Avoiding 'mobile' sites? - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

So I have been wondering, how do you avoid being forwarded to 'mobile' versions of websites on android OS? I am using a N1 and its quite annoying since the mobile versions usually have limited functionality.
sorry if this is in the wrong section or has been asked before, I couldnt find anything via google/etc, all search criteria just returns so much useless junk i couldnt sort through it all or narrow it down

The easy answer is to use Dolphin browser and set the use agent to desktop in the settings. The harder version from mobilecruch:
First up, open up your browser. Now, type “about:debug” (without the quotes, silly) and hit go. Click “Settings”, and scroll on down to the bottom to reveal the dastardly tricky “UAString”.
This is where the plan gets really cunning: you now change your user agent string — the bit of info that tells a website what type of device you are running — to “Desktop”.

u can change the setting thru ur stock browser. If it's not listed in settings of internet browser already which i assume it's not or u would've seen it, then type "about:config" in the address window and then hit "menu" hardkey and go to settings and it should show a debug section at the bottom that allows u to change the "UserString."

Related

Fuze - access to non-mobile only sites?

Does anyone know the setting to change to access the regular version of sites like yahoo, cnn, etc...
Out of box setup causes Opera to go to mobile versions only of some pages.
Thanks in advance,
Michael
on bottom right, open up menu, then go to "settings">"display" and uncheck "mobile view"
It already is unchecked, I think it may be a registry / hidden proxy issue. I am using media net for my connection.
i have spent countless hours trying to figure this out and found a solution. i also wanted iphone versions of websites (read espn).
in operas preferance editor (about:config in the address bar) you scroll down to user prefs, then uunder that tab go to custom user agent and plug in " Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en)" no quotes, then under the user agent i turned spoof agent to 2.
i akso changed the IE user agent to "Mobile Safari 1.0" in advance config
im not sure if its the combination or just one thing but i can now access full pages that i couldnt before aand i can use iphone web apps, so im happy
Correct, the trick is to change the user agent that the browser identifies itself as. You can go into opera:config and do that. Feel free to research the more common user agent strings and experiment to find the one that works for you. I personally setup a user string in my device for IE6. Hope this helps.
76flip said:
i have spent countless hours trying to figure this out and found a solution. i also wanted iphone versions of websites (read espn).
in operas preferance editor (about:config in the address bar) you scroll down to user prefs, then uunder that tab go to custom user agent and plug in " Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en)" no quotes, then under the user agent i turned spoof agent to 2.
i akso changed the IE user agent to "Mobile Safari 1.0" in advance config
im not sure if its the combination or just one thing but i can now access full pages that i couldnt before aand i can use iphone web apps, so im happy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this w/o editing the IE user agent, and it didn't work on my Fuze. The homepage that I had set to MSN, is now showing the mobile version instead of the web version, which worked previously. Do you know what the default setting was? I'd like to revert it back, but when hitting the 'default' button, it only clears the box. [I think it was 'Opera 9.5' but I rather be 100% sure].
I tried what someone else had told me now my cingular video doesn't work when I just went in. I tried this one and not only don't have cingular video but now Internet explorer isn't working. You would think that someone would know what to do with fixing the whole mobile thing. I don't want to use the mobile versions. I use yahoo mail and the mobile version sucks. It won't let you do anything but put in text.
Would like to know how to take it back to the way it was as well. any help would be great.
original settings
Custom user agent under was Opera/9.50 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en)
by the way I tried this as well and now only get mobile sites. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but I was better off before.
I hate to keep adding stuff one post at a time, but I just wanted to let you's know. I changed the part in ( ) back to the windows setting and left mozilla and spoof agent at 2 and it is working, and going to full sites. Hope this helps.
So switching it to what gave you the regular sites? When I change these things, do I need to restart my phone for them to go into effect? Definately need to fix this. I still can't get to cingular video. What the heck. I changed it to the original one and still no cingular video. I am having too many issues with this. It's just ticking me off.

How do you view full web pages?

