Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Microsoft has revealed details on the much-hyped Internet Explorer Mobile 6 (IEM6), which is also making its official debut within the next 2 weeks with the Sprint Treo Pro (no word on Alltel's version)

As it has been discussed much in the past few days, IE Mobile 6 will be coming to some 6.1 devices, so you may not have to wait until WM6.5 ships this fall. WMExperts has a hands on review of the new browser, including Adobe's Flash Lite 3.1. I was a bit surprised by the harshness of the review, but part of their comments were lamenting the fact that single-column view from the current version of Pocket IE is gone. Are you really going to miss that given the new power of the browser?

"One of the things I like best about owning a Windows Mobile phone (a Samsung BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6.1) is the diverse ecosystem of developers writing apps for my device. Whenever you have a strong developer community, you find a range of alternatives to match the way you like to work and play. When it comes to Web browsers for Windows Mobile, there are a number of options other than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Mobile. Let’s look at a few of the browsers out there today, and one that’s in development."

Hulu video on Skyfire browser

Jim Causey gives a pretty good overview of alternatives to the rather anemic Pocket Internet Explorer currently on devices. Needless to say, I am anxiously awaiting the IE 6 on 6 browser we keep hearing about, but until then. if Pocket IE isn't meeting your needs, one of these alternatives may.

"There has been a few rants posted over the last week or so about the statement that was made on a Microsoft Windows Mobile blog pertaining to the apparent lack of support for existing devices to support the upcoming Internet Explorer Mobile 6 web browser. James is one person not happy about it and echoes many of the comments made on the MSDN blog post. Brett is not happy either and made it a point to show how there are third party browsers that exceed anything Microsoft currently has with Internet Explorer Mobile and what it looks like Internet Explorer Mobile 6 may also support."

Matt Miller has written up a great article on this rather thorny subject. The whole thing is an unfortunate blow to the Windows Mobile platform, heaping insult upon injury. The insult is that Microsoft has had, literally, 5+ years to take the lead in creating a great mobile browsing experience, and they haven't. They stuck to their minimalist, "just barely renders HTML" strategy until the iPhone made desktop-like browsing a major factor in the eyes of consumers (not counting connection speed of course - 3G speeds where I am still suck!). Then, a year and a half later, with the iPhone being in its second generation, Microsoft starts to talk about IE Mobile 6 - and I think "OK, it's been a long wait, but maybe this will be worth it".

Now comes the injury: apparently Microsoft developers were unable to code something that would work on current generation hardware because it just didn't have enough grunt. The really "underpowered" HTC Touch Pro, with its 524 Mhz CPU and 288 MB of RAM, just couldn't handle this "monster" browser. I'm not a developer, but come on Microsoft - if mobile browsers like Opera Mobile and Skyfire can work on our devices today, why can't IE Mobile 6? This whole issue just makes my blood pressure raise - from the outside looking in, it looks like Microsoft just didn't realize that mobile browsing was important until it was too late.

"Skyfire is a free, downloadable mobile web browser that makes browsing on your phone exactly like browsing on your PC. Now, you can use the web from your mobile phone with unprecedented speed and simplicity. For the first time ever, you can watch any web video, listen to any web music, stay connected on any social network and browse whatever you want. Anything you can browse from your PC, you can now browse from your mobile phone. We’re talking about full-featured PC versions of your favorite web sites. Skyfire gives you speedy page loads, full audio, video, images, dynamic Flash content, advanced Ajax, Java and more – just like your PC."



I received an email a few days ago informing me that Skyfire Beta v0.6 Internet browser is now available for download. According to an email, I would receive a SMS message within 24 hours with a link to download the newest browser. Unfortunately that still has not happened yet. For those of you that are a part of the Skyfire Beta, I would be on the lookout for this new version! If you're not a part of the current Beta and are interested in being a part of the second Beta program for the Skyfire browser you can do so by registering here.

"A few weeks ago, I wrote an editorial commenting on how horrible browsing the Web is on most mobile devices. Amazingly, there's already a solution for this problem, at least for some users. It's called Skyfire, and it is far and away the best web browser for Windows Mobile I've ever seen. This application offers just about all the features you need to access "Web 2.0" sites, like dynamic Flash, advanced Ajax, and Java. It's good enough that your main limitation in browsing is going to be the size and resolution of your smartphone's screen, and Skyfire is even able to compensate for that. I was able to spend some time with an early beta, and I found I genuinely enjoyed putting this application through its paces"

Well this does look promising. I happen to think Pocket IE is pretty anemic although it has improved somewhat over the years. Oh and let's not forget about Deepfish, or was it fish head? I can't remember. At any rate Skyfire appears to be a really nice browser. I was disturbed when I learned you have to go through a remote server to browse. Everything you input will go through this server. Can you say "privacy issues"? Maybe I'm just being paranoid. This review contains a video of Skyfire in action. Take a look and see what you think.

