Netfront 3.5 tech preview out

[Ragart]

http://www.access-company.com/products/netfrontmobile/browser/35_wm_tp.html

been trying it out for a few minutes on x51v -- it's pretty darn fast! It loads up Engadget in its entirety in around 10 seconds and is fully surfable after that.

[nbohmer]

I've goten it too and set it to my default browser. I defineatly like it but it is a memory hog. The only problem about this is if I leave it open in the background it errors saying not enough free memory.

Other than that it loads up in about 3 seconds on my titan andloads most big sites in about 10-15 seconds.

One issue is that sometimes while scrolling it seems the page has to refresh and keep up.

[Azimuth21]

i am really liking this tech preview. i installed it last night and it's really zippy, although one time i got an error saying that it did not support javascript (even though it does elsewhere).

other than that one instance, everything works perfectly, and it renders web pages really quickly with the "Full Browsing" mode. (don't bother with Rapid-Render, it's actually slower than "Full Browsing"). also, for anyone that's used 3.4 tech preview, this 3.5 beta has working visual bookmarks, meaning it makes the thumbnail based on the part of the page you're viewing. it's great

My "Browser View" settings are (in order):
Full Browsing
Normal
75%
640x640
Medium
and with those settings, it is just flying.

A couple questions:
1) Does anyone know how to get the "External Tools" to work? I added .flv to work with TCPMP, and i went to YtPocket.com to test it out, but nothing happen. ytpocket sends flv format to TCPMP, so I don't know what happened. any ideas?
2) What is the difference between "Full Browsing" mode and "Simple Browsing" mode? they both render the pages as we would see on the desktop, and i can't see much speed difference.

[rzanology]

this blows skyfire out of the water. i keep getting the memory error.

[p_pen]

I tested netfront 3.5 for a few hours. It seems to me that it is faster than opera mini. However, I am waiting for opera mobile 9.5. I heard it will a lot better than skyfire and netfront 3.5

[frenchglen]

They finally come up with an update after all these years! (alright, well months...) and obviously, it still doesn't do it.

sounds like a lot of WM browsers around here. PIEPlus has been stuck at 2.2 for as long as I've been using WM, but I'm waiting to see what Opera's next attempt will be like.

[Blowfish64]

this blows skyfire out of the water. i keep getting the memory error.

You keep getting the memory error with which program? And could you give us more of an in-depth comparison since you've tried both?

[TechBill]

For me it seem to take forever to download a website.

Like cnn.com take a good 3-6 minutes to download when using IE take less a minute.

But once downloaded it scroll the page very fast but I do notice if I use my finger to scroll the page around it keep opening up my battery status setting apps.

I was no where near the battery icon which does that when you touch it.


Bill

[Michaelr219]

its decent, it doesnt support youtube or any other video site... in addition to that, there isnt a dedicated back button lol, which is crucial. ill wait for opera... itll own all the other web browsers, bar none.

[ayyu3m]

i wil keep ma fingers crossed and jus wait for the new Opera 9 :D

[rzanology]

well...skyfire feel too unpolished. even though its fast...its just not ready yet. there is no mobile few. im a fan of mobile few...meaning...i like the browerser to org everything in on coloumn so there is no need for scrolling to the right or left. how ever.....netfront does a good job of the zooming out and zooming in. so i can live with that. its also faster than skyfire. but i still find myself needed to launch up opera mini....for my myspace and facebook needs...as well as general browsing like gizmodo.com and engadget....opermini offers the best experence. but netfront really isn't bad. im looking foward to trying the new opera...as i didnt really care for 8.5 or 8.6 what ever it is.

[joseph.sapri]

Guys, Some questions.

I have never had the need to install 3rd party web browser.. due to the fact that I think the more apps you install, the slower your device will be... so, I always keep my apps to minimum...

Now, is skyfire/opera much faster than PIE? (how much faster?)
What makes you guys think that it is necessary to install 3rd party apps?
What makes you guys "hate" the default PIE?

[rzanology]

Guys, Some questions.

I have never had the need to install 3rd party web browser.. due to the fact that I think the more apps you install, the slower your device will be... so, I always keep my apps to minimum...

Now, is skyfire/opera much faster than PIE? (how much faster?)
What makes you guys think that it is necessary to install 3rd party apps?
What makes you guys "hate" the default PIE?

even though pocket ie has gotton better...it just isnt up to snuff. you should really try opera mini...you're in for a treat.

um...the more you install on your phone doesnt really make it slower. but it is good practice to keep your 3rd party app to a minimum....to the device atlease. i install everything to the storage card.

[pdx77]

For me it seem to take forever to download a website.

Like cnn.com take a good 3-6 minutes to download when using IE take less a minute.

But once downloaded it scroll the page very fast but I do notice if I use my finger to scroll the page around it keep opening up my battery status setting apps.

I was no where near the battery icon which does that when you touch it.


Bill

It takes me a good 3-6 minutes to load up CNN as well, in fact most sites PIE opens up faster. :/

[dzelaya18]

I just timed cnn.com opening and it only took 44 secs on AT&T 3G connection. In fact, Im replying while on Net Front right now. So far Im really liking this browser, besides the fact that it burns through my battery with incredible speed.

[Azimuth21]

I've been playing with this browser a lot over the weekend, and so I'm here to post sort of an explanation of it.
1) MEMORY HOG, wow that is my biggest issue. In Task Managers, it's only using up about 1.4 mb of RAM, but seriously, if i just open the browser (not even opening a webpage), then go to PointUI, every single animation is slowed down. That's just an example, but everywhere else, the device is slowed. Well, except for the browser itself.

