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Show HN: Javelin Browser

373 points by nubela 12y ago

robinhoodexe 12y ago
Looks pretty slick!
ahstilde 12y ago
I like it a lot! Any way you could have it sync with Firefox?
- nubela 12y ago
  The API is there but it's closed for now as it is just not ready for other developers (too raw). Also, not a firefox user myself.
N0RMAN 12y ago
Why do you offer it for free?
- nubela 12y ago
  There is a Pro upgrade as an IAP. There's also an in-built proxy/vpn service in the browser. This is how I see myself growing Javelin down the road with the browser as the razor, and value-added services as the blade.
  - icambron 12y ago
    I obviously haven't thought about this as long as you have, but offhand I think that model is a mistake. Only a small subset of people (and perhaps a bunch of companies) want things like proxy support or VPNs or other extra services. Most people just want to browse the web, so you're limiting your market a lot. (I do think you could make value-added browser services a business, but you'd have to go to enterprises to do it.)
    - juliangoldsmith 12y ago
      That assumes that his main goal is to make a profit, rather than just put out a good product which generates a little bit of passive income.
      - icambron 12y ago
        I don't see why. Passive income vs profit is not really dichotomy; passive income is a question of how much work you put in, whereas profit is how much you make relative to how much you put in. Regardless of how you structure your commitments, more profit is better than less profit. You could argue that to be successful at generating a passive income of any magnitude, you'd be better off selling value-added services on top of a free browser rather than just selling a browser. I'd be curious to hear that argument, because the opposite seems true: making freemium work means that you need to invest not just in making a great free product that people will use, but also invest in creating enough additional value to make the sale. Thus I think wanting a lower commitment to the company actually says you should just sell the browser.
nubela 12y ago
Developer here! I've been working on Javelin since Feb this year and this is the 4th iteration, and on Reddit (r/android), and just a quick interesting byte. Javelin actually started as a "porn" browser! See: http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1xblv9/hey_reddit_so_i_created_an_android_browser_for/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1xblv9/hey_reddit_s... PS: I'm headed to SF in October, anyone wanna grab a beer/coffee? I'm contactable at hello@javelinbrowser.com
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  I remember that one, and I remember thinking that it looked pretty good, but will fail because of the name. Good to see you changed it.
  - bfung 12y ago
    Javelin still has a simple innuendo back into it's roots ;)
zanethomas 12y ago
I'm interested but don't want to use the "play" store. Can you provide some other download link?
- ikt 12y ago
  Why don't you want to use the play store? Just wondering is all.
  - niklasni1 12y ago
    Personally, I don't have Google Apps on my phone at all. If it's not in F-Droid or available as an apk from the developer, it doesn't get installed.
    - eli 12y ago
      That seems limiting. Is it because you don't trust Google?
      - timboslice 12y ago
        could be a custom ROM without the google binaries
        niklasni1 12y ago
        It's just CyanogenMod
      - junto 12y ago
        You are forced to have a Google account to use Google Play. Once you have a Google account on your phone it is privacy game over.
        eli 12y ago
        I think that's a little bombastic. So is that a custom ROM or stock Android with no account set? Seems like if you deeply distrust Google you probably wouldn't want to run Android at all.
phpnode 12y ago
I think you're making a mistake by offering this for free. The kind of people who care enough about their web experience to install a new browser are the kind of people who won't mind parting with a few £$€ to do so. To be profitable, free apps must target the broader market, but this is a relatively niche product. I don't think you'll get enough IAP fast enough to be sustainable.
- nubela 12y ago
  Why do you think Javelin is not suited for the broad market?
  - sovande 12y ago
    The broad market is going to use the default browser that comes with the device.
  - benologist 12y ago
    Apathy is probably your biggest enemy. Look at the struggles Firefox and Opera went to even with the random browser choice stuff in Windows in Europe, which made no significant difference to their market share. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrowserChoice.eu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrowserChoice.eu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#Historical_usage_share http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#His...
  - phpnode 12y ago
    Because the average user doesn't even know what a web browser is, they just open up "the internet" on their phone. They are not going to change something that they're not even aware of. It's also demonstrably true that the average user doesn't know or care about privacy enough to make this choice anyway. You don't have the resources to change either of these things. So, disregard the average user. Market this as a paid product which offers a superior web browsing experience for the technology connoisseur and the privacy concious. These people, on average, have a lot more money, are easier to sell this product to, and don't mind paying. Another reason to just charge money for this is that this provides assurances about your income stream which should mean that you are less likely to consider anti-user practises in order to generate income at some point in future.
Kiro 12y ago
What rendering engine are you using?
- nubela 12y ago
  AOSP webview
  - andybak 12y ago
    So this will automatically be Chrom(ium) on newer versions of Android?
    - nubela 12y ago
      Yeap, it is already Chromium WebView since 4.4 :) But the performance lags behind bleeding edge Chrome since Google gives its own Chrome a more advanced version of Chromium WebView.
