iPhone Browser Cache
I love my iPhone. It is increasingly important to me for getting things done. I use it for everything: appointments, reminders, fact-checking, contacts, text, entertainment and, of course, as a telephone. It's boosted my productivity immensely, yet made my life easier and better in so many ways. I'm not sure how many products I can say that about.
Nevertheless, I have one persistent gripe when it comes to the iPhone, one thing that just pisses me off and confounds me every time I encounter it: Mobile Safari's cache is simply too small, to the point where it almost seems pointless to have cache at all. Case in point: I open a web page. It gets cached. I open a new window, and a new page in that new window. It too gets cached. Unfortunately, this new cache invariably wipes out the previously cached page, so that when I navigate back to the other window, the first page has to reload. And, just for the record, these are mostly text-based blogs, sometimes with a picture or two. It doesn't always go down this way, but more often than not it does. This defeats the usefulness of both cache and the multi-page interface available in the browser. I'm not sure what the point is.
I'm sure the browser cache equation rides a fine line between usefulness and unnecessary disc overuse. But for anyone who uses the Edge network on any kind of regular basis, I think they've got that balance wrong. And I can't help wondering why they don't give us a setting — just like in any other desktop browser — for cache size, within a sensible range, of course. Or, if not that, simply make the default a bit larger. The current one is pointlessly small.
UPDATE:
Fixed!
Nevertheless, I have one persistent gripe when it comes to the iPhone, one thing that just pisses me off and confounds me every time I encounter it: Mobile Safari's cache is simply too small, to the point where it almost seems pointless to have cache at all. Case in point: I open a web page. It gets cached. I open a new window, and a new page in that new window. It too gets cached. Unfortunately, this new cache invariably wipes out the previously cached page, so that when I navigate back to the other window, the first page has to reload. And, just for the record, these are mostly text-based blogs, sometimes with a picture or two. It doesn't always go down this way, but more often than not it does. This defeats the usefulness of both cache and the multi-page interface available in the browser. I'm not sure what the point is.
I'm sure the browser cache equation rides a fine line between usefulness and unnecessary disc overuse. But for anyone who uses the Edge network on any kind of regular basis, I think they've got that balance wrong. And I can't help wondering why they don't give us a setting — just like in any other desktop browser — for cache size, within a sensible range, of course. Or, if not that, simply make the default a bit larger. The current one is pointlessly small.
UPDATE:
Fixed!
Labels: Applications, Hardware, Internet, iPhone
This entry was posted
on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 1:04 PM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
10:52 AMI totally agree with you on this. This one area where Opera mini thrumps safari. You would imagine that safari would be able to hold up to 2 pages on one tab and still maintain at least one other tab. Its then up to the user to determine which pages are important.
Apple definitely missed this one, probably overlooking the usefullness of this device over EDGE.
I just wonder why too many people aren't complaining about this since apple seems responsive in judging from recent firmware updates
11:03 AM
Actually, this is fixed in the latest firmware revision (1.1.4). I posted an addendum at the foot of this article, though it's small, I realize. I'm making the font larger so people are more likely to see it. I also posted a new article about the fix.
-systemsboy
1:13 PM
so how many pages can be cached now?
Would love to buy one but this is a sticking point for me.
Thanks
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