Now that im on froyo on my N1 with flash i want to view full web pages just like on my laptop.
BUT on alot of my favorite web pages it automatically goes to the mobile site. Even if i type the in the site manually or try different methods it still reverts to the mobile site.
Any way to disable mobile view sites?
Type this on The browser
"about:debug" then go into settings And scroll down to uastring. Change from Android to desktop.
Where exactly is "about:debug"?
Edit: nevermind I got it. Thanks alot
you have to type "about:debug" in the address bar then hit go on keyboard. Now I have more setting to mess with.
any help to make the tilt 2 show me full web pages ? I think it was capable before update the rom.

[Q] Browsers and mobile sites

Evening all.
I've tried downloading Opera, Dolphin and Firefox. When trying to go to sites such as facebook as well as many others,they keep automatically diverting me to the mobile version of the site.
Do any of the browsers have a fix or add-on to stop this happening? It's so annoying!
In at least Dolphin Mini(What I run on my Captivate) you can go into the options(toolbox) and switch the orientation from mobile to desktop versions.
KTownGT said:
In at least Dolphin Mini(What I run on my Captivate) you can go into the options(toolbox) and switch the orientation from mobile to desktop versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. I've tried the same on Opera Mini/Mobile but it doesn't stop the mobile view
I know in the default browser you just go to options and change the browser string.
I haven't seen any mobile sites since I changed that setting.
This is driving me nuts! Almost every site I go to gives me the mobile version.
Going from memory, so this might not be 100% accurate, but should be close.
In Opera, type opera:config in the address bar. Go to User Prefs, and scroll down to Customer User Agent. Input any desktop UA string, save, and restart Opera.
Edit - here's a list of UA strings to pick from:
http://www.useragentstring.com/pages/useragentstring.php
Unfortunately, I don't think Opera let's you paste into that field, so you'll have to retype the whole thing which is kind of a pain.
Make sure you are not using remembered links or bookmarked links from when you did not have ( use full site) on. It will keep taking you back to the mobile version.
Easiest way:
open the stock browser
open the menu on the top right corner
hit "settings"
hit "advanced"
hit "User agent string"
then just select desktop mode
wow you guys don't read.
Dolphin and Firefox have not been updated to really support honeycomb so they still load the mobile sites, there are tricks around it, but they don't work great.
Opera Mobile is made for tablets but is currently glitched where even if you have the mobile setting as off, it still loads the mobile versions of pages.
you could try doing the opera:config and see if that fixes it, i know i'm going to try.
*edit* just tried editing the opera config. doesn't work. still loads the mobile site. I've sent them 10 e-mails about it and there are literally hundreds of comments pointing that out but apparently opera doesn't care and they refuse to even acknowledge the problem.
AtomicAge said:
Easiest way:
open the stock browser
open the menu on the top right corner
hit "settings"
hit "advanced"
hit "User agent string"
then just select desktop mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Only using the stock browser, and that method has worked a charm!
Rio
neok44 said:
*edit* just tried editing the opera config. doesn't work. still loads the mobile site. I've sent them 10 e-mails about it and there are literally hundreds of comments pointing that out but apparently opera doesn't care and they refuse to even acknowledge the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works, I use it pretty frequently when the stock browser is being a pain. Clear your cache, history, etc and make sure you're not clicking a link/bookmark that is pointed at the mobile version of a site. Also make sure you input the UA string correctly, word for word.
In firefox, get the addon called Phony and then change the new preference that it adds to your settings to "firefox desktop" and you're set While you're at it, get the adblock extension as well.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
bedoig said:
It works, I use it pretty frequently when the stock browser is being a pain. Clear your cache, history, etc and make sure you're not clicking a link/bookmark that is pointed at the mobile version of a site. Also make sure you input the UA string correctly, word for word.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what UA string did you use?
i put in chrome and firefox and both still brought me to mobile sites when i typed in www.google.com and www.engadget.com
neok44 said:
what UA string did you use?
i put in chrome and firefox and both still brought me to mobile sites when i typed in www.google.com and www.engadget.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I used a Chrome OSX string. The browser also has to be restarted for it to take effect. You'll either need to shut down the program from Android's app management in settings, or just reboot your TF. And make sure you clear all your caches.
Edit - or if you really want to be sure, uninstall and reinstall Opera. Then edit the UA string before you browse to a single website, restart browser, enjoy.
wait, so is this: "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/534.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/13.0.766.0 Safari/534.36" the user string? cause i didn't type all that in. i just typed in chrome.
Ya, you need to type in the entire thing. You can find a shorter one if you want, just as long as it's identified as a desktop OS/browser.
bedoig said:
Ya, you need to type in the entire thing. You can find a shorter one if you want, just as long as it's identified as a desktop OS/browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just did, did exactly as you said, i uninstalled the app, reinstalled, then went to opera:config as soon as it opened, typed that whole thing in, and still, mobile sites.
alright apparently it didn't save, going back in shows the user agent id as 1 again. WTF.
You hit save after inputting the string, right? And restarted the browser after you hit save? A full restart, not just back out and go back in.
Oh, there are two different sections with UA stuff. You don't want the one that gives number options, that one never worked for me. I'll look up the exact setting name, but I think it's under User Preferences and then Custom User Agent.
alright i'll try there

