(Click here for a larger view of Microsoft's Internet Explorer Mobile 6)Windows Mobile's obsolescent Internet Explorer (IE) web browser has been under attack by a multitude of competitors, including Access's
NetFront, Torch Mobile's
Iris Browser (see later in this story), Opera Software's
Opera Mobile 9.5, Skyfire Labs'
Skyfire, and Mozilla's imminent
Firefox Mobile. When it released
Windows Mobile 6.1 in April, Microsoft announced minor tweaks for IE, including claimed faster operation, plus a Zoom Out button that lets users see the overall layout of a web page, then zoom in to a desired portion of it. At that time, the company promised additional enhancements to IE, saying a new version would be available to mobile phone partners in the third quarter of 2008, and to the public by the end of the year. The new version, later dubbed Internet Explorer Mobile 6 ("6 on 6"), was said to include:
- The ability to view web pages full-screen, without menu bars and other "chrome"
- Adobe Flash support
- Support for Microsoft Silverlight
- H.264 video compatibility
This week's release of a Internet Explorer Mobile 6 emulator is apparently intended to show web developers and phone enthusiasts what 6 on 6 will be capable of. Instead of running on Windows Mobile devices, however, the browser relies on a Windows Mobile emulator for Windows Vista and XP desktops -- available with Visual Studio or as a separate download.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer Mobile 6 at 800 x 480 pixels
(Click to enlarge)According to Microsoft, Internet Explorer Mobile 6 (above) will include the following "cool features," most of them apparently present in the emulator:
- Support for "full fidelity desktop rendering"
- Touch and gesture support pan support
- Multiple zoom levels
- Easy switching between mobile/desktop versions of sites by specifying UA (user agent) string
- Text wrapping that better accommodates mobile screens
- Enhanced scripting and AJAX support, including compatibility with JScript 5.7
- Adobe Flash Lite 3.1
- Deeper integration with search
- An "enhanced cursor navigation model"
As indicated above, testing Internet Explorer Mobile 6 presently requires the newly downloadable Windows Mobile 6.14 images, along with previously available device emulators. The images include versions of Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard, and virtual screen sizes from 320 x 320 pixels to 800 x 480 pixels, according to Microsoft.
Shown using our sister site eWEEK.com, Microsoft's Internet Explorer Mobile 6 allows switching from mobile (left) to standard (right) versions of a web page
(Click to enlarge)Apart from the new web browser they include, the emulator images are apparently identical to those previously released for Windows Mobile 6.1. For more background on how to download Windows Mobile device emulators and get them working, see our previous coverage,
here.
Iris Browser
Torch Mobile's Iris Browser version 1.0.15
(Click image to enlarge) |
Separately, Torch Mobile has announced a second beta of its Windows Mobile web browser based on open-source WebKit browsing technology. The Iris Browser, version 1.0.15 (right), includes better page rendering, a 10 percent smaller footprint, and greater stability, according to the company.
The Iris Browser had a
first preview release in February, and was
updated in August with stability and memory usage fixes, plus a new page overview and single-column modes. The browser employs
WebKit, a lightweight mobile HTML rendering engine derived from the
KHTML rendering engine maintained by the KDE project. Best-known for its use behind the scenes in Windows, OS X, and iPhone versions of Apple's Safari browser, WebKit has also been used by Adobe, for its
AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) toolsuite, and by Google, for its
Android software stack.
Further informationTo read a posting on Microsoft's Windows Mobile Team blog introducing Internet Explorer Mobile 6, with several additional screen images, go
here. To download the Windows Mobile 6.1 emulator images, see Microsoft's website,
here.
To read Torch Mobile's blog posting on its new release of the Iris Browser, go
here. To download the application, see the company's website,
here.
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