The best way to "Desktop" browse the internet on a Samsung Galaxy S2

A long while back Scott explained a way in which he was able to browse the internet with his Samsung Galaxy S2 with a desktop display with the phones stock browser. Sadly though it seemed as if he'd been lucky as many people left comments explaining that they couldn't find the options that he had available and had shown how to use. As a result he advised people to try different browsers namely "Skyfire" and "Boat Browser", and we've come to the conclusion that using "Boat Browser" is probably the best option (we'll explain why at the end of this guide).

Of course before you read any further you will need to pop off to the market and quickly download "Boat Browser" (don't worry, it is free!) When you've downloaded  the browser you will notice that it's not, by default, showing pages in "Desktop" mode. Firstly you will need to press on the symbol in the bottom right hand of the screen (the icon with the 2 arrows). This will open up a 

a menu (like the image at the top of this guide) with an option saying "Set UA", this is the way in which you select "User Agent" and is the option you need to select.

After clicking on "Set UA" you will see a list of user agents popping up (like this list here) and you will see that "Android" is ticked, from this list you need to select "Desktop" instead. After clicking on "Desktop select "Done" from the bottom of the screen and refresh the page your on to see the "Desktop" version of the site.

After refreshing the page you should notice that the regular "Desktop" version of the website appears (as shown by this screen capture of the BBC homepage). After setting "Desktop" you should never have a mobile version of the site loading on you again as the phone tells the website you are browsing from a desktop browser.

So we do we prefer Boat Browser over Skyfire?

We think that the huge (and I do mean HUGE) amount of options available to users on Boat Browser is simply amazing though what we especially like is the easy in which it copes with a number of impressive tasks (like running youtube in the browser!). Personally I find it to run smoother than the other options (such as Dolphin, Skyfire and even the Stock browser) and the ease of use is something special.

You should also note that some of the other user agents can be used as Desktop browsers as well if you wish to try them out.

How to view pages in "Desktop mode" with the default Samsung Galaxy S2 browser

A question recently emerged on a Gamefaqs social bored asking how you make the Samsung Galaxy S2 load "desktop" pages by default instead of their "mobile" equivalent. At first a few users advised about using work arounds such as other browsers, though it appeared, after a small play around with the default browser that it was possible and simple.
Firstly you need to open the browser then press the phone's menu button and then select the "more" option from the contextual menu. This will open a long list of options as you can see on the right hand side. The option you need to select is "Settings" is near the bottom. When you select the "Settings" menu you will open a screen like the one on the left, you need to scroll to the very bottom of this to find "View mode".

In view mode you will need to select the desktop option and then, every page you load should load in the the more normal "Desktop" mode that you will be used to if you have used the website on your computer or laptop. An example of this is the BBC's website that is
on show to the left here in it's "Desktop" mode instead of the very ugly and unimpressive mobile mode.


Whilst this hasn't been completely tested by myself it did, by default, load the desktop versions of BBC, Gmail, Google and Gamefaqs as opposed to their mobile sites. If you prefer the desktop versions of websites, even on your mobile, this would seem like the best option for now, especially if you like the default browser.