I keep seeing this come up in multiple threads so I felt it was time to address this.
Let me get right to the point: If you are having trouble downloading from hosting services such as filesonic, fileserve, mediafire etc. to your phone it's due to one simple reason.

You are using the wrong browser

You need to use Opera Mobile 10. It's freeware, no ads and available on the market:

http://www.appbrain.com/app/opera-mobil ... ra.browser

You can even get it here!

viewtopic.php?f=428&t=150508

Opera Mobile will sync with Opera on your desktop blah blah blah I don't use Opera for PC. Truthfully, there are better browsers for Android. Opera has no flash support and some websites don't display properly but when it comes to downloading Opera Mobile (not Mini) rules them all!

Let's pay a visit to one of my favorite websites in Opera Mobile.



It's tiny! Relax, you can use pinch-to-zoom. Let me just pick a thread at random that has annoying hosting sites.


Ooonoooes! I won't be able to download this file!! Or will I? Let's try the filesonic link.



Ok, I enter the captcha but it probably won't work right?

I got the 'Start download now' link and click on it..You can pick where to save it to or just leave the default location


After it's done I can click 'Open' or 'Dismiss' if I want to view the files later.



NOTE: With filesonic you may have to enter the captcha a few times to get the download link but it will eventually download.

I have tested fileserve and mediafire, both work fine.


Megaupload, hotfile and rapidshare also work.

Once you install Opera Mobile go into 'settings' and disable Opera Turbo and Mobile View. Then go into privacy and make sure cookies are enabled.



That's it! Follow these instructions and you will be happy and dancing!


You will not see her dance unless you use Opera Mobile - Stock/Dolphin/Miren don't display animated gifs.

I hope this is helpful. Maybe this could be stickied since it is a recurring problem with those new to Android.

[ubigred]

Thank you great post!!....


PS: animated GIF does work in stock browser...I have the boner to prove it!

[Klyentel]

Skyfire browser plays animated gifs, flash, java, and everything else. Not sure how it works out with these download hosts though, I don't download much through my phone unless its torrents, everything else I just download from laptop.

Skyfire browser plays animated gifs, flash, java, and everything else. Not sure how it works out with these download hosts though, I don't download much through my phone unless its torrents, everything else I just download from laptop.

Yes but this thread is about downloading from the many hosting services used here to your android device. One of the most frequent complaints I come across is the inability to download form certain hosting services to your phone, a problem that I resolved when I started using Opera Mobile. It's not by any means the best browser for Android, Miren and Dolphin are my main browsers. Opera Mobile is the best for downloading. That's why it exists on my SGS.

Shyfire is NOT a browser but a web client. Same with Opera Mini and UCWEB. Allow me to explain.

When you surf with a regular browser they connect directly to the website just like your PC.

Your Device ------------------------------------------------>Your Website

When you use Skyfire, Opera Mini, UCWEB or Opera Mobile with Opera Turbo option enabled you first connect to a proxy server THEN to your website.

Your Device -------------->Skyfire Servers------------------>Your Website

Sites will appear to load faster because all the processing (javascripts etc.) is done on proxy servers then sent to your phone. Basically those aren't browsers just dumb clients. If their proxy servers are experiencing high utilization your browsing will be slow or you may not even be able to connect at all. This has happened to me at certain times using those proxy browsers (which is why I don't like proxy browsers and don't use Skyfire anymore).

Proxy servers are good if you have a low end device with a slow CPU (my old Windows Mobile 6 400MHz phone). Most sites loaded like I was on dial-up with IE but with Skyfire & Opera Mini they appeared fast because it didn't use my phone's CPU. I was also able to watch youtube and other flash-based sites.

If your phone has a 1 GHz CPU and has Android 2.2 (like mine) you don't need Skyfire. I just realized Miren does animated GIFS, flash, Java, so it works just like a PC browser. I tried Skyfire on my SGS but Miren + Android 2.2 is better.

Proxy browsers are good for low end phones but offer no advantage on modern devices.

Thank you great post!!....


PS: animated GIF does work in stock browser...I have the boner to prove it!

I haven't used stock browser since Android 2.1 so I don't honestly remember. But c'mon, there's so many better browsers, many of them free why use stock?

You may have very well answered a question I been dying to figure out.
Ill try this out and much love if this works I dread downloading .bin. htm. And .zip files that are useless.

CAUTION:::: DON'T UPGRADE TO OPERA v11. There is a major bug that freezes Opera when using Filesonic, and other Sharing sites. Also I have experienced that the new v11 will not allow download of .apk Files. > DROIDX

Thanks for the heads up djnikkofb. I installled Opera 11 but haven't tried downloading yet. It is speedier than Opera 10 but adobe flash still doesn't work properly and I hate the way new tabs open in background with no way to change this.

This is why I backup all apk's of any app I use regularly. Sometimes a new version of your favorite app is really a downgrade because of bugs, features removed, slower, more bloat, FC, etc.

I use Dolphin HD 2.3.0 for that reason and looks like I'm going back to Opera 10!

EDIT: Confirmed, Opera 11 crashes on filesonic..Dammit...Opera doesn't let you backup/restore your user data like Dolphin does, I have to manually add all my bookmarks in Opera 10.

[RiseOfTheDropBears]

What a coincidence... Opera 11 no longer supports filesharing sites.

Questions, world: Does Skyfire really have its own rendering servers? Besides video-finding, it seems like it just encapsulates the stock browser with a bunch of extra features.

Wish Opera Mini had the Opera Mobile functionality. Or Opera Mobile have Opera Mini's size. It would make keeping it easier to justify... oh well. 4shared is possibly the best mobile filesharing site and I hope to only download/upload from others like it...

You are using the wrong browser

So far I have had this problem with filesonic *only*, never with e.g. hotfile or others.
So it's not "the wrong browser" as you describe, but rather a very crappy site: filesonic.

Thanks for the info but it still makes me feel like... well, a facepalm.lol

what about for tegra 2 devices like the Atrix? Opera Mobile 10 crashes due to some incompatibility... any suggestions? Thanks!

Edit: Figured it out. Firefox Beta works!

Xscope works great with Filefat and MegaUpload. =)

This should be stickied!

Just downloaded opera mobile 11 and for me it's working fine! thanks for the tip!

link to Opera mobile 10 i found incase people were looking for it.

http://www.4shared.com/get/nhGVzada/Ope ... 31_fo.html