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xScope Pro... why not loved more?

K

kwalla

Well-Known Member
Why doesn't xScope Pro get more love from people?

I tried Dolphin HD today.. and am confused as to why people love it. I went to Drew Curtis' FARK.com and picked the first story.. Dolphin HD loaded the news site in view where I had to use pinch/zoom to be able to read anything. I'd hate to do that all the time!

I open the same link in xScope Pro.. and it's automatically in the right size. If I need to, xScope Pro can zoom just as well.. but it always seems to load pages correctly zoomed so all I need to do is read.

I couldn't tell any meaningful speed difference.

None of the addons Dolphin HD touts really did anything for me, so I an discounting those.

Is really some way in which xScope Pro is defective or has a serious flaw?
 
Everyone seems to have a favorite, I don't really think that there is a right or wrong to it.

I use Boat Browser most of the time, but also Xscope Pro and several others, fwiw.
 
That link opens just fine for me in Dolphin HD, no zooming necessary. You have to first turn off the useless "open in overview" setting. There a few reasons I prefer Dolphin to xScope, chief among them are the control bar I can't get rid of in xScope (it can be at the top or bottom but just not be gone) and the annoying haptic feedback when I tap the new tab button in xScope. Of course xScope has cool features Dolphin doesn't have, like the ability to have long-pressing a link open it in a new background tab.
 
I'm not sure what you mean by "control bar', but I surf all the time with nothing but webpage -- no xScope bars or buttons at all on the screen at all. And I get no haptic feedback. I have that disabled across the board on my phone.

I'll have to give Dolphin another whirl after unchecking that overview box -- I struggle to think why anyone would want that as a default on.

I know it's all personal preference, but even in articles about browsers xScope seldom gets a mention....
 
EarlyMon said:
Everyone seems to have a favorite, I don't really think that there is a right or wrong to it.

I use Boat Browser most of the time, but also Xscope Pro and several others, fwiw.
Click to expand...

Now, this just makes me curious -- why do you use multiple browsers? Considering space being at a premium on a phone... why run with more than one or two?

I'm clearly a basic sort of user, so just looking to understand what I'm missing!
 
kwalla said:
I'm not sure what you mean by "control bar', but I surf all the time with nothing but webpage -- no xScope bars or buttons at all on the screen at all. And I get no haptic feedback. I have that disabled across the board on my phone.
Click to expand...
Glad you were able to disable it and get rid of the bars. I don't want to get rid of everything (no fullscreen mode for me) just the control bar. And I could not find a way to get rid of the haptic feedback when I pressed the + sign to get a new tab, even when haptic feedback was disabled globally in Android.

I'll have to give Dolphin another whirl after unchecking that overview box -- I struggle to think why anyone would want that as a default on.
Click to expand...
This setting is available or default in a lot of web browsers. I also find it completely useless and don't know why people would find it useful.
 
Xscope is not loved more because its paid. Dolphin HD, Boat Browser, Miren etc all are free and very functional. Some functions of the paid version is already on free Boat and Dolphin.
 
chanchan05 said:
Xscope is not loved more because its paid. Dolphin HD, Boat Browser, Miren etc all are free and very functional. Some functions of the paid version is already on free Boat and Dolphin.
Click to expand...

I must have picked it up as an Amazon Free App or something.... that does explain why it's left out of a lot of reviews and comparisons.
 
kwalla said:
Now, this just makes me curious -- why do you use multiple browsers? Considering space being at a premium on a phone... why run with more than one or two?

I'm clearly a basic sort of user, so just looking to understand what I'm missing!
Click to expand...

I do it because I can, I have plenty of room.

Some pages may look better in one browser than another, or I may wish to keep pages separate by subject.
 
How many apps do people install that space is at a premium? Even when I had my original MyTouch 3G (HTC Magic), I never ran out of room because of apps.

P.S. There is a paid-for version of xScope, but there's also a free version.
 
aysiu said:
How many apps do people install that space is at a premium? Even when I had my original MyTouch 3G (HTC Magic), I never ran out of room because of apps.

P.S. There is a paid-for version of xScope, but there's also a free version.
Click to expand...

I've used over 700 MB of my apps + data area. Something I could not have done on my old phone.
 
aysiu said:
How many apps do people install that space is at a premium? Even when I had my original MyTouch 3G (HTC Magic), I never ran out of room because of apps.

P.S. There is a paid-for version of xScope, but there's also a free version.
Click to expand...

The free version has a bit less functionality than the paid, and besides, people tend to go the free route first and if they find it good, why pay for something else when you are already well satisfied?


EarlyMon said:
I've used over 700 MB of my apps + data area. Something I could not have done on my old phone.
Click to expand...

Metroid prime said:
That's a ton of apps man. I barely make it to 200 MB or so.
Click to expand...

I got like 1.2GB worth of apps on my internal phone storage, and another 1.3GB on the internal SD card (but these aren't all apps, there's a few photos, ringtones, etc but these shouldn't reach more than the .3GB excess). Granted Dead Space and Tiki Racing probably takes more than 1GB to themselves.
 
I've used xScope, Miren, Dolphin, Boat and a few others over the years. I've settled on Opera recently as my go to browser. Why? It's not webkit based. I've found that the webkit based browsers all have issues when downloading files. Sometimes you get the file, sometimes all you download is the shortcut to the file. I tired of using one browser for surfing and another for downloads, thus Opera.
 
I initially liked XScope and actually bought the full version. Over time it got bigger and heavier, slower. While it does a lot of things well, it's sometimes painful to get there.

I haven't tried it on my GNex, I probably should, but the ICS browser (and Chrome) do 90% of what I need. Opera fills the remaining 10%.

I never understood why people love Dolphin so much on their phones either. It's not bad at all but never really became my go to browser. No complaints about it, it just never grabbed me.
 
Dolphin is popular as its let you do things on some phones that the stock or other browsers wont.
 
I've been using Xscope free for quite a while and really don't see a need for Pro. There doesn't seem to be any ads in the free version, and it does everything I need. My main frustration with most browsers is no pinch zoom on many mobile pages (like Facebook). What I can't really do without is the fact that Xscope pinch zooms and wraps text perfectly on almost all mobile pages. This eliminates the need for many separate apps (like Facebook, Engadget....).

It's default bookmark page isn't all that visually pleasing, but I got around that by just making a Launcher screen with the bookmarks I most frequent (below). You can also easily export or import bookmarks as HTML to SD or to default browser (which I don't use, but use to make Launcher shortcuts):
Bookmarks%203.png


Difference between Paid and free per their description:
xScope was originally coded as a paid app. Pro version ($2.99) allows users to open/send local files and take/share screenshots of web pages.
 
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