      - charleslmunger 12y ago
        You can build and link in chromium's webview if you want.
      - zethraeus 12y ago
        Lags behind Chrome in general in that AndroidWebview doesn't gets single process Chromium, right?
        zethraeus 12y ago
        *multiprocess
      - cturhan 12y ago
        How did you handle file chooser? As far as I know, WebView disabled fileChooser by 4.4 [1]. This is a problem which we came across today. [1] http://stackoverflow.com/a/21436901/856702 http://stackoverflow.com/a/21436901/856702
blntechie 12y ago
I used it for about 3-4 months when 'Stack' was introduced but went back to Link Bubble + Chrome. I couldn't exactly remember why I went back to LB + Chrome but mostly due to 'Stack' being too rigid to my liking compared to Link Bubble (back button not closing the stack, no easy jumping between stacks, scrolling and stack animations kind of wonky etc.) All things said, I loved the browser experience. Especially easy access to bookmarks on right edge swipe and always available refresh button. I will definitely try it again. Speed dial looks good. Edit: Just installed again and wow!! It totally looks different from the version I used some time back. Looks more slick and pretty now. Will definitely try again. Especially the 'Stack' behavior.
- jonalmeida 12y ago
  I'm on a Nexus 5 and have major memory leak issues with LB (I've reported them) if you keep the "bubble" open for too long. Chrome is very heavy as well in general, so Javelin is a really nice refresher what a fast browser feels like. I just bought the pro version and I'm going to use it for a while before I comment more on it.
  - blntechie 12y ago
    I use a Nexus 5 as well but have not personally encountered the memory leak issue with Link Bubble. But I don't keep the bubbles open very long as well. I just went ahead and bought the Javelin Pro version as well. I like what developer is doing here.
  - Nowyouknow 12y ago
    I had the same with LB (also N5) and just started using Flynx. Much better experience so far. It's free too.
- interskh 12y ago
  i switched back to LB because of lack of quick share option. On lb, i am able to quickly add to pocket without having to open share menu, etc.
- pit 12y ago
TheCraiggers 12y ago
I've been using your browser for a couple months now (I think I saw it mentioned on Android Police if you're curious) and I've been liking it. It looks slick, and works exactly how I think it should. The one problem I have with it is one I'd like other opinions on, both for my curiosity and your benefit. Frankly, it's not my daily driver because I don't know who you are and don't trust you. Using a (no offense) no-name browser is somewhat of a risk as the developer could potentially be recording personal info. Of course, I have no guarantee that Mozilla isn't either. However, and yes I'm fully aware of how silly this sounds, I trust Mozilla despite never looking at their code or knowing any of the developers. I'm guessing privacy is important to you (since you have the option of using a VPN service as IAP) so I'm curious how you would allay my fears of using a random browser from someone other than the big three. Either way, I wish you luck.
- nubela 12y ago
  I'm also the developer of http://getgom.com http://getgom.com (VPN as a Chrome extension using SPDY SSL proxies), and as a fellow Singaporean when our government openly does surveilance, I __completely__ understand where you are coming from. To be fair, I'm not sure how I can solve his problem though. Open sourcing could be a plausible answer. But fighting Google Play clones and what-not is really time-consuming and as an indie dev, my time can be better spent. What do you suggest?
  - TheCraiggers 12y ago
    I don't really have a great answer myself, personally. That's partly why I made my post to begin with. However, one thing that I think would greatly help is a privacy notice of some sort detailing exactly what is tracked and how it's used. I don't see one on either the Play store page, nor in the app itself (your site seems to be loading slowly at the moment, or I'd look there too). While it may not completely remove my fears, it would at least serve as a good baseline and would make me feel a little better. EDIT: Tried your site again, and found your privacy policy. I must say, I do like the way it is written as well as the content. Still, I would encourage maybe a link in the app, at least.
Miraries 12y ago
Any particular reason it's not compatible with OnePlus One and Nexus 10 on Google Play? I get it if tablets aren't supported. I could get the apk but I was wondering... If testing is the reason, I can help.
- nubela 12y ago
  I have no idea to be honest, Google Play does that sometimes.
thrush 12y ago
Slightly unrelated question, but is there an equivalent for iOS app extensions on Android?
- nubela 12y ago
  Intents could be the answer. See http://developer.android.com/guide/components/intents-filters.html http://developer.android.com/guide/components/intents-filter...
this_user 12y ago
Why would I want to use a browser made by a group that is seemingly mostly preoccupied with design judging from your website? You don't even disclose who is really behind this project. Especially browser security is more important than ever. When using one made by Google or Mozilla I can be sure that they do take security seriously, have the necessary experience, technical know-how and manpower to deal with vulnerabilities in a timely manner.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
anishkothari 12y ago
Looks great! I'm going to try this out
shock 12y ago
It looks very good. It's a pity it only syncs with Chrome and not with Firefox.
- tempestn 12y ago
  Agreed! I'd give it a try right now, but Firefox sync is a must-have for me. In fact, I'm considering giving up Dolphin Browser, even though I prefer it to Firefox for Android, because their "Dolphin Connect" Firefox add-on noticeably bogs down the browser, to the point where I often have it disabled.
jonalmeida 12y ago
Just out of curiosity, what are you using to parse the reading view of a webpage. It seems really fast so I doubt you're using Readability; probably some local library?
cmdrfred 12y ago
