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PreBrowser- PalmPre Browser for iPhone/iPod (Full Screen Navigating) Pics+Video Here!

Vandam500

Vandam500

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 29, 2008
1,844
109
This web browser just came out in Cydia and I am loving it! At first I was skeptical but hey, it's just 2 bucks. It is beautifuly made and is so polished! I love the UI and how it handles everything!!!!

This is a must have!
See it in Action!!!

Enjoy!! :)
 

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It's not bad, but it failed my Engadget Scrolling Test™, with some pretty major checkerboard, when scrolling the page, when it was fully loaded on my 3GS.
Safari has no such trouble.
All I'm hoping for, is a mod to Safari, that'll give it a full-screen toggle. :/
 
BergerFan said:
It's not bad, but it failed my Engadget Scrolling Test™, with some pretty major checkerboard, when scrolling the page, when it was fully loaded on my 3GS.
Safari has no such trouble.
All I'm hoping for, is a mod to Safari, that'll give it a full-screen toggle. :/
Click to expand...

I think the main issue here is that people are just looking for something different. iPhone's browser has been practically the same for the past 2.5 years.

I can't say whether or not this is better than Safari but the change in appearance sure is welcome, not to mention tempting.
 
I've been using Oceanus, which is the best full screen browser I have found so far (and I have tried many others). However it has limitations. For example, cut and copy does not work with this browser. Also, the scrolling is not as responsive as Safari. I also don't like the fact that the BACK button causes a reload of a webpage. I do like the ease of locking the screen to either landscape of portrait mode.

I wonder how does this browser compare to Oceanus.
 
I really want this new browser but don't want to lose my Safari Downloader capabilities.

Nice video!

mokeiko

edit: didn't know there was a "open link in Safari" feature!

Also, can't seem to add bookmarks.
 
Tried it out. One thing I don't like is that it doesn't save tabs when you close out. Also, the address bar at the top is still there.

I think I'm gonna stick with Safari for now.
 
mokeiko said:
I really want this new browser but don't want to lose my Safari Downloader capabilities.

Nice video!

mokeiko

edit: didn't know there was a "open link in Safari" feature!

Also, can't seem to add bookmarks.
Click to expand...

Thanks!. Why can't you add bookmarks? Hit Menu then Add to Bookmarks. It should add the current webpage.

chstr said:
will this work with a 2g iphone?
Click to expand...

Yes!
 
I quite like it except there is no option to open links in a new tab which is a feature I use all the time, will stick with Safari for now.
 
mokeiko said:
Also, can't seem to add bookmarks.
Click to expand...

Just purchased, and also having this problem.

Clicking 'Add to bookmarks' brings me to a page that confirms the page title and URL, but clicking on 'DONE' does nothing (other than a confirmation flash of the button). It always shows the DONE button on the keyboard and doesn't add the bookmark. I can exit out via the 'MENU' button.

Also, clicking on 'Show Bookmarks'....it only brings me to a blank screen which has some lines and an 'Edit' button. Clicking on 'Edit' changes the button to 'Done', but it doesn't do anything. Trying to open one of the lines to add the info doesn't work. I can only exit this screen via exiting PreBrowser by pushing the Home button.

Lastly, my area to swipe for using SBSettings doesn't work anymore, as well as the activation method for initializing ProSwitcher (which is set up to use the HOLD option on the Status Bar).

Also don't see a way to close tabs, just the button at the bottom to switch between them.

It looks like there is some integration with the built in Safari app, as PreBrowser seems to know my logins on web forums....

It would be awesome if I could get the bookmarks to work, or if it could automagically pull up my existing Safari bookmarks (as I use MobileMe to sync bookmarks across my MacBookPro/iPhone).

And, maybe it's placebo effect, not sure, but PreBrowser does seem faster at loading a few of the websites I chose (MR Forums, for example).
 
m3coolpix said:
Just purchased, and also having this problem.

Clicking 'Add to bookmarks' brings me to a page that confirms the page title and URL, but clicking on 'DONE' does nothing (other than a confirmation flash of the button). It always shows the DONE button on the keyboard and doesn't add the bookmark. I can exit out via the 'MENU' button.