"Not quite Safari, as in the web browser that made the Apple iPhone famous, but the new browser from Wake3 is based on the WebKit architecture that Safari is built on. The browser supports Mobile Ajax as well and renders websites as they would on a desktop browser. However, the cool zooming and panning capabilities of Safari on the iPhone aren't ported over it seems. For now, it looks like I might just stick with Opera 8.65, although Wake3 does look to be a promising start. Opera, Firefox, and NetFront all have plans on updating their browsers to support AJAX and some advanced scrolling/zooming/rendering capabilities for mobile devices."



While the demo video for this WebKit based browser is being shown as running on a Pocket PC, Wake3 has stated that it will be released for Windows Mobile and not just Windows Mobile Professional. From the looks of the video, it appears that Wake3's browser is miles ahead of Pocket IE... which really shouldn't be hard to accomplish. This is pretty exciting as Minimo and other mobile browsers really haven't been living up to the hype that was surrounding them (for me at least). Nowadays, I rarely use my phone to browse the Web anymore as the experience is just downright painful. Hopefully Microsoft is taking note of this and realizes that mobile Internet browsing is becoming more and more popular and is not just a neat "feature" to include in the operating system.

"Forget Internet Explorer for Windows Mobile, Microsoft has borrowed technology from Sea Dragon, the imaging engine behind Photosynth, and has released a new web browser dubbed DeepFish. The idea behind Deepfish is giving the user the ability to view websites on their mobile phone just as they would view them on a desktop or laptop... It�s free and available right now (but availability is limited) for any Windows Mobile version 5.0 and up device. 'The code is actually written to be potentially cross-platform. But because we ship these rapid prototypes in live labs, we�re shipping it just for that operating system for now,' concluded Alex Daley, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft Live Labs."



Ha! All I have heard for the past couple weeks from all of my Mac and Web development friends is how the iPhone will rule the world due to its desktop-like Web browser. They also often playfully taunted me due to the fact that not only was I actually using Internet Explorer, but I was using a even more limited version of Internet Explorer than it's desktop counterpart! Well, all I have to say now is "How do you like them apples?!" (No pun intended :lol:)

�jB5 is a new browser from the guys at Jataayu. Open a free account and download it here for nothing. It's a slick and nimble browser which works extremely well on the Smartphone (Windows Mobile Standard) interface. The user interface has been designed exclusively for the Windows Smartphone and, if I'm honest, the speed and rendering simply knocks spots off the in-built Pocket Internet Explorer. It supports many different web formats lets you alter your cache size, favourites and history - plus you can turn images on or off to reduce your data usage.�



It is refreshing to see a new mobile browser appear on the horizon. After using Pocket Internet Explorer for several years now, I am ecstatic at the chance to actually replace it with a more streamlined browser. Unfortunately, trying to download jB5 from Jataayu�s website has almost been as frustrating as trying to find a browser to replace Internet Explorer. It appears that no matter what I do I am unable to access their download pages and continue to get kicked back to their homepage. Hopefully this is just a minor glitch and not a cruel means of �torture by curiosity.� :lol:

"At first blush you might think that this slick little number is an HTC vintage, but you'd be wrong. ASUSTeK has a new model due soon in Europe, the VDA IV, a very decent looking Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone device featuring UMTS, tri-band GSM, 128MB flash memory, 64MB SDARM, a 2.2-inch QVGA display, microSD slot, Bluetooth 1.2, USB 1.1 (uhh, ok), 3.5mm headphone jack (huzzah!), 1100mAh battery, and a diminutive 110 x 47 x 18mm body (4.3 x 1.85 x 0.7-inch). We can handle it. The FCC, as always, has the full rundown."



The FCC has cleared the AsusTek Smartphone (FCC ID MSQ-1210) and this time the interesting documents like the photos and the user manual are available for public viewing. They can be viewed over here. The unique thing about this Smartphone is that this is the first Windows Mobile Smartphone to come pre-loaded with the Opera browser. 8O This 3G Smartphone is a Tri-Band GSM unit supporting the European 900/1800/1900 frequencies and the WCDMA 2100 frequency. Read on for more pictures.

