5 ms·

Use Chrome.

by helpbygrace 12y ago

Use Chrome.

lucb1e 12y ago
Use Firefox. Why? Chrome isn't open source, if you care about that kind of thing. And personal preference also.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- jonknee 12y ago
  https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/AndroidBuildInstructions https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/AndroidBuildInstruct...
  - gress 12y ago
    That's not chrome.
    - azernik 12y ago
      It is very very close: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/ChromiumBrowserVsGoogleChrome https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/ChromiumBrowserVsGoo... tl;dr: Chromium is Chrome minus: 1. Crash/usage reporting to Google. 2. Proprietary video format support 3. Embedded Flash implementation (which doesn't exist on mobile anyway). 4. Google API keys. If what you care about is security auditability, that's pretty good. If you care about running only open source software, that's going to be very hard to do in the Android/Google-Play ecosystem.
      - gcb0 12y ago
        > If you care about running only open source software, that's going to be very hard to do in the Android/Google-Play ecosystem. yet, the main advertisement google trhows for android is "open source" "community driven" yadda yadda
        azernik 12y ago
        Main advertisement? I just went to android.com and developer.android.com; android.com advertises "Google built in" and lots of platforms, with a very small link to AOSP at the bottom of the page; developer.android.com has an AOSP link buried in its menus.
        gress 12y ago
        It's been years since Google switched away from that claim.
        gcb0 12y ago
        oh sorry. advertised. we have already been baited and switched. but marketing takes a long time to dissipate... here, i just clicked 2010 and clicked a random day for android.com http://web.archive.org/web/20100112200506/http://www.android.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20100112200506/http://www.android... the 1st block is about the nexus one (market as open, but not on this page) and look! the second item on the page reads "Access to the entire platform source and information on how to contribute." guess they forgot an asterix there saying that the "entire platform" means some of the platform.
      - cpeterso 12y ago
        > 3. Embedded Flash implementation (which doesn't exist on mobile anyway). Firefox for Android still supports Adobe's Flash plugin for Android.
      - scintill76 12y ago
        I believe only Chrome has built-in PDF viewing too, which can be nice. The page you linked has people saying there are Chromium plugins for it, or you can install a dedicated PDF viewer and it will probably embed itself in the browser when downloading PDFs.
        kretor 12y ago
        No longer true. The PDF viewer's been open-sourced a couple months ago. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7781878 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7781878
        scintill76 12y ago
        Cool! Thanks.
  - fastest963 12y ago
    I've built it using these instructions before and it's not that difficult at all.
  - andor 12y ago
    Is the Android chrome (in the UI sense) now open source as well? If that is the case, we could finally get the option to disable third-party-cookies...
- gcb0 12y ago
  open source. has extensions. allows you to control the web, where chrome allows google to control the web for you (e.g. no way to disable referrer for one thing)
- thejdude 12y ago
  That, and you can actually turn off third-party cookies. There's absolutely NO reason you should have them on, and I've been surfing the web just fine this way for 15 years.
bashinator 12y ago
Won't protect you from apps embedding WebView.
- kllrnohj 12y ago
  What protects you in that scenario is those apps aren't really vulnerable to leaking anything in the first place. Malicious ads in games can only see what other ads you've viewed, it's not like you're signed in to your bank website in Angry Birds. And if your banking app with its embedded webview has its site compromised, you're already fucked without even opening the app.

Use Chrome.

lucb1e 12y ago

Use Firefox. Why? Chrome isn't open source, if you care about that kind of thing. And personal preference also.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
jonknee 12y ago
https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/AndroidBuildInstructions https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/AndroidBuildInstruct...
- gress 12y ago
  That's not chrome.
  - azernik 12y ago
    It is very very close: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/ChromiumBrowserVsGoogleChrome https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/ChromiumBrowserVsGoo... tl;dr: Chromium is Chrome minus: 1. Crash/usage reporting to Google. 2. Proprietary video format support 3. Embedded Flash implementation (which doesn't exist on mobile anyway). 4. Google API keys. If what you care about is security auditability, that's pretty good. If you care about running only open source software, that's going to be very hard to do in the Android/Google-Play ecosystem.
    - gcb0 12y ago
      > If you care about running only open source software, that's going to be very hard to do in the Android/Google-Play ecosystem. yet, the main advertisement google trhows for android is "open source" "community driven" yadda yadda
      - azernik 12y ago
        Main advertisement? I just went to android.com and developer.android.com; android.com advertises "Google built in" and lots of platforms, with a very small link to AOSP at the bottom of the page; developer.android.com has an AOSP link buried in its menus.
        gress 12y ago
        It's been years since Google switched away from that claim.
        gcb0 12y ago
        oh sorry. advertised. we have already been baited and switched. but marketing takes a long time to dissipate... here, i just clicked 2010 and clicked a random day for android.com http://web.archive.org/web/20100112200506/http://www.android.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20100112200506/http://www.android... the 1st block is about the nexus one (market as open, but not on this page) and look! the second item on the page reads "Access to the entire platform source and information on how to contribute." guess they forgot an asterix there saying that the "entire platform" means some of the platform.
    - cpeterso 12y ago
      > 3. Embedded Flash implementation (which doesn't exist on mobile anyway). Firefox for Android still supports Adobe's Flash plugin for Android.
    - scintill76 12y ago
      I believe only Chrome has built-in PDF viewing too, which can be nice. The page you linked has people saying there are Chromium plugins for it, or you can install a dedicated PDF viewer and it will probably embed itself in the browser when downloading PDFs.
      - kretor 12y ago
        No longer true. The PDF viewer's been open-sourced a couple months ago. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7781878 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7781878
        scintill76 12y ago
        Cool! Thanks.
- fastest963 12y ago
  I've built it using these instructions before and it's not that difficult at all.
- andor 12y ago
  Is the Android chrome (in the UI sense) now open source as well? If that is the case, we could finally get the option to disable third-party-cookies...
gcb0 12y ago
open source. has extensions. allows you to control the web, where chrome allows google to control the web for you (e.g. no way to disable referrer for one thing)
thejdude 12y ago
That, and you can actually turn off third-party cookies. There's absolutely NO reason you should have them on, and I've been surfing the web just fine this way for 15 years.

bashinator 12y ago

Won't protect you from apps embedding WebView.

kllrnohj 12y ago
What protects you in that scenario is those apps aren't really vulnerable to leaking anything in the first place. Malicious ads in games can only see what other ads you've viewed, it's not like you're signed in to your bank website in Angry Birds. And if your banking app with its embedded webview has its site compromised, you're already fucked without even opening the app.