Also, clicking on 'Show Bookmarks'....it only brings me to a blank screen which has some lines and an 'Edit' button. Clicking on 'Edit' changes the button to 'Done', but it doesn't do anything. Trying to open one of the lines to add the info doesn't work. I can only exit this screen via exiting PreBrowser by pushing the Home button.

Lastly, my area to swipe for using SBSettings doesn't work anymore, as well as the activation method for initializing ProSwitcher (which is set up to use the HOLD option on the Status Bar).

Also don't see a way to close tabs, just the button at the bottom to switch between them.

It looks like there is some integration with the built in Safari app, as PreBrowser seems to know my logins on web forums....

It would be awesome if I could get the bookmarks to work, or if it could automagically pull up my existing Safari bookmarks (as I use MobileMe to sync bookmarks across my MacBookPro/iPhone).

And, maybe it's placebo effect, not sure, but PreBrowser does seem faster at loading a few of the websites I chose (MR Forums, for example).
Click to expand...

You have to swipe up on the tabs to close them! :)
 
labman said:
is it doesn't save passwords hopefully in the next update. and great video as always. also like your new intros!
Click to expand...

Thanks bro!! :) Hopefully it would save passwords on next update!!!
 
I just had a Cydia update on it. v1.0-1

Didn't fix any of the issues with the bookmarks for me.

Are others having no problems with bookmarks? I've resprung, and even rebooted.

Thanks for the how-to on the closing of tabs.

Is there any 'user guide' on a website forum or something somewhere? Google is only bringing up announcements about the app itself.
 
m3coolpix said:
I just had a Cydia update on it. v1.0-1

Didn't fix any of the issues with the bookmarks for me.

Are others having no problems with bookmarks? I've resprung, and even rebooted.

Thanks for the how-to on the closing of tabs.

Is there any 'user guide' on a website forum or something somewhere? Google is only bringing up announcements about the app itself.
Click to expand...

I have tried to duplicate the bug for the bookmarks but nothing. I can add bookmarks without any problems and open them. SBSettings doesn't work while in the app but qTweeter does which is weird.
 
Applejuiced said:
If it ain't broke.....
Click to expand...

Waahhh;)...but it is broke for me :(

Don't really want to go through a restore and uninstall and install this/try that episode to see what may be causing my issue...

Maybe listing what I have installed vs. what others have installed and a comparison.

Here's info on my JB'n setup:

week 46 32gb 3Gs running 3.1.2 (iTunes 9.0.2 (25)).

Latest of:

Blackra1n
Cydia
SBSettings
Notifier
iBlacklist
Fontswap
Fontswap Starter
Backgrounder
ProSwitcher
Winterboard
Aquoah (WB theme)
Aquoah Lockinfo III (lockinfo theme)
Aquoah SBSettings (sbsettings theme)
Aquoah Dialer (theme for dialpad)
Talking Alerts (WB theme)
Lockinfo
Firewall IP
mobileterminal
MobileSubstrate
Openssh

No 'hacked' software. All paid for, both on App store and Cydia. All the non used WinterBoard subdirectories removed (this seems to save memory for me).

I also wonder if it's a permissions issue....
 
Hey everyone,

I figured out the bookmark issue I was having. When creating a bookmark you are given the name and the URL of the bookmark. Change the name or modify the name of the default bookmark initially shown. This seem to do the trick. Perhaps for some the bookmark works outright but not for me. I hope this helps.

by the way, the browser does run a little faster than Safari. Hopefully more features will be added.

mokeiko

EDIT: The update fixed the bookmarks issues for me but I change the names anyway to shorten the length from what the default gives you.
 
Nice browser. Everything works for me. For what it's worth, the bookmarks are stored in /var/mobile/Documents/Bookmarks.plist in this format:
Code: 
<key>Title</key>
<string>Google</string>
<key>URL</key>
<string>http://www.google.com/</string>

I don't expect people to manually use that to save bookmarks but you might want to check permissions of that file or something.

