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Browser redirected to mobile sites

G

Gambit

Newbie
OK so Android comes with this great web browser built in, but I've got a problem with it that is driving me nuts... there is no way to change the browser agent string so that it may be detected by websites as a full-featured browser and deliver desktop web page content rather than mobile browser content (You are redirected to ESPN's mobile site for example when browsing to www.espn.com). In Browser Settings I have Mobile view unchecked, but this does not affect being redirected to mobile content websites.

I know some people probably prefer the mobile formatted content, but I wish it was at least an option so I could get to the true desktop version of a site if I wanted to.
 
I'm not sure but i think the Free browser which can be found in the android market has an option where it will trick the Browser into saying its actually firefox or something hence full sites. The browser is called "steel".

Or you could always try opera browser {also free on the market} and see if that helps :)
 
@Gambit: I know many mobile sites usually have a link to their "classic" or "full" version. I've done that with dictionary.com for example. They have a mobile site, but clicking on the 'Classic" link loads their desktop-sized page normally.
 
You need to change the user agent.

Some browsers (e.g. modified stock that comes with CM, Dolphin, but not vanilla stock) come with an option to set the User Agent. Simply set this to a desktop type machine (e.g. Linux) and you're good to go. I think there is a debug setting on the stock browser that got this setting to appear but I could never get it to work, and there are easier alternatives.

If you're not running a ROM with a modified stock browser then I recommend Dolphin as this can achieve the above setting change (see point 5 of Dolphin Browser Tricks & Tips - Dolphin Browser for Android | Google Groups for detailed instructions)
 
For the stock browser type "about:debug" in for the url. Press enter. Nothing happens? Good. Press menu> more> settings then scroll all the way down. You now have debug settings visible. The last one is ui string chang it to desktop and no more mobile websites.
 
Yeahha said:
For the stock browser type "about:debug" in for the url. Press enter. Nothing happens? Good. Press menu> more> settings then scroll all the way down. You now have debug settings visible. The last one is ui string chang it to desktop and no more mobile websites.
Click to expand...

Frakking AWESOME. You rule.
 
I don't know if that is a 1 time setting you have to change, or if you need to change it every time or once per boot.
 
it will clear itself. when i used the stock browser, i just used to do it every time i opened the browser.

i use Dolphin browser now which has the option to set how you want your browser to be seen(android, desktop, iphone). set for desktop and you get no mobile sites.
 
Sorry, but the UA String is not an option on 2.2. Froyo Captivates. A bunch of other crap shows up instead.

Man, I HATE mobile versions....
 
From my experience, Skyfire is the best browser when it comes to forcing desktop sites to show. Opera and firefox don't work so well.
 
I'm using a Virgin Mobile handset with Froyo, and I just tried the "about:debug" trick, and that forced the UAString option to show up. When you reboot your handset though, the option DOES revert to the default "Android" setting, and you lose access to the UAString option unless you re-enter "about:debug" in the address bar and press enter (or go/next, or whatever your default browser button says).

I just wanted to report that Froyo DOES have the option of using the UAString option to reset your browser to desktop mode. I just tried it, and went to a few websites (including Facebook, Yahoo, and ESPN) that loaded the full desktop website, and NOT the mobile version.

Thanks for the awesome tip, I'm going to be using that one a lot.
 
I am working on a mobile version of websites. I have the iPhone redirect Ok, but what I want to know is the Android redirect code for html index to subdomain and also for setting browser width, so that in such cases, the client/surfer does not need to zoom in.
NB: All my pages are html handcode.
 
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