PalmSource Picks Web Browser for Palm OS 5

Posted By: Ed Thursday, June 20, 2002 1:54:05 PM

NetFront 3.0 will be the default web browser in Palm OS 5.0, according to eWeek. PalmSource has not confirmed this.

NetFront isn't currently available as a stand-alone Palm application. Instead, it has been designed to run on all types of embedded systems, from mobile phones to TV set top boxes. It supports a laundry list of web standards.

NetFront supports full HTML 4.01, XHTML Basic, CHTML (iHTML), WML 2.0, CSS1, CSS2, CSS Mobile Profile, HTTP and Wireless TCP/IP (WAP 2.0 Stack), GIF/Animated GIF, JPEG, WBMP, PNG, Dynamic HTML, frames, cookies, ECMA Script (JavaScript 1.5), and SSL v3.0/TLS 1.0 (with 128-bit encryption).

NetFront was designed from the ground up to meet the requirements of resource-constrained devices. It provides high-performance capabilities with a very limited resource footprint.

Access Systems America, developer of NetFront, is a subsidiary of Access Co. of Japan, which makes NTT DoCoMo's i-mode phones

Thanks to Kemp for the tip. -Ed

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web browser

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 2:07:14 PM #
any images of this thing in action? thanx!
RE: web browser
Ed @ 6/20/2002 2:15:55 PM #
I added one, but keep in mind that it shows what it will look like on a mobile phone, which has a much smaller screen than will be on a Palm OS 5 handheld.

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News Editor
RE: web browser
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 3:35:15 PM #
thanks alot!
RE: web browser
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 4:29:08 PM #
comparison of Netfront 3.0 (left) and Internet Explorer on Pocket Pc displaying the same web page. Difference in obvious! I would like to see netfront for Palm OS 4...

Here's the link:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R6F226A11

RE: web browser
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 5:24:03 PM #
Ed, you might put a comment with that picture saying its from a mobile phone so people don't think the Palm version is so blocky and low-res looking.

RE: web browser
Ed @ 6/20/2002 8:29:49 PM #
Hold your cursor over the image and you'll get a pop-up window that does say that. I tend to not put regular captions on images because AvantGo doesn't deal well with them.

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News Editor

Site trouble

N473 @ 6/20/2002 2:21:02 PM #
The eweek link displays an ODBC error. Any other sources?

Cheers!
N473
RE: Site trouble
N473 @ 6/20/2002 2:22:56 PM #
Wouldn't you know it, they got it worked out. ;)

Cheers!
N473

Questions

robrecht @ 6/20/2002 2:45:56 PM #
Does it allow for a user to save favorites? I've heard this is a drawback of other Palm browsers.

Does the fact that it supports JavaScript 1.5 mean that it will allow me to get onto a corporate password protected website and collect emails from MS Outlook Exchange???

Thanks, Robrecht

RE: Questions
mtg101 @ 6/20/2002 2:54:08 PM #
I've not heard of any Palm browsers not supporting favorites / bookmarks. I think you'll find they all do.


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russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: Questions
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 2:58:43 PM #
Uh, its not even a Palm application yet...
RE: Questions
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 3:02:46 PM #
Also, do you guys know if it'll support hotmail?
RE: Questions - Favorites/Bookmarks
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/21/2002 1:35:27 PM #
Palm's Web Clipping web browser cannot save bookmarks (favorites), unless you add a program like Poplet to do this for you.

You also cannot directly save bookmarks using AvantGo unless you go to the AvantGo web site, which is not very convenient.

Ummm... What happened to Palm's browser???

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 3:04:16 PM #
What ever happened to this? Wasn't it announced that it would be available last month?
RE: Ummm... What happened to Palm's browser???
Ed @ 6/20/2002 3:23:51 PM #
One thing to keep in mind is that was Palm developing a browser, not PalmSource. Only Palm would have been using it. It's possible that Palm got word that PalmSource would be including this browser with OS 5 and stopped work on their own one. However, that completely speculation.

I'll see what I can find out from my contacts at Palm. In the past, though, all I've been able to get from them is that the browser is delayed. They may refuse to talk until PalmSource officially announces their own, which will probably be Monday.

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News Editor

RE: Ummm... What happened to Palm's browser???
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 3:29:12 PM #
GREAT QUESTION!!!! They announced it back in April or May and even included a release date. Then when the day came NOTHING. Ed had a little piece about it and Palm said that it was coming soon. Yet nothing ever happened.

Palm's version was supposed to support the i705, but since they have apparently stopped pursuing it, I stopped pursuing my i705, and am selling it.

RE: Ummm... What happened to Palm's browser???
EdwardGreen @ 6/20/2002 4:08:23 PM #
I got the impression that the Palm Browser would be a navigation and book marking front end for the HTML rendering already built into PalmOS 4.

That is still required.

Funny to think that an Average Palm device might have 3 HTML renderes installed - WCA, AvantGo and an Online Browser like Blazer.

