Browsers keep crashing, and very disappointed with GPU / RAM speed.. - Nexus 6 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Most browsers are crashing at the sight of an animated GIF on webpages. So far, Boat Browser, CM Browser, Maxthon Browser, and Naked Browser crash at the sight of the animated GIF attached to this thread below.
Chrome and Dolphin are the only two browsers that aren't crashing while viewing the image. Dolphin is unusable at the moment because it hasn't been updated yet, and I don't care for the UI and options in Chrome.
Having said that, this problem doesn't exist when using the same browsers and viewing the same image on my Note 3 running Kit Kat. In fact, I have zero browser issues on my Note 3.
Another browser issue I'm having is with the loading of previous tabs. If I open two tabs, then close the second tab, the first one loads relatively slowly (graphically). This is the case with Boat Browser (and the others listed above), but not with Chrome. This problem is also not present on my Note 3 with any browser.
I'm not sure where the browsers store tabs (RAM or disk), but my Note 3 is faster loading tabs than the Nexus, which is pretty sad, in my opinion. Scrolling webpages is faster and smoother on the Nexus, but that's about it.
And frankly with 3 GB's of RAM, I don't know why a browser would load tabs from disk instead of RAM, which could mean that the RAM on this phone is slower than the RAM on the Note 3.
I've used 3 different ROMs, 3 different kernels. Enabled "Force GPU" in dev options. Even unencrypted in case the browser was reading and writing from the disk instead of RAM. The slow graphical loading of previous tabs is still present on the Nexus 6 no matter what I try.
I'm > < this close to selling my Nexus because of all the unstable browsers and slow graphics. I've had nothing but constant crashing of browsers. And the slow graphic loading of previous tabs on this phone which is non-existent on my Note 3 is also disappointing. I've read around the forums where people have had graphics issues with games that don't exist on other phones.
I've reduced the screen size from 1440 down to 1080, causing less strain on the GPU, and the slow graphics issue was still there in the browsers.
I love the customizeability, screen size, and openness of the Nexus. But at this point, that's where my love for this phone ends. My Note 3 is more stable.
Anyone have any suggestions or input? A little unhappy and disappointed at this point.
** Edit to add: I understand that apps may not be updated or optimized for the 1440 screen size and for Android 5.x. But app developers have had how long now to update their apps? Not really an excuse.

If you're that unhappy with your N6, and are unwilling to use a browser that is updated and actually works, go back to your beloved Note 3. There's the validation you're looking for.
It's all just an illusion

-BoneZ- said:
Most browsers are crashing at the sight of an animated GIF on webpages. So far, Boat Browser, CM Browser, Maxthon Browser, and Naked Browser crash at the sight of the animated GIF attached to this thread below.
Chrome and Dolphin are the only two browsers that aren't crashing while viewing the image. Dolphin is unusable at the moment because it hasn't been updated yet, and I don't care for the UI and options in Chrome.
Having said that, this problem doesn't exist when using the same browsers and viewing the same image on my Note 3 running Kit Kat. In fact, I have zero browser issues on my Note 3.
Another browser issue I'm having is with the loading of previous tabs. If I open two tabs, then close the second tab, the first one loads relatively slowly (graphically). This is the case with Boat Browser (and the others listed above), but not with Chrome. This problem is also not present on my Note 3 with any browser.
I'm not sure where the browsers store tabs (RAM or disk), but my Note 3 is faster loading tabs than the Nexus, which is pretty sad, in my opinion. Scrolling webpages is faster and smoother on the Nexus, but that's about it.
And frankly with 3 GB's of RAM, I don't know why a browser would load tabs from disk instead of RAM, which could mean that the RAM on this phone is slower than the RAM on the Note 3.
I've used 3 different ROMs, 3 different kernels. Enabled "Force GPU" in dev options. Even unencrypted in case the browser was reading and writing from the disk instead of RAM. The slow graphical loading of previous tabs is still present on the Nexus 6 no matter what I try.
I'm > < this close to selling my Nexus because of all the unstable browsers and slow graphics. I've had nothing but constant crashing of browsers. And the slow graphic loading of previous tabs on this phone which is non-existent on my Note 3 is also disappointing. I've read around the forums where people have had graphics issues with games that don't exist on other phones.
I've reduced the screen size from 1440 down to 1080, causing less strain on the GPU, and the slow graphics issue was still there in the browsers.
I love the customizeability, screen size, and openness of the Nexus. But at this point, that's where my love for this phone ends. My Note 3 is more stable.
Anyone have any suggestions or input? A little unhappy and disappointed at this point.
** Edit to add: I understand that apps may not be updated or optimized for the 1440 screen size and for Android 5.x. But app developers have had how long now to update their apps? Not really an excuse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have any if these issues.

