Gaming [Opinion] The Switch isn’t powerful enough for a web browser

vgmoose

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Again I want to point out that you can literally run a game and browser at the same time right now with the DNS trick and no homebrew. :P

1. be playing a game (like odyssey, zelda, etc)
2. hit home, go to internet settings, do connection test (with web-browsing DNS setup)
3. view reddit, google something, find a strategy guide, google some location of a shrine, etc
4. hit home, and resume to the game from where you left it when you pressed home

I feel like people don't know this or haven't tried it, it's very easy and works fine >_>
 

dimmidice

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I never had any problem with the eShop you described
I have. Every time i'm playing world of final fantasy and try to access Eshop it'll just try to load it for ever and ever. Hell sometimes the home menu barely loads even.


Nah but in all honesty, of course it is powerful enough for a web browser.
If that wasn't the case, old laptops from the 2000s and such wouldn't be able to run web browsers at all.
Have you tried loading a web browser on a laptop from the year 2000? Lol it wouldn't run chrome that's for sure.
 

xYuunax

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I'm sure there's multiple reasons for Nintendo not fully optimizing the browser. One main reason could be that they didn't want ppl to access it. To prevent ppl from using the web browser to find vulnerabilities... Most consoles in the past years have found holes via the web browsers.. (Webkit exploits). So due to this, they might have neglected on further optimizing it, and have it barely running for apps that require it's dependencies to run.
 
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Clousuke

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Many others have experienced this issue including someone above. My WiFi speeds are ~50 mbps download and upload. There are a wide range of possibilites of course, that my and other Switches come with a weaker WiFi adapter which was proven recently.
OMG your internet is so good, i want a baby from you! xD
Y know, if you have too many devices in the Wifi, then your switch will not get enough data to access the internet? :)

Sorry for my bad english xD
 

CrAzYLiFe

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OMG your internet is so good, i want a baby from you! xD
Y know, if you have too many devices in the Wifi, then your switch will not get enough data to access the internet? :)

Sorry for my bad english xD
Can be sad about any other device connected and using your wifi.. the switch has a notoriously bad wifi reception, I couldn't take anyone seriously if they were defending the switchs wifi :)
 
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Clousuke

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Yeah and because this, that's why he should also remove the other devices from the wifi. :)

Sorry for my bad english again xD
 

MK73DS

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Why would you want a web browser on a console? You have PCs.

Some people like me want their console (or any other device) to be able to do as many things as possible. That's for example why I want Android on the Switch, because it will open to so much more things the Switch can be used to. Having a web-browser is one of the first things a portable device can do... Even the 3DS did !
 
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Slartibartfast42

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Many of you misinterpreted what I was trying to say. The Switch can definitely handle running a browser, but not while running games too. And why would Ninty add a browser which you can only use when you're not doing anything else (flashback to DSi days)

You got that backwards. Why would I want a browser while playing a game? I could use the PC or phone for that. I want a browser to run on its own. Why? To do things like watch The Big Bang Theory, Better Call Saul, porn, etc.
 

aykay55

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OP, the Switch is powerful enough, even the Wii ran it, what're you smoking?
The Wii had a separate channel for the browser, you couldn't use it while playing any game. In fact you couldn't do anything on your Wii besides pairing a remote with any software suspended. The Wii U was too underpowered to be in competition with any console, so the could set aside enough memory to use Miiverse and the eShop and the browser. The Switch is competing with XB1 and PS4, so Nintendo couldn't set aside enough memory to keep a game running at quality similar to the other two consoles and still have a usable web browser. Keep in mind this would only be a problem while software is suspended, but if you can only have a pleasant browsing experience when not doing anything else, why add it in the first place, when your phone is right in your pocket? It would only make more obvious the Switch's lack of power to add a fully functional internet browser. Bundled with concerns for hacking, it's just not worth it. Don't get me wrong, the Switch is an amazing console for its size, but it has to make tradeoffs somewhere.
You got that backwards. Why would I want a browser while playing a game?
I wanna quickly find a walkthrough for where to go in a level in Wolf 2. I wanna find all the Power Moons in Seaside Kingdom in Mario Odyssey. The list is endless.
 

