Internet Explorer Mobile Update Will Require New Devices

Internet Explorer Mobile 6Microsoft has confirmed reports that the next version of its Mobile Internet Explorer browser will not be made available to existing device users. In a blog post and comment followup, Windows Mobile reps state that the updated IE Mobile will not be available as an upgrade or direct download for current phones, but rather will be made available on new phones. The company says "the rich media experiences that IE Mobile 6 enables require more powerful, advanced devices."

Microsoft has just announced the availability of emulators and documentation for Internet Explorer Mobile 6, primarily for developers. The new version will support a improved "desktop like" browsing experience. Feature additions include better mobile layout support, enhanced javascript and AJAX support, Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 support, touch and gesture support, multiple zoom levels and a number of other under the hood improvements.

Microsoft first announced the new version of Mobile IE back in April when it first detailed Windows Mobile 6.1. A Microsoft employee named Khush posts that IE Mobile 6 is expected to show up in devices at the end of 2008 or early 2009.

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Lame!

TheRealTrueLuck3 @ 11/13/2008 12:28:27 PM # Q
New devices? Really? Maybe I should be posting to the IE 6 Mobile forums (and probably will), but do we know if its proxy based? If so, you can't tell me we need more powerful devices. Look at SkyFire...that App runs faster than the current IE Mobile version on my WM6.1 Treo Pro. SkyFire runs anything I've thrown at it, embedded Windows Media streaming, YouTube videos, Flash, literally any site I've tried has worked 85% - 100% perfect. Oh yeah, did I mention SkyFire is still only in beta?
Come on Mobile IE team..."better, more powerful devices?" Why don't you write you code more efficiently and come up with more creative software engineering techniques? They are still phones, not laptops. People don't want to spend more on their devices because manufactures have to add memory and faster clocking CPU's and GPU's in their Smartphone/PDA.
Now, on the other hand, if it's based on direct internet access and not proxy based services, that's another story (but not an excuse to demand faster devices for your bloated app). I do admit that there are adverse effects on some sites when accessed through a proxy service, usually because they are trying to deliver content based on your ISP/location.

RE: Lame!
hkklife @ 11/13/2008 2:11:12 PM # Q
Microsoft & their hardware partners, in the face of increasingly fierce competition, might be trying to take a page from Palm's playbook: "Incremental software upgrades can only be had with the purchase of new hardwre that may be equal or in some cases worse than the device you already own"

Either that, or Microsoft is out to destroy the hideous SSS (small square screen) favored by Palm. No more 240x240, 320x320, or 320x240 "widescreen" devices, perhaps? If so that's worthy or a "yee haw!" in my book!

From 2008 onwards, I consider 320x480 as the BARE minimum for a decent mobile web browsing & media experience. if Microsoft is gonna put their foot down and abolish support for all of those nasty old small screen devices, then I'm all for it!

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

RE: Lame!
joad @ 11/14/2008 11:01:55 AM # Q
Yes, looks like Microsoft is feeling like they're finally doing well with that WinceMob abomination and can follow Palm's lead in fixing problems by requiring their customers to buy new hardware. Palm has been pulling that for years, but it's finally caught up with them as their stock price shows. Palm seems to be relegated to building Fisher-Price colored toy phones nowadays, with only vaporware on the horizon.

The tried and true business model of screwing your existing customers should finally be going out of fashion as the economy works hard to catch up (down) with our Chinese competitors. Somehow "High Tech" has been able to get away for years with releasing underspec'd garbage that they "fix" 6-12 months later with another identical device that just happens to be better designed.

Witness the $600.00 Treo 650 released with buggy NVFS capable of holding about 60% of the $600.00 Treo 600 it was supposed to replace. To paraphrase a quote attributed to Dirkson: "A half thousand here, a half thousand there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." You can churn your customers for a while and get those short-term sales... BUT- the long term market share and customer loyalty during tricky economic times will belong to the companies that design their products to be reliable and robust, and support them well. Ask anyone who owns a SONY laptop to talk with a Thinkpad owner and see if the "prettier" one makes them happier than the one with good design and support and reliability. Even in tough economic times people will buy things - but they'll take more time to evaluate and will more often go for the product that has a long and proven track record of support AFTER the sale. Good luck with the churn, Microsoft - one more reason to consider a Blackberry.



Paying my annual PDA update tax to Palm since 1997.

RE: Lame!
Gekko @ 11/14/2008 11:51:15 AM # Q

what is your current device?