Personally, I'm going to use it to write a script to convert my Firefox bookmarks to that format and "sync" them.
 
lol
for you it's perfect then:)

m3coolpix said:
Waahhh;)...but it is broke for me :(

Don't really want to go through a restore and uninstall and install this/try that episode to see what may be causing my issue...

Maybe listing what I have installed vs. what others have installed and a comparison.

Here's info on my JB'n setup:

week 46 32gb 3Gs running 3.1.2 (iTunes 9.0.2 (25)).

Latest of:

Blackra1n
Cydia
SBSettings
Notifier
iBlacklist
Fontswap
Fontswap Starter
Backgrounder
ProSwitcher
Winterboard
Aquoah (WB theme)
Aquoah Lockinfo III (lockinfo theme)
Aquoah SBSettings (sbsettings theme)
Aquoah Dialer (theme for dialpad)
Talking Alerts (WB theme)
Lockinfo
Firewall IP
mobileterminal
MobileSubstrate
Openssh

No 'hacked' software. All paid for, both on App store and Cydia. All the non used WinterBoard subdirectories removed (this seems to save memory for me).

I also wonder if it's a permissions issue....
Click to expand...
 
foob said:
Nice browser. Everything works for me. For what it's worth, the bookmarks are stored in /var/mobile/Documents/Bookmarks.plist in this format:
Code: 
<key>Title</key>
<string>Google</string>
<key>URL</key>
<string>http://www.google.com/</string>

I don't expect people to manually use that to save bookmarks but you might want to check permissions of that file or something.

Personally, I'm going to use it to write a script to convert my Firefox bookmarks to that format and "sync" them.
Click to expand...

Can you post this file?

It doesn't seem to exist on my device....at least not in that subdirectory. I just show a History.plist file and a AdMob subdirectory there...

The History.plist file does contain the history of where I browsed with ZapBrowser.

FWIW, I tried uninstalling ZapBrowser via Cydia, rebooting, then reinstalling, followed by another reboot. Even tried the option of SBSettings for 'fix user dir permissions'. Nada. Still the same problem with bookmarks. Can't add one even on a page that I'm visiting, or manually edit.

Maybe I can manually put the file there and check it's permission if someone can post the file.....
 
m3coolpix said:
Can you post this file?

It doesn't seem to exist on my device....at least not in that subdirectory.
Click to expand...

Hmm, maybe it creates it when you save a bookmark and since you're having trouble, it hasn't created it yet. Mine has these permissions, but I have already edited it so they could have changed somewhere along the line. It does work though.

-rw-r--r-- (a.k.a. 644)
user/group=mobile/mobile

You may also want to check the Documents directory which is drwxr-xr-x (a.k.a. 755) mobile/mobile

Here is a sample bookmark file that should work. I would post mine, but it's full of bookmarks by now.
Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>1</key>
	<dict>
		<key>Title</key>
		<string>Google</string>
		<key>URL</key>
		<string>http://www.google.com</string>
	</dict>
	<key>2</key>
	<dict>
		<key>Title</key>
		<string>MacRumors</string>
		<key>URL</key>
		<string>https://www.macrumors.com.com</string>
	</dict>
</dict>
</plist>
In case anyone does edit them manually, I forgot that you need to add the key tags for every bookmark. The first is 1, second is 2 etc.
 
foob said:
Hmm, maybe it creates it when you save a bookmark and since you're having trouble, it hasn't created it yet. Mine has these permissions, but I have already edited it so they could have changed somewhere along the line. It does work though.

-rw-r--r-- (a.k.a. 644)
user/group=mobile/mobile

You may also want to check the Documents directory which is drwxr-xr-x (a.k.a. 755) mobile/mobile

Here is a sample bookmark file that should work.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting. I was able to create my own based off of it, and ZapBrowser (as it's now called) is able to read it and go to the pages. But, I still have the editing problem. Can't edit the bookmarks, or add to it.

The file permissions and user defs are as what you have, and as well for the Documents subdirectory.

I can at least work with this a bit better doing bookmarks manually.
 
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