How to search google via your address bar by default on ie10

Google is Google for people like me... and Microsoft acting like the bully it is does not provide by default an option to search google.com... it has also made it quite difficult to add this addon and run it normally so here we go...
In short: extract and add attached entry to your registry editor by simply double clicking it and check "search from address bar" under search providers in the ie10 desktop versions addon menu
Long:
1. Download the attached reg file and extract its contents to your surface... double click to run it. Accept all warnings and it should add an entry to the registry editor.
2. Go to your metro style internet explorer and find a small tool icon beside the address bar (appears after a page has fully loaded), hit it and select "view on the desktop"
3. If your desktop version of internet explorer has opened, on the right top there will be a tool icon, select it and click "manage addons"
4. Go to "search providers" entry and select google. It will say "not available" etc but disregard it and look for a checkbox called "search in the address bar" - check it. + don't forget to select Bing and click the "remove" button that will appear on the bottom right of the window.
Click apply/close...
Now whenever on ie, Google will remain your light to the web!
Enjoy!
Microsoft acting like bully?
I'd rather stay away from the ad-shoving company that does not respect your privacy. Which is the whole purpose of making Chrome (no third party cookies have ever been blocked) unlike Safari (blocks all), FF (most), IE10 (most third party including default Do Not Track D.N.T header)
HOWEVER..
back on the topic, its always good to have choices.. depending on one's preference
LastBattle said:
Chrome (no third party cookies have ever been blocked)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SRWare iron then.
you really believe microsoft respects your privacy any more than google? lol thats the best joke i have heard all yesterday maybe all year
drksilenc said:
you really believe microsoft respects your privacy any more than google? lol thats the best joke i have heard all yesterday maybe all year
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/fullnotice.mspx
http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
i was able to add google as the default search on my RT no problem. just changed the default search provider in desktop IE and it applied to Metro IE as well. absolutely no need for registry edits.
settings --> add ons --> search providers --> add more search providers --> download google and set as default. easy as can be
Thanks bro... Really hate using bing...
cheers buddy
Or hell, just visit google.com and use their "add this search provider" link (plus click the "make this provider the default" box) and you're good.
Alternatively, open IE10 on the desktop, click the little down-arrow next to the search icon (magnifying glass) in the address bar, and select "Add" (alternate way to get to the same UI as described above).
This has been possible, with only minor UI changes, on all versions of IE since at least 7 (I have repressed all memory of using IE6).

