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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > iOS Apps > iCab for iPhone - everything Safari should be but isn't

iCab for iPhone - everything Safari should be but isn't
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JKT
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Apr 23, 2009, 05:21 AM
 
Hell yes! Finally a browser worth having on the iPhone. 5 words for you:

Get iCab. Get it now!

'Proper' tabbed browsing!
Ad and Javascript blocking.
Full screen mode.
Form saving and auto fill.
Ability to block all images on the fly for faster browsing on slow connections.
Session saving.
Offline browsing (I think. Haven't tried it yet).
Much, much more to boot and all in a decent, well thought out UI.

Did I say it yet? Go get it now.

The one major downside for me is that I can't get rid of Mobile Safari altogether and make iCab my default browser for all other apps too. Second downside is stability, but Safari is awful for that too so no loss but no gain either. However, at least iCab restores my session after a crash! Yay!
     
Big Mac
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Apr 23, 2009, 05:34 AM
 
Pretty impressive, I'm surprised Apple let it through to the App Store. It's a bit sluggish in switching between vertical and horizontal orientations on my 1G touch, but the rendering quality and that feature set impress me.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
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Apr 23, 2009, 05:53 AM
 
Wow, looks great. I'm d/l it right now. iCab reminds me of the old OS 9 days in a good way.
     
Simon
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Apr 23, 2009, 05:55 AM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
Pretty impressive, I'm surprised Apple let it through to the App Store.
Me too. What was that about 'duplicates existing functionality' they liked to say...
     
JKT  (op)
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Apr 23, 2009, 06:19 AM
 
Oops. Offline browsing is a hoped for feature in an update. Isn't there yet.
     
SSharon
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Apr 23, 2009, 07:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by Simon View Post
Me too. What was that about 'duplicates existing functionality' they liked to say...
See, it was let through because safari doesn't actually have any of the functionality of icab.
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ibook_steve
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Apr 23, 2009, 09:39 PM
 
So is this worth the $1.99? After this post and my post about scrolling in Safari (does iCab let you grab and scroll for long pages?), I noticed a number of other web browsers in the store. Is iCab the one to go with as a Safari replacement? There are so many darn apps of every kind at the store, it's getting increasingly difficult to choose the good ones.

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JKT  (op)
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Apr 24, 2009, 05:36 AM
 
I would say that it is definitely worth the price of its download. A Safari replacement? It makes Safari look the embarrassment of a browser that it is. This is more like having an OmniWeb or Firefox on your iPhone. Three features alone make it worth the money - session restore (optional), being able to open links in a new tab instead of the current one (optional and you can toggle it on and off on the fly), and form auto-fill. Also, unlike Safari it remembers when you have logged in somewhere. By the way, it also has a private browsing mode that you can toggle on and off.

As a final plus, it features a solid help manual as well that actually tells you how to use everything.

After more use it does have some issues - stability isn't great and there isn't enough feedback that a page is loading, especially in full screen mode. Your 'scrubbing' scroll feature isn't there either. However, this is iCab - a browser that one guy has being developing since OS 9 days and is probably more than willing to hear and add ideas for new features.
     
JKT  (op)
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Apr 24, 2009, 05:39 AM
 
Originally Posted by ssharon View Post
see, it was let through because safari doesn't actually have any of the functionality of icab.
lol :d
     
Simon
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Apr 24, 2009, 05:42 AM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
See, it was let through because safari doesn't actually have any of the functionality of icab.
Indeed.
     
osiris
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Apr 24, 2009, 02:09 PM
 
I shall give this a try.

I remember iCab from the OS 8/9 days.
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moep
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Apr 24, 2009, 04:20 PM
 
Oooh, love the fullscreen mode with multitouch browsing. Lovely.

//edit: it doesn’t seem to sync with the safari/mobileme bookmarks though.
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angelmb
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Apr 28, 2009, 01:54 PM
 
Originally Posted by osiris View Post
I remember iCab from the OS 8/9 days.
Hence iCab running circles around Safari or [the usual collection of miscellaneous web browsers placeholder] is anybody surprise.

     
ctt1wbw
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Apr 29, 2009, 05:59 AM
 
I bought it. I don't see how it's better than Safari. Try counting the steps it takes to close a tab.
     
Simon
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Apr 29, 2009, 06:49 AM
 
Tap, swipe, tap.

To me the killer feature is ad blocking. Huge ads make browsing on EDGE next to impossible. iCab mitigates that issue.
     