RE: Lame!
hkklife @ 11/14/2008 12:06:02 PM # Q
IIRC, Joad uses a Sprint 755p. Please forgive me if that recollection is incorrect.

I'm still on my Verizon 755p + Verizon V9m dumbphone combo (for the time being).



Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

RE: Lame!
Gekko @ 11/14/2008 12:55:30 PM # Q

why do you insist on fumbling with two devices? and two phones no less!!!

RE: Lame!
hkklife @ 11/14/2008 1:03:50 PM # Q
Because the Treo is a horrible telephone...from both a reception & a sound quality standpoint. Add to that the crummy BT support and no native or reliable voice dialing capability and anything Palm OS-based simply blows as a reliable business phone.

The Motorola is a small, sleek, thin dumbphone with a decent camera, good build quality, rock-solid BT and voice quality and reception.

The two devices compliment each other nicely but even I am getting tired of fumbling/synching/charging two devices. And I am frequently misplacing one or the other and run around the house or the office calling one of the phones trying to find it. So I have vowed in 2009 to give convergence another shot but PIM functionality as well as voice quality/reception will be THE determining factors this time around.

I will not be dazzled by fluff or whatever is the hipster favorite du jour.

If it's some kind of miraculously rejuvenated Garnet device in Q1, then fine. If it's a Nova device that finally brings Garnet up to par with other modern OSes, then that's even better. If it's RIM, then I'll only be the Storm and I'll try to familiarize myself ASAP. If it's WinCE Mob then I'll insist on a hotrod handset with a big high-res screen and at least I'll have Graffiti 1 back. One thing's for certain-it won't be an iPhone!

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

RE: Lame!
Gekko @ 11/14/2008 2:15:20 PM # Q

hmmn. strangely, my sprint centro has crystal clear voice quality/reception. i don't usually fool with the camera or BT - but they're "good enough" if needed anyway. what good is the RZR's "small-sleek-ness" if you are carrying around two friggin phones? and where do you put these things??? please don't say belt clip or man bag.

ergo - scrap everything and try the centro solo! and you will be the envy of the block!!!



RE: Lame!
Gekko @ 11/14/2008 4:39:21 PM # Q

Apparently created for police detectives, construction workers, or anyone with zero sense of fashion and/or shame, the e-Volve Gadget Shoulder Holster is just that: A shoulder holster which, according to the manufacturer, "is designed to evolve and adapt to the reality of constant state of change in personal electronics by enabling you to wear your present and future gadgets". Yes, it does all that. It has been engineered to "access your gadgets quickly," like if your iPhone was Chuck Norris' revolver. But make no fun of this, because this thing does it all:

http://gizmodo.com/5086832/iphone-shoulder-holster-is-chuck-norris-favorite-fashion-accessory



RE: Lame!
DarthRepublican @ 11/14/2008 8:52:24 PM # Q
I carry my Treo 680 and either an iPod or a Palm TX in my cargo pants. It seems silly to force yourself to use a single device for everything even if it does half those things badly. The iPhone's lack of decent PIM software and a real keyboard makes it a poor PDA and a poor texting device and a mediocre phone (try and see how fast you can scroll through a hundred contacts let alone a thousand). Likewise the Cenro's small screen, 2.5 inch headphone jack, and aging OS make it a mediocre media player and a worse e-book reader.

I'd cast a few envious glances at the iPhone and iPod Touch and they've become more attractive as more applications have become available for them. Quite frankly, if the Touch could use a GSM phone as a Bluetooth modem the way my Palm TX can, I would probably move to it right now. I'm perfectly happy with my Treo as my PDA and phone. What I really need is a decent web browsing, e-book reading, and video playing device. My Palm TX can do all three but its version of Blazer is decrepit and I already have a ton of iPod formatted videos....

Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/

RE: Lame!
SeldomVisitor @ 11/15/2008 6:07:58 AM # Q
> ...the e-Volve Gadget Shoulder Holster...

I can just imagine the reaction of TSA if ya tried to wear THAT through airport security.

Gack!

RE: Lame!
abosco @ 11/15/2008 12:53:03 PM # Q
The iPhone's lack of decent PIM software and a real keyboard makes it a poor PDA and a poor texting device and a mediocre phone (try and see how fast you can scroll through a hundred contacts let alone a thousand).

