Detecting device brand

Question

I am working on web analytics. I am using JavaScript client-side and NodeJS server-side. I know we can find out device type using userAgent, but how do I detect the device brand (client or server side)?

Answer 1

One library that parses this out for you is Platform.js, and you can use it either client-side or server-side as described in their intro page linked above.

Here's a client-side example:

    <script type='text/javascript' src='platform.js'></script>
    <script type='text/javascript'>
        alert('you are using ' + platform.description + ' on an ' + (platform.manufacturer || 'unknown vendor') )
    </script>

Note that you will get no manufacturer on generic browsers but should get the brand on mobile devices e.g. Apple, Samsung, etc.