Spring is the time for new beginnings and we have been busy at work redesigning a fresh new look for the spring season. For a more polished and better browsing experience we have revamped the Dolphin Sonar and Gesture access, Menu and Add-on bar. We are proud to say v8.0 not only freshens up the Dolphin look, but also make Dolphin easier to use.
Come and get it! Dolphin Browser v8.0 is now available for on the Google Play Store.
Refresh yourself with some of these highlights:
Dolphin button: Quick access to Dolphin Sonar and Gesture right from the home screen.
Now click the Dolphin button (at lower left of your screen) to access the most exclusive Dolphin features in one click – Dolphin Sonar and Gesture. Easily switch to the feature you use the most and get more help on how to perfect your skills by clicking the top right gear button.
Menu Bar: Everything you need is right at the bottom of the home screen.
Click on the Menu button on your phone and the new Menu bar pops up. If you want it up all the time, pin it at the bottom in Settings > Dolphin settings > Show Menu
bar. Here it is clear we got into the spirit of spring cleaning with a reorganized Menu bar (from left to right):
- Bookmark Sidebar
- Forward or back
- Gesture and Dolphin Sonar
- More Settings
- Add-ons Bar
We also moved the “Refresh” button to the URL bar put “Exit” under “More” for a cleaner look.
Add-on Bar: Never mistake an Add-on again with clearer Add-on names.
Now with names and icons on your Add-on bar, you can find the one you need quicker and easier. We want you to train your Dolphin to the way you want to browse; so we have included a couple of Add-on suggestions. Don’t worry they are not pre-installed, but to try out some of the most popular Add-ons used by millions of users, all you have to do is download.
Go to Top button: Quickest way to the top!
Tired of scrolling all the way up, now you don’t even even need a Gesture! Just use small arrow button on bottom left of your page.
And as always, performance improvement is always our main priority. So besides the new look, Dolphin Browser v8.0 has even less bugs for smoother browsing.
Seems like a lot of changes, right? We want to know what you think, so let us know by sending your feedback to support@dolphin-browser.com or leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter page.
Thanks!
Team Dolphin
Thank you a lot for sharing this with all people you actually know what you are talking about! Bookmarked. Kindly also visit my web site =). We will have a link trade arrangement among us
What happened to the “scroll to top” button that use to appear? mine no longer shows up while I try to scroll. I’m using the newest version of dolphin with jetpack.
After the new update, it’s so ridiculously slow! Is there any way to make it faster again? It kinda sucks now!
Ash,
Are you using the latest Dolphin v8.8.1?
If not, please update and see whether it fixed your problem.
I love, love, love the new version! My only criticism is that it is confusing to disable the Sonar button. Under settings, I had to disable Gestures, which is not intuitive. Thank you for the wonderful browser, best by far!
Thanks for your support, Eric.
You can click the gear-shaped button after opening Dolphin Sonar to entering settings.
And then disable “Shake to activate” option.
If you want the tabs to appear you only have to hit the menu button, or the little arrow in the corner of the screen that is already included with the browser. It would be excellent if the tabs weren’t constantly appearing every single time you scroll up. Thank you for passing this message on!
The bug is still present that forces the address bar to appear as soon as you scroll up. Either that, or the bug that keeps you from turning this “feature” off is still present.
Dolphin 8.2.2 running on Android 2.3.4 on a Thunderbolt
Thanks for your comment again, Phil.
It is not a bug. We just changed it to make it more easier for you to access your tabs and address bar.
If you don’t like it, I’ll pass it along to our relevant team member.
Hi there,
Are you guys working on some kind of parental control ability so that the internet can be filtered from inappropriate web content? Please have something like this for the next release.
Thanks!
Nice suggestion, Josh.
We are not working on this right now.
But I’ll pass it along.
Love dolphin HD but when i bought a zte score with 2.3 OS I was unable to download it . I can only download the mini? What happened?
Hi Billy.
Is there any error message when you try to download Dolphin on your device?
