Vision Mobile Browser

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Vision
VisionMobileBrowserScreenshotWikipedia chicagoland.png
Vision Browser Screenshot
Developer(s) Novarra Inc.
Initial release October 2002
Stable release 8.00 / 2009; 15 years ago (2009)
Operating system cross-platform
Type Microbrowser
License Proprietary
Website {{#property:P856}}

Vision (formerly nWeb) is an internet browser platform for mobile devices developed by Novarra Inc. The product consists of a server that acts as a proxy and a small footprint browser that runs on Java Platform, Micro Edition, BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless), or native handset environments via C++.

Novarra created and holds patents for this distributed browsing architecture that combines an in-network server with a handset browser client. The architecture performs a portion of web page content processing on an in-network server thus reducing the workload on the handset. It also reduces data transferred over-the-air for faster page load times and provides access to more content than is possible by a handset browser alone.

Novarra offers the mobile browser to mobile network operators and handset manufacturers who typically rebrand the software as their own service. It was first made commercially available in 2002 through Palm, Inc for Tungsten (handheld) PDAs branded as “WebPro”.[1][2] Some later releases of the mobile browser include U.S. Cellular as easyedgeSM mobile browser,[3][4] Alltel as “My Mobile Web” Celltop application,[5] Hutchison 3G as “www3”[6] in Italy and “3Xplorer”[7] in Hong Kong. Version 8.0 was released March, 2009.[8]

Functionality

Mobile phone users can access and use the same web sites on their wireless handsets that they visit using personal computers. Full web pages load in seconds due to compression and in-network processing of content by the server.

Content Type Support: “Street” HTML, HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, XHTML Basic, XHTML MP, cHTML, HDML, WML 1.1, Cascading Style Sheets v1, CSS v2, W-CSS, Tables, Frames, Forms, JavaScript 1.5, ECMAScript v3, ECMAScript Mobile Profile, HTTP cookies, Basic Authentication, gzip, Multi-Part MIME, GIF, Animated GIF, JPEG, BMP file format, WBMP

Multimedia Support: Adobe Flash, FLV, WMV, AVI, MPEG-2/MPEG-4, 3GP, 3GP2, MP3, SVG Tiny, SMIL, MIDI (supported on handsets with appropriate APIs)

Network Protocols and Security: HTTP1.1, HTTPS, SSL 2.0/3.0, WTLS, Certificates

Push: WAP 2.0 Push Access Protocol (PAP)

Download: OMA Download 1.0, MIDP OTA 1.0 & 2.0

Features

  • On-Device Portal: Locally store pages with categories and sites that can be predefined by the service provider and updated over the air, also "History" and "Favorites" can be customized by the end user
  • PC View: Site pages load with a visual representation of the full web page.
  • Fit to Screen View: Choice of reformatted layout with image sizes adapted to fit within the width of the phone’s screen.
  • Content Prioritization and Mobile Navigation Aids: The browser attempts to automatically find the main information on a web page and focus on that content. Additionally, a user can “jump to” other prioritized content such as login, search or forms.
  • Adobe Flash and Streaming Video (Streaming media): The browser adapts Flash animations, Flash video, and other video formats to a format supported by the handset (usually RTSP/3GPP).
  • RSS: Users can view or subscribe to an available RSS feed on a site.
  • Widget engine: Ability to run widgets on mobile handsets.

See also

References

  1. Palm, Web Pro Handbook http://www.palm.com/us/support/handbooks/F03/WebPro_HB_ENG.pdf (retrieved 30 June 2009)
  2. Handango, Palm Web Pro by palmOne http://www.handango.com/catalog/ProductDetails.jsp?storeId=2218&productId=88625 (retrieved 13 May 2009)
  3. U.S. Cellular, easyedge Mobile Browser http://easyedge.uscc.com/easyedge/GameDetail.do?2155 (retrieved 6 May 2009)
  4. Smith, Brad (15 April 2005), “One Tier 2 Carrier Opens the Internet” http://www.wirelessweek.com/one-tier-2-carrier-opens-the-internet.aspx Wireless Week (retrieved 6 May 2009)
  5. Furchgott, Roy (8 June 2009), "A Flood of Softrware in Reaction to Apple" http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/app-roundup/ NY Times (retrieved 30 June 2009)
  6. Tre Italia, www3 http://www.tre.it/public/servizi.php (retrieved 6 May 2009)
  7. Three Hong Kong, X-Series 3Xplorer http://xseries.three.com.hk/website/english/features_3xplorer_overview.shtml# (retrieved 6 May 2009)
  8. Reedy, Sarah (31 March 2009), Novarra unveils Vision micro-browser 8.0 http://blog.telephonyonline.com/bloglive_ctia/2009/03/31/novarra-unveils-vision-micro-browser-80/ (retrieved 30 June 2009)