Mobile browsers - what's going on?

For some time now there have been multiple players in the mobile browser markets. If you are using some other phone than iPhone (or iTouch), you have the possibility to choose some other browser than the built-in one.

Multiple browsers are based on open-source WebKit engine, these browsers are among the most used ones (S60, Safari on iPhone/iTouch, Android), but there are also other players.

I've tried to list all (at least most common ones) browsers that available at the moment and also share some thoughts about them.

S60 browser

• Available in S60 operating system as a default browser. Default browser cannot be changed.
• Based on WebKit like mentioned previously.
• Proper support for normal web technologies (HTML, CSS and JavaScript)
• Decent Flash support, although most of the Flash pages are mostly unusable, e.g. Youtube. I don't use any Flash-based services with this browser.
• Supports WML.
• Small differences in different S60 platforms / feature packs. Starting from S60 3.2 (3rd edition Feature Pack 2), it should be possible to update only the browser, not whole OS. At the moment there hasn't been these kinds of updates.
• I use mostly S60 browser but in some web pages it just doesn't work, in these cases e.g. Opera Mini is a good choice. It is difficult to give good guidelines when to use S60 browser and when Opera Mini, usually web pages that are "complex" work better with Opera Mini.
• Nokia is porting S60 browser to some of its S40 devices, but I don't have any experiences about it.

Opera Mini

• Opera Mini is a Java-based browser that is available for multiple devices / operating systems.
• The browser is fast and doesn't use so much memory. When I was using Nokia E70, S60 browser ran out of memory quite often, but Opera Mini worked fine, even if you were listening music when you were browsing.
• Mini uses servers which handle the rendering between your phone and the web site you are accessing. This enables small traffic costs if you don't have unlimited data plan.
• Mini enables accessing your favourite bookmarks anywhere, anytime if you are using Opera Link. This is a nice feature if you lose all the information from your phone, you still have your favourite bookmarks with you.
• Mini is a stable browser that can handle any kind of web page, excluding Flash pages.
• I've had multiple times difficulties using WiFi with Opera Mini.
• You can get Opera Mini by visiting the address mini.opera.com using your phone’s default Web browser.
• Supports WML.

Skyfire

• The only non-Java-based browser that uses server between your phone and the web site you are accessing.
• You can download Skyfire by going to get.skyfire.com with your phone's default browser.
• Like almost all other browsers, Skyfire supports most used web standards.
• Has probably the best Flash support, but still not fully usable.
• I haven't used so much, but I've had quite many difficulties getting Skyfire to work properly.
• I haven't been able to update Skyfire version 0.9 to my Nokia N96.

Opera Mobile 9.5

• When I had Nokia E70, I was mostly using Opera Mobile 8.65 which felt better browser than E70's default S60 browser although Opera Mobile 8.65 wasn't providing full Web rendering.
• Opera Mobile 9.5 has full Web rendering
• When used with X1, Opera Mobile was much better than IE.
• Supports WML.

Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile 6.1

• I used SonyEricsson X1 Xperia for some time and tried it's default browser, Internet Explorer.
• If I would need to describe this browser with one word, it would be lousy.
• Although I like browsing with mobile devices, I must say I wasn't feeling like this when I was using IE.
• Zoom doesn't work properly.
• There are three different rendering possibilities (one column, fit to screen and desktop). Fit to screen is the option.
• I wasn't using X1 for so long, but it seemed that it has the same rendering engine than Internet Explorer 6.
• I must admit that some part of these lousy experiences can be caused by the device which wasn't so good either.

Bolt browser

• Like Opera Mini, Bolt is Java-based browser which uses also server between the phone and the web page you are using.
• Still in beta.
• Good URL auto-complete, just like in Opera Mini.
• Almost identical features when compared to Opera Mini.
  
• One of the biggest difference is magnifier, shown in second picture below.
• Seems fast, just like Opera Mini.

S60 browser on S40

• Like I mentioned previously, Nokia is porting current S60 browser to some S40 devices.
• Unfortunately I don't have any experiences about this browser. If you do, please share them with us.
• Nokia is not porting this browser to every S40 devices, because they recently introduced Nokia 6216 which has Opera Mini pre-installed.