Figure 1: Another proof of Opera replacing the Microsoft pocket IE. This screen shot is from the user manual.


Figure 2: The unit has the typical candy bar styling that has now been made popular by HTC devices.

"It's Free! Point your mobile device to: http://mobileleap.net/v2 and the MobileLeap Virtual Browser will detect your device type, and instantly reformat websites by compressing data, filtering out unsupported content and fitting the pages to your screen."

Another Squeezer? It seems to take a bit of time to login to their server and then I get "page unavailable" errors. Anyone else want to give this a shot? Not too impressive so far.

"Opera Software today released the latest version of the Opera Web browser, Opera 8, for Windows Mobile, finally enabling Smartphone users to surf the Web with speed and ease on their mobile devices. Opera's deployment to Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform is a result of customers' and operators' demand for a fast and full-featured Web browser on Windows Mobile devices."

I don't know why but I have never cared for this. I kept trying the preview releases and always ended up not liking them. For you fans however the wait is over and you can download it here.

The most awaited browser for the Windows Mobile Smartphone platform has now entered the Technical Preview 3 stage. I have read lots of good feedback from our readers for this browser. And this time I intend to give this browser some serious trial. :-) This updated beta release expires on June 30, 2005 and supports only Windows Mobile Smartphone 2003 devices.



Please share your experience and let us know what you like the most about this browser.
Changes since Technical Preview 2:
� Fixed encoding problems.
� Keypad shortcut 5 now consistently toggles between loading all or no images.
� Added notification when changing image mode.
� Opera can now be stopped and restarted from the task manager.
� Improved spatial navigation in normal screen rendering.
� Fixed memory leaks.
� Various stability fixes.
� Improvements to memory usage.
� Various rendering fixes.

"Rafael Ebron has posted a couple of photos of devices running the Windows CE version of Minimo. One photo shows Minimo on the Orange SPV E200, which runs Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone, while the other shows the browser on the i-mate JAM, which runs the slightly overnamed Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Second Edition, Phone Edition. More details about the Windows CE version of Minimo were posted last month."



Pocket IE is no longer a must have on the Smartphone platform. We've had Opera for a number of months already and now we can add baby Mozilla - Minimo. If you're interested in giving this a try, you can download the latest build from here. Just remember that this is an early beta and could cause harm to your device. :wink:

"Mozilla is hoping to move on from its success in the browser desktop market to tackle browsers on consumer devices such as phones, PDAs and television set-top boxes. Doug Turner, the project leader of Minimo, the slimmed-down Mozilla browser, said Mozilla hopes to build on the success of Firefox. "If Firefox is the greatest browser on the desktop, we need the greatest browser on devices and are working hard on it," Turner said."

The following statement made by Doug Turner, the project leader of Minimo got my attention: "With Minimo, if it renders OK in Firefox, it will render OK in Minimo." 8O Doug claims that Minimo will support frames and offer superior JavaScript support. Minimo team has a bunch of cool features lined up for the future releases. On the other hand the major success claimed by the Minimo team, the shrinking of images and wrapping of columns into one, is already available on Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition devices. The one feature I would love to have on my Smartphone browser is tabbed browsing or have multiple browser sessions. Pocket PC world has third-party applications that let you extend the pocket Internet Explorer. Waiting for a similar application for the Smartphones.

It wasn't that long ago that we told you about Opera's decision to release a Windows Mobile version of their popular browser. Opera has just made the technical preview (beta) version of this browser available for download. So if you're interested in testing this out, or just want to give something new a try, head on over and download it.

And now for the standard "mother" speech: This is a pre-release version. It could potentially cause serious problems for your device and may ultimately force you to hard reset. You should only install beta software if you are an experienced beta-tester. Oh, and make sure you backup your device first!

Now get out of here and go download your software. :wink:

"Opera Software today announced that its revolutionary Opera smartphone browser will soon become available for Microsoft Windows Mobile software. Windows Mobile is a completely new platform for Opera, offering operators, handset vendors, enterprises and end users more choice of platforms that provide outstanding Web browsing on small, restricted smartphone screens. Opera's range of smartphone browsers includes Small-Screen Rendering (SSR) technology, an Opera innovation that enables users to browse regular Web pages for the first time on small mobile screens by reformatting the page and thus eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling."



:clap:

Small-Screen Rendering technology looks impressive. Check out the feature here. Will have to wait and see how it compares to the Windows Mobile 2003 SE Pocket Internet Explorer's "One Column" feature.