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Android KitKat ships without browser app. OEMs have to license Chrome

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Re: Android KitKat ships without browser app. OEMs have to license Chrome

#61

Post by UVStaska »

zmmmmm wrote: post #52
shooper wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, the Open Handset Alliance terms may prohibit OEMs from replacing Chrome with, say Firefox. From http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-... >Any OEM hoping to license Google Apps will need to pass Google's "compatibility" tests in order to be eligible. Compatibility ensures that all the apps in the Play Store will run on your device. And to Google, "compatibility" is also a fluid concept tha…

They would certainly prohibit them "replacing" Chrome with FireFox, but the suggestion that they would stop an OEM shipping an alternative browser on a phone is such a ridiculous piece of FUD it's laughable.

Mmm. I'm sorry, but how is "prohibiting them to replace Chrome with Firefox" compatible with "not stopping OEM shipping alternative browser" ?

Re: Android KitKat ships without browser app. OEMs have to license Chrome

#62

Post by unfasten »

UVStaska wrote: post #61
zmmmmm wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would certainly prohibit them "replacing" Chrome with FireFox, but the suggestion that they would stop an OEM shipping an alternative browser on a phone is such a ridiculous piece of FUD it's laughable.

Mmm. I'm sorry, but how is "prohibiting them to replace Chrome with Firefox" compatible with "not stopping OEM shipping alternative browser" ?

He's saying they could ship Firefox in addition to Chrome, just not make Firefox the default browser as shipped (user would still be able to change defaults themselves) or ship only Firefox, with no Chrome installed.

Re: Android KitKat ships without browser app. OEMs have to license Chrome

#63

Post by notatoad »

UVStaska wrote: post #61
zmmmmm wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would certainly prohibit them "replacing" Chrome with FireFox, but the suggestion that they would stop an OEM shipping an alternative browser on a phone is such a ridiculous piece of FUD it's laughable.

Mmm. I'm sorry, but how is "prohibiting them to replace Chrome with Firefox" compatible with "not stopping OEM shipping alternative browser" ?

because "not stopping OEMs from shipping an alternative browser" is what they're doing now, and "prohibiting them to replace chrome with firefox" is the theoretical evil they could technically do if they choose to in the future, not actually happening now, and probably will never happen.

This whole thread is so full of FUD. Google is not blocking firefox. There's a whole bunch of green-named people who have decided to sign up for an account and pretend that google is going to block firefox. There is no evidence that google is even considering this, and no valid arguments as to why google might want to do it. it's bullshit.

Re: Android KitKat ships without browser app. OEMs have to license Chrome

#64

Post by ajross »

notatoad wrote: post #47
Timmmmbob wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the truth is that the AOSP Browser is now abandonware - Google have stopped developing it in favour of Chrome, and likely won't accept non-security patches for it. I don't think this matters much anyway. Firefox is a more than capable browser. Possibly better than Chrome on Android. It's certainly smoother.

The AOSP Browser uses the system webview, and the webview is now chromium-based and continues to be updated. So it's only abandonware in the sense that the UI didn't change with the latest release.

Exactly, the flip side of that is that the chromium engine, which used to be available for Android only as a part of the GMS app suite (with a lagging open source release that basically no one knew how to build), is now a first class part of the open source platform.

Honestly having "Chrome" be a proprietary blob is still dumb, but this situation is IMHO better than what we had for Jellybean. Now all apps (be they "browsers" or not) have access for the first-class browser engine. The bits of Chrome not part of chromium don't really interest me much.

Re: Android KitKat ships without browser app. OEMs have to license Chrome

#66

Post by freehunter »

darkstalker wrote: post #14
freehunter wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox for Android is slower and has more bugs than Chrome for Android, but I use it and love it solely for the add-on support. LastPass on mobile devices sucked until I found you can install the add-on in Firefox and use your normal browser. Adblock is nice for cutting down on mobile data use, too.

Don't know what are you talking about, Firefox on Android is currently the fastest browser there. Chrome is slower and buggier on every new update.

My main slowness/bug with Firefox for Android is the sluggish scrolling. When I move my finger, there's a small but noticeable delay before the page starts moving. I don't have this problem with Chrome on my Nexus 4.

Like I said, I prefer Firefox for its desktop-like features. But in my experience, Chrome has a faster response in the UI.

Re: Android KitKat ships without browser app. OEMs have to license Chrome

#67

Post by kllrnohj »

nostrademons wrote: post #38

Speaking solely as a web developer: good riddance, the pre-KitKat stock Android browser is a piece of shit. It relies on an old fork of Webkit that has none of the features of the modern web, no GPU support, and a lot of outright bugs (like it would flip back to the first frame of a CSS3 animation right before the animation completes, creating an ugly flicker). Without this change we'd be left with Android Browser &…

> It relies on an old fork of Webkit that has none of the features of the modern web, no GPU support, and a lot of outright bugs

That's really not true. It's an old version of Webkit NOW, yes, but it wasn't when it was still being updated all the way up to Android 4.0. And it absolutely has GPU support - it's had GPU accelerated compositing for CSS 3D transforms, fixed position elements, and scrollable divs since 3.0. It had all that before Chrome did.

In fact Chrome's GPU & rendering architecture today matches what Android Browser has had since 4.1. Chrome had to catch up to Android Browser in many respects.

> I'm hoping all the OEMs build their own browsers off the Chromium WebView that ships in KitKat

Chromium WebView is a requirement. Unless OEMs decide to start maintaining their own webkit forks (something they have not done so far), there will be nothing else but Chromium on Android from 4.4 onwards.

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