Safari on iPhone / iTouch

• Like mentioned previously iPhone's Safari is based on the same WebKit engine than S60's and Android's browser.
• Another thing that everybody knows is that this version of Safari doesn't have Flash-support.
• I haven't compared S60's and iPhone's browser but nowadays it feels that iPhone's browser is faster than Nokia N96's.
• Safari supports all the necessary web technologies, like HTML, CSS and JavaScript and this makes it suitable for convenient browsing.
• Don't support WML.

Safari on Android

• Most probably quite close to S60's and iPhone's Safari because all are based on the same Webkit engine.
• I would guess that browsing is convenient.
• I haven't used Android-based phones yet, but they should be available in Finland in Autumn.

Netfront

• Mostly pre-installed to SonyEricsson phones.
• Available for S60 also.
• If I remember correctly, newest versions have full Web support.
• Used at least to be fast (when I was using Nokia E70).
• Doesn't fully support WML.

I left out some older browsers, e.g. Services -browser which can be found from older Nokia S60 devices and Nokia S40's built-in browser that are both developed in-house by Nokia. These browsers use mobile rendering, meaning that they put all the content on the web page to one, long column.

You can divide mobile browsers e.g. to following categories

• Full Web (Almost all new browsers)
• Java-based (Opera Mini, Bolt Browser)
• Server in the middle (Opera Mini, Bolt Browser, Skyfire)
• Mobile rendering (Older browsers, but some new browsers have this as an extra feature)
  

All browsers support normal web technologies, including JavaScript that enables for example AJAX-based services. Some are still supporting also WML. Personally I don't have so much experiences about different implementations of JavaScript but the more complex services you make, the more important is to test with different browsers. "Normal and simple" services that are using basic HTML and CSS works fine with all browsers.

Although Flash is supported in some browsers, you cannot really say that Flash-based services would be usable with mobile device.

In future it is interesting to see will for example Nokia be sued because their default browser cannot be changed or uninstalled in S60. The similar situation is in Windows and Microsoft have sued for multiple times because IE cannot be uninstalled.

I've noticed that few features annoy me in mobile browsers, and unfortunately there isn't any browser that wouldn't have these features. One is URL auto-complete, in Opera Mini and Bolt it works like it should but not in S60 browser. Second is that Java-based browsers open "text editor" when entering text, not like S60 browser which works like PC-browser when entering text, just showing normally text that you are writing to input field.

If you want the best possible user experience, I suggest you learn how to use shortcuts. The problem is that every browser are using them differently.

Opera Mini has lots of shortcuts.

As you can see, at the moment there are multiple good browsers for your mobile and only you can decide what you prefer. My choices are S60 and sometimes Opera Mini and I might start using Bolt as well.

Location, location, location

"Location, location, location" - I bet almost everyone has heard that phrase. You might wonder why it is used in a blog that covers mobility and technology?

The answer is Location Based Services (LBS) which are discussed more and more everyday. With the help of LBS, you can easily let your customers know where you are instead of taking your services wherever the customers are.

Previously only operators were able to know where you were, or actually where your phone was, using GSM cells. It is now almost an everyday business for service providers to utilize the same information in their services. Good example would be Google Maps that uses both GPS and GSM cell information for defining your location. If GPS is not available, GSM cell information is used like illustrated in picture 1.

Picture 1. GSM cell information is used for defining your location if GPS is not available.

Now some of the service providers have started sharing your location. One good example is Google Latitude which was introduced lately as a new feature in Google Maps illustrated in picture 2.

Picture 2. Latitude shows where your friends are.

Luckily Latitude don't show your Google Contacts' location automatically so you need to ask their permission and then they will be added to Latitude. This task is extremely easy because you can choose to add all of your contacts same time without writing their e-mail addresses like illustrated in picture 3.

Picture 3. You can add all of your Contacts easily.

You can see easily where all of your friends are with a single climps like shown in picture 4.

Picture 4. You can see all your friends location easily.

Like you can see in picture 5 you can also edit your information in Latitude and luckily there are also privacy settings, so you don't necessarily need to show your location to everybody. You can also manually define your location, so you can be wherever you want.

Picture 5. You can edit your information and set privacy settings.

In addition to mobile service, Google is also offering a Latitude widget to your iGoogle page, so you can see where your friends are even if you are not using your mobile phone. An example is shown in picture 6.

Picture 6. Latitude gadget in your iGoogle page.

