Do any Browsers go directly to the URLs you give them?

by roytay

I've tried Puffin TV and two other Android TV Web Browsers. The let me enter a URL, but rather than just using the URL, they go to a google page and search on it.

This is a problem because the URL I want to use is for a machine on the local LAN in my house.

Edit:

I looked at Puffin TV more closely. It seems to be the way they combine search and URL entry. As I type, it's doing lookups on common website names to shorten your typing. If I start "ya", it gives me shortcuts to yahoo.com. Once I click those, it goes directly to yahoo.com.

If I give it a name only known to my internal DNS, or an IP address, I get google search results. Apparently they only try DNS for names matched with their search lookup. Or, the App has a hardcoded DNS.

I even tried a bit.ly link to my local machine. It works for my laptop browser -- public bit.ly link takes me to internal machine. But with Puffin, I end up with google search results for my internal URL.

Edit 2:

Firefox and Silk both work on an old Fire TV box. I am considering sideloading to my Bravia (Android TV).

EastDallasMatt

That's not an Android TV issue. That happens to me all the time at work when trying to access browser based management tools. If you type "servername" in the address bar, it will do a Google search. Try typing the full url, including " http:// " or " https:// ".

rtechr

Can you use an ip address to access your machine? I can use local ip addresses in Chrome on my Shield TV to access my local devices. Haven't tried with a name but I use the IP addresses all the time to do this.

FaberfoX

What about adding a slash at the end? Chrome on desktop also searches if I don't do that

chimbori

This seems like a Puffin issue than an Android TV issue.

hattondjh

Won't work with Puffin anyway as it's connected to its own servers. Puffin can't resolve something on your home network. Don't know about other browsers.

There has been several articles about the security of Puffin TV as everything you do on there is routed through their servers first. Built in VPN.

tune-happy

Firefox for Fire TV seems to do the job here. Enter a full url into the search / enter address box and it navigates directly to the resource, no Google search shenanigans seen. It works for both public servers and Lan servers here.