trickster2369 said:
If you're that unhappy with your N6, and are unwilling to use a browser that is updated and actually works, go back to your beloved Note 3. There's the validation you're looking for.
It's all just an illusion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I'm not unhappy. You do make a valid point.

Related

Throwdown dolphin vs xsope

Xsope is more responsive and swiping between tabs is nice too. I also like the way it fills the screen better but I have to admit: dolphins gesture function for jumping to a site by drawing a letter on the screen rocks. I wish I could combine the two but I'm thinking of keeping both.
Dolphin Browser HD v4.2
Pros:
Screen gestures
Organize bookmarks in folders
Cons:
Once the bookmarks are organized in folders, neither the bookmarks, nor the folders containing them are visible on the Bookmarks Bar. What's the use of organizing them?
Flash panels seem to float above other web page elements and at times these panels appear to cover up some other elements.
When scrolling these Flash panels cover the status bar at the top of the screen.
Tabs are too narrow. It is easy to close a tab when you want to turn over to it.
xScope v6 Trial
Pros:
Speed/responsiveness throughout the browser.
Fewer FCs.
Wider tabs.
Better use of the limited screen space.
Cons:
Cannot organize bookmarks.
Flash stopped working. Still works in the stock browser and in Dolphin Browser HD
No gestures.
I personalty like Opra mini but I have messed with both the others opra has been relyable using it for bout a year an no problems
Sent from my CBW Blaze using XDA App
baric88 said:
I personalty like Opra mini but I have messed with both the others opra has been relyable using it for bout a year an no problems
Sent from my CBW Blaze using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The topic is "Throwdown dolphin vs xsope".
I've tried both, but keep coming back to dolphin, the bookmark organizing and gestures make for a more pleasant experience. Plus on xscope kept having were I would be scrolling and randomly my movements would start zooming instead.
I find this is very much like the old "Netscape and IE" days. I use Dolphin for 95% of my browsing and if it's slow or frustrating I switch to XScope.
Unfortunately, I can't see XScope with my Market hacked to think it's a Galaxy Tab (I do this for Swype keybaord) so I can't update it. ><
I'm partial to Dolphin HD. I never had a problem with it. I tried Xscope a couple of times but I didn't really like it.
Dolphin feels like a more polished experience to me.
For example:
Tab management "feels" more intuitive in Dolphin. The active tab has a close button right on the tab. You have to make other tabs active or longpress them to close, which I'll admit is a little cumbersome (ideally there'd probably be an x on each tab), but it looks and feels better than xScope's tab button, then hunting for the x for each tab's thumbnail (which are overlapped, making it harder to see).
xScope allows you to shrink text pretty much as small as you want. This might be good for a few specific use cases, but I find it preferable for the browser to lock a minimum zoom level like Dolphin.
I will admit that xScope feels quicker than Dolphin but at this point I'd consider it analogous to the initial Chrome browser release. I think it will do well in the future and probably surpass Dolphin and other mobile browsers, but right now it's not something that's enjoyable to use for mainstream (not that this forum is anything near mainstream lol).
I use and love xscope as flash has worked flawlessly for me on everything from hulu, youtube, ch131 and surfthechannel. I love bein able to stream any videos I want on my gtab
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
I didn't care for the swipe to change tabs in xscope because I kept accidentally triggering it. Dolphin lets you map the volume keys as tab switcher, and I much prefer that.
Out of the blue, xScope Flash has suddenly stopped working for some folks and I am one of them. The most bizarre issue is it DID work and there was no update in between it working and not working.
As a result and by default, Dolphin wins. No funky a55 problems like xScope. I bought the app, so I have the right to beeeeeuuch!
ThinkinBig said:
I use and love xscope as flash has worked flawlessly for me on everything from hulu, youtube, ch131 and surfthechannel. I love bein able to stream any videos I want on my gtab
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean, any except for silverlight right? (Stupid xbox preview videos!!!!)
Dolphin works for me
i like Dolphin the best, never had an issue with it myself
Dolphin vs.......
Have used both on both my EVO and G-tablet and find I like Dolphin better, just seems more polished. The only problem that I have with both my EVO and G-tablet is that when I post to Facebook for some reason the keyboard will not display. A minor irritation but can be a little frustrating.
Dolphin is definitely a better experience, less FCs and the flow is much close to Firefox to me. This is only my opinion!
Dolphin HD gets my vote
xScope, a long press let's me download images. Wallpapers of course.
Dolphon wins for me since Flash does NOT work using xScope. Has not for a few months, regardless of xScop or TnT version. Works fine on my Incredible.
Perhaps the goobers at xScope will fix the issue now that more Tegra tablets coming.
I've been using xscope for a few weeks now and love it. Flash didn't work at first, but all I had to do was reinstall flash from the market. Has worked ever since. I love how going back is instant. Dolphin would reload the page which was annoying. I do miss the swipe right to see your bookmarks. Also, if you like dolphin, try miren, its nice.
Yeah xscope has problem with flash from time to time. I think it's an issue with the cache. To solve this clear up the applications cache from androids settings.