Unfortunatelly Latitude doesn't offer any interaction methods with your friends, e.g. chat or some kind of microblogging. This kind of feature would be really handy in some circumstances.

Google isn't the only service provider who is offering social location based services, for example Nokia Research Lab is offering FriendView which also utilizes your phone's location. You can see example in picture 7.

Picture 7. Nokia's FriendView shows your location.

There are some diffirences between Nokia's FriendView and Google Latitude. FriendView offers microblogging possibility (picture 8.) that Latitude lacks. On the other hand FriendView doesn't have gadget/widget that you could add to your iGoogle, or similar page, but they have a web-based service like shown in picture 9. Like Latitude, FriendView offers the possibility see where your friends are (pictures 10 and 11.)

Picture 8. Microblogging with FriendView.

Picture 9. FriendView has a webpage where you can see where you and your friends are.

Picture 10. Also FriendView shows where your friends are.

Picture 11. FriendView shows you the listing of your friends, just like Latitude.

I think the biggest difference between FriendView and Latitude is that Latitude is "a real" product and FriendView is more of an experimentation. This being said, I haven't seen or heard that Google would be offering advertising based on your location but I would guess this will happen relatively soon.

Everybody that has been using services that are showing your location knows that it doesn't work well indoors. Don't worry, there is a solution to this - indoor location. It is possible to define your indoor location with the help of wireless accesspoints. Nokia Research Center has written an interesting article (pdf) about indoor positioning. I hope we'll see some real life experiments about this soon.

It is interesting to see when location is integrated to your phonebook. Imagine seeing all your contacts with their location. Nokia is for example offering Contacts on Ovi through Nokia Betalabs, which allows you to chat with your Nokia Ovi or Google contacts. This service could also utilize positioning information. What if Nordea that is shown in brackets in picture 12. would be my location?

Picture 12. Contact on Ovi could show also location.

In addition to location, your phonebook could also show all the conversations that you had with your contacts no matter what method (SMS, e-mail, IM) you have been using. Nokia Betalabs is offering a Conversation application that is grouping your SMSs based on the sender. You can see "the conversation" with the person, just like in iPhone.

Enhance your S60 3.2 with full screen caller ID

It is nothing new that you are able to assign a picture to a contact, but S60 3rd edition Feature Pack 2 enables you to use full screen caller ID instead of the "small print". This is a nice way to enhance your experience when calling or receiving a call.

1. An example of full screen caller ID (I know that you probably don't want this guy calling to you... :)

To be able to use full screen caller ID, you need of course to have the desired pictures. I noticed that if you add picture in Outlook and then synchronize contact to S60 3.2 (N96 in my case), only small caller ID is shown. It is the same case if you have assigned a picture to a contact and then remove the original picture.

To avoid this, you have two options. You can use fonebook for fetching pictures from Facebook and assiging them automatically in Outlook. Symbian-Guru told recently how to do this. I chose more "conventional way" and desided to do this manually. The reasons why I chose this approach were that I didin't want to install Fonebook to my work laptop that has Outlook, I still have a bunch of friends / relatives / colleagues that are not in Facebook and I'm not going to assign a picture to every contact. I'll be assigning pictures little by little.

I created a sub-folder called Contacts to Images -folder in N96's mass memory and transferred desired pictures to Contacts -folder and assigned them to contacts. Whenever I take a picture that I want to assign to contact, I'll copy it also to Contacts -folder to avoid the case where original picture is removed and N96 shows only the small caller ID. I noticed that N96 is not trying to stretch the image, so if the image is smaller than 240x320, it won't be shown in full screen.

I wonder what will happen if I need to restore my N96, will these changes be included in the backup? I'll keep you informed if I run to this.

Streaming your favourite music with your mobile phone

Streaming music has been possible to your home computer for a quite some time, e.g. using internet radios or different music services. Smartphones are getting closer and closer to computers, and it has been possible to stream music to your S60 smartphone using Nokia's Internet radio. You can find installing instructions in above mentioned link if your S60 doesn't have it pre-installed, my Nokia N96 had it.

One of the services that offers streaming music through a browser is Last.fm. One of its benefits is that it offers you the music that you like or at least similar artists when traditional radio stations play random music. You can also share your favourite music/genre/artist with your friends. It was nice to notice that it is possible to use Last.fm -service with S60, the only thing you need is Mobbler. Mobbler is a Last.fm music player and it also enables you to scrobble tracks that are played with S60 Music player.