Looks good. Adblock integration is a nice touch, thats pretty much my first line of defence when it comes to anti-malware on the systems I administrate.
- dmix 12y ago
  Toggling JS off also makes mobile browsing super-fast and much safer. I wish it was easy to toggle on/off. Mobile chrome is a couple clicks.
  - cmdrfred 12y ago
    I wish I had the option if I disabled JS on my work machines none of the insurance company portals would work.
jessedhillon 12y ago
I like it a lot. But I have a tangential question: has anyone found a good writeup on rise of the use of adjectives like gorgeous, stunning, beautiful, amazing to describe apps? Aside from my personal opinion, I'd like to know if anyone else has observed and written about this trend.
- BrindsleyQuives 12y ago
  Well, at least those adjectives make a change from the brain-dead over use of "Arse-Sum"!
- freehunter 12y ago
  What type of write up are you looking for? The rise can simply be attributed to computers being powerful enough to render good-looking design without a hit to performance, so design is now at the forefront of many corporate images. It doesn't hurt that Apple talks about design with these terms, and that's an association many people want their customers to make.
- AdamFernandez 12y ago
  I have not seen a write up on this, but whenever I see it, it seems strange. Calling your own app 'gorgeous' or 'stunning' may come off as conceited. Those are subjective terms. If the UX is positively impacted by the appearance, call that out in the copy. I think it would be better to let your users gush over the appearance of the app using subjective terms in reviews or testimonials.
grumblestumble 12y ago
Very minor nitpick: Your usage of "thought out" comes across as stilted and unprofessional. I'm guessing English isn't your native language?
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  I disagree. It's an unconventional usage but one that struck me as both deliberate and effective. BTW almost all people in Singapore grow up speaking English, it's the common language of 4 ethnic groups and is used on all signs, government correspondence and so forth.
  - wingerlang 12y ago
    I disagree. I made me re-read the sentence more than once, and I still think it doesn't feel right.
    - random_ind_dude 12y ago
      I feel "well thought-out" would be a better way to phrase it.
ultim8k 12y ago
Kudos man! It really looks beautiful.
instakill 12y ago
Ha! Reddit definitely doesn't look that great on mobile.
- TulliusCicero 12y ago
  Yeah, isn't that a reddit-specific app?
  - kevincrane 12y ago
    Yeah, it's "Reddit Is Fun" (my favorite reddit app I've used) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu.android.reddit&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu....
  - wingerlang 12y ago
    I THINK that the point is that links will open in the background, tapping the circle will open them.
- chewxy 12y ago
  append a '.compact' to your reddit url. I found the experience to be much better than any reddit app
instakill 12y ago
Ha! Reddit definitely doesn't look that great on mobile.
joshvm 12y ago
My only criticism is that the icon is practically a mirror image of Telegram, but that's not exactly your fault. Is there a way to save pages for offline viewing?
ClifReeder 12y ago
I notice that you use www.theverge.com in a number of the screenshots for Javelin. The writers at The Verge, the developers that build the site, the designers that make it beautiful - are all paid through ad revenue. Please consider at least adding the ability to whitelist sites if you are going to bundle ad block. *Full disclosure - I am a developer at Vox Media, the publisher of The Verge.
- korzun 12y ago
  I don't think this mobile browser is going to make a dent in The Verge's ad revenue.
  - Tossrock 12y ago
    The Verge has about 45% mobile traffic: https://www.quantcast.com/theverge.com https://www.quantcast.com/theverge.com If large numbers of people were to start using Javelin, it could certainly affect revenue.
    - korzun 12y ago
      > If large numbers of people were to start using Javelin If.
      - V-2 12y ago
        This is why I am against including ad-block as a default. People who don't install AdBlock (mostly don't know how, or can't be bothered) play an important role. Adblocking should be an opt-in.
- superchink 12y ago
  @nubela Sounds like an opportunity to negotiate revenue for inclusion in an optional (for users) whitelist.
  - wingerlang 12y ago
fdsary 12y ago
Wow, this makes me want to ditch my iPhone...
ezequiel-garzon 12y ago
You had me at "reading mode". I can't believe text wrap, pervasive in smart- and not-so-smart-phones of yore, is today considered a rarity. Thankfully I'm not alone [1]. [1] https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=62378 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=62378
- drcode 12y ago
  It would fantastic (and easy, technically, I think) to add a link to "reading mode" that starts text-to-speech.
shreeshga 12y ago
Just curious, which browser engine does it use?
microsby0 12y ago
Any thoughts of an iOS version as well? This really makes me jealous of Android users
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
robotfelix 12y ago
To me, including "mobile-first" as one of your key value proposition seems a little odd. My immediate reaction was to wonder whether any mobile browsers aren't mobile-first? From my (incomplete) knowledge of smartphone browsers they all feature interfaces designed for smartphones and smartphones alone. There must be a better word to use in your tagline - I notice you decided on using "Truly Mobile" further down ;)
- zevyoura 12y ago
  I think the implication is that Chrome & Safari are both mobile editions of desktop apps, which is true to some extent.
spihn3 12y ago
Adblock and readability feature integration is great! As a developer, could I ask you how you are implementing the readability feature? Is this done client side?
l33tbro 12y ago
Awesome browser. But why use "gorgeous" as a descriptor? It's become such a meaningless term in tech, even when Jobs was still peddling it about. It seems trivial, but seeing that word often is a red flag for an uninspired product. You guys have done great work, so I'm surprised your marketing isn't as great as the browser. Best of luck