2)I figured out the little differences between the Browser View Settings.
Browsing Mode
Full Browsing: Desktop Mode. As you see the site on your Desktop. My favorite by far.
Text Browsing: All Text. Pretty Straightforward.
Simple Browsing: Basically all text, except for some small images. For example, loading up the "Development and Hacking" here on Xda loads as all text, no formatting, but shows the little thread ratings stars, the little paperclip, the little thumbtack, etc.
Rapid-Render: Pretty annoying, from my tests anyway. Loads up the page as all text, then goes back and loads all the formatting so it ends up as a Desktop View. Seems good in theory (get the speed benefit of "Text Browsing", and you still have the option to wait for the full formatting of "Full Browsing"). HOWEVER, your reading is always interrupted because the screen refreshes itself and goes blank when it goes from Text to Full. I tested, and it takes the same amount of time to get to full formatting of a webpage whether you use Rapid-Render or Full Browsing, so I prefer to avoid that screen refresh.

Display Mode
Normal: Normal. Duh.
Just-Fit: Shoves everything into one screen, messing up all formatting.
Smart-Fit: Resizes web page tables and stuff to fit on the screen. Better than Just-Fit.

Zoom - It's obvious. Kinda annoying how NetFront reloads the page when you change zoom levels, though. I leave mine at 75%.

Virtual Canvas - Changes the screen size. Think of it like the size of your desktop monitor. Best setting for me is 640x640, because anything bigger shows tons of blank spaces on web pages (since NetFront auto resizes text to fit in one screen), and the "Disable" option doesn't allow you to double-tap the screen (or double click the Action Button) for the zoomed out screen.

Text Size - Obvious. I leave mine on Medium. Along with the 75% zoom, I am able to read text comfortably, as well as maximizing the screen area.



Whew.

[Jason_25]

I've been playing with this browser a lot over the weekend, and so I'm here to post sort of an explanation of it.
1) MEMORY HOG, wow that is my biggest issue. In Task Managers, it's only using up about 1.4 mb of RAM, but seriously, if i just open the browser (not even opening a webpage), then go to PointUI, every single animation is slowed down. That's just an example, but everywhere else, the device is slowed. Well, except for the browser itself.

That is because it is a CPU hog. This is the best browser on memory I have used so far, especially on Simple Browsing mode. I have to close the browser when I am finished using it because it uses about 80% cpu when minimized. But it is so fast I don't mind.

I think everything else you have said is spot on.

[Da_G]

Netfront 3.4 didn't use up any noticable CPU when in the background, 3.5 uses up a huge amount, since it's obviously something they changed/added, hopefully they fix it before release :)

[lupes5]

i already posted this in another thread about netfront, but this thread seems to actually have people viewing it

after putting this browser through multiple speed tests, it continuously produced slow results...especially in comparison with IE

when connected to wifi, i tested multiple times, and heres about the averages i would get with the browsers

IE-1.7 mbps
Opera-800 kbps
Picsel-1.0 mbps
NetFront- 300 kbps


the only reason i wanted to speed test was because netfront felt slow, and according to those tests, it was alot slower than my other browsers...

i LOVE the browser, the wordwrapping to fit on screen works great, i like the scrolling, tabbed browsing, and everything.....featurewise, its better than opera, speedwise its terrible...

EDIT** i have been speed testing at www.mobilespeedtest.com

[joseph.sapri]

i already posted this in another thread about netfront, but this thread seems to actually have people viewing it

after putting this browser through multiple speed tests, it continuously produced slow results...especially in comparison with IE

when connected to wifi, i tested multiple times, and heres about the averages i would get with the browsers

IE-1.7 mbps
Opera-800 kbps
Picsel-1.0 mbps
NetFront- 300 kbps


the only reason i wanted to speed test was because netfront felt slow, and according to those tests, it was alot slower than my other browsers...

i LOVE the browser, the wordwrapping to fit on screen works great, i like the scrolling, tabbed browsing, and everything.....featurewise, its better than opera, speedwise its terrible...

EDIT** i have been speed testing at www.mobilespeedtest.com

Thanks for this... so basically, PIE is still the best in performance?

[ajones7279]

On mobile speedtest (over Sprint Evdo network) I got:


IE: 270.6kbps
Netfront: 242.9kbps
Opera Mini: 2.23mbps (2331.5 kbps)

Opera Mini kicks ass

Kinda weird tho because Netfront seems to load some pages lightning fast

[flaviopac]

this browser is AMAZING.....
I'm writing throught it......

[fards]

netfront 3.5 seems to render pages fastest to me, there's no point in saying IE has the best download speeds if it then takes three times as long to render anything.

mobile speed test seems very erratic in it's testing, so I tried it on a wired connection on the desktop and have been getting anything between 1884kbs to 8219kbs all within the space of two minutes.


Netfront is giving me 40960kbps over umts at work.. nice, but not entirely believable!

PIE 6.1 keeps giving me {function.fread} errors then coming up as 0.00

[akpidis]

Anyone knows if it is crucial to install netfront in phone memory, or will it work installed on the storage card?

[StarMonkee]

I've installed it to the storage card and it seems to work fine - no problems so far.

[akpidis]

Thnx StarMonkee :) This tech preview does not support flash yet, right?
Weird thing is, on some websites flash advertisements load ok, but other flash applets do not.

[benfica88]

On mobile speedtest (over Sprint Evdo network) I got:


IE: 270.6kbps
Netfront: 242.9kbps
Opera Mini: 2.23mbps (2331.5 kbps)

Opera Mini kicks ass

Kinda weird tho because Netfront seems to load some pages lightning fast

The test is not entirely accurate because mini uses a proxy...