looking for a good web browser

[defaultdotxbe]

basically im looking for a browser that is responsive and allows you to save/download files, for some reason PIE doesnt do this

tried opera mobile, its great but its not free and my trial ran out, figure id look for a free alternative before shelling out money for a web browser

minimo seems good too, but its still beta (i think) either way it takes an excrutiatingly long time to load and uses ungodly amounts of ram (20mb+)

tried picsel too and didnt care for it

is there anything else i should look at?

[stratman71]

I use the PIEplus addon for PIE, it really adds functionality (And my PIE downloads files nicely):

* Optimize the web content to fit for PIE
* Multiple Tabbed Browsing
* Screen drag with sensitivity setting
* Fullscreen mode
* Hardware button mappings with press-and-hold support
* Save a file, image or page with all the elements <new>
* New Toolbar UI <new>
* Toolbar on WM5 <new>
* Multi-step Back/Forward <new>
* URL Alias <new>
* URL Service with URL builder <new>
* Open URL from closed <new>
* Open link in new tab or new background tab <new>
* Navigate link with D-Pad on WM2003 or above
* Scroll by line or page with D-Pad on PPC2002 or above
* Scroll by line or page with Jog Dial
* Extended context menu
* Custom user agent setting as IE5.5 or IE6.0 or anything <new>
* Enable/disable script and script warning
* Enable/disable ClearType
* Screen Rotation above WM2003SE <new>
* View HTML source

http://www.reensoft.com/PIEPlus/

I just wish PIE would allow text searching for keywords on a web page....

[kmartburrito]

^^Nice! I didn't know about that add on, good post!

Another great browser is Opera Mini Beta. It has a function built in that lets you scroll down a page at a time by hitting right on the d-pad...it also can zoom automatically, fit the paget to width, and it can compress the images it loads to cut down on load time.

Here's the link:

www.operamini.com/beta

[cobra9777]

"Looking for a good web browser"... me too. I've got PIE with PIE+, Picsel, Minimo, Opera Mobile 8.65, and Opera Mini 4 Beta 2. They all suck. Well, not really, but I can't use any one browser for everything I need to do... and that sucks.

Opera Mini gets the most use mainly because it's fairly good for reading newspapers, forums, and similar text-heavy sites. The page preview and zoom works pretty good although it lacks the on-screen gestures of Picsel. I also like the ability to control image quality for faster/slower loading of pages. However, the UI is terrible for some of the most basic browser functions (like bookmarking, back, forward, editing the URL, etc). And maybe my biggest hangup... it has the look and feel of a cheap phone browser.

Picsel has a lot of promise in terms of on-screen gestures for zoom and pan, but it's just not stable enough to use as an everyday web browser. I get memory errors plus it just randomly closes or hangs on certain sites. Proper rendering is hit or miss. Plus, like Opera Mini, the UI seems very clumsy for some pretty basic browser functionality. I use it as a document reader from time to time, but I almost never use it as a web browser any more.

Minimo is a complete joke.

I mainly use PIE for sites that require logon, data entry, or where I have problems with Opera Mini for whatever reason. PIE+ does add some very useful functionality, but I really want the pan/zoom functionality of Picsel or Opera Mini. It does seem to be more stable than all the others.

Opera Mobile 8.65 seems a lot like PIE with PIE+ to me. However, like PIE, it's still built around the concept of reformatting the webpage rather than giving me a "preview" of the real webpage and the ability to zoom and pan, like Picsel and Opera Mini. I might use this more than PIE if I took more time to learn it, but I still like the mini beta a little better.

What I would love to see is something with the stability and familiarity of PIE, but with tabs, and some basic preview/zoom/pan capability. I've read about Deepfish, but that appears to be vaporware right now. If I've overlooked such an animal, please advise.

[mushipkw]

Have a look at Jataayu Mobile browser at this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=335625. And here is a comparison of browser for smartphones, pretty useful for pocket pc too. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=323651

[(V)eGa]

Yeah I'm having the same issue. I use the Opera Mini browser but it's not stable enough (freezes on me from time to time), and the PIE to me just blows. What ever happened to Microsoft's Deepfish? They had a beta and then it feel off the planet.

MeGa

[defaultdotxbe]

im gonan goive PIE+ and jataayu a try, thanks for all the replies

Opera Mobile 8.65 seems a lot like PIE with PIE+ to me. However, like PIE, it's still built around the concept of reformatting the webpage rather than giving me a "preview" of the real webpage and the ability to zoom and pan
opera 8.65 does have the ability to display the website in "desktop mode" and scroll across (rather than reformatting to a single column) doesnt seem to haver preview or zoom though

[cobra9777]

opera 8.65 does have the ability to display the website in "desktop mode" and scroll across (rather than reformatting to a single column) doesnt seem to haver preview or zoom though

Yeah, I really like the idea of a thumbnail-type preview rather than having to scroll around to get my bearings. But the desktop mode is slightly better than the single column thing, which works fine on a few sites, but for most it just creates a cluttered, unrecognizable mess.