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Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

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Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where? I don't see that anywhere in my settings. I'd consider installing the Facebook app again if I could yank all of its privileges. I'm 99% certain that this is NOT an option anymore, post 4.4.

I'm on 5.0 and it's under Settings > Security > App Permisions. I can select each permission in each app and switch individual permissions from the default of Allow to Deny or Ask. I'm on a stock ROM.

I'm on 5.0 as well and I have no such menu. I have "Apps with Usage Access", but that just controls android.permission.PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS.

By stock ROM, you mean you have a nexus device and the original or OTA upgraded firmware on it?

Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just described most of what I see on 4chan and Facebook. But in a sense what you're saying has happened to a degree with paywalls. The really good content at say the New York Times, Financial Times and the like is behind paywalls at this point while low quality stuff like Huffington Post is free.

> The really good content at say the New York Times, Financial Times and the like is behind paywalls For now, it's "soft" paywalls - they're still indexable by Google, and visible if you come from there. I'm afraid that, in the near future, they could really become accessible only to those who can pay. And the quality of the free internet would instantly drop many notches.

That's my fear as well, although I've seen a decline in the market over the past few years. After the banner ad crash of '08 it became harder for indie bloggers to make a living. And another problem I see these days is that not only are banner ads paying badly, but money has flooded into the field to back winner-takes-all ventures like Vox or Buzzfeed. So it's hard for the little guy to even get pizza money at this point.

Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The really good content at say the New York Times, Financial Times and the like is behind paywalls For now, it's "soft" paywalls - they're still indexable by Google, and visible if you come from there. I'm afraid that, in the near future, they could really become accessible only to those who can pay. And the quality of the free internet would instantly drop many notches.

That's my fear as well, although I've seen a decline in the market over the past few years. After the banner ad crash of '08 it became harder for indie bloggers to make a living. And another problem I see these days is that not only are banner ads paying badly, but money has flooded into the field to back winner-takes-all ventures like Vox or Buzzfeed. So it's hard for the little guy to even get pizza money at this p…

Well, we can only hope for the better...

Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#134
post #18

Isn't it because the browser loads user interface and code all the time (sure, there's caching, but still), while apps only load data?

This year, browsers are implementing the Service Worker spec [0] which is a major improvement to the previous App Cache spec [1]. Both could be used to load UI (and all other static assets) when offline.

There are also numerous headers for describing TTL for downloaded assets, and APIs for offline storage (localStorage, indexedDB).

I think the main differences are that while the web has these capabilities, you don't get them for free. You do have to go out of your way to use them. Usually, they're developed assuming an Internet connection, then made to work offline. Usually, it's the other way around for native apps.

[0] http://www.w3.org/TR/service-workers/ [1] http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/browsers.html#a...

Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your point. Do you think it could have been phrased differently though, since some people might take offense at their perspective (and by implication, them) being called nerdy? (Obviously not the most dire of insults, and not an insult at all to many people - yourself included, probably - but still probably unpleasant to some.)

I'm one of the people who could have been insulyed and I say please STOP. Stop this nonsense where we cannot even describe anything.

[deleted]

Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#136
It's a ridiculous to call the metric measured by this study "Traffic". All it's counting is "unique user's as counted" on all the websites.

So while I'm scrolling through twitter app on my phone, I might click on about 20-30 random links (most of which open in the browser), take a quick look and swipe away the tab. According to this study, I just presented myself as "Unique User" on 20-30 sites. All the while, I'm simply browsing twitter.

So according the methodology of this study, I just generated 30x the "web traffic" as compared to my app traffic. It's a patently ridiculous way of measuring mobile usage.

Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#137

I believe that mobile browser will beat apps, like it did on desktop. Mobile browsers were unusable, sites were not mobile-friendly, devices were slow with tiny screens. Now those factors change and browsing websites on modern smartphone is much more usable. And it's likely that we will see shift from mobile apps to mobile websites in the near future.

>like it did on desktop It's pretty great that this happened. I'm so sick of using these pesky desktop applications. Just remind me, which web apps can I use for the following? -Audio production -3D animation -Video editing -CAD design -Writing/debugging software

For Writing/debugging software definitely check out Codeanywhere.com. I am the founder so would love your feedback if you haven't tried it out yet. Thanks :)

Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#138
I'm pretty suspicious of the data and the analysis in this study - even though I "like" some of the conclusions. I wrote a post about it here: https://www.distilled.net/resources/5-things-that-make-me-su...

Hope someone finds it useful.

Re: Mobile browser traffic is 2X bigger than app traffic, and growing faster

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on 5.0 and it's under Settings > Security > App Permisions. I can select each permission in each app and switch individual permissions from the default of Allow to Deny or Ask. I'm on a stock ROM.

I'm on 5.0 as well and I have no such menu. I have "Apps with Usage Access", but that just controls android.permission.PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS. By stock ROM, you mean you have a nexus device and the original or OTA upgraded firmware on it?

I have a phone with a clear 5.0 ROM, beyond a couple of Vodafone-branded shortcuts on the homescreen. Apparently this feature isn't present in Nexus ROMs, which is strange. Good on Vodafone for including this feature though.

PS: This is the device http://www.gsmarena.com/vodafone_smart_ultra_6-7313.php

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