roryokane 12y ago
Bug reports for the developer nubela: Swipe from the left to open the menu, then scroll down, so that part of the text is cut off, then swipe to the left to close the menu part of the way, but drag your finger back right before the menu closes. If you now scroll, the cut-off text is still visible, creating weird visual artifacts. This goes away when you close the menu completely and reopen it. When I edit the title and URL of a bookmark, the buttons are “Cancel” and “Edit”. I think “Save” would work better. I feel like what I am doing is already “editing”, since I chose “Edit” to get here. I tried to set Javelin as the default browser, but when the browser list popped up, by reflex I hit Just Once instead of Always. But Javelin still said “Javelin is now your default browser”. (Then I realized what had happened and went back and did it again.) If possible, Javelin should detect when the user clicked the wrong button. If that is not possible, maybe you should show a small picture of the Always button before showing the dialog, to remind the user to hit that button. In the page describing the Pro features, one of them is choosing your homepage. But I can already do that in the free version. It works when I go to Settings > Change homepage. Javelin doesn’t support a blank homepage. I tried setting the homepage to nothing (“”) or to “about:blank”, but either way, the homepage just becomes “Webpage not available”. The error shows because Javelin is automatically adding an “http://” http://” before “about:blank” – “about:” pages should have no protocol. I tried to press and hold on the icons (the eye icon and share icon) in the toolbar to see a tooltip describing what they do. However, those icons don’t have tooltips. I would have liked to have been able to see a “Reading Mode” tooltip when I pressed and held on the eye icon instead of having to actually press it to find out. The icons in the toolbar for reading mode have the same problem. When there are no tabs, I see a message “Javelin Browser, flies.” The message confused me a bit because it is ungrammatical. It should be either “Javelin Browser flies.” or “Javelin Browser – it flies.” I couldn’t get Javelin Sync to work at all. I authorized it for my Google account and saw the message saying I have been sent an email. But my bookmarks are still the default Javelin ones (minus the ones I manually deleted); none of them are my Chrome for Android bookmarks. This is still the case even after I “Sync bookmarks now” – though since that command gives no feedback, I couldn’t tell whether it worked. (I didn’t install the desktop Chrome extension linked in the email because I don’t want that home page, but the email said my device was already synced, so that shouldn’t make a difference.) So either your Sync is broken or there is another step that you forgot to mention, like “wait one hour” or “restart your phone” or something. In the menu on the left, the checkboxes look a little weird, because it is a blue checkmark on a turquoise background. I can see it, but I think they would look better if you made the check-marks very light gray, a color closer to the text but still distinct from it. When I logged into a site, I got two dialog boxes asking me to save the password. The first was a generic Android one like in Google Chrome. I clicked Not Now, and then Javelin showed its colorful one at the bottom. You should hide the default one so that only the Javelin one shows. I couldn’t figure out how to activate the “Fullscreen Browsing” that you show in one of your website’s screenshots. I tried scrolling through web pages, and I looked at all the settings, but I never had the Action Bar and the soft buttons displaying but transparent like in the screenshot. The soft buttons are always visible. I can hide the Action Bar completely with that setting, but then I can’t open it all from within the app, and that’s different from the screenshot anyway. It’s not described as a Pro feature on the Enable Javelin Pro page either. You should make it more obvious how to enable that mode, or remove the screenshot if that feature is now gone. This is a big list of bugs, many tiny ones and some big ones, but I’m still trying out Javelin for now – you haven’t driven me back to Chrome yet. I am especially interested in your Adblock and full-screen features (so it’s too bad I can’t figure out how to use full-screen). I wish you luck with developing your browser.
tambourine_man 12y ago
Ironically, I get a blank page on my iPhone
shekhar101 12y ago
Desktop chrome sync and native ad-block! Woooha! I'm sold!
samsaga2 12y ago
Please, don't use automatic translator. The text: "Jabalina es una hermosa, móvil-en primer lugar, y el pensamiento para navegadores de Android" It has no sense.
- Zardoz84 12y ago
  Using automatic translator back to english : "Believes that the first and the Android browser - Javelin nice phone" Really DON'T USE AUTOMATIC TRANSLATOR! Also, nice browser. I trying it, mainly by the "block ads" feature
darklajid 12y ago
I would - without trying to bash the project - like to understand what lures people into using this app? I understand that I'm not the target here - I dislike Chrome/Chromium and I am a happy Firefox user. But what drives people to use this browser? The UI alone? Maybe it would be something I can recommend to family and friends? Any decent, concise "This is why I like/use this thing" story?
gegtik 12y ago
This addresses a pain point I didn't even realize I had -- waiting for the browser context switch followed by waiting for the page to load, followed by impatiently scrolling the page while it continues to parse, sometimes causing janky scroll teleporting as images are embedded above my viewport. This is simply fantastic. Pro purchased. One suggestion -- if it is possible to insert yourself as two entries on the Open With page, it would be nice to have the option to click a link and open with "Javelin" or "Javelin (Reader Mode)" (I'm talking about the android system popup for handling mime types)
maxpert 12y ago
It's not material design! Nothing accept colors is material design. No animations, no guidelines nothing!