Just downloaded and installed the most recent update for the browser and I’m still not able to set Dolphin as my default browser. That function is still not working, and I would think it would be a somewhat valued function. I also haven’t heard anything on this site or anywhere regarding advice for the problemm or whether or not it is an issue that can be fixed or whether it is being worked on or not…
Hi Andy.
Sorry to hear that.
You can follow the instruction in settings and try again.
To find the instruction, please click Menu> More> Settings> Set as Default Browser.
I’m running Android version 2.3 or gingerbread and as for ROM, I haven’t.made any changes and I’m not entirely sure how to find out the detail info of what ROM I’m using, so I would guess that means I’m using stock ROM. Again, I have the HTC Thunderbolt.
And yes, I had restarted Dolphin when attempting to check if it was set as default.
I still like the browser except for one problem which seems to have come up in this version. I cannot set Dolphin as default browser. It won’t stay as the default browser. Even after going into my manage applications settings area for my HTC Thunderbolt and disabling defaults for both Dolphin ande the stock browser (the only other browser on my phone) as well as clearing the cache, cookies, etc. (all data and information for both the stock browser and Dolphin) and trying to set Dolphin as default after doing all that, it still won’t stay ad the default. I tested this by texting myself a URL for Google and tapping the hyperlink in my message. It opened with the stock browser even after I had done all of that and tried to set Dolphin as the default.
Hi Andy.
Can you tell us your Android system version and the detail info of the rom you use?
So that we can run a test and see whether we can fix it?
I have android 2.3.4, and a thunderbolt. Unfortunately, dolphin won’t let me take a screen shot if I have the “find on page” tool open, so I can’t post an image. I did realize that this website is the only website I have the issue on, which is good, but a bit odd.
The other concern is that copy image URL doesn’t work.
And I realized another thing: when you scroll up, it is incredibly annoying that tabs automatically appear. It’s a shame that you have to turn on full screen and then press the menu button to work around this. Any chance of us getting the option to choose to automatically show the tabs or not automatically show the tabs?
Hi Phill.
I will pass your report and feature request for tabs along.
And as for the copy image url problem, we just removed this feature in the v8.0.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
can’t keep lock on dolphin as default browser either thru dolphin settings or check box on choice of browser popup. Always defaults to factory browser. HTC EVO Design 4G Sprint.
Did you restart your browser after setting it to be your default browser?
It only takes effect after relaunching.
I’m using dolphin browser HD v. 8.0.0 on a thunderbolt.
Two features are not working:
If I long-press on the address bar, I get the find on page option. When it opens up, it searches for incorrect letters. For example, if I type the letter “a”, it highlights all of the letter D’s on the page. I ask for it to find e; it highlights the parentheses.
Copy image URL does not work. If I long press an image, it gives me the option to save image, view image, and set as
wallpaper. No copy image URL.
Thanks.
Thanks for your comment, Phil.
Can you tell us your device model and Android version?
For the first find on page problem, it would be great that if you could send us a screenshot.
Not liking it either. I want the home button next to the url bar back. Is there a way to revert back? Or else will find a different browser.
Thanks for your comment.
You can choose “Show home button” under Dolphin Settings.
I’ve been using Dolphin Mini for months, because I thought my LG Optimus One wouldn’t handle the HD version. Turns out it does! And I got to move into HD with this version.
Pros: add-ons! tabs and address bar hide so you get more screen to read.
So-so: Gestures are a great concept, but I need to go into menu, dolphin and only then I can draw the gesture… not good. The dolphin button on the corner isn’t good either, since it hides a part of the web-page… maybe you could implement something that uses multi-touch, like keep one finger on the bottom left corner and another performs the gesture; the back to top button, I’d like to see it there as long as the page is not at the top, not just when I reach the bottom. I’d prefer to have the swipe from right menu have some useful tools, instead of add-ons (maybe it’s because I don’t use too many). To me, the add-ons menu could be under “more” and exit, gesture/dolphin, private browsing would go on the area.
cons: There’s this nice webpage from where I sometimes download videos by long tap – save as. The “save as” option is absent on HD, but present on dolphin mini. I tried on some other page, and the “save as” option appears! It looks like you’re trying to be clever in someway and messing things up. All links should have the “save as” option.