1. Mobbler in S60 plays the artists you've added to Last.fm.

2. Mobbler looks nice also in landscape.

3. If you are using S60's Music player, Mobbler scrobbles music that you've listened.

When you choose the left icon, Mobbler enables you to buy music from Amazon's aStore, but the store is not mobile optimized. This weakens the user experience. You can also "Love a track", choose next track or "Ban a track".

4. There is also a possibility to buy tracks from Amazon's aStore.

5. Unfortunatey Amazon's store isn't optimized for mobile.

6. Amazon's aStore and S60's browser.

Mobbler enables you to easily expand the music that you are listening and you don't need to carry all your favorite music with you. You can also easily offer better musical experiences in different parties, because you can always choose the desired music based on the people and / or the feeling just by opening Mobbler. If you have your music in your S60 and there is right equipment available, you can use your smartphone as a media center.

When you are using Mobbler for streaming, you should use WiFi or have unlimited dataplan, otherwise your phone bill will be enormous. I've experienced that 3G is enough for music streaming.

One other thing that you need to keep in mind when using these "always-on" services is battery life. At the moment batteries don't last too long, but luckily this is improving all the time. For the time being, you should make sure your charger is near.

Broadcasting your life with Nokia viNe

Nokia announced viNe sometime ago. Someone could call it as a modified SportsTracker that gives you the opportunity to share the route you have traveled, pictures and videos you have taken, or songs you have listened. ViNe records your journey using GPS when it is available. If it is not available, viNe will connect last and current position with the shortest possible line.

1. Starting point.

2. ViNe saves the music you've listened and pictures and videos you've taken.

3. After you've accomplished your route, you can add tags to your viNe.

I'm not sure what one should call it, in a way it is a modified SportsTracker but it is also a subset of SportsTracker because the application doesn't offer as much training information as SportsTracker. Maybe viNe is a SportsTracker for an everyday user who is not interested in all the possible training information? You cannot for example specify type of workout and see as much information about your journey/training but the upload is much more convenient and you can add tags. ViNe shares your information to everyone and you cannot restrict this in any way. In SportsTracker you were able to restrict your audience. I think this is something that some users will not like.

Few other differences between SportsTracker and viNe are that in viNe you are able to move in the map. It doesn't utilize the map information that Maps is using but it caches the map information so it works quite fine. When you are viNing, you cannot see any details of your route, e.g. distance and speed that you can see when you are using SportsTracker.

When you upload your viNe it will go to two different places, to viNe and to SportsTracker. ViNe will also replace your SportsTracker user ID with Nokia Account user ID. This means that you will get rid of one useless user ID. ViNe probably tells you about this, but I didn't notice this and had some difficulties accessing SportsTracker before I realized that my user ID had changed. I think that this was a really good idea from Nokia. I hope this trend continues because nobody likes too many user IDs.

4. Your viNes are published to viNe -service.

5. Same time your viNes are published to SportsTracker -service.

I don't know what is the main idea behing viNe, and I haven't seen any discussion about this, although I haven't been searching so much. One idea that came to my mind is that Nokia tries to use social networks for modeling the world's most interesting places. This would be different approach than Google's Drive. Do you have any other ideas?

I first thought that viNe would have been introduced through Nokia Beta Labs like SportsTracker, but apparently Nokia thinks it is a finalized product. I would like to disagree with this because at least I have had some difficulties with it, e.g. it crashes quite often with my N96. I just updated my N96 to version 12.043. I hope viNe works better with this new software version.

Here is a list of bugs and some features I would like to see in the future:

• It tags only the first songs name and artist. (See picture 3.)
• Sometimes it tags city (Helsinki) but not always. It could also tag parts of the city like Punavuori, Ullanlinna and Kamppi.
• It could show album art of the listened music.

6. Album art is not shown.

• ViNe's internet service's search should work better. At the moment it is difficult to find anything or anybody.
• Could there be a way of following your friends?
• Could there be a possibility to restrict your audience?
• Could there be a possiblity to buy music that someone else has been listening in their viNes'?
• ViNe should automatically upload pictures and videos to Share on Ovi.
• Embedded widget could show only desired viNes, e.g. your own or your friends. Usually there are desired audience you want to share information with or follow.

