Dolphin Browser HD updated to 'fix UI compatibility issue' with Gingerbread

By Phil Nickinson  | Nov 29 2010 | 9:33 am  | 15 Comments

Dolphin Browser HD

The popular Dolphin Browser HD got an update recently, and there's an interesting tidbit in the changelog (thanks again, Google, for adding that). The line in question is "Fix UI compatibility with Android 2.3," which is interesting because Gingerbread still hasn't been announced, nor has the SDK been released -- publicly, anyway. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what the new compatibility requirements are. Thanks, Yamatine!

Phil Nickinson

Phil Nickinson Editor in Chief

"Phil is a recovering print journalist, editor of Android Central, subtitles and street signs."

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There are 15 comments

Stang68 says:

Dolphin's PR department is pretty smart...

bigkoont#ac says:

Does this mean unrevoked will work now.

uansari1 says:

How can they make it compatible with 2.3 without the SDK?

quixoticelixer says:

This is my feelings and I've stated it before. Gingerbread will be launched on Christmas Eve. This ads to my theory and their maybe a NDA between some larger app partners. I'm thinking fragmentation may be toast on some of the most popular android devices.

mrmoe110 says:

They might "know a guy who knows a guy" who let them get a hands-on preview. They probably noticed some conflicts between 2.3 colors, menus, etc and the dolphin browser. I think Rubin will announce/preview 2.3 at that mobile conference next week(what else would he talk about?) with an N1 release sometime before christmas.

DemonI81 says:

I call BS.

First of all, as stated, they'd need the SDK.
Second, Dolphin support is horrendous, there's no way they've fixed it, already, for the next version of Android when they've left so many bugs that were going to be fixed "soon".
Third, this seems like a marketing scam, as it's a slow, bloated, "flashy" browser and everyone is coming to realize this.

icebike says:

Well all it takes is one text messages for a Google employee telling them about a problem, they never had to have access to Gingerbread themselves.

But I agree with your assessment of dolphin. It's slows me down with all the zooming you need to do. Stock browser ftw.

tim242 says:

@Demon: You have no idea what you are talking about. It runs at less than 3MB. I hardly call that bloated. Slow? Are you on a hero? Dolphin is certainly not slow. I don't get why some people like to make stuff up and post bs. According to Market comments, people love it.

icebike says:

Size is deceptive. Dolphin uses the stock browser as it's engine, so you have to add that back in. It therefore can't be smaller.

Dolphin insists on showing the whole page. You then need to spend a lot of time zooming. Stock just seems to know what part of the page you want and focuses that column of text.

Dolphin is still on my phone, but I haven't used it in months.

tim242 says:

@icebike: Dolphin + stock = < 5 MB. That is still not bloat. Opera Mobile is 17-20 MB, and uses the hell out of RAM. That is bloat! If you visit the settings, you can set it to not open at full page view.

icebike says:

You need better tools. (Or a better understanding of what you are talking about).

Sitting on google's home page with exactly one tab open, Dolphin uses over 42 megabytes. Forty Two is a lot more than 5.

tim242 says:

Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>Dolphin Browser. It does not use 42MB. If you are referring to RAM, the stock browser runs about the same. I know what I am talking about. You are the one trolling. You made several false statements, one of which that people are starting to realize that it is bloated and slow. A quick trip to the market comments proves you wrong on that.

three_pineapples says:

Of course he was referring to RAM. The size of the app isn't going to affect the running performance unless it is huge (which pretty much all apps aren't because we don't have enough storage yet).

None of this takes into account how efficiently the code is programmed either. Poorly written code will chew up CPU cycles, making it run slow.

tim242 says:

The point is, it doesn't run slow! The only way it would slow a phone down, is if you are still trying to sport a hero, or the likes of.

sandplasma says:

Even if they did get the info from google you'd think there would be some sort of agreement to keep quiet about the subject. I say its just good marketing.