iPhone-Like Web Browser

[Billbeme]

Dear Users,
With my PPC-6700 in the mail (Trying to arrange a trade.) I was wondering what the most iPhone like Web Browser there existed to install on my new toy. So I started to look and came upon the "Web Browsing Bible" on this site, but found it a bit, shall we say, overbearing.

So the question is: "Which web browser for Windows Mobile most colsely resembles the iPhone's Safari?"

Such features include:

• favorites
• tabs (multiple pages)
• selective zooming

A bit of a follow up, is "if the answer is Opera Mini, why is there only limited BETA versions, what is 'beta' and where can I get a full copy?"

A second follow up is "if I can't have a permanemt copy of O.M., what browser comes in second?"

Thanks gang! I look foward to the resonses.

-B

[Genjinaro]

Picsel Browser hands down is the closest you'll ever get to it on WM.

Sadly Picsel only allows it for Samsung and it isn't letting it float around.
I'd go to XDA-developers forum if you really wanted it & search there.

[Billbeme]

Hmph! Any reason why it is limited only to Samsung devices?

I looked at the Picsel website, and it didn't seem to answer any of the questions that this new information has given me. If anyone would be willing to entertain: "What is the scoop with P.B.?"

Also, how does P.B. compare to O.M.?

Thanks guys!

-B

[Adama D. Brown]

There's also an experimental browser Microsoft released called Deepfish which is a lot like the iPhone browser with its selective zoom. Technicially you need an invite to use the beta, but if you look around online there are activation codes flying around to let you use it.

http://labs.live.com/deepfish/

[Billbeme]

There's also an experimental browser Microsoft released called Deepfish which is a lot like the iPhone browser with its selective zoom. Technicially you need an invite to use the beta, but if you look around online there are activation codes flying around to let you use it.

http://labs.live.com/deepfish/

Thanks Adama, I had taken a look at Deep Fish after reading The Web Browsing Bible (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=323651) and became very interested in both Deep Fish and Picsel Browser. The both seem to resemble some core characteristics of the iPhone Safari browser, but it seems as though the only means of achieving this most-enjoyable web browsing experience is to illigitametly find the files on the internet.

The Deep Fish website informes me that all BETA (BTW, whats BETA?) have been assigned, and that Picsel is "revolutionary" but not available.

The only available web browser is Opera Mobile, and it is version 8.0, when the BETA (?) version is 8.65. If I read correctly all the zooming capabilities, and tab options are after 8.0 and therefore makes the $24 price tag less digestable.

Can you guys please point me towards an excellent web browser that will prove enjoyable and stable if it so exists?

I will continue to look on xda-forums and see what I can find.

If nothing becomes available, does anyone know when Deep Fish and Opera Mobile will be an option? Thanks very much guys!

-Bill

[Genjinaro]

Can you guys please point me towards an excellent web browser that will prove enjoyable and stable if it so exists?

The complete version of Opera Mobile 8.5 is worth it, it is by far the greatest expirience on a mobile hand set IMHO, I didn't find iSafari too compeling only because it lacked a few essential features.

http://get.opera.com/pub/opera/winmobile/865/

Ahh and check your PM for the milk & honey browser's location..

[Billbeme]

Thanks very much for the multiple links.

If you so highly recommend O.M. 8.65 and Deep Fish/Picsel Browser are still not legeally available, I will install the cab for O.M. as soon as I get my new toy.

I hope that OM is comparable to DF/PB because I don't much care for bypassing legal matters for the sake of software. Any comments on O.M. comparison to DF/PB.

Also, is the link for OM a cab file without an expiration date. The downloads on the site, all expired. Thanks guys!

-Bill

[Billbeme]

After a bit more reading, I was also wondering how Minimo and Net Front stack up by comparison to Picsel Browser, Deep Fish, and Opera Mobile?

Thanks again so much guys! I'm just hoping for a great web browsing experience on my device.

-B

[Genjinaro]

Minimo, is by far the buggiest app in WM history IMHO.

Netfront is Opera like but not quite, its advantages are few in # but they constantly update it to maintain its stability which is very nice.


As for Opera Mobile 8.65F in comparison to anything else is hard, it is the cloest to a desktop expirience you'll get on a PDA device, Netfront would join in at a close second.
Both are the most fully feature & able.


I'd put P-browser, DeepFish, OM4 & iSafari
for giving a nice feature giving expirience.
P-browser has abit more features than all 4 and it is the oldest ironically, DeepFish has the least & hasn't left BETA. iSafari is the most beautiful I have ever laid eyes on & Opera Mini 4 gives abit of what those 3 offer, to every cellphone imaginable.

Hope this helps somewhat.

[dmccunney]

Hmph! Any reason why it is limited only to Samsung devices?

Because Picsel does it that way. They may well have licensed an exclusive version to Samsung.

I looked at the Picsel website, and it didn't seem to answer any of the questions that this new information has given me. If anyone would be willing to entertain: "What is the scoop with P.B.?"

Picsel started out as a "B2B" company. They licensed their technology to manufacturers who bundled it in devices. Selling directly to end users is a new thing for them. (They appeared to start doing so after getting deluged with requests from Palm users who encountered it on the Clie and want to buy a version for something that wasn't a Clie.)

The first time Palm users became aware of Picsel was when Sony bundled the Picsel browser in some Clie models. It was capable of browsing and displaying just about anything, from PDFs to web pages. But the interface bore no resemblance to any other Palm application, and took getting used to.

A copy ripped from a Clie is floating around for Palm Os devices, as well as a speedup utility to get it to load and initialize faster.

It seems to be pure ARM code, instead of the usual MC68K application ith modules of ARM code as ARMlets we normally see.

"Beta", incidentally, means "under development, not a final release version, and may have bugs".

In the development of a new application, the first test phase if Alpha testing, where you test internally and possibly release to carefully selected end users. In the Alpha stage, things are still in flux, and the final design and feature set may not have been determined. You're just trying to get it working.

After you have the design finalized and the feature set frozen, the next step is polishing and fine tuning. That's done by beta-testing, where you release a test version to a much broader range of users. The idea is to test on a wide range of hardware and configurations, and in the settings in which the program will be used, to identify bugs and fix problems that didn't crop up in Alpha testing. Beta software generally warns you it's beta, may have bugs, should not be used for "production" purposes, and recommends a full backup in case it eats your data and kicks your dog.

After beta testing comes the actual production release of what you hope is tested and debugged code. (In normal usage, there is almost always a show-stopper bug that doesn't appear until after you've released a production version... )
______
Dennis