vgmoose

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The Wii had a separate channel for the browser, you couldn't use it while playing any game. In fact you couldn't do anything on your Wii besides pairing a remote with any software suspended. The Wii U was too underpowered to be in competition with any console, so the could set aside enough memory to use Miiverse and the eShop and the browser. The Switch is competing with XB1 and PS4, so Nintendo couldn't set aside enough memory to keep a game running at quality similar to the other two consoles and still have a usable web browser. Keep in mind this would only be a problem while software is suspended, but if you can only have a pleasant browsing experience when not doing anything else, why add it in the first place, when your phone is right in your pocket? It would only make more obvious the Switch's lack of power to add a fully functional internet browser. Bundled with concerns for hacking, it's just not worth it. Don't get me wrong, the Switch is an amazing console for its size, but it has to make tradeoffs somewhere.
Again I want to point out that you can literally run a game and browser at the same time right now with the DNS trick and no homebrew. :P

1. be playing a game (like odyssey, zelda, etc)
2. hit home, go to internet settings, do connection test (with web-browsing DNS setup)
3. view reddit, google something, find a strategy guide, google some location of a shrine, etc
4. hit home, and resume to the game from where you left it when you pressed home

I feel like people don't know this or haven't tried it, it's very easy and works fine >_>
Sorry I have to unsub from this thread now or else I'd just keep repeating this lol. One such DNS server is 45.55.142.122
 
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the_randomizer

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The Wii had a separate channel for the browser, you couldn't use it while playing any game. In fact you couldn't do anything on your Wii besides pairing a remote with any software suspended. The Wii U was too underpowered to be in competition with any console, so the could set aside enough memory to use Miiverse and the eShop and the browser. The Switch is competing with XB1 and PS4, so Nintendo couldn't set aside enough memory to keep a game running at quality similar to the other two consoles and still have a usable web browser. Keep in mind this would only be a problem while software is suspended, but if you can only have a pleasant browsing experience when not doing anything else, why add it in the first place, when your phone is right in your pocket? It would only make more obvious the Switch's lack of power to add a fully functional internet browser. Bundled with concerns for hacking, it's just not worth it. Don't get me wrong, the Switch is an amazing console for its size, but it has to make tradeoffs somewhere.

Or, Nintendo won't do it due to the Wii U webkit fiasco.
 
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FierceDeityLinkMask

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Dude, my switch can use the web browser perfectly. Like, this has already been proven. People on the hacked switches, and those who do the specific DNS setup can easily browse on the switch. Not to mention before we had the YouTube app we could watch YouTube videos just fine by using the hidden browser and going on the site.
 
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XorTroll

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There IS a web browser in the Switch. It's called WebApplet, and it's a library applet which can be launched, although NOT DIRECTLY.

(I actually I don't remember for sure if it was just an applet called in different ways or various applets using the same webkit base)

It's just not directly accessible, in the settings or in the Home Menu, to avoid exploits or similar stuff.
I don't see the point of creating a homebrew browser from scratch or porting another browser. We will eventually reverse-engineer or find out the way to call that applet (each applet needs specific arguments to be called correctly) and then boom, yeah, browser for everyone.

We already managed to launch the internal keyboard (https://github.com/misson20000/swkbd-demo), so I think that we are pretty close to get other applets to work properly.

I'm pretty sure that the launchable-from-homebrew browser will be a thing, and not in a very long time.

I'm also pretty sure that the Switch is powerful enough to handle web browser + any other app running at the same time.
Actually, did you know that eShop uses the browser applet to load a Nintendo's internal web page?
eShop is in fact a web page, dude.

Horizon OS uses more HTML and web technologies than any other Nintendo OS.
 
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BuriA

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does anyone heard of a cellphone or a pc? why would you wanted a browser on a gaming console? damn people. i wouldn't even use youtube on it. waste of battery life. gonna use another device for other apps.
 

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