I asked back to Vivaldi. It loads/update rendering engine & multimedia components. There is a non-public forum post that explains everything in detail. I complained that Google sees the IP-Address, but Yngve said that’s all they see. I will make a feature request to load that stuff from servers in Iceland.
I think you’re in good shape with either Fennec or Firefox via Android support. They’re both highly configurable and have a wide array of privacy add-ons that can lock things down. NoScript, uBlock, Disconnect, etc. etc. should all work in mobile form (to some extent).
Other browsers might be better in terms of default configuration, but I don’t think any other browser can be as securely configured.
A browser update to Gecko engine 60 is in the works by Jolla. Hope we see a release in 2020, as we have still more steps to cover to the current engine 84.
Sefriol is right: Google does an incredible job in fixing browser issues within a few days. Others do not even react on a bug report.
Still, with only two browser engines remaining, one should support Firefox just to keep a speckle of hope in this monopolized business.
Since my stock browser needs to be killed in terminal more and more often - especially since the latest sf update - i need an alternative. On my nokia i used opera and it works okish. Pity because i used stock browser since jolla 1 simply because it was there. Had my problems with it but i always had opera in background but it looks like i have to switch completely which i dont want. Using xa 2 on latest update.
Can agree, I delayed updating to 3.4 knowing it would be a slog, and while the browser is far more performant on most sites, there’s a serious problem in actually using the browser beyond that. New tabs may take several seconds, if one opens at all. Seems like you just have to start your new tab with Google or Jolla, then go to whatever site you wanted to go, which is very time-consuming, regardless of the improved web experience.
I always have a copy of Chromium or Firefox on hand to be sure I can access a site somehow. This engine change is fantastic and sorely needed (especially for the copy-and-paste functionality in Mail) but being this many steps behind is severe. We’re on ESR 78 for Gecko, and I’m sure we’ll get another ESR in the coming months. I’m hopeful Jolla has a vested interest in a more major update. If they could leap to the latest ESR, they could maybe direct resources to other things instead of being behind the curve every step of the way.
The topic is a little bit old but problems with the crappy native browser still exist.
I followed the Sailfish topics for a long time and after launching the system on Xperia 10 II and some opinions that the browser is updated, I decided to try with Sailfish.
Disappointed me not only old engine or strange rendering but mainly overall FPS in browser behavior. It looks like scrolling or some animations killing the engine and even android firefox works smother. It’s very sad that maintainers didn’t focus on that crucial app in the system for such a long time.
I found the latest browser was an unexpectedly large improvement tbh.
I do use Defender to block ads etc, and in the last version this all made the difference to pages that wouldn’t load or locked up and so on.
Maybe it’s improved but you comparing still it to the previous version rather than the browser on a different system. I don’t use any adblockers.
Well, there’s your problem. While I don’t use an adblocker per se, I block trackers and other unneeded/unwanted stuff, which happen to intersect with ads’ mode of operation. The effect on performance is massive, which by itself is another reason to block said things.
For normal browsing I use Firefox on Alien Dalvik. Even though Firefox by itself already has quite capable tracker blockers, I’ve installed the uBlock Origin add-on. An added benefit of using Firefox is the E2EE sync option, which syncs with my desktop and laptop.
Still, latest native browser upgrade is a major step forward, and even lacking many of the tracker blocking stuff, I occasionally do use it to open a link. Since it is based on Firefox, I do hope that one day it will support add-ons and other Firefox’ privacy features as well. In any case, I still prefer it over yet another Blink (read: Google) embedded browser, which leads to a monoculture on the web.
I’m kinda glad that Jolla decided to push Browser closer to upstream instead of going Chromium like everyone else. Sure, it’s going to stay being a chore to maintain, but at least the software stack has been put into place and is well integrated into rest of the system!
@Fuzzillogic I think your not familiar with how to browser engine works 3th part libraries could affect loading or rendering but when You downloaded all content scrolling shouldn’t be affected by libraries in general. I also checked the browser on localhost sites written by myself (without any trackers) and the performance is similar. So stop telling this nonsense because Snapdragon 665 and 4GB of ram should perform better and the current performance is the result of poor implementation of the engine.
I’m quite aware of how a browser engine works. I guess your idea of performance is different than mine. I don’t particularly care about some stuttering during scrolling, but am much more interested in time to first display and jumping of the page.
The native browser is still a generation or two behind the state of the art of Firefox, which include some big improvements. I would expect some Wayland improvements as well, but I guess that’s depending on a improved Wayland support in Lipstick.
In 8 out of 10 websites that I visit, the native browser has problems. That doesn’t make it a very useful browser. I wish websites were more simple, but most are made with many elements and cookie buttons and autoplaying videos… it isn’t great, but SFOS’s browser is the only one that doesn’t cope with it. It’s almost like my BB10, and that’s quite old!
From looking into the Repos, Jolla is heavily working on getting the browser lifted to the (most up do date) Gecko ESR 78. The situation should be very solid then. And from the high Activity on this topic I’m very convinced that Jolla is going to adopt to the upcoming ESR 91 with a low delay. So I think we are on a most foreseeable path to a very useful native browser.
Opera is clearly the best.