perfect browser?

What browser is everyone using? I tried many of them, but they all lack something. I am using CM7 RC4.
- Firefox. Excellent in all areas except for speed. Scrolling and loading is too slow to be useful. Does not support flash - I do not care about flash much, but for some it would be a dealbreaker.
- Dolphin HD. Slow scrolling. Supports flash. Incorrectly renders some pages (iclarified.com). Too slow to be useful for me.
- Opera mobile. Very fast. Supports flash. Would be perfect if it had an ability to change browser agent. Without it many websites insist on using mobile version.
What I want is Firefox features with speed of Opera. Does such thing exist?
Maybe mirin browser. I haven't tried it so much but it seems fast. Don't know if it supports flash though.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
I use Dolphin HD. Never had any issue except slow scrolling for graphics heavy sites.
by the way you cab change user agent in opera mobile. look at the Opera thread on how.
i use xscope. I have tried dolphin but i cannot stand how it renders some pages (one that comes to mind is reddit).
Firefox like you said is too slow
Opera seems promising, I am using that every once in a while now but still always find myself going back to xscope
Skyfire 3.0
I would suggest skyfire. Been the best of all worlds for me!
I love and use the stock browser just fine.
Since Opera 11 got flash, I feel the other browsers can't compete. up until that point I was a Dolphin HD Guy.
I use xscope or dolphin HD. I do not like Skyfire or Opera since they proxy your web traffic.
Opera Mobile 11 is the only browser I use now. Too many of the websites that I frequent have really slow scrolling on the webkit based browsers. Now that Opera Mobile has GPU acceleration and flash support I can't use anything else.
painter_:
Opera Mobile does not use a proxy unless you turn on turbo mode which will just compress images for you.
was using miren, but i prefer opera mobile now, i like how it render pages much than miren or firefox. Miren is pretty fine too, i like how it handle tabs.
Opera has font rendering issues, particularly in its always-on overview mode. And it's bookmark management sucks. I don't understand why they made their browser have so little in the way of configuration options.
Dolphin HD is my favorite but Opera is definitely faster.
Firefox is a disaster yet with some serious issues. I hope they continue to work on it.
opera has tons of config options, if you go to "opera:config" way to much. But I do agree there are few options that I would like that doesn't exists. like disable page overview/preview, bookmark ordering, disable navigation bar. I have a phone and nook, both running 2.2, and same version of opera. On the phone I can disable the navigation bar but I can't do it on the nook. They must be doing some filtering of configs based on device type or resolution.
swaaye said:
Opera has font rendering issues, particularly in its always-on overview mode. And it's bookmark management sucks. I don't understand why they made their browser have so little in the way of configuration options.
Dolphin HD is my favorite but Opera is definitely faster.
Firefox is a disaster yet with some serious issues. I hope they continue to work on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
opera is faster, but the speed isnt enough to make me switch from dolphin hd. it just flows so much better. I dont like the gestures, but like the swipe actions with the shortcuts on the left panel. I also like how it goes to full screen when a site is loaded, and the address bar goes away once it's scrolled away. the tabs are also a joy to use.
Opera Mobile has now replaced dolphin HD for me. The great increase in speed and performance made me switch. I still hope Opera gets better tab and bookmark management though. Once that happens, Opera will easily be the best IMO.
Opera is a complete piece of trash.
The scrolling doesn't lock when you scroll up/down so it jitters left/right as you scroll down a page. It looks awful. Every other mobile browser in existence has this feature. Why did they leave it out?
Websites that are not formatted for mobile always load first in completely zoomed out mode with the letters at 0.5 font, regardless of what you set the "zoom" to in the settings. This means browsing around some websites becomes extremely painful since you have to zoom in a TON for every. single. page click.
And the worst of them all: on content heavy pages (ie when a website doesn't have a mobile version), after it finishes loading, the entire page just goes blank. Literally, completely white. The weird thing is when switching tabs, the tab preview still shows the content. But going back to the page and it's still just fully white. Reloading the page doesn't help.
Opera Mobile has "nice scrolling" but that's about it. What a bug-ridden infuriating, and not to mention HUGE (25+ mb) app.

