Four tips for enjoying the best of Adobe Flash in Android
After so much criticism against Apple for their decision of not including Adobe Flash on their iPhone, this technology came to the Android operating system, in its Froyo version. However, the opinions of several users do not seem to fall in the positive range, as you might expect.
For example, some regretted that the great promises of having Flash, which would break the barrier between the experience on a computer and the normal use of an Android smartphone, has been just false hopes. Some have criticized the speed, or lack thereof, of Android devices processing multimedia content in Adobe format.
I think that often the issue has more to do with knowing what we can expect from an Android smartphone. It is difficult for us to enjoy HD video on a phone with a 1 GHz processor, they were not made for that, at first place. The same video clip would also look bad on a PC with a slow processor and a tiny screen.
However, there are some tips on how to enjoy Flash content in a Android phone:
1- Enable Flash on demand.
One of the main complaints of users about Android when using Flash is that often ads fill the screen and block the controls, without warning. So it’s best to disable the default animations. To do this just go to the Navigator, then select More, followed by Settings and press Enable Ins. Here is best to choose the “on demand” rather than “Always On.”
2- Choose sites for mobiles and short video clips.
Take into account the RAM and processor speed of your Android phone and your connection speed (are you connected via WiFi or 3G?). The fact that we have Flash in the phone does not guarantee that the user experience will be good. The solution here is to limit yourself to short videos and, if possible, to sites optimized for smartphone devices. There are growing at a fast pace.
3- Only use Flash when you need it.
The truth is that Flash allows access to many websites that were designed with Adobe tools, which require that we have this plug-in installed to navigate them. This is something that will never be seen on an iOS device or any other smartphone without Flash. However, you don’t have to navigate pages full of Flash ads, that, well, always flash at you.
4- Use substitutes like Skyfire or Dolphin.
Some applications seem to handle Flash video with more stability than the native browser of Android. Check these three: the Dolphin HD, the Mozilla Fennec, and the Skyfire. All three are free and they seem to be quite competent at handling Flash.