JKT  (op)
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Apr 29, 2009, 07:52 AM
 
Originally Posted by ctt1wbw View Post
I bought it. I don't see how it's better than Safari. Try counting the steps it takes to close a tab.
If it is the tab you currently have open, then it is three: tap tab button in dock, swipe left on the tab in the panel, tap delete. So one more action than Safari. However, unlike Safari, I can close other open tabs more easily and also several tabs at once with greater ease. I don't have to flick through other tabs just to close them.

It also much easier to open several tabs at once, or always start with a blank tab, or a defined homepage tab, etc. There is a huge amount that is better about iCab versus Safari. One or two things that aren't. Maybe.
     
JKT  (op)
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Apr 29, 2009, 07:56 AM
 
Btw, contact the developer if there is something you don't like or think could be improved. He's very open to criticism and suggestions on how to improve it. E.g. you could request that the selected tab be indicated with an icon that you can tap to close it, to make it a two step process instead...
     
Simon
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Apr 29, 2009, 08:07 AM
 
I'd like to see

• stability definitely needs to be improved
• open in a new tab with double-tap
• tab removal with a gesture
• tab switching with a gesture outside of fullscreen mode (in full screen mode there's a gesture)
• the option to open new tabs just after the current one instead of after all the current tabs
     
Big Mac
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Apr 29, 2009, 09:23 AM
 
Stability seems fine to me. Hasn't crashed on me yet, which is more than I can say for Safari. There are zoom focus issues with forms, and it's too slow switching screen orientations on my 1G touch, but I remain very impressed. It's great to have a viable competitor to Safari.
( Last edited by Big Mac; Apr 29, 2009 at 09:42 AM. )

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JKT  (op)
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Apr 29, 2009, 10:19 AM
 
I think the focus issue with forms is a more general WebKit one as I have had similar problems in Safari, 1password and NetNewsWire.
     
JKT  (op)
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Apr 29, 2009, 10:24 AM
 
Originally Posted by Simon View Post
I'd like to see

• stability definitely needs to be improved
• open in a new tab with double-tap
• tab removal with a gesture
• tab switching with a gesture outside of fullscreen mode (in full screen mode there's a gesture)
• the option to open new tabs just after the current one instead of after all the current tabs
Unfortunately, double tap can't be used as it is reserved for zooming into blocks of text on a page (forgot that myself when I suggested it as an alternative way of toggling out of full screen mode/temporarily showing the dock and toolbar). Other gestures are also difficult to add due to the new ones due in OS 3.0.
     
JKT  (op)
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Apr 29, 2009, 10:28 AM
 
Personally, I am hoping that there will be some contextual menu (tap and hold) goodness available to developers in 3.0 as this would be the easiest way to implement an Open in New Tab function for links, imo. Won't hold my breath though
     
Simon
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Apr 29, 2009, 10:40 AM
 
Double-tap a link to open in a tab. Double-tap anything else to zoom. It's not rocket science.
     
JKT  (op)
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Apr 29, 2009, 11:46 AM
 
You misunderstnd me - the double tap mechanism comes from the OS/WebKit and I don't think there is an API available to modify the way it behaves. Also, I'm not sure it would be good to do so due to the resolution of the screen as it would probably lead to inadvertent opening of new tabs when trying to zoom link heavy sections of a page (I find it bad enough for accidentally 'clicking' links now, without such a function).
     
Mac User #001
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Apr 29, 2009, 03:43 PM
 
Originally Posted by JKT View Post
Personally, I am hoping that there will be some contextual menu (tap and hold) goodness available to developers in 3.0 as this would be the easiest way to implement an Open in New Tab function for links, imo. Won't hold my breath though
At least it's in the 3.0 software in Safari now. But it would be nice to be available for devs.
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Big Mac
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Apr 29, 2009, 09:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by JKT View Post
I think the focus issue with forms is a more general WebKit one as I have had similar problems in Safari, 1password and NetNewsWire.
To some extent, yes, but at least with Safari I never have a problem when trying to see what I'm typing into Google. With iCab the field is covered.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
JKT  (op)
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Apr 30, 2009, 05:48 AM
 
I couldn't reproduce this until I switched to landscape mode, but I now see what you mean. I imagine that it has something to do with the different toolbar in iCab versus Safari, and that the WebKit engine isn't recognising or being told to recognise that it is present, so it displays the field underneath it. However, I did notice that the field moves into view as soon as I started typing. Not ideal, but it does still work. You can, of course, avoid using the Google page altogether if you tap the magnifying glass icon in the dock.