If you don't like the virtual keyboard, that's a reasonable complaint, but what is lacking in the PIM software? Also, how do you figure it's a mediocre phone? Contacts has a bar on the right that you can drag to the desired starting letter. So if you want to find George, you tap the G on the right-hand side. There's also a search field at the top of contacts.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + S710a

RE: Lame!
DarthRepublican @ 11/15/2008 6:18:17 PM # Q

If you don't like the virtual keyboard, that's a reasonable complaint, but what is lacking in the PIM software? Also, how do you figure it's a mediocre phone? Contacts has a bar on the right that you can drag to the desired starting letter. So if you want to find George, you tap the G on the right-hand side. There's also a search field at the top of contacts.

Because I'm used to being able to just type "ge..." and have my Treo drill down through my contacts to find George directly from my phone application. I just works naturally and intuitively for me and I'm loathe to give it up.

Also speaking of PIM apps, IIRC there was no way of syncing notes/memos with your desktop in the original iPhone/Touch. Has this changed with the newer versions or is there a good third-party application that allows you to do this?

Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/

RE: Lame!
joad @ 11/15/2008 7:20:10 PM # Q
Apple voted style over substance with the iPhone and in the short term they're winning.

It's a great MP3/AAC browser and player, they have a few neat applications developed for it (and the prices are a whole lot more reasonable than Palm's ones), but other than that it's crap compared to the Treo. It's too thin - hard to comfortably hold in a normal hand for very long. The "virtual" keyboard is TERRIBLE - coming from a Treo or even a Blackberry it's nearly useless. The battery life sucks, and your *only* option is to tether the phone when it dies. Safari routinely crashes or freezes, you are limited to under 150 applications TOTAL, and iTunes is horrible at managing applications - it pretends to be a central source, yet in practice it's a disjointed pool of poop that sticks to your phone and spreads to every computer your phone touches.

Worst of all, you're stuck with the evil empire of AT&T. Only.


Paying my annual PDA update tax to Palm since 1997.

RE: Lame!
abosco @ 11/15/2008 10:40:27 PM # Q
Also speaking of PIM apps, IIRC there was no way of syncing notes/memos with your desktop in the original iPhone/Touch. Has this changed with the newer versions or is there a good third-party application that allows you to do this?

I think there are a few backdoor methods of syncing the standalone Notes application with your desktop, but I know for a fact there are several third-party applications that can do this, and most are free. Evernote has you create an account on their website, which syncs your iPhone to your desktop, and vice-versa.

It's too thin - hard to comfortably hold in a normal hand for very long.

You're the first person in the history of mankind to ever complain that a phone was "too thin".

The battery life sucks, and your *only* option is to tether the phone when it dies.

Battery life was abysmal on the original 2.0 software for the iPhone 3G. Same thing with 3G reception. Firmware 2.1 completely fixed both issues for me. And believe me, this was no placebo update. I've had MAYBE one dropped call since the 2.1 update, whereas I was experiencing two or three daily under 2.0. It was so bad under 3G that I had it switched off the majority of the time, and I was ready to take back the phone. 2.1 was really that fantastic. Since then, reception has been superb, and I battery life easily gets me through the day. Everybody I know routinely complains about their phone dying during the day, whereas my iPhone 3G is going strong.

Safari routinely crashes or freezes, you are limited to under 150 applications TOTAL...

Safari crashes on me about 5% of the times that I use it. It's a small number, but it's still too high. However, usually I can just open Safari back up and it'll load up the page I was browsing, so it's not a complete crash-and-burn. But it is definitely something they need to address. As for the other things, 150 applications is a huge amount. But I'm sure if there are enough complaints in the future, they can extend that number. I've got 48 third-party apps, and I feel like that's pushing it.

Here's my take...

A good majority of the things that are lacking on the iPhone are things that have been virtually solved by third-party updates. But I have my own list of missing features on the iPhone:

1) Good document editing software
I need good Office support, and not just mild editing. Textmaker on Windows Mobile was very good, and I'm expecting very much the same here.
Solution - Dataviz is hard at work on this, and it seems like they're betting the bank on it.

2) Bluetooth support
Right now, Bluetooth support is, well, shit. It can pair to your headset for calling, but you can't voice dial with it. You can't even listen to music via A2DP. You can't transfer files or sync with other iPhones over Bluetooth (fat chance of this happening with all of the DRM BS, even though this could so easily be implemented in the software), and you can't sync your iPhone to iTunes over Bluetooth or even Wifi. Finally, a lot of people resist switching to the iPhone because they don't want to use the virtual keyboard for heavy email use, so give me some Bluetooth keyboards and peripherals.
Solution - The Apple iPhone SDK prohibits Bluetooth peripheral devices. Change that immediately.