373 points by nubela 12y ago

robinhoodexe 12y ago

Looks pretty slick!

ahstilde 12y ago

I like it a lot! Any way you could have it sync with Firefox?

nubela 12y ago
The API is there but it's closed for now as it is just not ready for other developers (too raw). Also, not a firefox user myself.

N0RMAN 12y ago

Why do you offer it for free?

nubela 12y ago
There is a Pro upgrade as an IAP. There's also an in-built proxy/vpn service in the browser. This is how I see myself growing Javelin down the road with the browser as the razor, and value-added services as the blade.
- icambron 12y ago
  I obviously haven't thought about this as long as you have, but offhand I think that model is a mistake. Only a small subset of people (and perhaps a bunch of companies) want things like proxy support or VPNs or other extra services. Most people just want to browse the web, so you're limiting your market a lot. (I do think you could make value-added browser services a business, but you'd have to go to enterprises to do it.)
  - juliangoldsmith 12y ago
    That assumes that his main goal is to make a profit, rather than just put out a good product which generates a little bit of passive income.
    - icambron 12y ago
      I don't see why. Passive income vs profit is not really dichotomy; passive income is a question of how much work you put in, whereas profit is how much you make relative to how much you put in. Regardless of how you structure your commitments, more profit is better than less profit. You could argue that to be successful at generating a passive income of any magnitude, you'd be better off selling value-added services on top of a free browser rather than just selling a browser. I'd be curious to hear that argument, because the opposite seems true: making freemium work means that you need to invest not just in making a great free product that people will use, but also invest in creating enough additional value to make the sale. Thus I think wanting a lower commitment to the company actually says you should just sell the browser.

nubela 12y ago

Developer here! I've been working on Javelin since Feb this year and this is the 4th iteration, and on Reddit (r/android), and just a quick interesting byte. Javelin actually started as a "porn" browser! See: http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1xblv9/hey_reddit_so_i_created_an_android_browser_for/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1xblv9/hey_reddit_s... PS: I'm headed to SF in October, anyone wanna grab a beer/coffee? I'm contactable at hello@javelinbrowser.com

higherpurpose 12y ago
I remember that one, and I remember thinking that it looked pretty good, but will fail because of the name. Good to see you changed it.
- bfung 12y ago
  Javelin still has a simple innuendo back into it's roots ;)

zanethomas 12y ago

I'm interested but don't want to use the "play" store. Can you provide some other download link?

ikt 12y ago
Why don't you want to use the play store? Just wondering is all.
- niklasni1 12y ago
  Personally, I don't have Google Apps on my phone at all. If it's not in F-Droid or available as an apk from the developer, it doesn't get installed.
  - eli 12y ago
    That seems limiting. Is it because you don't trust Google?
    - timboslice 12y ago
      could be a custom ROM without the google binaries
      - niklasni1 12y ago
        It's just CyanogenMod
    - junto 12y ago
      You are forced to have a Google account to use Google Play. Once you have a Google account on your phone it is privacy game over.
      - eli 12y ago
        I think that's a little bombastic. So is that a custom ROM or stock Android with no account set? Seems like if you deeply distrust Google you probably wouldn't want to run Android at all.

phpnode 12y ago

I think you're making a mistake by offering this for free. The kind of people who care enough about their web experience to install a new browser are the kind of people who won't mind parting with a few £$€ to do so. To be profitable, free apps must target the broader market, but this is a relatively niche product. I don't think you'll get enough IAP fast enough to be sustainable.

nubela 12y ago
Why do you think Javelin is not suited for the broad market?
- sovande 12y ago
  The broad market is going to use the default browser that comes with the device.
- benologist 12y ago
  Apathy is probably your biggest enemy. Look at the struggles Firefox and Opera went to even with the random browser choice stuff in Windows in Europe, which made no significant difference to their market share. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrowserChoice.eu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrowserChoice.eu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#Historical_usage_share http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#His...
- phpnode 12y ago
  Because the average user doesn't even know what a web browser is, they just open up "the internet" on their phone. They are not going to change something that they're not even aware of. It's also demonstrably true that the average user doesn't know or care about privacy enough to make this choice anyway. You don't have the resources to change either of these things. So, disregard the average user. Market this as a paid product which offers a superior web browsing experience for the technology connoisseur and the privacy concious. These people, on average, have a lot more money, are easier to sell this product to, and don't mind paying. Another reason to just charge money for this is that this provides assurances about your income stream which should mean that you are less likely to consider anti-user practises in order to generate income at some point in future.

