Best Web Browsers for Pocket PC

Written on 5/14/2008 03:42:00 PM by poison_ivy

I've rounded up some of the web browsers I've been using on my windows mobile device and summarized the pros and cons of each browser. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will be able to make your own informed decision regarding which web browser you will use for your Windows Mobile device.

Opera Mini

The Opera Mini is the first web browser that I've found that blew me away. It was introduced during the iPhone hype and every windows mobile user wants a Safari Browser on their mobile phones. Well, I stumbled upon the Opera Mini during my search for a pocket pc version of the Safari browser. The Opera Mini is a java application so you have to run it on the midlet manager of your windows mobile device.

Pros:

Fast rendering of web pages
Smooth zooming
Can view web pages on desktop mode or single column mode
Smooth scrolling when using touch interface on touch screen phones

Cons:

No tabbed browsing
Data passes through servers so careful when visiting secured pages
Cannot view flash-based sites
Cannot copy and paste text

NetFront Browser 3.5

I've come across NetFront Browser during my regular visits to some windows mobile forums.

Pros:

Supports tabbed browsing
Smooth scrolling with touch screen phones
Supports Java and Ajax
Can copy and paste text
Can easily switch away from scrolling mode so you can easily click on links

Cons:

Mediocre page rendering
Doesn't support flash-based websites

Skyfire Beta

I was one of the lucky ones to have the first Skyfire Beta release since most of the guys at the windows mobile forums still haven't gotten their copy even though they have signed up before I did.

Pros:

Supports youtube in browser
Supports some flash-based websites

Cons:

Slow buffering of youtube videos
Doesn't support copy and paste function
Slow rendering of web pages
Slow zoom in and out function
Data passes through servers

Opera Browser 9.5

The Opera Browser 9.5 is also in Beta. I was only able to download it from XDA-Developers.

Pros:
Fast rendering of web pages
Smooth Zooming functions
Has Copy and Paste Function

Cons:
Does not support Full desktop YouTube (I don't know whether the problem is with the version I've downloaded since a guy at Youtube has posted a video of him using Opera Browser 9.5 for watching youtube videos. The video was blurry so I can't really tell if this video is real or fake)

Conclusion:

Of the overall browsers, my personal favorite is Opera Browser 9.5. It's the only decent browser among the bunch that can render web pages faster and has a smooth transition of zooming in and out of web pages. However, I use this in combination with Skyfire Beta. Whenever I have to visit some flash-based websites, I use Skyfire Beta since it's the only browser among the bunch that supports flash-based websites.

So I guess there's still no perfect browser for the Windows Mobile platform. Hopefully, if Skyfire is able to address their rendering issues and is able to render web pages faster without the use of data servers, it would become the browser to beat not only in the Windows Mobile arena but in the mobile browser category.