so much for "real web browsing"

[VirtualLarry]

I have a Samsung galaxy exhibit 4G on t-mobile. As a matter of fact, I'm posting from it now.
When I purchased it, it advertised "real web browsing". And for the most part, it was. Flash ads and videos and all.
Recently, I just tried going to staples and newegg, and both of them now redirect to their mobile site. This did not happen before. Im trying to figure out if an OTA update broke RWB, or if both sites just happened to change their browser-sniffing code. Any way to tell?

 

[MrChad]

Most major ecommerce sites will sniff browser agents and redirect to the appropriate site. I believe Chrome on Android allows you to force a "desktop" user agent string to get the full site version if that's what you prefer.

 

[GTRagnarok]

Most mobile web browsers have that option. Most mobile versions of websites will also have a link at the bottom to switch to the desktop version.

 

[Mopetar]

Most major ecommerce sites will sniff browser agents and redirect to the appropriate site. I believe Chrome on Android allows you to force a "desktop" user agent string to get the full site version if that's what you prefer.

I hate it when they do that. Outside of a few examples, the mobile version of most sites is crap. I think a lot of them were designed with the previous era of phones in mind when they didn't have fully capable browsers. The screens on our phones and tablets are more than good enough to display the regular version of the site, so unless there's a good reason to redesign it for mobile platforms, I really hate it when I get defaulted to some substandard mobile version of the site.

 

[Shackanaw]

I believe Chrome on Android allows you to force a "desktop" user agent string to get the full site version if that's what you prefer.

I don't think his phone supports Ice Cream Sandwich, so no Chrome. Firefox, Opera, and Dolphin should all support the feature, however. I know Firefox does, at least.

 

[Oyeve]

AT went the mobile route a coupla months ago too. I hate mobile sites but at least I can choose desktop or classic from my s4 and chrome.

 

[MrX8503]

This is interesting. There's 3 types of mobile websites.

-Mobile
-Responsive
-Web App

The first one is what most are familiar with and its a duplicate of the desktop site but stripped down.

The second is the same site, normally with all the same content but laid out for smartphones and tablets. This is Anandtech's method

The third is a completely different looking site that acts like a native app.

At my work we're big pushers for responsive web and I hear a lot that people don't like mobile web, but its hard to pinpoint which mobile web of the 3 they don't like.

The benefits of responsive is that you get the same content but its touch friendly and the graphics are optimized for quick loading.

 

[PowerYoga]

most people don't like the mobile site because it's crap. Has less info, doesn't show the stuff you want, etc. Doesn't fit on one page, you need to scroll.... blah in general. Not to mention do you design the site for a tablet? Or a phone?

For example: wikipedia's mobile web is great. shows you what you want to see and has all the headers compressed into touchable dropdowns. This is what most mobile sites should strive to do: concise info that you want to see. Of course, some sites don't like this since that doesn't leave room for spammy ads...

I consider the mobile sites of today similar to the average websites that we see in the 90s. Give it a few years and people will figure out most of the rules of the do's and don't's for mobile web design.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Use Naked Browser. It is the best browser on Android and much faster than Chrome (which is the slowest). It also allows you to change your user agent so you can view the desktop versions of sites.

 

[MrX8503]

most people don't like the mobile site because it's crap. Has less info, doesn't show the stuff you want, etc. Doesn't fit on one page, you need to scroll.... blah in general. Not to mention do you design the site for a tablet? Or a phone?

For example: wikipedia's mobile web is great. shows you what you want to see and has all the headers compressed into touchable dropdowns. This is what most mobile sites should strive to do: concise info that you want to see. Of course, some sites don't like this since that doesn't leave room for spammy ads...

I consider the mobile sites of today similar to the average websites that we see in the 90s. Give it a few years and people will figure out most of the rules of the do's and don't's for mobile web design.

A responsive site doesn't have those problems. It's for both phone and tablet.

 

[PowerYoga]

A responsive site doesn't have those problems. It's for both phone and tablet.

I don't disagree. But the fact of the matter is a lot of sites don't do that when they should.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Dunno about you all but from my experience my browser load and run the full desktop version far better than the mobile one.