All in all, it works great and fluidly on my ARMv6@600MHz 480×320 phone!
Another detail which I found strange. I searched for the string “save” on this page, before I put in my previous comment, and I got zero hits. Is the search function working at all?
Hi.
Do you mean that you don’t know where the “Find on page” is?
If yes, long pressing the address bar, you’ll find it in the pop-up context menu.
I did a long press on an empty part of the page and then “find on page”. Tried it again, on this page, finding “dolphin”…. 0 matches.
Tried it by long pressing the address bar, then “find on page” and got the same thing.
Thanks for your comment.
I’ll pass it along to our relevant team member.
As for the “Save as” option, you can try “Save link” in Dolphin HD as well.
For example (
), when I’m on http://beeg.com/4306840
on dolphin mini, I long click the first image and I get the option to save the video that’s linked to it. On dolphin HD, all I get is: open in new tab, open in background, share link, copy link url, save image, view image, and set as wallpaper.
There is no “save link”.
If I tap the link, it tries to open some media player to open the video file.
But on some other webpages (like http://radiocomercial.clix.pt/podcast/index.aspx?id=17), I do get the save link option…. heck, just by tapping the link, I get the option to save the mp3 file.
I just updated to V8.1 and the save link option is there! And the “find on page” is also working fine, now!
I also like the new menus.
But the quick access under the bookmarks when you swipe from left is gone.
Glad to know that you found the option.
And yes, we removed Quick Access in the Bookmarks Sidebar.
Is there any option used to be in Quick Access that you can’t find in the new design?
How do u access v8.1? I really need the Save Link As feature back big time!
Hi John.
I’ll direct your request to our relevant team member and see whether we can bring it back.
Thanks!
When you open a new tab, on the bottom, dolphin asks if you want to set it as the default browser and some other things. One of them, was if I wanted to update to the 8.1 version. Click yes!
I can find everything that was on the quick access menu, but I have to click the “menu” physical key. I just preferred accessing it without having to press the menu key. Isn’t google encouraging to remove the menu key from new devices?
Thanks for your comment.
I will pass it along.
We’ll keep improving Dolphin and making it better.
If I long-press on an mp4 link , the “Save Link As” no longer appears. Before, this was possible. Now, it isn’t. Though the “Save Link As” appears if I long-press on document files such as *.doc, *.pdf, etc.
Thanks I didn’t know i could hold on the address bar and bring up the option to find on page or select text. How about in the menu adding a help section with instructions how use dolphin split into sections for each version?
Unless there already is one that I missed?
Thanks
Hi Josh.
I will direct your request to our relevant team member.
Thanks!
Menu+F is gone? I used that constantly, sorry but I’m switching to firefox until its back.
Do you mean that you can’t find it or you can’t use it at all?
And can you tell us your device model and Android version?
I like that the url appears when you go up fast. It makes thing a little easier. But i miss the black background for the gesture, because i like to see in what page i’m making it
Thanks for your comment, Jose.
I’ll direct it to our relevant team member.
I don’t want sonar. I like gestures. But when I press the gestures button now, I’m prompted to download sonar, and gestures don’t work at all. This was the reason I preferred dolphin to all other browsers, and the reason I’m looking for another browser. How do I get gestures back without being harassed to install sonar?
Thanks for your comment.
Dolphin Sonar can also do all actions that Gesture can do.
You can change to Gesture by just clicking on the hand button.
I miss being able to search on page. Also being able to select text to cut and copy.
Hey Josh.
Do you mean “Find on page”?
Holding on the address bar, you’ll find it in the pop-up context menu.
Would like exit button back on menu, choice where gesture/sonar button goes, top bar to not appear when I scroll up(seems to lag when when happens on evo.) Option to go straight to gestures would be nice, since I don’t use sonar and never plan to. Also settings menu seems to have been dumbed down, a lot of options seem to be missing. Much preferred previous version and am thinking of down downgrading.
