Ask Slashdot: Gaining Control of My Mobile Browser?

An anonymous reader writes: I run Firefox with NoScript and FlashBlock at home. Browsing is easy, and I only have to enable scripts on a few sites. If they have 20+ scripts, I just surf somewhere else. Fast forward to the mobile experience. I had an Android device, but now I have an iPhone. In addition to the popup problem, and the fake "X" on ads, the iPhone browsers (Safari, Chrome, Opera) will start to show a site, then they will lock up for 10-30 seconds before finally becoming responsive. If I switch back to another app and then return to the browser, Safari and Chrome have a little delay, but Opera delays 20+ seconds before becoming responsive again.

Firefox is not available on the iPhone, so I can't simply run NoScript. Chrome does not appear to have a NoScript equivalent for mobile. What solutions are you using to make mobile browsing work?

Comments

Re:There is no hope.

[rudy_wayne]

"Mobile" is basically a trailer for the cryptographically sealed dystopia after the demise of the general purpose computer. Your options are basically 'consume that content, just the way its creator intended you to' or 'walk away'..

Yes, that is correct. And 'walk away' is exactly what people need to do. .The ADD/OCD stare-at-your-phone-every-minute-of-the-day crowd doesn't want to hear it, but if you're having problems surfing the web on your phone, it's because you're doing it wrong.

Browsing the Internet on a phone is a perfect example of the old saying: "Just because you *CAN* do something, doesn't mean you *SHOULD*." Other than the occasional "I need to look up directions to somewhere" I leave my Internet use to comfortably browsing on a real computer where I am in complete control of what software is installed and how it is configured.

If people would 'walk away', a huge drop in mobile ad revenue just might get the message across that websites need to clean up their act. Until then, you're just part of the problem.

Re:Don't even bother asking

[_xeno_]

Except you can't do that, because the only browsers available on iOS are reskinned Mobile Safari. The performance problems he's having are caused by Mobile Safari. They're doubled by the fact that only Apple-Blessed Mobile Safari gets to do JIT JavaScript compilation, so any "alternative" browser not only will just be Mobile Safari in another skin, it will also be a slow Mobile Safari!

The correct answer is "if you don't like Mobile Safari, don't use iOS." Whether than means Android or Windows Phone is up to you, but if you want to use a non-Safari browser, you don't use iOS. It's that simple.