7. Embedded viNe widget shows all the viNes.

• Could viNe be combined with FriendView? You could see where your friend has been or is at the moment?
• Could viNe updates be offered in RSS format?
• Could you send your viNe to some of your friend, e.g. "look at my cool journey"? This could be also available in mobile format.
• Could you provide more information during viNing, e.g. distance?
• Could viNe show a dotted line in saved journey when GPS hasn't been available?
• Could viNe use either cellular or WiFi positioning when GPS is not available?
• Is Nokia doing any co-operation with different heart rate monitoring companies, e.g. Polar or Suunto? This kind of co-operation would provide all the necessary information that you need when working out.

All in all this application seems interesting and I think I'll continue using both viNe and SportsTracker. You have to remember that viNe and SportsTracker are almost identical; viNe is basically a SportsTracker with a facelift. If you want to follow my viNes, search for teppoj.

AppStore vs. Download! - The good, the bad and the ugly

I'm not a great Apple fan, but I must say that I admire how they have been able to change people's way of using different mobile applications. There is a wide range of different mobile applications for S60 and other mobile devices, but still the usage is relatively low if you compare it with applications available for iPhone or iTouch. Kai Öistämö from Nokia mentioned in Symbian Smartphone Show that there are around 10.000 applications for S60. This is quite a big number of applications but the truth is that without a proper distribution channel and easy enough installation method nobody will use these applications.

Apple on the other hand have managed to introduce 10.000 applications through AppStore in a relatively short time. If I remember correctly AppStore was opened on around June 2008 which means 10.000 applications in less than 6 months. 148apps.com have created a tribute page which shows all the applications available in AppStore.

I listed some of the good, bad and ugly in Apple's and Nokia's way of offering applications and installing them. After these lists, there are multiple screenshots illustrating the user experience of finding and installing an application.

AppStore

The good (positive):

• Offers wide range of applications.


• Search works really well. This is important when you have lots of applications.


• Fast. iPhone doesn't ask too many questions when using AppStore.


• Really easy to use. Just browse to an application that you like, click install and installation process starts.


• Updates. AppStore informs the user about possible updates.


• Easy payment process. Uses iTunes payment methods.

The bad (negative):

• The only place for finding applications.


• Applications don't have a test period, at least I haven't noticed this.


• iTunes id is needed for installing even free applications.


• iTunes is the only payment method.

The ugly (improvements and thoughts):

• Suggestions. AppStore could suggest applications that other users have installed, just like e.g. Amazon.com. AppStore through iTunes does this.


• What happens to compatibility if Apple introduces more devices?

Download!

The good (positive):

• Not the only place for finding applications because you can find applications anywhere from the Internet.


• Most of the applications offer trial period possibilities.


• You can use any credit card for paying.

The bad (negative):

• Only limited number of applications.


• Search doesn't work well enough.


• Somebody can find it difficult to use because device asks quite many questions, e.g. used internet connection and where to install the application.


• Relatively slow when updating content in different folders.

The ugly (improvements and thoughts):

• Usability should be much better.


• Updating different folders should be more seamless, not asking question from the user all the time.


• Number of available applications should be much higher.

Screenshots of installing an application from the AppStore:

1. You can find AppStore from the main menu. AppStore also informs the user about possible updates (red 1 in AppStore's top-right corner).


2. AppStore advertises recent applications.


3. Applications are divided to Paid and Free sections.


4. There is also an application Top list.


5. Searching for Facebook application.


6. Search results.


7. More information about the application.


8. Free button toggles to Install button when you press it. After pressing Install, the installation starts.


9. You need to use iTunes' credentials to be able to install applications.


10. Installation process ongoing.


11. Installation finished. You can find installed application from the main menu.

Screenshots of installing an application from Download!:

1. You'll find Download! from the main menu.


2. Download! asks used connection really often, although phone should be able to choose desired connection.


3. Search possibilities after choosing Options - Search and about to search Facebook -application.


4. One search result but it is not shown on the first page.


5. You have to scroll down to see all the results.


6. The search result.


7. After choosing Details - Get, phone shows information about the application.


8. Choosing where to install the application.


9. After installation application can be found from Applications folder.


10. Most of the applications have trial possibilities like ForecaWeather.


11. You can also use multiple credit cards for paying.