Thanks for your comment.
I will pass it along.
And we’ll keep improving Dolphin and making it better.
I can no longer bookmark links when i longpress them. You have to actually open up the page first then add bookmark. This feature has been in web browsers since at least Windows 95 and always in dolphin hd until now. It makes saving multiple links from a single webpage take forever now. Also when longpressing an empty part of a page wont let you add bookmark either. I used both of these features hundreds of times a day and now its a really huge hassle.
Thanks for your comment, John.
I’ll direct it our relevant team member.
What happened to “Mobile View” option? It disappeared from the menu.. Is it hidden somewhere? That was one very useful tool for me in the old version.
Hi Patrick.
Do you mean GWT view?
You can download Compact Toggle add-on to have it.
I love the new version. However, what happened to “save link as”? Before, if i long pressed on a podcast, there’s the option to save the video, but now it’s gone! I have to switch to my native browser to download files. Please return it back!
Hi Mike.
Can you send us a video link to take a test?
Did you long press address bar or a link on a website page?
Yes, I long-pressed on an mp4 link and the “Save Link As” no longer appeared. Before, this was possible. Now, it isn’t. Though the “Save Link As” appears if I press on document files such as *.doc, *.pdf, etc.
Plz plz plz plz plz plz plz !!! RETURN the EXIT button back to the main menu bar!!!! It’s the main thing I don’t like about the 8.0. I’m sure many agree with me. Thx for all your hard work.
Hi Mark.
Exit button is under More.
But you can also exit by long pressing your hardware back button.
I like the new version a lot. The design is much better than before.
Since the home button has now been replaced with the new tab button, where did it go?
Hi Vishan.
Clicking Menu> More> Dolphin Settings> Show home button, it will be on the left side of address bar again.
… actually, forget that last post – his is not such a good idea as you are likely to receive many false positive voice inputs.
Thanks for your suggestions, Paul.
We will try to figure out a better way to merge Dolphin Sonar and Gesture better.
… Actually I have a better suggestion:
If you are going to merge voice and gestures then do it properly! Make the voice input screen also accept touch gestures instead of placing the two input methods on different tabs!
I agree with the previous posters point about UI redundancy.
I always turned off swiping at the edge to access anything as this reducing the functionality of many websites that use swiping (e.g. Google Images).
I think the voice search is most convieniently accessed by shaking. Gestures are better with a button on-screen. It makes no sense to merge them IMO.
Not wanting to come here and just moan, I will firstly add that I like the way the tab bar shows up when browsing a long page and I sweep up – as well as the ‘top of page’ button in the bottom right corner.
However, I would prefer the bottom left button was changed to allow user choice in the function it performs. Personally, I would set it to gesture, as I love this feature. Others may prefer Sonar, and some to hide it completely.
Unless I’m missing something, it currently seems to be Sonar or off?
Thanks for your product and your time
Thanks for your comment, Simon.
I’ll pass it along.
My feedback:
- scroll to top button is good, i like it.
- top tab bar auto appearing when scrolling up reduces screen space on landscape mode. i prefer to activate the bar with menu button manually.
- the MENU+F keyboard shortcut for “find in page” is gone. actually all keyboard shortcuts are gone.
- copy image url is gone too – this is really useful for sharing links.
Thanks for your feedback.
Copy image url is not gone. Holding on an image, you will find “Copy link URL” in the context menu.
For your other requests, I’ll direct them to our relevant team member.
I have full screen on but when I press options button I can still see the status bar which isn’t the case in mini. Please fix this.
Hi.
Did you enable “Keep status bar” in Dolphin Settings?
By unchecking it, status bar won’t show in the full screen again.
Regarding my previous comment, at first I didn’t see you can still enable the dolphin button to have it always visible.
I found it! Why is it so buried? In the Gestures settings, under More Actions, there’s a command called View Tabs as Windows that gives you the thumbnail view. Its default gesture is the numeral 2, but you have to activate it to add it to your list of recognized gestures.
