Originally Posted by MenoRikey View Post

I won't even get into how bad it plays embedded videos.

Again: Where? On Youtube, I think it's really OK. I work on desktop PCs that don't play youtube at all because they're too slow. I use my N800 to watch a video when I'm at such a computer.

Originally Posted by MenoRikey View Post

Also, when I try to finger scroll, if I'm not over a blank area on the webpage, it tries to highlight content. If I try to scroll with the scrollbar, it's jerky and way too fast.

Maybe you're trembling? Highlighting content is something that takes a lot of practice because it requires you to double-tap at the beginning and then drag the stylus/finger over the area you want to select.

Normally, tap and drag will just move the web-page in the respective direction.

Anyway, I'd not recommend using your fingers. Scrolling with the stylus and the scrollbars (that's what they're for, aren't they?) gives much better control.

Last edited by benny1967; 2008-12-30 at 09:49.

skatebiker | # 10 | 2008-12-30, 09:16 | Report

Originally Posted by fragos View Post

There is an adblock browser addon but browser performance will suffer with it.

Add the chunk below to the /etc/hosts file on your tablet and far more than half of the ads are gone. No adblock plugin required.
Unfortunately, hosts does not support wildcards, so there is no such thing as *.doubleclick.net.

Code:

127.0.0.1 www.voipzoom.com
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.nl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.de.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.fr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad1.gamezone.com
127.0.0.1 partyflock.nl/images/ad
127.0.0.1 www.afcyhf.com
127.0.0.1 www.awltovhc.com
127.0.0.1 www.qksrv.net
127.0.0.1 dy.testnet.nl
127.0.0.1 graphics.passion.com
127.0.0.1 googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 www.megaupload.com/ad.js
127.0.0.1 etology.com
127.0.0.1 m3.net
127.0.0.1 clicktorrent.info
127.0.0.1 zedo.com
127.0.0.1 atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 clk.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1 tribalfusion.com
127.0.0.1 m.tribalfusion.com
127.0.0.1 a.tribalfusion.com
127.0.0.1 ad.yieldmanager.com
127.0.0.1 ypn-js.overture.com
127.0.0.1 graphics.pop6.com
127.0.0.1 adultfriendfinder.com
127.0.0.1 fastclick.net
127.0.0.1 casalemedia.com
127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com
127.0.0.1 a.ads1.msn.com
127.0.0.1 pointroll.com
127.0.0.1 rad.live.com
127.0.0.1 ads1.msn.com
127.0.0.1 rcm.amazon.com
127.0.0.1 mp-success.com
127.0.0.1 advertising.com
127.0.0.1 ds.serving-sys.com
127.0.0.1 fdimages.fairfax.com.au
127.0.0.1 adrevolver.com
127.0.0.1 euroclick.com
127.0.0.1 promos.fling.com
127.0.0.1 partner.gonamic.de
127.0.0.1 flirt-fever.de
127.0.0.1 images.fotki.com
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 tradedoubler.com
127.0.0.1 dump.partyflock.nl/825/one.com_dark.gif
127.0.0.1 p.ds1.nl
127.0.0.1 samair.ru/images/filesbot.gif
127.0.0.1 pics.firstload.de
127.0.0.1 adserving.cpxinteractive.com
127.0.0.1 k1s.nl
127.0.0.1 login.3-mobile-affiliate.com
127.0.0.1 www.djadmin.djmag.com/program/phpAdsNew/
127.0.0.1 www.bangkokpost.com/ads/
127.0.0.1 img6.cdn.adjuggler.com
127.0.0.1 www.jobjob.co.th/ads/

Moreover, to my experience the tablet is somewhat slower than a PC browser , but it is OK (javascript and flash enabled), much faster than any phone browser.

Moreover, selecting / scrolling is indeed crappy, moving finger / pen over screen sometimes selects text (even in scrollable pages), sometimes scrolls. And sometimes I have to click checkboxes 3 or more times to (un)check them.
And the scrollbars are hard to reach with the finger, because of the beveled screen edge which is unnecessary to my opinion.

When I do use a pen I use rather an ordinary pen (with ball head retracted) than the supplied stylus. A pen ls more confortable in the hand and has the same accurate tip.

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