No Proxy Support? Really?!?!

[SEMIJim]

As part of my research into the viability of tablets, specifically Android-based tablets, beginning to replace laptops for the less-"intensive" users at work (see http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/android-tablet-discussions/22232-tablet-head-honcho.html ), I brought my Vizio VTAB in to work today to see how it'd fare on our WPA-RADIUS authenticated WiFi network and with our HTTP/HTTPS proxy server.

After giving my tablet an address assignment in our DHCP, it connected right up w/no problem.

That was where the joy came to an abrupt and exceedingly disappointing halt.

<rant on>
No proxy support in the Android??? Not even for the browser? Really?!?! Are you flippin' kidding me?!?! Not even WPAD? What are/were they thinking?

I don't think there are enough, or strong enough, superlatives in the English language, or perhaps any language on this planet, to adequately express how utterly astonished I am at the omission of such a normally-common, fundamentally necessary feature.

And no: I am not going to root (what would have been) the boss' brand new 'droid tablet

This is a business, not a hobby.
</rant off>

So much for that.

Wow.

Jim

 

[pbrauer]

Jim - This is a well-known and high-priority item on both AOSP and with Motorola. Motorola has stated that for the Xoom they hope to have this included in the next software release (although there is no date assigned yet). If you look at this in the AOSP build site here: Issue 1273 - android - IP Proxy Settings for Wifi Network - Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project - Google Project Hosting you can see this is a current hot button.

As far as workarounds, I agree that "rooting" the boss' device for such a basic need is stupid, however there is an app in the market that allows you to globally set a proxy: https://market.android.com/details?id=org.credil.proxysettings. The UI for the tool does need work, but the tool itself is solid and you should be able to get it setup without rooting the device.

Hope this helps.

 

[SEMIJim]

Peter,

Thanks for the calm, factual reply to my rant. (I really tried to keep it to a low boil.)

Jim - This is a well-known and high-priority item on both AOSP ...

Unfortunately the window is narrow and just shut. The purchase and evaluation phase needed to start NLT next week.

I'm sure there'll be another chance sometime in the future, but probably not anytime soon. If nothing else: I haven't the time to be re-exploring this kind of thing repetitively.

... there is an app in the market that allows you to globally set a proxy: https://market.android.com/details?id=org.credil.proxysettings.

Tried it. Has no effect. Even if it did, it would create the problem that, because it has no host/domain/IP-address-range exclusion capability, users wouldn't be able to both get to the Internet and the intranet w/o turning it on and off and on and off all the time.

But thanks for the suggestion.

Hope this helps.

I do appreciate the effort, Peter

Jim