3) Cut and Paste
Stupid. Should be up and running right now, but Apple probably has it on hold because they can't figure out a way to make it work without having three fingers on the screen at once.
Solution - Somebody already dreamed it up. Put it in NOW.
http://vimeo.com/266383

4) MMS
Look Apple, I understand you want everyone to use "rich email", but until you get the rest of the world to use an iPhone (you're doing pretty well, by the way), I need MMS. It's annoying getting that stupid text message that says, "You have received a multimedia message..." Oh, and thanks to no copy/paste function, I have to memorize the username and password combination to use the shitty viewmymessage.com service. By the time I get it right, and God forbid the server doesn't hang for ten minutes, I'm greeted with a flash page, which brings me to my next point...
Solution - Simple. Implement it, Steve.

5) No Flash
Thank God there is a separate YouTube application, because although the iPhone has a phenomenal web browsing experience, the lack of Flash kills it.
Solution - It sounds like Apple is scared of a mobile device with limited resources having to wade through Flash ads and crap content. However, give the user the option to disable it, or have it only usable on Wifi. Something. Anything.

6) Turn-by-turn direction
Even though one of the two major additions of the iPhone 3G was built-in GPS, it has absolutely abysmal turn-by-turn support. In Google Maps, you have to manually tap the steps forward or backwards in order to navigate the route, and you have to press a separate button to have it follow the blue dot that indicates your current position.
Solution - TomTom has turn-by-turn GPS software ready to roll for the iPhone 3G, and it's been like this for five months now. Give them the OK to start selling it and it'll KILL.

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but this is my short list of things that need pretty immediate addressing.

Now that I've got this typed up, I can get a little how-to done for Gekko on converting from a Treo to an iPhone. But I have a feeling that even if I don't get it done, he'll end up switching to the platform anyway by 2009.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + S710a

BB Storm mini-review from Sammy @ PalmAddicts
hkklife @ 11/16/2008 9:28:46 PM # Q
The first BB Storm (Vodafone version) mini review from someone who is related to the Palm world. (Sammy @ PalmAddicts)

http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/2008/11/sammys-after-we.html

Camera image quality looks good, as does the build quality & construction. I'll be interested in reading his subsequent comments.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

RE: Lame!
AdamaDBrown @ 11/16/2008 11:14:09 PM # Q
In case anyone's interested, the reason it's not going to be available as a downloadable upgrade is apparently because Microsoft's adding some OS infrastructure to help handle the improved browser. So it's an OS upgrade as well as a browser upgrade.

That does open up the possibility that we may see it available in updated ROMs for existing devices, however. And I wouldn't be surprised to see it on XDA-Developers within a week or two.

RE: Lame!
SeldomVisitor @ 11/17/2008 3:28:12 AM # Q
> ...Microsoft's adding some OS infrastructure to help handle
> the improved browser...

I have an inherent permanent fear of user-level applications that require kernel mods to run.

RE: Lame!
AdamaDBrown @ 11/17/2008 2:12:15 PM # Q
It's not like this is an unauthorized thing or something. Just think of it as requiring the latest OS update.

RE: Lame!
Gekko @ 11/17/2008 2:22:17 PM # Q

and so goes the price of progress!



BB Storm = ZombieOS
Gekko @ 11/17/2008 2:25:19 PM # Q

i'll take FrankenGarnet over ZombieOS.

RE: Lame!
mikecane @ 11/17/2008 4:10:40 PM # Q
>>>4) MMS

Reference: How To Send MMS On An iPhone
http://mikecane.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/reference-how-to-send-mms-on-an-iphone/

Why don't you get Gekko's # and give it a try? Send him a picture of, oh I don't know, a Lexus being set on fire?

RE: Lame!
ljepava @ 11/18/2008 9:41:10 AM # Q
i dont care.
opera 9.5 build 2392 works great for me. also netfront works great. on my hp ipaq 214 VGA, browsing experience with those two is almost as good as desktop.



RE: Lame!
abosco @ 11/18/2008 12:39:11 PM # Q
Yes, trust me, I'm aware. I've used it before, and it works.

But until there's a workaround for receiving MMS messages, then it's not enough.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + S710a

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