.mobi Mobiles that render fullblown websites?

[Traveler]

I saw mention in another thread about mobiles that can render a fullblown website. One poster mentioned some erricson phones that have the capability. So I wanted to start a thread on the topic.

I'm wondering if any of you have experience with these devices? I would like to know how the sites show up on your device. For example if you visited a site like MSN would the entire page show on the screen or do you need to scroll? If the whole page shows up, can you read all of the content easily?

You mobile browsing experiences are important for those developing mobile web content.

Also, lets try and keep this thread from turning in to pro vs anti .mobi arguement. In fact, lets leave .mobi out of it and just focus on the varying experiences of mobile web users.

So, no mention of .mobi in this thread please. (except for signature links and screen names of course )

 

[-REECE-]

I know plenty of smartphones can render webpages very well.

I have a 4 inch sharp zaurus pda myself which runs firefox through Linux on a 400mhz chip. It works like a charm although it does take 10-20 seconds to download a pages content via wifi -- god knows what it would take on some of the lesser cellular technologies.

If they're running Windows Mobile as many smartphones do... There are browsers like Thunderhawk (not sure on spelling) which render pages very well... Opera is also another option.

I think dotmobi will need to position itself as more than merely an internet designed for a smaller device and one that costs less to use -- inevitably cell phone costs will go down and we all know larger screens and higher resolution displays are in the future -- as are UMPCs capable of running Windows XP that also have cellular capabilities and are cell phone sized...

It'll definitely be an interesting next few years :kickass:

 

[Traveler]

I know plenty of smartphones can render webpages very well.

I have a 4 inch sharp zaurus pda myself which runs firefox through Linux on a 400mhz chip. It works like a charm although it does take 10-20 seconds to download a pages content via wifi -- god knows what it would take on some of the lesser cellular technologies.

If they're running Windows Mobile as many smartphones do... There are browsers like Thunderhawk (not sure on spelling) which render pages very well... Opera is also another option.

I think dotmobi will need to position itself as more than merely an internet designed for a smaller device and one that costs less to use -- inevitably cell phone costs will go down and we all know larger screens and higher resolution displays are in the future -- as are UMPCs capable of running Windows XP that also have cellular capabilities and are cell phone size...

It'll definitely be an interesting next few years :kickass:

You mentioned .mobi, shame on you, hehe :p


Do you see the whole webpage on the phone or do you see part of it and then scroll?

 

[-REECE-]

It depends on the resolution of the phone and on the software you're using -- in some cases, even the site you're visiting.

The higher end smartphones (generally $500+ without contracts) with 640x480 displays can render many pages in whole or nearly in whole with little scrolling required. The 320x240 displays which are common at present on midrange phones (some are still lower resolution) do not generally render pages well. I would imagine that in the future most phones will be 640x480 -- the eventual progression pda's made.

 

[Traveler]

It depends on the resolution of the phone and on the software you're using -- in some cases, even the site you're visiting.

The higher end smartphones (generally $500+ without contracts) with 640x480 displays can render many pages in whole or nearly in whole with little scrolling required. The 320x240 displays which are common at present on midrange phones (some are still lower resolution) do not generally render pages well. I would imagine that in the future most phones will be 640x480 -- the eventual progression pda's made.

How large is a phone with 640x480? I did a search on sharp zaurus, but it seems there are a lot of models. Which one do you have if you don't mind me asking? A couple looked like something I might like, I just don't want to carry something the size of my father's PDA

 

[-REECE-]

I have a model: SL-C3100. I use it as a laptop basically doing pretty much anything on it's little 4 inch screen. It has perfect compatability with MS word and accepts both SD cards and CF cards. It's super convenient and when I start seeing more cell phones with these kinds of features (this is a $500 device without any wifi, no cellular capabilities...), I think we'll be in business!

I don't think it'll be too long. The iPhone is a very good step in this direction IMHO with the integration of hard drives into phones. The only one problem my Zaurus (as well as the iPhone) have is that even if they can render full size pages -- because the screen is so small, content is obviously displayed in very small print. I'd guess it's around a size 8 font generally.

Dotmobi would of course allow people to tailor their sites to these devices so that they could be much more legible with minimal scrolling or perhaps no scrolling by getting rid of certain features.

edit: The cell phones with 640x480 aren't usually that much larger (usually 3-4 inch screens) however they are much thicker and bulkier for the time being -- I'm sure this will change in the future but for the time being I wouldn't be interested in a cell phone which reminds me of 1999.

 

[Traveler]

You mentioned .mobi again :p

That is a sweet little device. A little big to fit in my back pocket (maybe it would fit but then I could not sit down, hehe), but I think I will tell my pops about that one. He is a tech freak.

If you went to msn.com or yahoo.com can you actually read all the text? Do you think someone without perfect vision could? How hard is the text to read? Hard enough to be annoying?

Sorry for asking so many questions

 

[-REECE-]

Me and dotmobi are real tight :p

Yes, my eyes are quite bad myself actually. It's a small font but perfectly legible. I use it to read by emails while on coffee break generally -- equip it with firefox and it can use the real MSN -- not that downgraded junk. Not sure about Yahoo as I don't use it myself.

Then of course, one step up from this device are devices like the OQO. I've been wanting one since I first heard about the device in mid-april 2002. Now I'm just waiting until it's battery life improves a bit and I'll definitely be buying one