Always Force Desktop Website Version

Is there a way to go past the website's UA checks and always load their desktop versions instead of mobile? Asking because I already set in the preferences of all my phone browsers to always load the full desktop version and still, many websites somehow know I'm using a mobile device and force the mobile version.
Anyone found solution for Dolphin or Boat browsers? I've read about "about:debug" and "about:useragent" showing extra UA menu elements which in my case does nothing (android 6). I was also unable to find an user agent switching app that could always force Desktop parameters to the websites.
Even if there's no immefiate solution, I would like to know the principle websites choose which version to load irrespective to browser settings. Is it network/data/service provider settings, or specific browser/resolution signature? Thanks a lot for any ideas.
Menergy said:
Is there a way to go past the website's UA checks and always load their desktop versions instead of mobile? Asking because I already set in the preferences of all my phone browsers to always load the full desktop version and still, many websites somehow know I'm using a mobile device and force the mobile version.
Anyone found solution for Dolphin or Boat browsers? I've read about "about:debug" and "about:useragent" showing extra UA menu elements which in my case does nothing (android 6). I was also unable to find an user agent switching app that could always force Desktop parameters to the websites.
Even if there's no immefiate solution, I would like to know the principle websites choose which version to load irrespective to browser settings. Is it network/data/service provider settings, or specific browser/resolution signature? Thanks a lot for any ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the problem is website's UA check, often you can choose an AdWay or something similar, on my phone i'm surprised to see as "auto check" some pop up, check and box.
But for what never stop working, that's need update every day...
There isn't much you can do in this case.
Sometimes in some browsers you've an option with whitelist or other but I do believe they can be related to the mobile display or desktop of a particular site.
Maybe there is an add-on xposed or plugin that I don't know
My problem is that some websites force the mobile version no matter what, as well as lack on services that I need in there, and you couldn't circumvent that in any way.
Yesterday I had to verify an email address and tried with all the browsers I have on my phone (like 5 different). They were all set to display the desktop version and all were forced into the mobile. But on the mobile you couldn't verify the link, probably on purpose (security if on mobile device), and I would not have access to laptop/desktop browser by the evening. The same is with many other features/missing services on forced mobile websites so I want to find a way to have full functionality when on the go.
Does AdWay have options for influencing data the browser notifies to the websites? Anything similar to Mozilla-code based Random Agent Spoofer browser add-on where you can basically force the browser to inject any incorrect data and prevent other data leaking while browsing? Any special cookie mechanisms inherent to mobile browsers only?
Alternatively, can I access browser settings with something like about:config/debug or else? Dolphin, Boat, others? I am sure the browser notifies the correct desktop user agent, there's something else, probably very simple, that tells websites the connection is from a portable device...
Menergy said:
My problem is that some websites force the mobile version no matter what, as well as lack on services that I need in there, and you couldn't circumvent that in any way.
Yesterday I had to verify an email address and tried with all the browsers I have on my phone (like 5 different). They were all set to display the desktop version and all were forced into the mobile. But on the mobile you couldn't verify the link, probably on purpose (security if on mobile device), and I would not have access to laptop/desktop browser by the evening. The same is with many other features/missing services on forced mobile websites so I want to find a way to have full functionality when on the go.
Does AdWay have options for influencing data the browser notifies to the websites? Anything similar to Mozilla-code based Random Agent Spoofer browser add-on where you can basically force the browser to inject any incorrect data and prevent other data leaking while browsing? Any special cookie mechanisms inherent to mobile browsers only?
Alternatively, can I access browser settings with something like about:config/debug or else? Dolphin, Boat, others? I am sure the browser notifies the correct desktop user agent, there's something else, probably very simple, that tells websites the connection is from a portable device...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use "user agent switcher" for chrome and it always works. It requires root though.
Can you provide an example of a website that refuses to show the desktop version?
And additionally, your build.prop contains your device's information. The browser might be transmitting that information to the website.
Thank you, the build.prop info was very helpful. I am not rooted yet as I've got my new phone just less than a month ago so still exploring, but can't really find the file, even among the hidden files on the internal memory. I will explore more and see how it goes.
