Posted by Supa_Fly
Hello Everyone. I felt we needed to have a thread specific to the browser that SE chooses to imbedded within our phones (W910/K850/w810 etc) and not like the following threads specific for UIQ but with the generic title NetFront.
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=86931#post1169829
http://www.esato.com/board/vi[....]pic=89670&start=30#post1209713 (S60 of old 2nd Gen).
Now currently SE decided to use NetFront v3.4 in the K850i (later Firmware builds) , W980i, W910i and I think the upcoming W760i.
Older phones use the v3.3 version such as the W810i.
If you're curious of ALL NetFront Browser for mobile (even the ones for smartphones) have a look here ...
http://www.access-company.com[....]frontmobile/browser/index.html
In version 3.4 are the following highlights. (not sure how color tag works)
[quote=Access][color=red]NetFront Browser v3.4 Key New Features (http://www.access-company.com/products/netfrontmobile/browser/nf34.html):
* Ajax support
* New RSS viewer libraries
* SMIL 2.1 support
* SVG 1.2 + microDOM support
* NetFront™ Document Viewer
NetFront Document Viewer is an advanced software solution that enables full viewing of Microsoft® Office documents including Word, Excel®, and PowerPoint® on mobile devices. NetFront Document Viewer supports documents created with versions of Microsoft® Office 97 and newer and includes user-selectable document zooming and rotation features. NetFront Document Viewer is available as an optional plug-in for NetFront Browser v3.4.[color=red][/quote]
* Of specific note is the native ability to view Adobe LE PDF files!!
[quote=Access]Adobe® Reader® LE (Adobe)
Adobe Reader LE was jointly developed by Adobe and ACCESS to bring PDF technology to beyond-PC devices. NetFront Browser with Adobe Reader LE enables the seamless display of PDF files.[/quote]
- yet somehow SE has blocked this, and I'm unsure just why?
v3.4 Main Features include:
[quote=Access]Main Features
* Multiple rendering modes including Smart-Fit Rendering™ and Rapid-Render™
* Direct URL Input, Bookmarks, History
* Page Memo
* Tabbed Multi-Window support
* Continuously adjustable Zooming
* Word Wrap, Line boundary character check
* Search and Find within pages
* Software Keyboard
* Vertical/Horizontal Scroll and Drag Scroll
* Caching
* Offline Browsing and Page/Image Saving
* Streaming Download
* Direct Connect (Secure monitoring and control of devices from the browser)
* Intelligent Frame Handling (Select and zoom individual frames)
* Intelligent Pop-Up Blocker
* RSS/Atomfeed Support
* Integrated Internet Search
* International Domain Name Support
* Web Data and Password Manager (Automatically complete text input)[/quote]
Of SPECIFIC interest to me and a few others that have Out of Memory issues when trying to load certain pages ...
[quote=Access]Memory Requirements
* ROM: 1MB-2MB (Kernel +SLIM)
* RAM: Depending on complexity of content viewed (2MB-8MB)[/quote]
Now I'm just HOPING when SE decides to implement Access-Company's NetFront v3.5 Imbedded Browser to our phones!
* Adapted for "Web 2.0"
* RSS Support : ensuring high performance with various RSS formats (RSS 0.9, 0.91, 0.92, 1.0, 2.0/Atom 0.3,1.0).
* Faster Content Display Speeds (hoping faster than or equal to Opera Mini)
* Visual Bookmarks: Visual Bookmarks enables quick navigation and selection of bookmarks by providing thumbnail previews, page titles, and URLs for bookmarked sites. ( I tested this for the WM6Pro platfom I was STOKED!)
* Smart Slider Menu: Smart Slider Menu is a short cut bar that enables user to select functions easily and quickly.
* Smart Swing Navi: Smart Swing Navi uses an image captured by camera capable devices to enable scrolling and zooming simply by tilting the device vertically and horizontally. (very interesting, wondering if JP-8 will also be used)
* NetFront Browser Widgets!
* MARKUP: cHTML, HTML 4.01, XHTML1.1, XHTML Mobile Profile 1.2, WML 1.3, SVGT-1.2, SMIL 2.1, RSS feed (RSS 0.9/0.91/0.92/1.0/2.0, Atom 0.3/1.0
BIG CHANGES!
* Memory Requirements:
# ROM: 1MB-3MB (Kernel +SLIM) - up by 1MB here ppl.
# RAM: 2MB- (Depending on complexity of content viewed)
* Mobile Flash (Digital Aria)
Mobile Flash™, a solution from Digital Aria Co., Ltd., is a vector graphic multimedia solution for mobile devices. Mobile Flash is designed for CPU environments featuring ARM9 100 MHz processors (or higher) and can play back vector graphic content in the QVGA class at 12 FPS or more. Mobile Flash supports the playback of Flash Lite 2.0 and Flash 7.0 content.
All this with the ability to sync our Mobile Bookmarks with IE (I was hoping for Firefox support even limited but nothing yet)!!
Personally I'm beginning to use NetFront more and more because of this (UNLESS I need to view a large site then its to Opera Mini).
Hoping you all find this info useful. Mods My apologies for another thread but so many others titled "NetFront" was geared to smartphones (UIQ, S60, WM).
Posted by aksd
Nice write up. I'm using V3.5beta on my HTC TyTn2 and its just amazing. I love the browser, nothing else comes close to it imo.
Posted by shyam335
They chose to install just the browser,all the office/pdf/other stuff viewers are plugins. It might save a lot of money in terms of licensing.
Posted by Supa_Fly
Thanks guys for the kind words & info.
* I totally forgot about licensing and the reason for excluding plugins.
However I figured since SE uses NetFront Browser exclusively then Access would cut them a break for v3.4 and its nicety's.
I know Access has other apps like a dedicated email client & messaging as well - I was hoping that the messaging app plugin of NetFront would be used to replace the aging MyFriends app that is barely used.
Posted by sony w760a
I recently bought the 760a from AT&T and it does have the Netfront 3.4 browser. It does not seem to have the document viewer or support widgets, which is a shame. Anyone know how I can get it?
Also, the Sony website offers a download of Opera; I am new to this and would appreciate any insight into why it would be worth it to not only have the embedded Netfront browser and the Opera browser. I am not so much looking for a comparison of features as that is available with a quick google search but rather someones specific experience where the benefit of Opera over the Netfront 3.4 on the phone would warrant spending the system resources on Opera.
Lastly, it does seem that clicking on a link in an email always fails. Any insight into why that would happen is Gmail or Yahoo mail on the SE 760a phone?