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Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

arstechnica.com

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Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#31

Post by recursive »

SquareWheel wrote: post #7
estel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there an extent to which forced deprecation of software like Flash might hasten the uptake of newer technologies like HTML5? Fortunately iOS already did most of this on its own. But reduced support can always encourage more websites to move to HTML5.

As much as I'd like to see HTML5 pushed for interactive content, it's not there yet. I can tell whenever Youtube gives me the HTML player because everything breaks. Apple's webplayer is even worse. I think the only good experience I've had with an HTML5 video player is on The Verge, and half the comments complain about it so it probably just works well on Chrome. I think Flash still has a place in the current web, wh…

Funny you should mention it. While we're talking anecdotes, youtube's flash player is more likely to crash my browser than the html one.

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#32

Post by Zirro »

ThomPete wrote: post #12
mberning wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coherent argument? Sucks battery Poor usability on touch interfaces Memory hog Buggy, leads to browser crashes

Poor usability? What does that even mean in this context? Flash allow you to create any kind of interface and experience you want.

"Flash allow you to create any kind of interface and experience you want."

Exactly, and that's the problem. It means that it behaves the way the author wants it to, ignoring the users preferences. That is poor usability. I have lots of small annoyances with Flash, take for example the inability to auto-scroll across it (at least in Firefox on OS X). This would not be the case with normal content.

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#33

Post by huggyface »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #29
huggyface wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fortunately iOS already did most of this on its own. By pushing everyone to apps? iOS is no shepherd in the movement to standardized, cross-platform solutions. It is probably the greatest setback the open web has faced in over a decade.

Safari and Chrome are both based on Webkit. SVN here: http://www.webkit.org/building/checkout.html Apple's original plan was that third-party stuff would be in web app form. They took tons of flak from the developer community over that, so no, they didn't "push everyone to apps".

Safari and Chrome are both based on Webkit.

And webkit derived from KHTML (loosely), the project coming to public attention as Apple came under criticism for taking but not giving.

Apple's original plan

And Google's original plan was don't be evil. I would never -- even if I ever got some screwed up idea that I need to defend a corporation online -- reference that to defend their honour.

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#34

Post by cmf028 »

hahaiamatwork wrote: post #13
estel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there an extent to which forced deprecation of software like Flash might hasten the uptake of newer technologies like HTML5? Fortunately iOS already did most of this on its own. But reduced support can always encourage more websites to move to HTML5.

I agree, but as another poster said, the technology simply isn't there. I haven't tested an iPhone 4S yet, but I did develop some javascript canvas based animations for some time, and the performance was extremely poor. The old benchmark I used was http://themaninblue.com/writing/perspective/2010/03/22/ I believe, and I have yet to see HTML outperform flash on it.

Hardware acceleration for Canvas and SVG makes a huge difference in this case.

Firefox 4+ (Windows Vista/7), IE9+ (Windows Vista/7), Chrome(I forget which version)+ (All Windows, Mac Soon), and Safari 5+ (OSX) all support hardware acceleration of Canvas.

Opera development builds support hardware acceleration too.

Chrome Beta on Android supports hardware acceleration of Canvas. iPhone 4S also supports hardware acceleration of Canvas.

Hardware accelerated Canvas completely destroys Flash on the Desktop.

A lot has changed in `~2 years

Not to mention that modern JS engines outperform even statically typed AS3 code.

Of course, if you don't have a supported graphics card for your computer, you won't get hardware acceleration.

However, I imagine this won't be a problem on Mobile once Android 4.0 eclipses other versions of Android since Hardware acceleration is a standard Android 4.0 feature.

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#35

Post by ugh »

huggyface wrote: post #30
ugh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of hard to believe, given that iOS was and still is the only mobile OS with a browser that does not suck. Even Android has only been catching up. iOS and Android have been an unambiguous blessing for the open web on mobile devices. I don't even understand what you want Apple to do. Not allow third party developers to make native apps for iOS? Apple did that and nobody liked it. I can't imagine that you think thi…

Kind of hard to believe, given that iOS was and still is the only mobile OS with a browser that does not suck. Yeah, I see John Gruber likes to say that. It is, so to speak, horse shit. I apologize for the language but it's all that satisfactorily delivers my opinion on that. Have you ever actually used the Android browser?

Yes, and it sucked. I have been quite happy with the browser that comes with ICS, so I would say there's parity now. But nice job ignoring the actual point I was making.

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#36

Post by swombat »

bookwormAT wrote: post #28
mberning wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coherent argument? Sucks battery Poor usability on touch interfaces Memory hog Buggy, leads to browser crashes

Flash does not use any battery power at all, except when you choose to use a flash based application. The stock Android browser has the option to load plugins on demand. That is: no flash application is loaded within the browser until you click on the application to enable it. The same is true for memory usage or bugs. I don't think there are any advantages a browser without flash has over one that supports it.

A great many webpages have Flash adverts, so if you're browsing news sites, etc, normal sites that people do browse, you will probably end up being served Flash and so your battery will drain.

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#37

Post by casca »

Hats off to Apple. They managed to take a technology that was entrenched as a standard and kill it simply by refusing to support it on their mobile platform.

For years people have been complaining about the lack of IOS flash support, but the true impact has been to hasten the move to HTML5 and to kill a proprietary, bloated, bug-filled technology.

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#38

Post by [deleted] »

casca wrote: post #37

Hats off to Apple. They managed to take a technology that was entrenched as a standard and kill it simply by refusing to support it on their mobile platform. For years people have been complaining about the lack of IOS flash support, but the true impact has been to hasten the move to HTML5 and to kill a proprietary, bloated, bug-filled technology.

[deleted]

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#39

Post by gcp »

51Cards wrote: post #17
EnderMB wrote: post #4

I have a Galaxy Nexus, and I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but I find Flash works pretty well on the device. Granted, I only use it for video content on sites like the BBC, but the underlying functionality is fine. I don't think Flash has a future on mobile devices, but HTML5-based solutions aren't up to scratch for general use yet, so I don't think Adobe should throw in the towel just yet.

Agreed as well. I often make use of Flash on both my tablet and my Nexus One. The times I notice it most is when I'm using the new Firefox Mobile and I have to copy the URL and paste it into the stock browser to get to flash content. That tedious process makes me realize I do it a lot more than I expected I would. I am very very disappointed by this decision.

Try the new Firefox Native for Android (in Aurora or Nightly). It fully supports Flash.

Re: Adobe confirms: no Flash for Chrome on Android

#40

Post by ceejayoz »

51Cards wrote: post #24
mberning wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coherent argument? Sucks battery Poor usability on touch interfaces Memory hog Buggy, leads to browser crashes

The battery argument is just silly. Playing HD movies on a phone will suck battery faster but we don't remove the user's ability to do that. As for the others, I use Flash frequently on my phone and none of them have occurred for me in the last year or so. I have Flash set to load on demand. It's not about Flash being the future (it's not), or even continued development in it. It's about access to existing content he…

> The battery argument is just silly. Playing HD movies on a phone will suck battery faster but we don't remove the user's ability to do that.

If you could watch HD movies in a different way that didn't use as much battery, we would. Much of the stuff Flash does doesn't need to suck down the battery life of a phone if done in HTML5.

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