Friday, September 16, 2005

Pocket PC internet browsers

On a desktop PC, you can easily get a copy of Internet Explorer, Firefox, or other browsers for FREE and enjoy a solid web surfing experience. On a PDA, however, there are very few FREE browser options. I happen to have a work-assigned Dell Axim X50v. It is a very solid unit, with an amazing 640x480 display, but alas, it carries the default Pocket IE. Pocket IE is the suck.

A pocket browser has a greater need for the features a desktop browser carries than the desktop itself. Features like tabbed browsing (or at least multiple windows) and right-click contexts for saving or viewing source code would make the whole experience more fulfilling.

I've been researching possible options and found a few coming up that will be great and free (w00t!):
Minimo - a Mozilla-based cross-platform browser. There's a promising beta here.
Opera Mini - Opera mini was made for smartphones, yet a pocket version is in testing.

I just can't bring myself to purchase a browser. Ever. I think that charging for such software is hurting the PDA market. Crummy browsers are no way to get people to use a mobile device.

*EDIT* - 9/21 - Found out that Netfront is being offered in a free technical preview form until Nov 15th only. This browser rocks so far, even with its demo limitations. The preview is better than the full Pocket IE, and comes with no expiration (only the limitations).

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home