Other than a gesture, I can’t figure to how to access this feature. So now we’re forced to use a gesture to get to it, before it was a swipe and a button. I like the old way better.
Sorry.
Currently this feature can only be activated by Gesture.
Maybe the Add-ons Bar could have the option of showing just the icons our just the names or both?
There also ses to be a lot of redundancy in the UI. You can get to the gestures/sonar screen by hitting one of two buttons or by shaking the phone. You can get to the Add-ons Bar via a button in the menu or by swiping the edge. The same with the bookmarks.
I guess what I miss most though are the thumbnails.
What happened to the thumbnails in the side bar?
Unlike almost everybody else, I really enjoy the new experience in 8.0. Its really cool and easier than before and I been dying for a up to top page button.
I would like to address that during swyping with swype on my phone with gingerbread and trying to correct my word errors, it was kinda hard trying to click on the words or move to new ones with the curser, but other than that, great work!
Thanks for your comment, Judo.
We’ll keep improving Dolphin and making it better.
Where is the home button?
I like the old dolphin button the with the gesture/sonar option and the overlay. Not the blank page.
Sonar does not seem to recognize my commands very well.
I agree with the other posters that the latest update is a step back on usability. I’ve never used gestures and have no interest in voice control. I would like to be able to remove the gesture button as before.
Hi.
Gesture button still can be hidden. But you need to hide it in Dolphin Sonar settings: enter Dolphin Sonar> click the gear-shaped button on the top right corner> uncheck “Enable bottom left button”.
For the new interface, if you don’t like it, do you have any suggestion?
It’s much slower to use gestures now. The old gesture button was much better.
Hey Joonas.
What do you mean that it’s much slower to use gesture now?
Can you explain more?
Thanks!
Most of the design changes are nice.
But WHY did you change the nice looking overlay for gestures. Now it opens an ugly screen where I can perform my gesture. Sonar should be an addon as many have mentioned. Not sure what real improvment it brings. I am a lot faster with gestures and bookmarks/addons than trying to make my phone understand what I am saying.
Another big fail is the masssive addon section. Please give us the option at least to revert to the old icon bar. Now , I have to drag my finger all the way across to open it up and I also don’t see the website anylonger.
Icons are very easy to read and the text is just wasted space in my view.
Thanks for your comment, Konard.
Why we do these changes is to bring better user experience to you.
If you don’t like it, can you give us some suggestion?
The design flaws in version 8 are a show stopper. What you seem to have discounted is that there are millions upon millions of tablets on the market right now that don’t even have a mic (Kindle fire) or a working mic (TouchPad ICS.) So you set up this elaborate voice recognition software to take center state and not only is it useless to many users, it actually breaks gestures.
With the touchpad running CM9, when you click on sonar, dolphin immediately recognizes that there is no sound input and places “Try Again” right over over gesture button so that it can not be clicked.
If that wasn’t bad enough, I am still scratching my head is to why you took away perfectly designed, click to use gesture and stuffed it under another menu adding an extra click.
I had no choice but to roll back to 7.6 and turn off updating. If the next update does not return gesture functionality I will have to move to another browser.
p.s. Even if they mic did work, I would never use it. Do I really want to be talking to my tablet on the subway? Stop bundling the bloat. If people want sonar they can download it as an add on.
Thanks for your comment, Jason.
I’ll pass it along to our relevant team member and see whether we can make Gesture is easier to access in the next version.
I want the gesture button on the right again please. Used to have choice.
Hi, harder to switch tabs now. I used to drag right and there were my tabs. tabswitch add on isn’t so quick. Please add a quick way of navigating tabs, long press and swipe maybe?
Hi Nick.
We have a new Go to top button at bottom right.
When you are at the bottom of a page, it will let you back to the top in a second. It will let you access tab bars much more easier. And that’s also why the Gesture button cannot be moved to right.
Thanks!
Oh, and by the way, I have nothing against the up button which everyone seems to hate. I think its useful. I used to spend several second scrolling to the top of a page.
