Handspring Releases Blazer 2.0

Posted By: Ed Monday, October 29, 2001 10:45:48 AM

Handspring has officially released a new version of it's Web browser. Blazer 2.0 offers all of the features of the original one, but with increased speed, improved security, and enhanced bookmarks. It works on any Palm OS device with an Internet connection, not just ones from Handspring. It is available now for $20. The upgrade is free for registered users of Blazer 1.1.

The Blazer Web browser provides access to almost any site on the Internet, not just those designed for mobile access. It supports color graphics, personalization, bookmarks, and security. In addition, it supports all major existing wireless Web browsing standards, optimizing HTML, WML and cHTML.

The new security features include support for 128-bit SSL encryption and additional security types, including proxy and HTTP authentication and viewing of secure web pages over HTTPS.

Browsing performance has been improved, making page rendering and navigating on the Web with Blazer faster than before. Also new in Blazer 2.0 is the ability to select the homepage that first appears when Blazer is launched.

"Internet browsing is quickly becoming one of the core applications for handhelds and communicators. We believe that one day people will use wireless devices even more frequently than desktop computers to access the Internet,'' said Joe Sipher, vice president of product marketing at Handspring."Blazer 2.0 is an important step in making this vision a reality with its improved performance, stronger security, and ease of use. Blazer works great on many Palm OS devices with an Internet connection, and we've optimized it to take advantage of the QWERTY keyboard and jog rocker in our upcoming Treo communicator products.''

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who cares?????

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 11:00:59 AM #
????????

RE: who cares?????
GregGaub @ 10/29/2001 11:12:34 AM #
How about everyone with a wireless connection for their Palm device? Blazer is easily the best solution for wireless web browsing.

RE: who cares?????
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 11:13:33 AM #
first try, then you'll care. blazer is by far the fastest browser I've tried. My only concern is if it does support high resolution displays, like the clie's. Does it?
if not, i'll have to switch to another when my clié arrives... any good 320x320 browser out there?

RE: who cares?????
GregGaub @ 10/29/2001 11:29:05 AM #
When the 710c first came out I remember screen shots of an enhanced browser. I think it might have been Plucker, but I'm not sure. You might be able to track down one of those old articles and see what browser it was using.

RE: who cares?????
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 11:38:35 AM #
I find myself asking the same question about the new Blazer. The 1.x version leaves much to be desired and is slow as hell when compared to other browsers for Palm OS, such as PalmScape.

If the new Blazer still depends on "server side" parsing, I'll pass on it. PalmScape does it faster on my Visor Prism anyway.

Just my $0.02,

James
bones3d@charter.net

8==8 Bones 8==8

RE: who cares?????
Edward @ 10/29/2001 11:54:37 AM #
I'm sorry, but I have used Blazer and Palmscape, and not only is Blazer faster but renders more consistantly and readably than palmscape. It also supports Palm specific HTML tags, making it far easier to develop for.

RE: who cares?????
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 12:02:21 PM #
I am really suprised that anyone specifically makes a browser for the Sony Clie. The clie has the lowest market share.

RE: who cares?????
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 12:19:56 PM #
Blazer sucks your wallet empty in days - Blazer has no offline capability. useless

RE: who cares?????
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 12:28:21 PM #
two things:
1. CLIE is not the one with the lowest market share, Handspring, wait and see CLIE overtake you.
2. Yes, someone does it, Palmscape does have a version specifically designed for CLIE w/ High Res support, version 4.0J, in japanese.

RE: who cares?????
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 1:13:42 PM #
Palmscape version with High-Res??

Really.. where did you get that? Where can I get it?

Thats what I want.

RE: who cares?????
Edward @ 10/29/2001 2:46:56 PM #
Blazer sucks your wallet dry?

Not mine. I have 50 free minutes of off peak calls on my mobile everyday - including Data. When do I want to check the web - off peak; after 7pm or at weekends.

Works for me.

RE: who cares?????
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 8:47:33 PM #
> ...The clie has the lowest market share....

Just for now..Don't u see the poor palm and handspring's market is shrinking and will be out of market very soon.

The fact is:
CLIE 610/710/760 --- kill your sweet M505 and Prism
CLIE S320--- kill your lovely Visor Neo, M100.M105,M125
CLIE T415 --- kill your bricky Visor Patinum,Pro & M500

so... palm and Handspring will be history and we will miss them forever.


RE: who cares?????
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 4:08:08 PM #
The lag Blazer's server causes wouldn't be noticable on a slower dialup/wireless connection due to the fact that the longer download times gives the server a plenty of time to parse the data before it's requested.

My setup, however. uses an 802.11b connection through a cable ISP. Since I'm not allowing the server time to parse the data, Blazer ends up idling while waiting for the next chunk of data.

PalmScape, on the other hand, is able to take advantage of the extra bandwidth... so the speed isn't noticibly different from most of the other machine on my LAN.

James
bones3d@charter.net

Link goes nowhere

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 11:15:35 AM #
The link is apparently not working. When you go to the Handspring site & click "upgrade now" it takes you to a page with no mention of the upgrade.

RE: Link goes nowhere
Ed @ 10/29/2001 1:46:20 PM #
This page is only for people who got Blazer along with a VisorPhone. If you got your copy from PalmGear or Handango, you'll get an email soon with instructions on how to get your free upgrade.

---
News Editor

Hey....where's my Hi-res??

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 11:16:10 AM #
I would really like to question about that Handspring intentionally do not provide Hi-Res support due to their CoI with Sony.....

Free upgrade for VisorPhone only?

jayhawk88 @ 10/29/2001 12:04:39 PM #
The Handspring site seems to be saying that the free upgrade from 1.1 to 2.0 is for Handspring VisorPhone owners only. When you try to download the upgrade, it prompts for "the serial number of your Handspring".

