Browser Bedlam Battle, Part 1

First, before I start this entry: If anyone from HTC is reading this, I’d like a Touch Pro please. It’s a great way to get brownie points with one of the top Windows Mobile geeks here at Wirefly. Thank you.

Now down to business. Ever since the 800 pound smartphone made by Apple hit the market with the force of a mega-ton bomb, mobile internet browsing hasn’t been the same. With its finger friendliness, ease of use and revolutionary zoom, Apple’s Mobile Safari is one of the first modern mobile browsers that can claim to deliver the full internet. The problem is, if you have a Windows Mobile device, Blackberry, Palm OS device or Symbian (Nokia) device, you’ll never get to use Mobile Safari, for obvious reasons. That’s where the following heroes step in (for some) to save you from your WAP-enabled prison with finger friendly solutions. Let’s take a look at the most well known browsers and how they all render my second favorite site (behind this blog of course!).

Pocket Internet Explorer (aka Pocket IE or PIE)

This is the default browser you get with Windows Mobile (5, 6 and 6.1) and the control variable I’m using for the sake of this (and my subsequent) post. It’s not very finger friendly nor does it give a great full browsing experience, but it gets the job done for quick browsing. Microsoft was developing a promising browser codenamed “Deepfish” but the last update I’ve seen was April of last year.

Pros:
• Easy to use on the go.
• Pocket IE 6.1 has a zoom out and zoom in function.
• Useful for quickly reading WAP enabled websites

Cons:
• Not finger friendly.
• Said zoom function it isn’t very useful.
• Not useful for browsing full websites

Opera Mobile 9.5

They’ve gained the #3 spot in PC browser market share, now they’re shooting for #1 for mobile browsing. This browser is currently in beta, which means it’s being tested in the real world and not in an underground bunker in the middle of the Nevada desert.

Also of note, it’s rumored that this will be the default browser for the new HTC Diamond (rumored to be coming to Sprint in the fall) and the new HTC Touch Pro (that’s two plugs, HTC; I’ll send you my mailing address).

The screen you see here is the default view. You can move the window around with your finger easily and smoothly. Double tapping with your finger will zoom in on the area you tapped on.

Pros: • Tons of options to customize browsing experience.
• On zooming in, the browser reorganizes words such that they don’t go off to the left or right of you screen. No scrolling needed to read an paragraph.
• If you use the Opera browser on your PC or Mac, you can synch your favorites to your phone so you don’t have to set them on the go.
• Tabbed browsing.

Cons:
• Beta version suddenly exits when trying to render some websites.
• Some websites still default to their WAP pages instead of directing to the full web page.

OS Capability: Windows Mobile, Symbian (Nokia).

Please keep an eye your RSS feeder for Part 2 of this entry, coming tomorrow!