[android tablet] Using Espresso on Android Tablets

[SimpleSi]

I've started this thread to share what I've learnt so far in trying to do this

 

There are issues with getting Android broswers to play back Espresso content held on local lan webserver.

 

1. Browser must support Adobe Flash - Default and Opera do but not Firefox

 

2. Browser must support accessing local Lan webserver - Default doesnt if proxy server set, Opera can.

 

So currently, Opera can be used for both internet and intranet web sources and it works fine until you come to and mpeg video and you get a box thats says "saving plug-in content" and no video

 

So you can use it for activites but not to watch videos easily -you can download it but thats not child friendly

 

Alternatively, the wi-fi proxy settings can be disabled and the default browser(does it have a name?) can be used to access the Lan web server.

The default browser handles the video content a BIT better in that if you click on the empty box, it brings up a dialog to select a player, but its still not child friendly enough.

(I have Rockplayer installed to handle video playback)

 

Of course, if the proxy setting for the default browser is not enabled, then it can't go out onto the internet and your then relying on Opera which unfortunately seems to want to render most sites in mobile format

 

So at the moment, there doesn't seem to be a 100% solution to the problems but you can get to 90% success.

 

Which is 100% better than an IPad

 

 

Si

 

Hopefully someone will come along and tell us how to get the last 10%

Edited September 23, 2011 by SimpleSi

[SimpleSi]

I'd forgotton that, in my schools, the server that Espresso is loaded on is also a proxy server so setting its address as the proxy server in the wi-fi settings means the default browser can be used for everthing

 

But the advice above is still valid for others who are not so lucky.

 

Simon

[SimpleSi]

Well, I thought it was just video's that were a bit awkward to use but I gave the Tab to a teacher to try out and the first thing they tried to access didn't work - we clicked on the empty box where the video image is normally displayed but it did nothing.

 

She persuaded me to take my 'droid rose specs off and face reality - it might do flash but online educational web content can be complex that's been tested to work in IE6/7/8 but obviously not designed to work with other browser flavours

 

You can't really expect a modern browser to deal with legacy type issues (such as embedded MPEG-1 videos)

 

So verdict so far - a 'droid tablet has a much better success rate at dealing with online interactive content than an IPad (which is close to zero) but 100 * 0.1% is still a low figure

 

Si