Kiro 12y ago

What rendering engine are you using?

nubela 12y ago
AOSP webview
- andybak 12y ago
  So this will automatically be Chrom(ium) on newer versions of Android?
  - nubela 12y ago
    Yeap, it is already Chromium WebView since 4.4 :) But the performance lags behind bleeding edge Chrome since Google gives its own Chrome a more advanced version of Chromium WebView.
    - charleslmunger 12y ago
      You can build and link in chromium's webview if you want.
    - zethraeus 12y ago
      Lags behind Chrome in general in that AndroidWebview doesn't gets single process Chromium, right?
      - zethraeus 12y ago
        *multiprocess
    - cturhan 12y ago
      How did you handle file chooser? As far as I know, WebView disabled fileChooser by 4.4 [1]. This is a problem which we came across today. [1] http://stackoverflow.com/a/21436901/856702 http://stackoverflow.com/a/21436901/856702

blntechie 12y ago

I used it for about 3-4 months when 'Stack' was introduced but went back to Link Bubble + Chrome. I couldn't exactly remember why I went back to LB + Chrome but mostly due to 'Stack' being too rigid to my liking compared to Link Bubble (back button not closing the stack, no easy jumping between stacks, scrolling and stack animations kind of wonky etc.) All things said, I loved the browser experience. Especially easy access to bookmarks on right edge swipe and always available refresh button. I will definitely try it again. Speed dial looks good. Edit: Just installed again and wow!! It totally looks different from the version I used some time back. Looks more slick and pretty now. Will definitely try again. Especially the 'Stack' behavior.

jonalmeida 12y ago
I'm on a Nexus 5 and have major memory leak issues with LB (I've reported them) if you keep the "bubble" open for too long. Chrome is very heavy as well in general, so Javelin is a really nice refresher what a fast browser feels like. I just bought the pro version and I'm going to use it for a while before I comment more on it.
- blntechie 12y ago
  I use a Nexus 5 as well but have not personally encountered the memory leak issue with Link Bubble. But I don't keep the bubbles open very long as well. I just went ahead and bought the Javelin Pro version as well. I like what developer is doing here.
- Nowyouknow 12y ago
  I had the same with LB (also N5) and just started using Flynx. Much better experience so far. It's free too.
interskh 12y ago
i switched back to LB because of lack of quick share option. On lb, i am able to quickly add to pocket without having to open share menu, etc.
pit 12y ago

TheCraiggers 12y ago

I've been using your browser for a couple months now (I think I saw it mentioned on Android Police if you're curious) and I've been liking it. It looks slick, and works exactly how I think it should. The one problem I have with it is one I'd like other opinions on, both for my curiosity and your benefit. Frankly, it's not my daily driver because I don't know who you are and don't trust you. Using a (no offense) no-name browser is somewhat of a risk as the developer could potentially be recording personal info. Of course, I have no guarantee that Mozilla isn't either. However, and yes I'm fully aware of how silly this sounds, I trust Mozilla despite never looking at their code or knowing any of the developers. I'm guessing privacy is important to you (since you have the option of using a VPN service as IAP) so I'm curious how you would allay my fears of using a random browser from someone other than the big three. Either way, I wish you luck.

nubela 12y ago
I'm also the developer of http://getgom.com http://getgom.com (VPN as a Chrome extension using SPDY SSL proxies), and as a fellow Singaporean when our government openly does surveilance, I __completely__ understand where you are coming from. To be fair, I'm not sure how I can solve his problem though. Open sourcing could be a plausible answer. But fighting Google Play clones and what-not is really time-consuming and as an indie dev, my time can be better spent. What do you suggest?
- TheCraiggers 12y ago
  I don't really have a great answer myself, personally. That's partly why I made my post to begin with. However, one thing that I think would greatly help is a privacy notice of some sort detailing exactly what is tracked and how it's used. I don't see one on either the Play store page, nor in the app itself (your site seems to be loading slowly at the moment, or I'd look there too). While it may not completely remove my fears, it would at least serve as a good baseline and would make me feel a little better. EDIT: Tried your site again, and found your privacy policy. I must say, I do like the way it is written as well as the content. Still, I would encourage maybe a link in the app, at least.

Miraries 12y ago

Any particular reason it's not compatible with OnePlus One and Nexus 10 on Google Play? I get it if tablets aren't supported. I could get the apk but I was wondering... If testing is the reason, I can help.

nubela 12y ago
I have no idea to be honest, Google Play does that sometimes.

thrush 12y ago

Slightly unrelated question, but is there an equivalent for iOS app extensions on Android?

nubela 12y ago
Intents could be the answer. See http://developer.android.com/guide/components/intents-filters.html http://developer.android.com/guide/components/intents-filter...

this_user 12y ago

Why would I want to use a browser made by a group that is seemingly mostly preoccupied with design judging from your website? You don't even disclose who is really behind this project. Especially browser security is more important than ever. When using one made by Google or Mozilla I can be sure that they do take security seriously, have the necessary experience, technical know-how and manpower to deal with vulnerabilities in a timely manner.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

anishkothari 12y ago

Looks great! I'm going to try this out

shock 12y ago

It looks very good. It's a pity it only syncs with Chrome and not with Firefox.

tempestn 12y ago
Agreed! I'd give it a try right now, but Firefox sync is a must-have for me. In fact, I'm considering giving up Dolphin Browser, even though I prefer it to Firefox for Android, because their "Dolphin Connect" Firefox add-on noticeably bogs down the browser, to the point where I often have it disabled.

jonalmeida 12y ago

Just out of curiosity, what are you using to parse the reading view of a webpage. It seems really fast so I doubt you're using Readability; probably some local library?

cmdrfred 12y ago

Looks good. Adblock integration is a nice touch, thats pretty much my first line of defence when it comes to anti-malware on the systems I administrate.

dmix 12y ago
Toggling JS off also makes mobile browsing super-fast and much safer. I wish it was easy to toggle on/off. Mobile chrome is a couple clicks.
- cmdrfred 12y ago
  I wish I had the option if I disabled JS on my work machines none of the insurance company portals would work.

jessedhillon 12y ago

I like it a lot. But I have a tangential question: has anyone found a good writeup on rise of the use of adjectives like gorgeous, stunning, beautiful, amazing to describe apps? Aside from my personal opinion, I'd like to know if anyone else has observed and written about this trend.

