Android's SDK offers an emulator that, among other things, lets you use the browser. Google used WebKit, an application framework that also powers Safari and Nokia's S60 browser.
Android's browser does a good job at rendering complex web pages, but it doesn't have Flash support and it's really slow. You can zoom in, zoom out and move inside a web page. Here are some popular web sites rendered by an early version of Android's browser.
Useragent.org:
Gmail:
Google Maps:
NY Times:
Yahoo:
Digg:
YouTube video:
Adobe:
Acid2 Browser Test:
Apple's iPhone site:
iGoogle:
{ Idea by
Luka. }
Labels: Google Phone, Mobile
Has no seen Opera Mini 4, it's a free app that allows alsolutely any mobile to surf the "Real" web. It's been around a long time now. It's great, worth a look, might tide you over until the release of the first Gphone...
Dmitri said on November 12, 2007 11:14 PM PDT:
I would like to have the option to opt for mobile optimized version.
Hence faster Internet.
Sometimes you really just want to do something quick (re-read your email?) and you don't really a full interface for that.
io, you show your email on the last screenshot!
@Mark: Opera Mini is very good, but I don't like that you have only two levels of zoom. Also, Opera Mini is just an interface to Opera Mobile running on a server.
@Dmitri: You can see the mobilized version of a page here:
http://google.com/gwt/n or by searching at
Google Mobile. Note that this is a linear version, not the one from Android's browser.
@Bugabundo: There's a link to my email in the sidebar (I used JavaScript to receive less spam).
cgull said on November 13, 2007 10:06 AM PDT:
I think Google should create a mobile version of these pages like the iPhone adjusted web pages, looks much better. Otherwise seeing a webpage by panning and moving up and down for every page will become tedious.
sven said on November 13, 2007 2:30 PM PDT:
how can i run that emulator?
bd_ said on November 13, 2007 9:41 PM PDT:
"Android's browser does a good job at rendering complex web pages, but it doesn't have Flash support and it's really slow."
Speed issues are likely to be caused by the use of an emulator (which will render anything several orders of magnitude slower than the real thing), so I wouldn't draw any conclusions until you see this running on real hardware, or unless the emulator measures time dialation (which it probably won't, getting the timing exactly right make it even slower)
gokmen said on November 14, 2007 2:04 PM PDT:
emlakI would like to have the option to opt for mobile optimized version.
DeepFreeze said on November 27, 2007 11:29 PM PDT:
Serious that really cool features. Just can't wait to get a Android
Enabled phone.
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Backlinked
said on March 6, 2008 7:37 AM PDT:
Do anyone know any mobile browser(.jar) which can play youtube videos on nokia 5200
said on March 6, 2008 7:38 AM PDT:
Do anyone know any mobile browser(.jar) which can play youtube videos on nokia 5200.... if u do then send me the download link to my mail ID -
arun.quantum@gmail.com
said on January 15, 2009 7:10 PM PDT:
hmm... i was wondering if they offer a google mobile web browser as a standalone application?
Having problem in making it work :(
Can I run the android browser on my desktop?
Where can I download the android browser, just the android browser
with the security patch?
Thanks scotto
scott@scottburryrealestate.com
John said on June 30, 2009 5:38 PM PDT:
Regarding: "Speed issues are likely to be caused by the use of an emulator"
I use an Android phone (not an emulator) and the browser is extremely slow - I've had this experience even using a WiFi connection. I would think that correcting this should be high on Google's list of priorities.
Thanks John
John said on June 30, 2009 7:19 PM PDT:
Regarding Android Browser speed, I switched to WiFi and restarted the phone and that solved the speed problem. The Android browser still seems slower than other phones on my ATT wireless connection, but that could be due to my heavy usage and a need to restart the phone now and then (?).
Martin said on July 15, 2009 2:45 AM PDT:
The Anderoid browser in my new HTC Magic can not handle my most important homepage URL http://www.poseidon.hcmr.gr. It is a weather forcast page for the mediterranean. Opera Mini can handle it quite well in my HTC magic. I guess there are a lot more of URL:s with multiple frames that not can be viewed in Anderoids browser. still i have not met anyone that can not be opened in Opera mini !!!
Martin
said on July 21, 2009 3:05 AM PDT:
you can run the androis OS in a VM , thers a iso doing the rounds compiled for *86
said on July 29, 2009 4:48 AM PDT:
could you test android on acidtest3 and give result explicit write
the version of android that have been use and the webkit version .
thank's
said on October 20, 2009 2:46 PM PDT:
my brother complains the browser just uses htmlviewer and see plaintext when opening xls or doc file while from gmail it recognizes those files and use the appropiate app.
This can present a problem, if a busines like him needs to open the office web mail, the android web browser cant open those attachments correctly.