I'll submit a bug report to the iCab developer.
     
jesse_the_k
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May 4, 2009, 11:27 AM
 
If there was a FM I could read outside of the browser, I'd FR it.

But alas: how does one return from full-screen mode to toolbars on?
     
Simon
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May 4, 2009, 11:28 AM
 
Originally Posted by jesse_the_k View Post
But alas: how does one return from full-screen mode to toolbars on?
Shake it.

That's explained in the online manual too, btw.
     
jesse_the_k
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May 4, 2009, 11:31 AM
 
Thanks so much for your quick reply. I'd tried every possible tap & swipe; I'm on a lowly 1G iTouch so I'm not used to shaking things up (yet)!
     
Simon
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May 4, 2009, 11:33 AM
 
The nice thing with the iPhone/iPod touch is that there's so little input options. Once you noticed that tapping, double-tapping, holding, and swiping aren't doing what you want, shaking is almost the only thing left.
     
jesse_the_k
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May 4, 2009, 11:51 AM
 
I love it: the Jerry Lee Lewis approach to technical support! Still can't find an iCab Mobile manual I can read on my MacBook, though.

I'm so thrilled to see iCab on the iPod! I registered the desktop version when the OS8 version was the latest thing. While desktop OmniWeb's site-specific filters have a better interface, I was iCabbing the web while other folks were slogging through Internet Exploder.
     
Simon
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May 4, 2009, 04:31 PM
 
The manual is built right into the app.
     
JKT  (op)
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May 16, 2009, 10:41 AM
 
Version 1.5 has been released and it makes a very good app even better - favourite new features for me in this release:

1. You can set a preference for link taps to present a menu asking you what to do (open link "normally", open in same tab, open in new tab, open in background tab). Normally in this case means the way the page intended (e.g. in a new tab if the site dictates it or in the same tab if it doesn't). Fantastic.

2. Password protection for saved forms (so you have to input a password to be able to use the feature - once per session).

3. A progress bar for page loading and an indicator that a page is loading when full screen.

4. Triple tap to exit full screen (in addition to the original shake).

5. Open a new tab from your bookmarks.

6. The bookmark view now remembers the last folder you were viewing when you access it again.

7. You can export/import your bookmarks to/from your desktop Mac or PC (haven't tried this yet)

8. From the general settings - the ability to disable auto-rotation and always open in landscape view (rather than just in portrait view as you could before).

9. And for ctt1wbw, you can now close a tab in a two step action (show tab, tap X to close).

10. For BigMac, the toolbar now disappears off screen in landscape view when you are entering text.

All-in-all, pretty much every feature I suggested to the developer, so bravo to him!

One caveat, I haven't used it enough to know if stability is better yet or not.
     
Simon
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May 16, 2009, 11:45 AM
 
Great. None of my suggestions made it. Judging by the dev's response I wasn't actually expecting much anyway. Oh well, fsck it.
     
ctt1wbw
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May 17, 2009, 09:15 AM
 
Originally Posted by JKT View Post
Version 1.5 has been released and it makes a very good app even better - favourite new features for me in this release:


9. And for ctt1wbw, you can now close a tab in a two step action (show tab, tap X to close).



t.
Sweet! I just downloaded the update. It is rather nice.
     
JKT  (op)
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Jul 21, 2009, 04:06 PM
 
Fwiw, version 1.6 was recently released and you can now download files using iCab mobile and pull them off the phone to your desktop via your browser. URL autocompletion is also greatly improved (can pull in sites from the page titles as well as the URL) and there is now the ability to bookmark pages for offline viewing.

Auto-rotation can also be disabled from within the app now, rather than just in the System preferences.

Awesome stuff.
     
frediecougar
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Aug 20, 2009, 08:37 PM
 
try this>> in icab browser iphone
login to your linksys router 192.168.1...... there will be a popup to put the user name and password. after the page load close that page and close the app or even restart the device.
now open icab browser and log back in to linksys router 192.... now this is the problem the popup will not come out and you dont have to put the password anymore. it seems that the icab browser saves the passwords without permission and you cannot delete it. big big problem.
btw im using 1.7 version
     
Big Mac
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Aug 20, 2009, 08:47 PM
 
Many router pages do that, at least I recall that occurring. It would be a short term cookie. Log out of the router page if you need to.

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Jamkas
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Aug 21, 2009, 05:55 PM
 
I bought it and its completely worth it. I love the fullscreen mode.
     
   
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