REVIEW: INTERNET EXPLORER Mobile 6 for Windows Mobile – VGA screenshots!

Yesterday, we posted about the preview of the Internet Explorer mobile 6 which is based on the desktop version of the Internet Explorer 6. Unfortunately, we could only test it via Device emulator. We managed to test it on the real device. Here is the review of it.

Please note that all the screenshots are in VGA resolution (640 x 480)

The browser has two modes: desktop and mobile. This basically tells the other sites that you are using a mobile device or you can set the browser to Desktop mode, which will tell the other sites that you are using IE 6.

If you type in anything in the above box, it will live search it and display you the results. Odd that it uses the mobile version of it even in the Desktop mode.

Zoom feature

You would say that the zoom feature is also there in the IE mobile included in the Windows Mobile 6.1 devices. But wait, this is a desktop-class IE. Remember? It displays pages accurately. ApoTheTech.com is a fairly complex website and it displayed perfectly!

Sadly, it takes a while to get to page zoomed out. Even on a powerful device like HTC TOUCH DIAMOND

When you have Zoomed out (menu>Zoom out), you can just tap the portion you want to zoom into.

And the youtube works inside the pages as well. It is slow, but it works. I’m sure this will improve in the future builds.

Other nice things I really liked

When you open Gmail, it takes you to the Desktop version of gmail!

But, we didn’t remain happy for a long time. See following screenshot

As soon as I clicked on sent items, it showed me this error
As soon as I clicked on ‘sent items’, it showed me this error

One of the nice touches of new IE is the ability to auto-complete the URL

Quirks:

  • Sometimes, it is not able to identify itself as Desktop browser. For example: going to engadget.com on the device lead me to the mobile version.
  • No tab support: It may be implemented in the future versions
  • Slow! It is way too slow right now to be useful

But still, it is a BIG initiative by the Microsoft to develop a desktop class web browser.

Internet Explorer Mobile 6 – Preview

Available on new Windows Mobile devices soon, this browser will provide a high-quality browsing experience on your device that more closely resembles a desktop browsing experience.

New/Improved features:

  • Improved fidelity (support for full fidelity desktop rendering)
  • Layout fixes to accommodate a mobile screen (text wrap)
  • Enhanced Script and AJAX support ( Jscript v5.7 from Internet Explorer 8 )
  • Improved multimedia experience (Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 for Adobe Flash content)
  • Deeper integration with search
  • Enhanced cursor navigation model
  • Touch and gesture support – pan support
  • Multiple zoom levels
  • Easy switching between mobile / desktop versions of sites by specifying UA strings

Download Internet Explorer Mobile 6 emulator

Windows Mobile 6.1 SMTP fix

Experiencing some problems with the SMTP functionality of POP or IMAP accounts on your windows mobile device?

This behavior is associated with a feature that is introduced in Windows Mobile 6.1. The feature allows for mobile operators to specify an alternate SMTP server name that is used if e-mail messages cannot be sent by using the user-specified SMTP server name. If the mobile operator does not specify an alternate SMTP server name and if the Windows Mobile 6.1-based device does not connect, the e-mail account is corrupted and cannot send e-mail messages.

Download the fix

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d9d71b2e-d2dd-44f2-86e5-1e53aad7fb7a&displaylang=en&tm

Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac Available Now

Do you run PPC-Mac? If yes, then Parallels Desktop 4.0 has something really nice for you to offer.

  • Built-in iPhone access for starting, stopping and managing your virtual machine from your handheld
  • Clips, a new proprietary screenshot sharing tool that lets you share captures between operating systems with a single click
  • Simultaneous device mounting in both Windows and OS X, so that manual switching of things like USB sticks and other removable storage devices
  • Multi-core processors and up to 8GB of RAM are now supported, with up to 256MB of video RAM possible
  • 64-bit computing support
  • Hypervisor adaptive resource management optimizes performance automatically based on your usage
  • PowerSaver improved battery management with battery status monitor in Windows VM
  • An SDK for developing third-party software compatible with Parallels, which could result in some interesting cross-platform applications

It also offers DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.1 support!. Version 4.0 of Parallel Desktop makes the user experience smoother than ever.

It costs $79.90. Link to the official Parallel Desktop page

Silverlight for Windows Mobile

“Wouldn’t it be super cool if the Silverlight apps you built for the desktop could run on Millions of Mobile Devices? If you have been building Silverlight applications and are wondering how to extend them to mobile devices, then this webcast is the one to watch. In this webcast you will not only learn how to extend your existing Silverlight 2 applications to work on Windows Mobile, but also learn how to build rich mobile Silverlight apps that play media, handle simple gestures, have cool animations, and enable web services.”

Ever had a dream or wish, if your desktop Silverlight applications could work on the mobile device? If yes, Amit Chopra at Microsoft explains how to do so.

Link

Google Toolbar – make your life easier

If you’re using Google Toolbar 5 for Internet Explorer (or Toolbar’s Firefox version), you can add the Gmail custom button to make your life easier. With the Gmail button, you can get new message alerts, see previews of your mail and use Toolbar’s search box to find any message no matter what page you’re on.

Google Toolbar also has a “Send to” feature: when you click on the “Send to” icon, a Gmail compose window opens that automatically includes a link to the page you’re currently on and any text you have highlighted on that page. This makes it easy to email your friends interesting pages you come across as you browse the web. Continue reading “Google Toolbar – make your life easier”

How To: Hard Reset/Factory Reset T-Mobile G1

Returning your unit to T-Mobile or for any other reason, you wanted to perform factory reset the T-Mobile G1? Here is how to do it:

  • Power off the G1
  • Hold Home Key + End key for 20 seconds or till you see a triangle with an exclamation point and a picture of the G1
  • Open the QWERTY keyboard and hit Alt+W

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Panels working on HTC Touch HD

First we had news of Touch HD’s TouchFlo3D working on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 and now someone has been able to run Xperia’s panels on the HTC Touch HD. This is a great news for the HTC Touch HD folks as now, they too can have the best of both worlds just like Xperia X1.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Panels working on HTC Touch HD!

According to harvsingh (at xda-devs), who has made this possible says that he has found the ‘frontend’ a lot better than the TouchFlo3D interface. He has also posted a proof-of-concept video. You can see the video below.

Get Atom processor on Red Fox Wizbook Netbooks

I guess, most of you must have never heard of Red Fox Netbooks. This is probably because they are sold only in Philippines. Anyway, they have been upgraded with an Atom Processor and larger display now. Look how similar is it as compared to ASUS EEE 1000H (specification wise too!)

Here are the specs of Red Fox Wizbook:

  • 10.2″ display screen (1024×600 pixel)
  • Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz
  • 1 GB RAM
  • 80 GB SATA HDD
  • 1.3MP webcam
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g
  • Built-in Stereo Speakers
  • LAN Slot RJ-45
  • Card Reader SD/MMC/MS

It comes with just 4000maH battery which should provide you battery life of around 2-2.5 hours.

Offical Red Fox Wizbook link