-
kHiTeDev

WCA?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 4:15:32 PM #
What is WCA? Thanks.
RE: Ummm... What happened to Palm's browser???
Token User @ 6/20/2002 5:10:48 PM #
Web Clipping Application - also known as a PQA (Palm Query Application). These are basically static HTML files compiled into a single binary. They are of more use to network conencted devices as they handle linking to HTML content.

Unfortunately, their is no ability to build logic into a PQA beyond basic hyperlinking (ie no Javascript).

Interesting to note - a PQA/WCA for a PalmOS device will run on a RIM Blackberry as a Mobile Clipping App with no modification. Very cool.

RE: Ummm... What happened to Palm's browser???
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 5:15:22 PM #
the palm browser was more then just talk, I have a copy of it running on my 505 and clie right now. it works quite nicely. no idea why palm ditched it.
RE: Ummm... What happened to Palm's browser???
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/21/2002 3:00:12 AM #
can you post a screenshot of it?

Macromedia Flash / Active X / Java

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 7:15:49 PM #
It would be very useful for users and developers to support Macromedia Flash, Active X and Java in the browser.
RE: Macromedia Flash / Active X / Java
Ed @ 6/20/2002 8:32:42 PM #
Rumor has it Macromedia has a Flash player for the Palm OS but it runs too slowly on Dragonball processors. When ARM-based Palms came out, it should be released. However, Macromedia won't confirm this.

Read more about it:
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=3113

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News Editor

RE: Macromedia Flash / Active X / Java
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/20/2002 10:04:40 PM #
the dragonball is just way too slow to render vectors into raster images. wait for ARM archi. CPUs and that may become possible.
RE: Macromedia Flash / Active X / Java
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/21/2002 5:53:24 AM #
Who the **** needs ActiveX ?
And wouldn't it be a hoax to support 128 bit encryption system wide but open the door to any M$ virus for ActiveX ?
And isn't ActiveX a kind of "NetCode", only with Intel executables ?
And and and...

Please just let us alone with ActiveX !!!

RE: Macromedia Flash / Active X / Java
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/21/2002 10:32:50 AM #
ActiveX is actually a special type of Microsoft COM object.. At its most basic level an ActiveX object is a special type of DLL that publishes information about itself that can allow others to access its functionality through a late binding mechanism.

In other words..they are special executables that can be loaded up at runtime and executed...

So having ActiveX support doesn't open you up to viruses.. that is actually more of a result of M$'s insistence that everything in Windows should be scriptable through the most insecure of languages, VB. They expose all sorts of interesting system functionality to any script that comes along.. the actual ActiveX spec. is irrelevant in this regard.

Still, it's not an easy protocol to support.. and alot of the functionality that ActiveX controls depend on simply wouldn't exist on the Palm.. which would make the whole endeavor kind of worthless anyways.

RE: Macromedia Flash / Active X / Java
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/21/2002 12:10:45 PM #
"Rumor has it Macromedia has a Flash player for the Palm OS but it runs too slowly on Dragonball processors."

I was at a Macromedia seminar yesterday and spoke to their Technical Sales Manager Northern Europe - I asked him about flash players for PalmOS and said exactly that... The user experience would be so bad that they decided not to release it until Palm on ARM chips (or whatever) become available.

Cheers
Alex White

nokia smartphone web browser

drw @ 6/22/2002 12:55:33 AM #
The resolution in the nokia smartphone (the one that opens sideways) is superb. They are also advertising it heavily on CNBC. To bad it uses an OS that's about as popular as soccer in the usa.

No need to work on graphical browsers for handhelds until the wireless speed is there. When I'm waiting in line or sitting on the john I use avantgo or a textual web clipping app as by the time a connection is made, stuff downloaded into blazer, I'm done sh***** or my wait in line is over.

David in Pflugerville, TX

RE: nokia smartphone web browser
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/23/2002 7:39:08 PM #
you need more fiber in your diet :)
RE: nokia smartphone web browser
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/23/2002 9:34:04 PM #
it's not the popularity of something that matters, it's the quality that matters, if you let something's popularity get into your buying decisions then I really feel sorry for you.

Anyways you could think of it this way EPOC's market share in the smartphone market is close to 100%, because WinCE and PalmOS are not really there yet.

RE: nokia smartphone web browser
Ed @ 6/23/2002 10:54:37 PM #
> EPOC's market share in the smartphone market is close to 100%

While things may be different in Europe, EPOC's home ground, 93.2% of smartphones shipped in the U.S. in 2001 ran the Palm OS. This is according to an IDC report.

You might also be interested in this review of the Nokia 9290 from the Wall Street Journal:
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20020606.html

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News Editor

RE: nokia smartphone web browser
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 2:21:03 AM #
That's because most Nokia phone runs GSM 900/1800 while in this strange place we got GSM 1900, I was like WHAT !? those GSM 900/1800 phones are 200% cooler looking than those GSM 1900 phones and 50% cheaper than those Tri-Band world phone. Though choice, should I move to Europe so I could have better phones ~~ ..
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