BrindsleyQuives 12y ago
Well, at least those adjectives make a change from the brain-dead over use of "Arse-Sum"!
freehunter 12y ago
What type of write up are you looking for? The rise can simply be attributed to computers being powerful enough to render good-looking design without a hit to performance, so design is now at the forefront of many corporate images. It doesn't hurt that Apple talks about design with these terms, and that's an association many people want their customers to make.
AdamFernandez 12y ago
I have not seen a write up on this, but whenever I see it, it seems strange. Calling your own app 'gorgeous' or 'stunning' may come off as conceited. Those are subjective terms. If the UX is positively impacted by the appearance, call that out in the copy. I think it would be better to let your users gush over the appearance of the app using subjective terms in reviews or testimonials.

grumblestumble 12y ago

Very minor nitpick: Your usage of "thought out" comes across as stilted and unprofessional. I'm guessing English isn't your native language?

anigbrowl 12y ago
I disagree. It's an unconventional usage but one that struck me as both deliberate and effective. BTW almost all people in Singapore grow up speaking English, it's the common language of 4 ethnic groups and is used on all signs, government correspondence and so forth.
- wingerlang 12y ago
  I disagree. I made me re-read the sentence more than once, and I still think it doesn't feel right.
  - random_ind_dude 12y ago
    I feel "well thought-out" would be a better way to phrase it.

ultim8k 12y ago

Kudos man! It really looks beautiful.

instakill 12y ago

Ha! Reddit definitely doesn't look that great on mobile.

TulliusCicero 12y ago
Yeah, isn't that a reddit-specific app?
- kevincrane 12y ago
  Yeah, it's "Reddit Is Fun" (my favorite reddit app I've used) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu.android.reddit&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu....
- wingerlang 12y ago
  I THINK that the point is that links will open in the background, tapping the circle will open them.
chewxy 12y ago
append a '.compact' to your reddit url. I found the experience to be much better than any reddit app

instakill 12y ago

Ha! Reddit definitely doesn't look that great on mobile.

joshvm 12y ago

My only criticism is that the icon is practically a mirror image of Telegram, but that's not exactly your fault. Is there a way to save pages for offline viewing?

ClifReeder 12y ago

I notice that you use www.theverge.com in a number of the screenshots for Javelin. The writers at The Verge, the developers that build the site, the designers that make it beautiful - are all paid through ad revenue. Please consider at least adding the ability to whitelist sites if you are going to bundle ad block. *Full disclosure - I am a developer at Vox Media, the publisher of The Verge.

korzun 12y ago
I don't think this mobile browser is going to make a dent in The Verge's ad revenue.
- Tossrock 12y ago
  The Verge has about 45% mobile traffic: https://www.quantcast.com/theverge.com https://www.quantcast.com/theverge.com If large numbers of people were to start using Javelin, it could certainly affect revenue.
  - korzun 12y ago
    > If large numbers of people were to start using Javelin If.
    - V-2 12y ago
      This is why I am against including ad-block as a default. People who don't install AdBlock (mostly don't know how, or can't be bothered) play an important role. Adblocking should be an opt-in.
superchink 12y ago
@nubela Sounds like an opportunity to negotiate revenue for inclusion in an optional (for users) whitelist.
- wingerlang 12y ago

fdsary 12y ago

Wow, this makes me want to ditch my iPhone...

ezequiel-garzon 12y ago

You had me at "reading mode". I can't believe text wrap, pervasive in smart- and not-so-smart-phones of yore, is today considered a rarity. Thankfully I'm not alone [1]. [1] https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=62378 https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=62378

drcode 12y ago
It would fantastic (and easy, technically, I think) to add a link to "reading mode" that starts text-to-speech.

shreeshga 12y ago

Just curious, which browser engine does it use?

microsby0 12y ago

Any thoughts of an iOS version as well? This really makes me jealous of Android users

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

robotfelix 12y ago

To me, including "mobile-first" as one of your key value proposition seems a little odd. My immediate reaction was to wonder whether any mobile browsers aren't mobile-first? From my (incomplete) knowledge of smartphone browsers they all feature interfaces designed for smartphones and smartphones alone. There must be a better word to use in your tagline - I notice you decided on using "Truly Mobile" further down ;)

zevyoura 12y ago
I think the implication is that Chrome & Safari are both mobile editions of desktop apps, which is true to some extent.

spihn3 12y ago

Adblock and readability feature integration is great! As a developer, could I ask you how you are implementing the readability feature? Is this done client side?