A less GPU intensive Web browser

I've read through several reviews that the galaxy note web browsing battery test score is low due to the fact that the default explorer takes its toll on the gpu , have any of you tried non stock browsers and had better battery life with it ?
i my self use dolphin HD and i get the same results
its not entirely the GPU's fault. if you check out the PC world, GPU's are more energy efficient than CPUs. ie. my gtx560ti soc had 384 cores running at 2ghz and draws 205w, my i7 2600k only has 8 hyperthreaded cores running at 4.5ghz and it draws 180w, guess which one has much more processing power and better performance per watt?
the reason why the battery dies so quickly with web browsing isnt because of the GPU and CPU, but because of the AMOLED screen. when an AMOLED screen is black, it uses no power. when an AMOLED screen is fully lit up white, it draws full power. most web pages have white backgrounds, which means the AMOLED screen is constantly running at full power, which is the reason for terrible battery life whilst web browsing. some people had a fix for it by modding opera browser to set backgrounds to black instead with white text, that went a long way towards improving battery life.
well part of what you said is true about white backgrounds but thats not the main problem
in gsmarena's battery test it scored about 8.5 hours on video playback while only 3.5 hours in web browsing , sure some of the extra consumption are contributed to wifi or 3g usage but the gap is above the normal range .
My default browser is Opera Mobile,it is not hardware accelaerated so I constantly get between 5-6 hours of non stop browsing with it,besides it supports text reflow when pinched to Zoom and am too used to it from my days on HD2..
The other two ,the Stock and Dolphin rarely I use them.
4 months later and first time I'm hearing about this.
I personally use stock browser. Not a fan of dolphin HD, but dolphin mini is cool and opera mobile is also great.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
I hope that with the ICS browser we will see an improvement, i know it won't be that much because of the Super Amoled Screen but in ICS you can invert the color scheme so white will be black and that will make a big change for people who browse a lot!
My battery life using Opera Mobile seems fairly good im using a CSS file for a black background which I found really helps.
hagba said:
My default browser is Opera Mobile,it is not hardware accelaerated so I constantly get between 5-6 hours of non stop browsing with it,besides it supports text reflow when pinched to Zoom and am too used to it from my days on HD2..
The other two ,the Stock and Dolphin rarely I use them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is.
"he latest versions of the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile get an extra boost of speed and power. Even on sites with secure encryption or lots of graphics, pages load with a snap and scroll smoothly. You’ll also be able to play the next generation of games on your mobile device, thanks to WebGL hardware acceleration.[/I]"
Opera.com
Moved To Q&A​
Please post all questions in the Q&A section​
Mezoxin said:
well part of what you said is true about white backgrounds but thats not the main problem
in gsmarena's battery test it scored about 8.5 hours on video playback while only 3.5 hours in web browsing , sure some of the extra consumption are contributed to wifi or 3g usage but the gap is above the normal range .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont see how your quote disproves what im saying. the white backgrounds are the main problem believe it or not. videos often use dark colours, hence the extra battery life with videos. even gsmarena mentions the amoled white screen thing in their review iirc.
the ICS browser on the galaxy note has the option to invert colours, that will improve battery life dramatically.
White on Black
Souai said:
i dont see how your quote disproves what im saying. the white backgrounds are the main problem believe it or not. videos often use dark colours, hence the extra battery life with videos. even gsmarena mentions the amoled white screen thing in their review iirc.
