Sense browser clearing out unfocused tabs

[jbrandonf]

I love the Sense browser on my Sensation. I've noticed that if I leave a few tabs/Windows open and navigate away or set my phone down and come back to the browser later (at this point the phone has cleared the browser cache) all windows except for the currently viewed one are gone!

This is a huge flaw and makes the browser unusable in my book. Is there a is or is something wrong with my phone? Can anyone else confirm the have this issue too?

 

[MattMJB0188]

This isn't an HTC Sensation issue. Actually its not an issue at all. This is Android's way of maximizing ram by closing inactive apps. I believe it does it in like 5 minutes? I've noticed this on every Android device I've used. Yeah I wish there was a way that the user could change the setting. Doesn't really bother much.

Sent from my HTC Sensation

 

[jbrandonf]

You must have misunderstood. The browser is closing actual webpages that I left opened. When I had the g2 in both the stock browser and even Dolphin HD, I would have to reload whatever tabs I had left idle but on my Sensation I'm losing all inactive tabs altogether after the cache has been cleared. As in, I have to go into the history to look up what websites I had left open.

 

[MattMJB0188]

You must have misunderstood. The browser is closing actual webpages that I left opened. When I had the g2 in both the stock browser and even Dolphin HD, I would have to reload whatever tabs I had left idle but on my Sensation I'm losing all inactive tabs altogether after the cache has been cleared. As in, I have to go into the history to look up what websites I had left open.

My apologies for misunderstanding. I do not have that issue. One thing I noticed is everyone seems to be having their own unique issues including myself. The internet app isn't closing unexpectedly is it? For me, once its inactive and I re-click on the internet my page re-loads but its the same page.

Try a soft reset (hold the power button, choose restart)
If that doesn't work, do a factory reset,
If that doesn't fix it, exchange it.

Could there be a certain app you have opened that could be causing some conflict? The HTC task manager is great however don't pay attention to the ram it displays. See what you have running while browsing the web.

Good Luck

 

[jbrandonf]

I'm actually a little confused now. I sent an email to HTC support right around the time I made this thread and the agent told me they could replicate this problem and that the browser was designed to do this.

 

[biggbrother2]

I am trying to replicate the issue myself. Maybe it's part of a memory management feature? Might be a setting....

If not, there are lots of browser alternatives fortunately. On My Nexus One I could never really use another browser because I was always low on memory. Maybe I will try a few out.

 

[jbrandonf]

I just reset my phone to see if that will fix it.

Basically, try this. Open up three tabs on the built in browser...say, Yahoo.com, google.com and espn.com.

Pinch out to window mode and tap on google.com to bring it to full screen mode. Exit the browser. Do other activities on your phone that don't involve the browser so the phone clears out memory. When you've given it enough time return to your browser and pinch back out to window mode where you would see Yahoo.com and espn.com next to your google.com window.

If they are NOT there then it would seem this is a 'feature' built in to the browser that in my opinion makes it unusable as I'm always leaving windows open.

 

[biggbrother2]

Yes, I am able to confirm that it will close any extra windows after a period of inactivity. I opened 4 windows, closed the browser, and put the phone down for 15 minutes. When checked the phone, opened the browser, only the last active window was still open (CNN). There others were all gone.

I looked through the settings and there was no option that seemed related. You could try increasing the cache size.

 

[jbrandonf]

Thank you Miguel, for checking. I just checked in T-Mobile store and the same thing happened. I feel a little more comforted now that it's not just my phone.

I really hope HTC fixes this.