By Chris Finnamore on Tuesday, 10 July 2007
 If you've ever tried using WAP, you may be sceptical about the idea of web access on your mobile. It's time to put cynicism aside and look at the new breed of browsers and phones.
The mobile internet got off to a shaky start. When BT Cellnet (as it was then
known) announced in 2000 that its new WAP-enabled phones would allow you to
"Surf the internet. Surf the BT Cellnet", expectations were sky high.
Sadly the reality didn't match the hype. Six years on, it's a very different
story. WAP has been largely forgotten and the current generation of phones and
smartphones have web browsers that are every bit as capable as their PC counterparts.
With many websites and online services now offering their own dedicated mobile
content and HSDPA
delivering broadband download speeds, the mobile internet is taking off at last.
Taking the WAP
Accessing the internet from a mobile phone became an option at the start of
the millennium, when the first handsets that supported Wireless Access Protocol
(WAP)
were launched. WAP was the mobile equivalent of the web's HyperText Transfer
Protocol (HTTP)
and a phone's WAP browser was in effect a simplified web browser. Unfortunately,
small, low-resolution handset screens and slow download speeds over GSM
(just 9.6Kbit/s) severely hampered the mobile web experience. WAP was largely
a text-based affair and a stark contrast to the burgeoning multimedia experience
available on the web. But these weren't the only problems.
There was no easy way to convert existing web pages to WAP format and good
WAP-specific creation tools were thin on the ground. As a result, few websites
bothered developing dedicated mobile content and mobile surfing was largely
limited to a handful of portals maintained by mobile phone operators (many of
which blocked access to WAP sites that lay outside their own microsites). As
customers paid by the minute for this slow, disappointing online service, it's
hardly surprising that WAP failed to take off.
A smarter phone
With the improvements that have been made in mobile phone handsets and network
technology over recent years, the situation is very different today, but mobile
browsing still has some way to go. Standard mobile phones tend to have somewhat
limited built-in browsers that are mainly designed for viewing a network's own
content portal, such as Vodafone's Live! service. Although users can still enter
standard web addresses, the browser can't display most of them.
 The best way to view standard HTML web pages on a mobile device is to use a
smartphone. Most smartphones are based on either the Symbian
Series 60 operating system (such as Nokia's), or Windows
Mobile (including Orange's SPV C600 and O2's XDA iQ). Windows Mobile 5 phones
come complete with Pocket Internet Explorer, which is just like the real thing
but smaller, while Nokia's Series 60 smartphones use Symbian's own web browser.
Pocket Internet Explorer can view almost any web page, but the Series 60 Symbian
browser struggles with graphics-heavy web pages and those that use frames.
Even so, Nokia smartphone owners can still download the excellent Opera
Mobile browser, which works just as well as Pocket Internet Explorer. Nokia's
N70 is shipped with Opera Mobile installed, while Nokia's latest smartphones,
such as the N71 and N80, have a brand new browser that's superior to both Opera
and Pocket Internet Explorer.
Resolution conflict
Despite the wide range of mobile browsers available, there are a number of
ways in which the mobile internet just can't compete with its bigger brother.
The main problem is still the size and resolution of mobile phone and smartphone
screens. Smartphone browsers get round this by automatically reformatting web
pages to suit their display, which they tend to do by presenting a page as a
single long column. The higher the screen resolution, the less reformatting
is required. Orange's SPV C600 and O2's XDA iQ have relatively high 240 x 320
resolutions, for example, while Nokia's N80 has a huge 352 x 416 display. Nokia's
N70, on the other hand, makes do with just 176 x 208, so its web pages get a
thorough reworking.
 When it comes to navigating web pages, modern mobile phones still face similar
problems to the WAP handsets of six years ago. Without any kind of pointing
device or even a traditional keyboard, most mobiles make web browsing an awkward
experience. Miniature joysticks and scroll wheels that can highlight and select
links are a big help, but tapping in web addresses on an a numeric keypad is
a chore. Fortunately, manufacturers are wising up to the needs of mobile internet
users. Many smartphones have full (if miniaturised) keyboards, while Nokia's
N71 and N80 have joystick-controlled onscreen pointers.
More cash, less speed
One area in which mobile internet access has improved dramatically is download
speeds. The GSM network originally maxed out at 9.6Kbit/s, but a network tweak
called High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD)
increased it to 14.4Kbit/s. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
tweaked this further still, but its theoretical maximum of 160Kbit/s was only
bettered with the arrival of a new mobile network. 3G's data service, High Speed
Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA),
delivers true broadband speeds of up to 1.8Mbit/s.