I am in the UK so for example one of the websites that always loads the limited mobile instead of desktop version is the one of my service provider, EE, ee. co. uk (apologies for the intervals, I'm otherwise not allowed to post it). This mobile version is too basic and 60% of what you could do on a desktop version is cut. I've been on Three Mobile and sometimes I could get their full website working, sometimes not. Other websites are let's say bbc. co. uk and other media/news/bank websites that know, no matter browser settings, you are accessing them from a portable device.
Unfortunately I do not trust Google and any of their products so avoid voluntarily and (un)intentionally handing any personal data over to them. I would have used Mozilla for Android if it was close to the functionality Boat and Dolphin browsers provide. I even contacted the Dolphin team having previously assisted them but have got no feedback whatsoever. There must be a way for editing these unusual browser settings, but as pointed out above, I suspect it has something to do will submitting device ID info from within system folders. Thus probably only browser developers could tell us how the problem could be circumvented (and hopefully at least for now, with no root).
Or the developers of addons such as the Random Agent Spoofer or the user agent switchers.
Menergy said:
Thank you, the build.prop info was very helpful. I am not rooted yet as I've got my new phone just less than a month ago so still exploring, but can't really find the file, even among the hidden files on the internal memory. I will explore more and see how it goes.
I am in the UK so for example one of the websites that always loads the limited mobile instead of desktop version is the one of my service provider, EE, ee. co. uk (apologies for the intervals, I'm otherwise not allowed to post it). This mobile version is too basic and 60% of what you could do on a desktop version is cut. I've been on Three Mobile and sometimes I could get their full website working, sometimes not. Other websites are let's say bbc. co. uk and other media/news/bank websites that know, no matter browser settings, you are accessing them from a portable device.
Unfortunately I do not trust Google and any of their products so avoid voluntarily and (un)intentionally handing any personal data over to them. I would have used Mozilla for Android if it was close to the functionality Boat and Dolphin browsers provide. I even contacted the Dolphin team having previously assisted them but have got no feedback whatsoever. There must be a way for editing these unusual browser settings, but as pointed out above, I suspect it has something to do will submitting device ID info from within system folders. Thus probably only browser developers could tell us how the problem could be circumvented (and hopefully at least for now, with no root).
Or the developers of addons such as the Random Agent Spoofer or the user agent switchers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The build.prop is a text file which should be located in system/ folder. And you usually can't view the contents of that folder without root, so that's why you haven't been able to find it.
I visited ee.co.uk using chrome, and I was able to switch between the mobile and desktop version of the site without any issues, even without using the UA changing app. All I did was select "request desktop site" from the side menu.
I tried using CM's stock browser though, and just like you experienced, the same website refused to load in desktop mode. I even went as far as changing the UA in its settings menu and even that didn't work.
So all that you wrote in the last two paragraphs have been confirmed.
Right now, it's either chrome or root until the devs fix/properly implement their UA changing feature.
I was testing other browsers the whole morning here and finally reluctantly tried Firefox. Somehow its Android version never impressed me or was too buggy for me when tested before. Probably because just before going for it I tried Pale Moon and have seen that I can readily edit just about everything via about:config. The Pale Moon's UI settings menu was however completely missing (probably a bug), along with no other controls, so I had to skip it.
So I am glad to report that using Firefox's "Request desktop website" option I finally was able to load desktop versions of websites that were forcing me to always have their mobile one instead. This means that Firefix for now becomes my main browser. As suggested by you, I tried first with Chrome but with no success (using its internal user agent options). There were a few Chrome user agent switchers in the market but although some of them did not explicitly require root, upon starting them they did so I had to uninstall them.
My question yet remains, what exactly tells websites not to load full version, even if browser's user agent reports the correct values. I will leave this to me as I go deeper into this. Glad to have got what I wanted
Thanks a lot for all your help.
Just to add for all having my problem and using Firefox for Android.
By default Firefox will always load the mobile website version and every time you will need to tick "Request desktop site" if you dislike it. As I do, there is an addon called "Desktop by Default" that will always keep the tick on for you. You may instead try creating a new string called "general.useragent.override" adding a desktop OS signature but it won't work (tested by me) for exactly the same websites I had issues with above, so do use the addon instead. It will however work for all other websites that don't have issues with Desktop mode on other browsers.
There is another string that I disabled also called general.useragent.site_specific_overrides.
Tweaking with the Chrome for Android settings seems to require root so Firefox in my case is a God bless. I hope this is helpful to all others with my issue...

Categories

Resources