the ICS browser on the galaxy note has the option to invert colours, that will improve battery life dramatically.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
That's why XDA mobile (also Youtube) is so good with a black background.
I use Dolphin and find it is very good with lots of great features. However it does chew battery but mainly because I still visit many websites with white backgrounds. I've tried reducing brightness until white is almost grey but battery still disappears.
But again - as I keep saying - small price to pay with such a brilliant screen to be able to view entire web pages. Who cares if you have to charge every night?
I'd also recommend buying extra batteries or a USB recharger if you are going away for more than 24 hours
IMO, the best Android web browser is Maxthon. Super fast, tab browsing, gestures etc.
I use it as my main browser on my desktop PC and now also on my Android phones.
It also has a night mode which darkens the screen and also inverts the page colors so the white background becomes dark gray / black.
jakiman said:
IMO, the best Android web browser is Maxthon. Super fast, tab browsing, gestures etc.
I use it as my main browser on my desktop PC and now also on my Android phones.
It also has a night mode which darkens the screen and also inverts the page colors so the white background becomes dark gray / black.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - just downloaded and trying now. Will give it a few days and let you know.
+1
jakiman said:
IMO, the best Android web browser is Maxthon. Super fast, tab browsing, gestures etc.
I use it as my main browser on my desktop PC and now also on my Android phones.
It also has a night mode which darkens the screen and also inverts the page colors so the white background becomes dark gray / black.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been running Maxthon and Boat off and on for the last month or so. Both are very useable and responsive, and the 2 "lightest" full-featured browsers I know of. There are a few things I prefer about each, so haven't settled on a primary, yet... but the slight edge goes to Boat at the moment. Watching System Panel and a few other tools, Boat seems to be requiring fewer GPU and CPU resources while browsing (no flash sites while comparing).
Souai said:
i dont see how your quote disproves what im saying. the white backgrounds are the main problem believe it or not. videos often use dark colours, hence the extra battery life with videos. even gsmarena mentions the amoled white screen thing in their review iirc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What the..? This thread is filled to the brim with misinformation.
First of all, using GPU is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing. Videos consume so little battery exactly because all decoding, including audio, is done in hardware, there is almost nothing for CPU to do while playing video. Go ahead and install e.g. MXPlayer and disable H/W decoding and try playing videos then; you'll notice battery-life dropping to barely 3 hours.
Secondly, Gingerbread does not use GPU for almost any of the regular 2D operations. And guess what? Web browsers do quite heavy amounts of 2D graphics, and since they're not accelerated all those operations must be done in software. ICS does support GPU-acceleration for quite many 2D operations so you'll see much improved battery-life when browsing the web on ICS.
Mezoxin said:
I've read through several reviews that the galaxy note web browsing battery test score is low due to the fact that the default explorer takes its toll on the gpu , have any of you tried non stock browsers and had better battery life with it ?
i my self use dolphin HD and i get the same results
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an app called Wi-Fi TX Power with which you can set wifi receiver signal strength. I'm not sure how much power it can save, but on my old HD2 it reduced the peak power usage while browsing from 500 mA to some 200/300 mA.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

[Q] Terrible Firefox performance - any ideas?