Mobile operators switched from charging users per-minute to charging per-megabyte
with the arrival of GPRS. Its packet-switched connection requires a network
channel only when data is being transmitted, whereas GSM needed its own channel
for the duration of the data call, whether data was being transmitted or not.
GPRS charges vary from tariff to tariff, with some operators offering free megabytes
along with free minutes and others simply charging as they're used. If you're
a big downloader, though, buying bundled megabytes invariably works out cheaper.
3G operators are offering some very good data deals at the moment, not least
because they want to tempt customers into joining them. T-Mobile's Web
n' Walk 3G bundle costs just £7.50 a month for unlimited data, although
you can't use the phone as a modem to surf the web on a laptop - you'll need
the £20-a-month unlimited tariff for that. The 3
network may offer 3G download speeds, but its content is restricted to 3's
own portal and access to the rest of the internet is blocked.
Upwardly mobile
As well as providing useful staple services, such as checking your email or
looking up train times from your mobile phone, networks and content providers
are starting to offer more ambitious services. The new PayPal
Mobile service, for example, lets you send money to other people using your
mobile. Once you've registered your phone to your PayPal account, you can send
money by text message.
Another exciting development is mobile video. This goes far beyond downloading
the occasional video clip to your handset. Vodafone recently teamed
up with Sky to bring satellite TV channels to mobile phones. It requires
a Vodafone 3G subscription and each Sky package costs £5 a month. An even
fancier video service is provided by SlingMedia's Slingbox.
Once connected to your home TV set-up and broadband internet connection, it
can stream programs directly to a handheld device.
After years in the doldrums, the mobile internet is finally coming of age.
More powerful handsets, better browsers and content designed specifically for
small screens make browsing on the move a compelling proposition. Getting the
true internet experience on your mobile phone is still some way off, but the
gap is narrowing. Factor in new services, such as PayPal and streaming television,
and there is certainly plenty to get excited about.
Here you'll find links to Google's mobile services, such as Google Mail and
Google News, as well as Google Mobile Web, which lets you search for pages formatted
for a phone's screen.
This is the index for Microsoft's mobile services. You can check your Hotmail,
chat with Windows Messenger users and access services such as MSN Calendar and
MSN Money from your mobile.
If you ever want to impress someone with your knowledge while you're out and
about, use WAPedia to search the Wikipedia online encyclopaedia from your mobile's
browser.
With Mail2Wap you can check any POP3 email account from your mobile's browser.
You don't need any special settings. Simply enter your email address and password
to check your mail.
National Rail Enquiries (wap.nationalrail.co.uk)
The simple National Rail Enquiries WAP site is text-based, which means it is
very fast and has to download a minimum of data, saving you money. It provides
live travel information as well as helping you plan your journey.
Froogle mobile (wml.froogle.co.uk)
The mobile version of Froogle checks prices across hundreds of online shops,
so it's useful if you're on the high street and want to know if you're paying
too much.
Unlike Opera Mini, Opera Mobile is a full mobile browser that displays web
pages in their original format. Some Nokia smartphones, such as the N70, come
with it installed, and it's available for any Symbian Series 60 OS Nokia phone,
Windows Mobile 5 and 2003 SE models.
Opera is fast, easy to use and gives you plenty of options for how you want
it to display web pages. You can adjust the quality of images to speed up browsing,
for example. You can also switch between desktop mode, which displays pages
as a PC browser would, and small-screen mode, which reformats pages so that
you only have to scroll vertically. The program costs around £13 to register.
Pocket Internet Explorer
This is found on Windows Mobile smartphones. Like Opera Mobile, it's a full
HTML browser and can display almost any web page. It's just as flexible when
reformatting pages, too.
Pocket IE has three display modes. 'Desktop' displays web pages in their original
format, 'One Column' displays them vertically and 'Default' is a cross between
the two. Unlike Nokia's Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition browser, there is no onscreen
pointer, so you use the keypad to navigate around a page.
While Opera runs quickly on even the slowest Nokia smartphones, Pocket IE is
smoother on some handsets than others. O2's XDA iQ copes well with large pages,
but Orange's SPV C600 can struggle. Despite this, Pocket Internet Explorer is
very competent.
Nokia Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition browser
Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition is the latest operating system for Nokia smartphones
and is found on handsets such as the N71 and N80. Its integrated browser is
far superior to that of older Nokia smartphones and is even better at displaying
web pages than Opera Mobile and Pocket Internet Explorer.
This mobile browser is easier to use than others because you use a pointer
to navigate web pages, rather than selecting links from the keypad. It is incredibly
fast and scrolls smoothly around graphics-heavy pages. When navigating a particularly
large page, a translucent window appears showing the entire area, so you can
keep track of where you are. It's by far the best phone browser available.
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