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Chrome or Standard Browser

A

andy88488

Well-Known Member
Okay, I finally got the Jelly Bean update to work, and I have to say that I'm loving it.

I do wonder about one thing. JB seems to have installed Chrome as a separate browser on my phone, so now every time I click a link the phone asks me if I want to open this in the stock browser or in Chrome.

What should I do? Are there major differences between the stock browser and Chrome? I see that Phone Chrome synchs with Desktop Chrome, but that doesn't really interest me, cause I don't use Desktop Chrome. I would imagine that Chrome is the browser Google wants me to use, but then why do they still have the stock browser? Is there anything that the stock browser does that Chrome can't do?
 
I have to admit that Chrome is my browser of choice for the very reasons you say you don't care about. I've used desktop Chrome for years, so love the sync'ing across devices. Without that benefit, I'm not sure I'd care. I did like the bookmark layout of Dolphin a bit better on the phone. I don't even know what the bookmarks look like in the stock browser these days since it's been so long since I've used it.

I can't think of a time that mobile Chrome has ever crashed for me though.
 
like dolphin the best, voice search & bookmarks very quick and smooth, before that used opera, haven't used stock in ages...
 
I use them both and firefox too. No real reason though. I have each set with different home pages, so I just open the browser of the site I want. Odd, but it works for me.
 
I mainly use Chrome because of the syncing with desktop bookmarks. The performance between the two, I think, are pretty comparable. One thing I kind of like about the stock browser is Quick Controls, where you can drag from the side of the screen and get the semi-circle pop up with various functions (Menu/Settings/Labs/Quick Controls). You can just play around with Chrome by choosing Just this time. If you don't want the popup asking you which one you want, then choose Always. Then, if you later change your mind, you can go into manage apps for the browser app you set as the default and hit clear defaults. Then you can re-select which one you want for your default browser.
 
I've been using Firefox for the very reason of being able to sync between desktop and mobile browsers. And now that I've been forced to have Chrome too, I have 3 browsers installed. I hear eventually, (4.2 upgrade) all the Android phones will have only the Chrome browser. So I guess we'd better get used to it, or one of the third party browsers, like Firefox/Dolphin etc..
 
boxthrower said:
I use the stock browser because I feel it's smoother and does not crash nearly as much as the Chrome browser.
Click to expand...

I like the features of Chrome, but like you said it's not nearly as stable as stock browser. I'll continue to use stock until Chrome is improved.
 
I tried chrome but still prefer dolphin. I use firefox on my desktop and sync them with xmarks. I might try chrome more if I could get xmarks plug in
 
I was a big Dolphin fan, but couldn't get Xmarks to sync bookmark subfolders anymore. I like the Quick Controls feature in Stock, but I finally went with the new version of Chrome after JB upgrade. I like having my bookmarks synced with my desktop.
 
Thanks to all who posted. I guess the general consensus is that unless you want your bookmarks to sync with Chrome, there's no reason not to use the stock browser.
 
I've played with the stock browser a little more in the past couple of days due to this thread. Stock browser actually does seem a little quicker than Chrome but that can vary. One thing I noticed that I do like better with Chrome is the double tap zooming function. With Chrome, it aligns the zoomed area to better fit the screen. Unless I don't have the settings right, the stock browser zooms, but it doesn't always line up the text in the zoomed area to fit the width of the screen so after zooming, I'm finding I sometimes have to move or fine tune the screen display to see all of the text.
 
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