Mobile Browsers Compared: pocketnow.com exclusive video
August 24th, 2010
In a story posted yesterday evening, pocketnow.com has released a video on YouTube that compares the default browsers of iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7. It’s not a completely fair comparison due to the fact that they’ve used the latest versions of both iOS and Android, yet the Windows Phone 7 system is not scheduled for official release until October of this year. Regardless, the new Internet Explorer Mobile looks pretty good!
The interface of the new IE Mobile does not look like anything new or groundbreaking. I actually think they’ve wasted a lot of space on the display with toolbars and icons, similar to Mobile Safari. The beta release of Firefox Mobile on Android is still the most impressive interface because it incorporates the ability to slide the page left and right to gain access to bookmarks and tabs, leaving the full screen for the actual Web page; Dolphin Browser followed suit with this style in an update released shortly after Mozilla’s beta. Comparing the interfaces for the default browsers of iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7, Android is the cleanest, focusing on the Web content itself. I guess this should be expected from Google.
I would say that the three browser’s are very similar in terms of speed and page load times. iOS seems to load page content on demand as you scroll, so you get a slight blank checkerboard when you scroll quickly. Overall, there are going to be very negligible differences between the three systems, but Windows Phone 7 finally brings Microsoft back into the mobile race with Apple and Google (and RIM is still struggling to compete).
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July 4th, 2010
Google announced, on June 28th, 2010, that the Nexus One would begin to get Android 2.2 as an over-the-air update. Well, this morning I finally got the update!
Android 2.2 fixes everything that was becoming a bit frustrating on my Nexus One. The home screen has been slightly redesigned… now, instead of only one permanent icon (to open the application launcher), there are three permanent shortcuts to the Phone application, Application Launcher, and Browser application. The AM/PM marker on the notification bar clock has been slightly shrunk, and the home screen pages are much more responsive and have a slight bounce to them. This increased home screen speed is extremely welcomed and makes the Nexus One much more competitive with the iPhone 4 processing speed.
Of course, the long awaited Adobe Flash is now available. It does not come as an automatic install with 2.2, but instead must be installed separately through the Market. I loaded up www.2advanced.com (a full Flash site) and everything worked perfectly, just as I would expect on my desktop. The concerns about interacting with Flash hover-states opposed to clicks was not at all a problem; tap to interact. I then loaded the www.sho.com video page. This page utilizes a standard Brightcove video player. I was able to watch the video in page; the same as my desktop experience. Multitouch still functions properly in the browser window, and double-tapping the video player area instantly zoomed in to the page to watch the video at the full width of my Nexus One screen.
Now, with all the Flash discussion aside, the main reason I was waiting for this 2.2 update was the feature to move applications to my SD card. This feature has to be enabled by the application developers, rather than simply on the core OS itself, and so out of the 70 + apps that I have on my Nexus One, it was only available on a few. A simple time-waster game called Toss It can be moved to the SD card, but most others that I have installed can not. I’m really surprised that Google hasn’t updated all of their apps before releasing 2.2, but it seems that only Google Sky Map and Places Directory have the new feature. Google Browser, Calendar, Earth, Finance, Gesture Search, Gmail, Googles, Listen, Maps, My Maps Editor, Panoramio Uploader, Search, Shopper, Translate, Voice, and the Market itself still do not. This isn’t a full list of Google’s applications, but definitely more can not yet use the feature than those that can.
There are a few other updates on Android 2.2, Froyo. The Phone application has been slightly tweaked. The Call log now groups consecutive calls with the same contact. The Messaging app has a very nice facelift, changing to a more readable white background for the message list as well as a few new settings. The Gmail application also has a slight facelift; I don’t notice any significant new features, but the design and menu system are slightly updated, and now there is a button in the upper left that allows for much easier switching between multiple accounts (but still no way to change the ‘send as’ address; a feature that is very useful for productivity in Gmail). The Keyboard has also been updated with an easier way to add words to the user dictionary.
Overall, Android 2.2 is an excellent update, mainly for the speed and responsiveness of the operating system. It’s nice to see Google releasing this update just after the iPhone 4 hit the streets (and after the EVO and new Droids have been released).
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