Firefox's graphical performance on this tablet is bizarrely poor. Scrolling is like a slideshow on any vaguely complex/graphical page. This is the case both with Firefox, and its latest Nightly build. Has anybody found any solution or filed a bug for this? The high resolution screen may play a part in this, but performance is far worse than the Nexus 10, which has the same resolution display and far slower hardware.
mejogid said:
Firefox's graphical performance on this tablet is bizarrely poor. Scrolling is like a slideshow on any vaguely complex/graphical page. This is the case both with Firefox, and its latest Nightly build. Has anybody found any solution or filed a bug for this? The high resolution screen may play a part in this, but performance is far worse than the Nexus 10, which has the same resolution display and far slower hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Contact the firefox devs and tell them. They should be the people fixing it, Quote the stock browser and chrome being much faster.
Firefox beta runs fine on mine. For example, CNN or Yahoo News scrolls smooth to me.
Cecil
Yeah, this browser is supposed to be one of the best, but on the TF701 it is really buggy and laggy... hopefully they will fix the issue. Right now I'm using stock and Opera, occasionally Chrome

What browser do you use?

I've been using Chrome for a long time but it seems very slow to load pages. I've got a 25mbps connection so I don't think that's the problem. In browser tests, Chrome seems to be slower than a lot but OTOH, it has a pretty small memory requirement which seems important on a 1MB machine. I have a Nook HD and have been running MM for about a week. Chrome was slow on CM11 and it seems just as slow on CM13. Anyone using a browser they are really happy with? (FWIW, I tried Puffin but the interface was not a nice as Chrome so I gave up, probably too quickly.)
lmacmil said:
I've been using Chrome for a long time but it seems very slow to load pages. I've got a 25mbps connection so I don't think that's the problem. In browser tests, Chrome seems to be slower than a lot but OTOH, it has a pretty small memory requirement which seems important on a 1MB machine. I have a Nook HD and have been running MM for about a week. Chrome was slow on CM11 and it seems just as slow on CM13. Anyone using a browser they are really happy with? (FWIW, I tried Puffin but the interface was not a nice as Chrome so I gave up, probably too quickly.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I started using Firefox a few weeks ago for one main reason. The additional add on of ad blockers. I do not have xposed and adaway on my nook right now so gave the adblockers a try. It seems to speed up my browsing a ton. I was a chrome fan, too, but there are so many intrusive ads now that it can't function. There is still occasional lag from whatever unknown issues there are on a 3 year old tablet and its antique processor but I am on the latest aosp and am p!eased it still works.
long2ski said:
I started using Firefox a few weeks ago for one main reason. The additional add on of ad blockers. I do not have xposed and adaway on my nook right now so gave the adblockers a try. It seems to speed up my browsing a ton. I was a chrome fan, too, but there are so many intrusive ads now that it can't function. There is still occasional lag from whatever unknown issues there are on a 3 year old tablet and its antique processor but I am on the latest aosp and am p!eased it still works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use FF on my laptop but switched to Chrome on my desktop because FF doesn't agree with the hardware and Win10. Would spontaneously freeze or reboot every couple days. I will try FF on the Nook and see what happens. Thanks.
I use FF on my laptop but switched to Chrome on my desktop because FF doesn't agree with the hardware and Win10
I use FF on my Toshiba with Windows 10 with no issues. It's my goto browser there too for the same reasons.
I use Opera on any android device, simply because it is the only one I know of that still supports dynamic text reflow, allowing one to zoom in and not have to scroll left and right. It irks me that other browsers do not support this.

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