| Access gives away Windows Mobile utilities |
Jul. 01, 2008
 Mobile device browser vendor Access is giving away half a dozen utilities for Windows Mobile touchscreen phones. Aimed at attracting developers to the "widget" API in its Netfront browser, the utilities offer Twitter, Flickr, world clock, weather, memo pad, calculator, and calendar functions.
(Click here for a larger view of multiple NetFront browser widgets)
The widgets released today by Access work on phones equipped with the Netfront browser or the freely downloadable Netfront widget "Player" set to expire Sept. 30. The widgets use the browser's rendering engine to run, but not its standard border, menus, and other "chrome." Supported OSes include Windows Mobile Professional 5.0 or 6.0.
Battle of the widgets
NetFront is promoting widgets to carriers and software developers as a way to create branded user interface elements without the complicated process of writing compiled software applications. Widget-based user interface elements can be updated over the air, much like a website, without the error-prone risk of updating the device's actual operating system firmware, it says. For more details, see our earlier coverage of Netfront widgets.
Access competitor Opera Software promotes a similar widget technology, as does Google with its "gadget" technology, and Yahoo!, with its Yahoo! widgets. All of the above appear to be based on web "standards" such as Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), and Document Object Model (DOM). However, minor changes are apparently required in order to port widgets between their NetFront, Opera, Google, and Yahoo! implementations.
To attract developers to its widget platform, Access has launched a website where users can download the following widgets:- World Clock -- permits setting local times for up to four cities from around the world
- World Weather -- provides world feature forecasts for a week in advance
- Calculator -- offers an "easy to use" calculator with a memory function
- Memo Pad -- allows appending new lines of text at will to a single file
- Calendar -- provides a monthly, weekly, and daily calendar display
- Photos -- permits searching photos from the Flickr photo sharing service
- Twitter -- allows entering or viewing Twitter updates
These proof-of-concept applications for the most part only duplicate functionality already provided by Windows Mobile, in more advanced form. However, the Photos widget (below left) may be of interest, since it can not only search for photos, but also provide a slide show of favorites, according to Access. The "fascinating" Twitter widget (below right) can be maximized in order to read other people's updates, the company adds.
 
NetFront's Photos and Twitter widgets
Toru Arakawa, CEO, president and co-founder of Access, said, "Access will begin providing tools for developers to create their own widgets in the near future. By providing a platform for interchange among users and developers, Access will facilitate the development of innovative content based on NetFront Browser Widgets, as well as contribute to the ubiquity of widget culture."
Further information
NetFront's browser widgets are downloadable from the company's website, here [free registration required]. Also downloadable is a NetFront Browser Widgets Player, allowing widgets to run without installation of the full NetFront web browser itself.
Currently, the widgets and NetFront Browser Widgets Player are only compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 Professional devices, which include touchscreens. A version for Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 Standard devices is forthcoming, according to the company, though no timetable was provided.
The NetFront Browser Widgets Player will expire on Sept. 30, and should not be installed on external storage, the company adds.
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