New UI seems light and trying to make the app easy to use but I think its lost what made Dolphin, Dolphin.
Improvement for me is speed. I notice how quickly pages load up. That and nothing else.
I notice the Dolphin sonar and gesture now open in a new tab, why? With even poorly designed icons to match.
The previous way it popped up on an existing page display, is definitely better looking.
Finally, your bottom bar below looks again, poorly done, like it was made for 5 year olds and perhaps done by one too. No offence.
I have to thank you guys for your hardwork and commitment to giving us a browser like Dolphin and improving it but these UI changes are for the most part, poor.
Thanks for your comment, Farriel.
If you don’t like our new interface, can you give us a couple of suggestions so that we can improve?
There is a status bar problem for a long time . Even though we disable it ,it comes up again when we press options button . Please fix this.
Also can you introduce a night mode .
Thanks for your comment.
But I don’t quite understand your question. Can you explain more?
I am not a fan of many of these latest UI changes at all. After thinking that Dolphin was unbeatable, I am now considering other browsers.
The tab bar appearing all the time is really really annoying and takes up valuable screen space.
You can no longer search for text in a page and keyboard shortcuts no longer work! (Some of us power users have hardware QWERTY you know!)
And I see no use for the new “Dolphin” button for as I don’t use either gestures or sonar as feel that they are useless gimmicks.
Thanks for your comment Paul.
If you want to disable the tab bar, just turn on Full Screen in the right side Add-on bar.
Actually, you can still search words on a webpage, just holding on the address bar and choose “Find on page” in the context menu.
For the keyboard shortcut, we are sorry about that. I’ll pass your feedback along and send it to our relevant team member.
Why do you think you have any right to drop a shortcut on my home page when I open the browser? If I wanted one, I’d place it there.
The last major update gave us an automatic jump to this blog instead of whatever page we opened, this time it’s a shortcut. Couldn’t you just let us use the browser and get out of the way? That’s what a browser is – a tool to get to actual content. The less I notice it, the better the job it’s doing.
It’s nice that I can disable Sonar now. But I want to be able to move the dolphin button to the bottom right. I could do that with the previous Dolphin by long pressing the dolphin button.
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* i mean design of more menu is nicer than contextual menu
Still can’t move cursor in text boxes – it’s a big problem especially in textareas. LG P970, CM 7.2
Right padding of context menu i was talking about.
http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/mysir/view/475254
In anyway – why not to utilize same design of More menu in new menu. It’s much nicer. And can you add Fins on this page to More menu as well. It’s quicker to access.
Thanks for your further information, Regs.
We will run a test and see whether we can fix it for you.
And for you suggestions, we’ll see whether we can incorporate them into Dolphin.
I’ve been using dolphin hd on my sgs + for a quite a long time and it has been a great browser. In the new dolphin 8.0 I don’t like the button in the bottom left corner of the screen when scrolling up the page. Also the bar wich pops up is really annoying. Mobile phones have pretty small screens so all kinds of things on the screen disturb browsing. Please make at least that bar optional. I’ll be very pleased.
Thanks and keep up the good work !
Thanks for your comment.
For the bar which pops up, can you explain more?
Or can you send us a screenshot? We don’t understand what you mean.
Keep up the good work. The new changes where needed for a long time. Much easier to navigate between pages now. Definitely makes more sense on a tablet now. Thanks.
i don’t like the go to top button and I don’t like that when you goupon the page the url and other pages show up……plzzzz make it optional…..
I had it for less than a day and got ride of it so I could get the one before I switch…i don’t like the go to top button and I don’t like that when you go up on the page the url and other pages show up.i think this version is the worst yet
I had it for less than a day and got ride of it so I could get the one before I switch…i don’t like the go to top button and I don’t like that when you go up on the page the url and other pages show up.
Thanks for your comment Gregory.
Go to button is for you to go to the top of screen faster. And it is also easier to switch or close tabs.
We are sorry that you don’t like it.
I think you’ll find that there it’s no pleasing everyone, I for one like the new features.