Anyone know if this free upgrade is available for those of us who just bought Blazer, but don't own a Visor/VisorPhone?

RE: Free upgrade for VisorPhone only?
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 12:45:08 PM #
just get a visor serial number, there are plenty around the net. I used that to donwload i-don't-remember-what.

Blazer Upgrade Answer
Ed @ 10/29/2001 12:52:17 PM #
There are two ways to get Blazer. Either you bought it from PalmGear/Handango or it came with your VisorPhone. If you got your copy from PalmGear or Handango, you'll get an email soon with instructions on how to get your free upgrade. VisorPhone users can go to Handspring's site and get the upgrade now.

Thanks to Brian at Handspring for clearing this up.

---
News Editor

RE: Free upgrade for VisorPhone only?
jayhawk88 @ 10/29/2001 2:17:17 PM #
Thanks for the legwork Ed.

PalmGear
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 2:33:23 PM #
As for PalmGear - they're only posting the ".exe" version of Blazer 2.0. Grrrrr, that really gets my goat.

Only people with Windows PCs use Palm devices, right?

RE: PalmGear
Ed @ 10/29/2001 3:23:13 PM #
On Handspring's support page, they say, "The Macintosh version of the Blazer 2.0 upgrade will be posted before 10-31-01."

---
News Editor
RE: Free upgrade for VisorPhone only?
Xian @ 10/29/2001 4:01:06 PM #
Just updated from 1.1 to 2.0 after I got the email from Handango.

Anyone else notice all the beta strings in the installer and readme file? Gotta love it *smirk*

Eudora Web?

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 4:40:03 PM #

How does Blazer compare with Eudora Web?

RE: Eudora Web?
ganoe @ 10/29/2001 6:35:09 PM #
Eudora Web does not require using a proxy while Blazer does, but Eudora Web does not display graphics and Blazer does. Those are the two most obvious distinctions, but I'm sure there are many more.

RE: Eudora Web?
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 8:54:05 PM #
I really like the speed of an all-text browser like Eudora Web. Unless there's some specific info in a graphic that you need I'd recommend sticking with Eudora Web; it's faster, and it's free.

At the same time, I do enough web-browsing on my Palm to feel that the $20 for Blazer was money well spent. Every now and then I've just GOT to see some image, and Blazer does the best job I've seen. Palmscape was pretty good, and the old Proxiweb wasn't bad, but load Eudora Web and Blazer together and you've got a good toolset.

Blazer vs Palmscape

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/29/2001 11:40:41 PM #
I have used both (Blazer V2.0 and Palmscape 3.13E) in my m505 and Palmscape is faster. This may be because I live in Thailand and therefore nearer to Palmscape's server. For the sites that I visited to test, Palmscape's formatting is slightly more readable and can access links that Blazer cannot. Blazer's interface and ease of use is great and far superior to Palmscape's convoluted and messy design.

However, overall, I will still stay with Palmscape but will keep an eye on Blazer to see how it improves. But if Palmscape reduces it's messy design and offers a simple interface like the Blazer, it'll be a tough fight for Blazer.

By the way, Palmscape currently has a Clie hi-res Japanese version out that can't be used in English language Clies. However Palmscape has confimed that an English version will be forthcoming. The resolution of this version of Palmscape is astounding so very clear and beautiful. All the detail in the graphics is readable - better than a PC in my opinion!

RE: Blazer vs Palmscape
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 5:12:13 AM #
Do you have the High-Res version of Palmscape?

I would love to have it. Where did you find it?

Thanks.

RE: Blazer vs Palmscape
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 9:07:04 AM #
Palmscape has been replaced with Xiino. Ilinx has a Hires version for Clie series of palm devices. It supports 128 SSL, Cookies, Javascript and it is very fast too. With Xiino Xip plugin, you can download a zip file and install the palm program directly. It has channel function which means you can download channels and read offline. Channels can be updated via modem or when you hotsync with the PC with internet access.

But the bad news, it is in Japanese as well. For those interested, the link is below:

http://www.ilinx.co.jp/products/xiino/index.html


RE: Blazer vs Palmscape
I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 9:13:50 AM #
I am the person who posted the Xiino info above. Just want to give my opinion on Blazer. I have tried the ver 1.1, that was bad. But ver 2.0 has improved a lot. I have used the beta version, it is fast and stable on my connection as well. Still room for improvement but this version has a lot of improvement (speed, page rendering, 128bit SSL, proxy support, etx) which I think the guys at HS deserve the credit.

But since my Clie came with Xiino, I use Xiino most of the time because it is fast and most important it is hires on my Clie N750C, I can go to jsp pages as well (javascript).

Won't work for me

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/30/2001 7:49:38 AM #
I downloaded the demo version and tried to use it with my GPRS connection and Palm m505. For no apprent reason, it refuses to download any pages. I eventually get an error message saying there is a problem with my internet connection, etc. Of course, every other internet app on my Palm works...

RE: Won't work for me
Altema @ 10/30/2001 2:36:38 PM #
Similar experience on my former IIIc, and that was after I had sent in my money of course. Fortunately I bought it at PalmGear, and promptly received a refund. If Handspring lets me try it this time on my current device, I might take another look.

Macintosh Version

harstad @ 10/30/2001 9:30:10 PM #
Hey, all you macintosh users! I emailed handango where I bought Blazer 1.1 and told them what I thought of having the Mac version come out later. This guy, Dale Pruitt <dpruitt@handango.com> emailed me back with a .prc file. Its 458k. If you want it, bought through handango and have your #. Give hime an email. Very satisfied.

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