When using a tablet I'm getting phone view

Question

I put my site on business Catalyst and when I view it with a tablet I get the phone view. I contacted support and they said its a bug and the team are working on it. I was told I would need to subscribe to the forums to wait for a fix and once it was fixed it would be announced in the forums and then I can upload my site and it will work, but they had no idea when it would be fixed. So I took my site down from business catalyst to wait for muse to have the functionality that was promised, because it seemed useless if it shows a blurred phone view when seen on a tablet.
At first I thought I'd just have to wait. Then I thought that can't be right a big global company like adobe. They can't have released software that's automatically supposed to redirect depending on your device but doesn't.  I have checked the boxes saying redirect in site properties so it redirects to tablet and phone.
I felt unsure so I contacted support again and they said the bug was just with the business catalyst website and if I upload my site to third party hosting it will be right. I was wondering if someone from Adobe could clarify the issue for me. If I don't test in business catalyst because it doesn't work and instead just upload it to my site will the redirects really be ok then?
I would rather have someone clarify the issue before I go live with my site.

Answer 1

Sites hosted on Business Catalyst and those hosted on other hosting providers use two completely different mechanisms for device detection. Sites hosted on BC refer to a "device database" to lookup whether a specific device is a phone or tablet. Sites hosted on other hosting use a snippet of JavaScript which looks at the dimensions of the screen and whether or not it's a touch screen.
In theory the device database approach should be superior, since whoever populates the database has the opportunity to make a judgement call on tablet/laptop hybrids and "phablet" phones and the decision of what to serve is made on the server, whereas the JavaScript approach looks solely at screen size and touch screen support. However, in practice the device database has proven expensive and difficult to keep up-to-date and the JavaScript approach fits site visitors expectations remarkably well.
My guess is the specific Samsung tablet and Kindle Fire devices you've checked are currently not in the device database and the nearest match is a phone.
When you do "Preview Site in Browser" within Muse what URL is displayed in your browser? If it's something other than 127.0.0.0 or localhost, and if the devices are on the same wireless network as your computer, then you should be able to enter that URL into the browsers on your devices. The code generated for Preview Site in Browser uses the JavaScript redirect, so if my theory is correct (the out-of-date/incomplete BC device database is the problem) the tablet layout should load on your tablets (and phone layout on any phones you try).
For the upcoming release of Muse, due out in a couple weeks (or less), there is an additional option in the Options section of the Publish dialog. The new option will enable you to choose whether to use the "Universal Redirect" (JavaScript) or the "Business Catalyst Redirect" (device database) when Publishing a site with more than one alternate layout to BC. I recommend you switch to the "Universal Redirect" and recheck your site on your devices.