Minor update for Vivaldi Android Browser 3.5
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Today’s minor update resolves some regressions and includes a Chromium bump.
Click here to see the full blog post
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interesting
BTW link > site in (?) Spanish
also first
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@Stardust , great, and from another site as Gargle Play. F-Droid?
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@Catweazle said in Minor update for Vivaldi Android Browser 3.5:
F-Droid?
no, I checked :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes:
F-Droid is cool, but the problem I think is the huge delay of when the app will be available in the F-Droid store. Not sure if I want to wait let's say 3 days for the new Vivaldi snapshot after release.
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@stardust: Actually if they make their own Fdroid repo, we can have the app faster than from Google Play
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When the home button will be repaired
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@2ndemosthenes said in Minor update for Vivaldi Android Browser 3.5:
Actually if they make their own Fdroid repo, we can have the app faster than from Google Play
but then you have to add this repo manually in the F-Droid app settings, right?
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@Stardust Yes...
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@2ndemosthenes said in Minor update for Vivaldi Android Browser 3.5:
@Stardust Yes...
Not very convenient but probably will do that (only for Vivaldi )
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Are you planning to make Vivaldi compatible with Android TV? And available in Android TV store?
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@catweazle: F-Droid requires that it's applications be completely open-source and have no proprietary code or dependencies.
Vivaldi's desktop browser is mostly open source, but the custom parts of its UI and some other things are proprietary, so it would not qualify for F-Droid if it were a mobile app.
Is Vivaldi's existing mobile app 100% open-source? Honest question, I don't know (I am definitely curious, though). If the answer is "yes" they could apply to get in, but if the answer is "no", they can't, unless Vivaldi for Android becomes 100% open-source later if it isn't already.
Let me put it this way- Firefox isn't on F-Droid because F-Droid considers it too proprietary. There is a fork called F-Droid Fennec that basically just clones it (With a different name and logo) and strips out the parts objectionable to F-Droid, and Firefox itself has been able to get around the issue by making itself available in a third-party downloader app (The downloader is open-source). However, that's the type of high standards F-Droid has on that issue- some software the proclaims itself to be open-source isn't considered open-source enough for F-Droid.
The submission process is also tough. A browser I use on mobile, Iceraven, which is a fork of Firefox, has thus far not been able to get in even though it is entirely open-source and strips out the proprietary telemetry Firefox includes (Although that is just a feature Iceraven has- it's main purpose is to offer as large a number of user options, user customizations, user expandability (Including extensions), and information about the pages the browser is visiting and how they and the browser are interacting, and ideally make all those things as accessible as possible. They just strip out the proprietary telemetry because, hey, why not?).
Actually, it has occurred to me that Iceraven's mission on Android is very close to Vivaldi's mission on desktop. Being a Chromium fork on Android makes it harder for Vivaldi on that platform. If the folks at Vivaldi were willing to, it might be an interesting idea to join forces with Iceraven, which needs developers. They could in theory rebrand Iceraven as Vivaldi for Android and that would give them extension access, options for users to add protocol (http://, https://) and "www" to the URL bar, and a whole bunch of other things. The new developers could potentially add things to it like a user option to handle tabs the way Vivaldi for Android does (Along with other Vivaldi distinctives), alongside the existing tab options in Iceraven (Squares on a separate page or skinny rectangles on an overlay, among other current choices).
If that ever happened, it would mean that Vivaldi would be a Chromium/Blink fork on desktop and a Firefox/Gecko fork on Android, which is a combination I've never seen before, but which doesn't seem theoretically impossible. They might have to be creative with figuring out exactly how to sync between the two, but I don't think it'd be impossible, just something new. What you'd probably try is figure out file formats both upstreams allow for and send them back and forth encrypted using Vivaldi's own servers. That is something that it seems like couldn't least be made possible for bookmarks and history, anyway.
Anyhow, Iceraven has been unsuccessfully trying to get into F-Droid since at least August (To be fair, they currently only have one developer, who is part-time because he has a day job and a life, and is a bit overwhelmed- it's possible that Iceraven would be in by now if Iceraven were fully staffed. They had three part-time developers at one point, but the other two left the project.).
If Vivaldi for Android is entirely open-source to F-Droid's standards, one full time Vivaldi staff member who understands how F-Droid works could probably get them in, but that might have to be his/her primary job for a week or two. I mentioned Iceraven and told that story just to point out that even if an app meets the criteria, it's not as easy as just saying "Please include our app". There is definitely a process.
F-Droid is not just an alternative to Google, it also places a tremendous emphasis on not allowing anything that could even vaguely be considered proprietary into it. In fact, I am not sure if they initially formed to provide something other than Google to people who wanted an alternative, or if they specifically formed because they were upset that the play store offers proprietary software. Either way, though, the open-source thing seems like their main mission now (I'm not critizing that or praising it. I'm just saying it is what it is.
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@CharmCityCrab , F-Droid also has app which are not entirely OpenSource, but notify in the description when this is the case.
For exaple the Game Gloomy Dungeons isn't fully OpenSource, like Vivaldi, but in F-Droid, but with the advice that the app "has features that you may not like", in this example, some codes which are not free, same as in Vivaldi. -
@mariap Thanks so much. I downloaded the update and I must say the new view for stacked tabs is wonderful. It's so much easier to see all of the grouped tabs and to be able to quickly switch to a different tab or close any of the tabs through the new drop down list. Thanks again! Christine
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Home button please
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