l33tbro 12y ago

Awesome browser. But why use "gorgeous" as a descriptor? It's become such a meaningless term in tech, even when Jobs was still peddling it about. It seems trivial, but seeing that word often is a red flag for an uninspired product. You guys have done great work, so I'm surprised your marketing isn't as great as the browser. Best of luck

roryokane 12y ago

Bug reports for the developer nubela: Swipe from the left to open the menu, then scroll down, so that part of the text is cut off, then swipe to the left to close the menu part of the way, but drag your finger back right before the menu closes. If you now scroll, the cut-off text is still visible, creating weird visual artifacts. This goes away when you close the menu completely and reopen it. When I edit the title and URL of a bookmark, the buttons are “Cancel” and “Edit”. I think “Save” would work better. I feel like what I am doing is already “editing”, since I chose “Edit” to get here. I tried to set Javelin as the default browser, but when the browser list popped up, by reflex I hit Just Once instead of Always. But Javelin still said “Javelin is now your default browser”. (Then I realized what had happened and went back and did it again.) If possible, Javelin should detect when the user clicked the wrong button. If that is not possible, maybe you should show a small picture of the Always button before showing the dialog, to remind the user to hit that button. In the page describing the Pro features, one of them is choosing your homepage. But I can already do that in the free version. It works when I go to Settings > Change homepage. Javelin doesn’t support a blank homepage. I tried setting the homepage to nothing (“”) or to “about:blank”, but either way, the homepage just becomes “Webpage not available”. The error shows because Javelin is automatically adding an “http://” http://” before “about:blank” – “about:” pages should have no protocol. I tried to press and hold on the icons (the eye icon and share icon) in the toolbar to see a tooltip describing what they do. However, those icons don’t have tooltips. I would have liked to have been able to see a “Reading Mode” tooltip when I pressed and held on the eye icon instead of having to actually press it to find out. The icons in the toolbar for reading mode have the same problem. When there are no tabs, I see a message “Javelin Browser, flies.” The message confused me a bit because it is ungrammatical. It should be either “Javelin Browser flies.” or “Javelin Browser – it flies.” I couldn’t get Javelin Sync to work at all. I authorized it for my Google account and saw the message saying I have been sent an email. But my bookmarks are still the default Javelin ones (minus the ones I manually deleted); none of them are my Chrome for Android bookmarks. This is still the case even after I “Sync bookmarks now” – though since that command gives no feedback, I couldn’t tell whether it worked. (I didn’t install the desktop Chrome extension linked in the email because I don’t want that home page, but the email said my device was already synced, so that shouldn’t make a difference.) So either your Sync is broken or there is another step that you forgot to mention, like “wait one hour” or “restart your phone” or something. In the menu on the left, the checkboxes look a little weird, because it is a blue checkmark on a turquoise background. I can see it, but I think they would look better if you made the check-marks very light gray, a color closer to the text but still distinct from it. When I logged into a site, I got two dialog boxes asking me to save the password. The first was a generic Android one like in Google Chrome. I clicked Not Now, and then Javelin showed its colorful one at the bottom. You should hide the default one so that only the Javelin one shows. I couldn’t figure out how to activate the “Fullscreen Browsing” that you show in one of your website’s screenshots. I tried scrolling through web pages, and I looked at all the settings, but I never had the Action Bar and the soft buttons displaying but transparent like in the screenshot. The soft buttons are always visible. I can hide the Action Bar completely with that setting, but then I can’t open it all from within the app, and that’s different from the screenshot anyway. It’s not described as a Pro feature on the Enable Javelin Pro page either. You should make it more obvious how to enable that mode, or remove the screenshot if that feature is now gone. This is a big list of bugs, many tiny ones and some big ones, but I’m still trying out Javelin for now – you haven’t driven me back to Chrome yet. I am especially interested in your Adblock and full-screen features (so it’s too bad I can’t figure out how to use full-screen). I wish you luck with developing your browser.

tambourine_man 12y ago

Ironically, I get a blank page on my iPhone

shekhar101 12y ago

Desktop chrome sync and native ad-block! Woooha! I'm sold!

samsaga2 12y ago

Please, don't use automatic translator. The text: "Jabalina es una hermosa, móvil-en primer lugar, y el pensamiento para navegadores de Android" It has no sense.

Zardoz84 12y ago
Using automatic translator back to english : "Believes that the first and the Android browser - Javelin nice phone" Really DON'T USE AUTOMATIC TRANSLATOR! Also, nice browser. I trying it, mainly by the "block ads" feature

darklajid 12y ago

I would - without trying to bash the project - like to understand what lures people into using this app? I understand that I'm not the target here - I dislike Chrome/Chromium and I am a happy Firefox user. But what drives people to use this browser? The UI alone? Maybe it would be something I can recommend to family and friends? Any decent, concise "This is why I like/use this thing" story?

gegtik 12y ago

This addresses a pain point I didn't even realize I had -- waiting for the browser context switch followed by waiting for the page to load, followed by impatiently scrolling the page while it continues to parse, sometimes causing janky scroll teleporting as images are embedded above my viewport. This is simply fantastic. Pro purchased. One suggestion -- if it is possible to insert yourself as two entries on the Open With page, it would be nice to have the option to click a link and open with "Javelin" or "Javelin (Reader Mode)" (I'm talking about the android system popup for handling mime types)

maxpert 12y ago

It's not material design! Nothing accept colors is material design. No animations, no guidelines nothing!