Free Internet Browser for Sony Smart TV?

[Doc Safari]

So, some of you experienced techies may already know that certain Samsung TV's have a problem with spontaneously turning off and back on in the middle of something. The fix (short version) is to shut off all the timers, updates, schedules, eco solutions, etc., and reboot. If that doesn't work it's time to call a technician who will probably replace the screen and board (or so my internet Fu found out). I finally had a gut full of my Samsung TV after it turned off and back on about ten times in less than an hour. Since it's a four-year-old TV I decided a technician visit's charges would probably be best spent on a new smart TV, so off to Best Buy I went--for ANYTHING but a Samsung.

I got the latest Sony smart TV, and I find it doesn't come with an internet browser. No problem. Plenty of choices for free on Google Play. Sony uses an Android-based smart TV operating system so the only ones that popped up that were halfway useful were Opera (pretty good), and Puffin (useable).

Still, realizing that this technology of internet browsers for Smart TV's may be in its infancy, I'd like to find something as good as Google Chrome or even Internet Explorer for smart TV's (particularly Sony smart TV's with an Android basis).

Any suggestions?

[tb-av]

Does Firefox not work? I know it's android, but working on a TV I haven't tried.

PaleMoon is stripped down Firefox.

Again, if the TV is Android, why can't you just use Chrome? Go back to PLAY store and just type BROWSER. then sort by 4 STAR. All the top browsers are there.

[Doc Safari]

Does Firefox not work? I know it's android, but working on a TV I haven't tried.

PaleMoon is stripped down Firefox.

Again, if the TV is Android, why can't you just use Chrome? Go back to PLAY store and just type BROWSER. then sort by 4 STAR. All the top browsers are there.


I have tried all these suggestions. It has Google. If you search by voice command it goes to Google, but I want to have an internet browser "home page" that I can open and search from. I like to bookmark favorite sites and not have to get them by voice command every time. For some reason Sony TV's only support Opera through Google Play (plus some junk web browsers). Puffin is an alternate web browser I downloaded to use for sites that Opera doesn't handle well on the TV (like one of the weather radar sites for example).

[tb-av]

Have you seen this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H4of6PD_aM

He grabs Chrome, ES File explorer, and Sideload Launcher which I am not familiar with. Not being able to understand him, it seems that will make things work. Need someone to translate that last part though.

The problem with a lot of Android 'things' is that they run a tweaked version of the current android version. With a TV having what I expect is very limited memory, it's probably a bit tricky getting a different browser in as they cache a lot of info.

I don't have a smart tv, but from the looks of things it must take some sort of hack and I expect that's what that Sideload prog does.

ETA: also the Opera browser I saw on a Sony had a Bookmarks menu that dropped down from the top as an otherwise hidden toolbar. Like a mouse up to top edge caused the menu bar to drop down.. I couldn't tell for sure how he was doing it.