Flash Enabled iPad / iPhone Browsing With Splashtop FTW!

There are several "workarounds" for full-featured web browsing on the iPad.  By full-featured I'm referring mostly to Adobe Flash support, especially for Flash Video.  While it's true that many sites now support direct mobile video (via HTML5) there are still many that don't and there are some that charge specifically for the iPad and make their videos unavailable without paying (Hulu, NBC.)

Some of the past methods have been Cloud Browse, which essentially is an app that remotes into a Linux box running Firefox.  It is subscription based, and not worth the money especially because video performance leaves much to be desired.  Skyfire for iPad takes a different approach and instead transcodes Flash video so that it can play on the iPad.  The problem with Skyfire among others for example is lack of compatibility with many sites.

Enter Splashtop.

This $1.99 app from the App Store allows you to remote into your desktop, but unlike other RDP, VNC, etc. apps, this one flawlessly streams even the audio and video content from your desktop seemingly effortlessly.  So, wherever I am, I VPN into my office network and load up Splashtop.  The resolution on my desktop is automatically changed to 1024x768 (by choice, this is a Splashtop option) and I am able to browse using Google Chrome, my preferred browser.  Even better, using the Splashtop Beta features (made available by naming your computer "Splashtop Beta [Name]") makes available a menu that appears when touching the screen with 3 fingers.  That menu allows you to switch between "Sharp" video mode and "Smooth" video mode.  I've found using Smooth mode allows Hulu to play full-screen with no noticeable lag.

In my opinion, right now Splashtop offers *the best* browsing experience on the iPad, at almost no cost.

Check out my video review for the full experience, and go and buy Splashtop for your iPad.