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You got to fight, For your right, To upgrade! Wait what? Tell Nokia we want the new browser that S60v3FP1 has!

By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 11:06 PM

Today was an interesting day in the sense that I went on quite a long road trip with my friend Andrea. Long by my definition is 2 hours, so I had a lot of time to kill. Thanks to my E61 I turned the bluetooth on, booted up my laptop, and was greeted to mobile internet at speeds of over 80 miles an hour (128 km/h for my fans in Finland) … I’m in heaven. I do what I always do when I have time to spare, I check out all the websites I bookmarked for later viewing. I just heard probably the most influential podcast I can hear out of Nokia, and it’s from 3 weeks ago. The main topic discussed is the mobile browser on the upcoming Series 60 3rd edition Feature Pack 1 platform. It’s a 16 minute long podcast, and if you don’t want to listen to it fear not because I took notes!

Before I submit my scribbling below I just want to say something directly to Nokia: If people love your devices this much for the browser alone then please give them a big warm kiss and hug by releasing the updated version. This exact topic in it of itself is the reason I contacted Tommi for the first time at the S60 blogs, I asked him weather or not my E61 would be upgradeable to S60v3FP1 just so I could have this updated browser.

If you care about the browser on your S60 device then post a comment on the podcasts blog post over here telling him how much you want an upgrade! To all the bloggers who read this, please spread the word on your blog too, we need to let Nokia know that the browser is one of the many reasons we love our devices. I’m not asking for an update to S60v3FP1, although that would be nice, I just want this updated browser! Anyway, check out my notes below.

Browser has become one of the key selling points in many of the S60 devices.

The browser in the E62 is so good he [reviewer] wants to throw away his Palm Treo and Motorola Q.

Browser has become a key decisive factor in the buying process of consumers.

The browser is the S60’s killer app, and will remain that way.

New version will be “launched” on Nokia N95, and various other non-Nokia mobiles.

New browser is apart of the Series 60 Feature Pack 1 platform.

Will users be able to upgrade?
    ·    users will not be able to upgrade
    ·    we’ve been hearing this request, consumers love it
    ·    we are exploring different venues of how the browser to be upgraded
    ·    right now the answer is no, but we are considering it
    ·    there is a tremendous interest
    ·    definitely in the maybe category

New features:
    ·    New browser does WAP, XHTML, and full web experience
    ·    Experience everything with one browser, meaning no more separate services and web
    ·    Floating toolbar, similar to something you see on desktop browser
    ·    Bringing the desktop like experience to mobiles
    ·    Widescreen support, rotate those nice large screens
        o    Toolbar:
            Â§    4 fixed features
            Â§    Activates when you click on a space on the site without links
            Â§    New feeds supports HTML rendering, and ATOM (wicked)
            Â§    Automatic feed discovery
            Â§    S60.com/browser ß new features listed, and demos
    ·    save pages for offline browsing
    ·    flash lite 2 support (flash 6 and 7 content)
    ·    “man this browser is much faster than the earlier version”
    ·    “you can feel the difference”
    ·    “we’ve taken care of the memory consumptions”
    ·    “we improved the browser at the core level”
    ·    Auto complete and password manager

Future of the S60 browser:
    ·    2007/8 many of the web services out there will go mobile
    ·    Tons of mobile services can be built on top of this browser
    ·    I can’t talk about it further

Development community located in Boston “quite a few people” working on it

Check out our blog please: blogs.s60.com/browser

Picture of a deer on blog? Wtf?

“The engine that we use is open source, so to be a citizen of the open source community we have to contribute things back. The code name of this project is called rain deer. The idea of rain deer is because Nokia is a Finish company."

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About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • Dimilaz

    Hopefully Nokia will have that browser available for e61 and other e-series. I am not quite impressed with OperaMini. I want flash and all other things to see in my browser.

  • Stefan Constantinescu

    I don’t care about the flash, but I would like a snappier browser, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the “memory full” error pop up on me.

    Right now Opera for Mobile devices and Opera Mini are the two main browsers I use depending on whether I’m on WiFi or GPRS.

  • Henrikki

    Try empting the cache from time to time..My N73 doesn’t give me that much trouble any more. The software updates have helped with that. Tried the Mini..just for curiosity, and it was a real shock after the S60 Browser. Can’t go back to scrolling up and down the screen..

  • Stefan Constantinescu

    just use the directional pad, when you go left and right operea mini scrolls it up and down

  • Henrikki

    Stefan,

    I know how to scroll with Opera, it just feel stupid and pointless after using the S60 Browser. I think the scrolling is only half of the problem: because Opera renders pages differently, they come less clear in their structure and text colums are more difficult to read.

    When you basicly read 95 % the same www-sites all the time, the S60 Browser is so much faster and easier to use…the sites can be seen the same as with the PC..you have the same layout to use in your mobile. Knowing the layout makes using S60 Browser a point and shoot browser..:). I really don’t have any motivation to use Opera.

  • Stefan Constantinescu

    I disagree Henrikki, the whole point of Opera is to fit the web onto your screen, something that the Nokia browser doesn’t do.

    I’m not telling you to use only one browser, I switch between the two depending on if I’m connecting via GPRS or WiFi. Sometimes I need to see a whole website, rarely tho.

    Yes being able to see the same website on my device the same way I see it on my PC may be handy, but sometimes all I want is the information really. I don’t care about the graphics, the columns, any of that excess. All I want is the content.

    Opera certainly isn’t stupid, it just takes a different approach than Nokia.

  • Henrikki

    Yes Stefan , I was just saying that Opera’s approach doesn’t work for me, because I don’t like the scrolling..:). I don’t care about the graphics either, but I do care about how information is displayed on my N73. In that sense the S60 Browser works way better for me, I get to the content more quickly with S60 Browser.

    Somebody else likes other solutions. It’s good that there are choices..

  • mr condo

    I love my e62 — just wish it was faster at opening emails and files.

    I heard that Nokia just put out a software upgrade for the e61 which significantly increased the speed of the user interface…

    Can anybody confirm that news? Is the upgrade applicable for the e62? If no, any news on upcoming softward enhancements for the e62?

    thx.

    jh