For those that remember internet in the late 1990s, you remember your dialup being slow, there was no such thing as tabbed browsing, web sites were clunky/cumbersome and difficult to navigate, low screen resolutions of the time meant lots and lots of scrolling, and well, you get the idea.

Thankfully we don’t have to deal with that anymore, right?

Wrong.

A smartphone’s browser interface more or less acts the same way our desktop PCs did in the late ’90s.

While it’s true that 3G connectivity – when it works – is faster than dialup was, you’re still stuck waiting for things to load. And when it does load, the browsers that smartphones have are watered down to the point where many "regular" web sites are simply unusable on a mobile device.

Developers are making continual improvements to make smartphones more usable, but the overall browsing experience hearkens back to a day when internet browsing was a chore at best.

Using the iPhone as an example, it only has a 480×320 screen resolution. That’s lower than VGA spec which is 640×480. Anybody who uses an iPhone or like mobile device knows full well that the browser has "creative" ways of getting around a resolution so low. And you have to use those creative ways (such as zoom and pan in/out) else you can’t browse with it regularly at all.

For you older ladies and gentlemen that think the kids today don’t know what it was like to browse the internet Web 1.0 style, they do because current browser technology and network speed on a smartphone is pretty darn close to the mark of what a browsing experience was like in the late 1990s.

How long will it take smartphones to graduate to a desktop PC’s level of web browsing?

Indeterminate. But there are three things that will kick-start mobile browsing forward exponentially.

The first is the network itself. 3G is just too darned slow. Better than EDGE, yes, but still slow. The next-gen network for whatever it will be called should fix that ill in short order.

The second is the hardware, namely the processor. Newer chips will be introduced within the next five years that run faster without adding any additional heat. (It’s always the heat that’s the big deal by the way.)

The third is the software, but that’s being attended to right now. All the major players have good solid OSes for their respective platforms. Better mobile browsers like Opera Mobile (which does do tabs very well by the way) means a better mobile browsing experience.

A problem all software developers for smartphones face is having to work around – meaning not with – the aforementioned points above. It seriously curtails development when your biggest roadblocks are the processing speed of a smartphone and the network in which it connects to. Shades of how software development used to be for PCs? Oh, yes. Even the programmers have to deal with Web 1.0 era style crapola.

I want to make clear that I’m not saying smartphones are unsuable. They obviously have their place in the modern tech world, and tons of people use them on a daily basis. However you have to admit, browsing on one is very reminiscent of the usability problems we had years ago.

I really find it humorous when I read articles like this basically insinuating that Dell can’t build a decent small computer, and in this case a SmartPhone.

From the linked article above, the tail of it states this:

Still, would you buy a Dell smartphone? What kind of features should MePhone have in order to convince you to chose it over an iPhone, Blackberry or T-Mobile G1?

To answer up front: If I were in the market to buy one, yes I would whether it had more or less features than competitors. The reason? Good build quality.

Some people laugh out loud because they think "Dell" and "good build quality" shouldn’t be in the same sentence. Oh, how easily people forget the Dell Axim. Yes, I know that was a PDA but it goes to prove that Dell can build a decent small computer. Those who have used Axims understand that unit was solid, worked great and looked great all at the same time. And I knew a few people who beat the crap out of those things and they never skipped a beat.

Were Axims the most feature-rich? No. But they worked and were "rugged" as far as PDAs were concerned. If Dell can build a phone up to that spec, it’s totally okay to not be as feature-rich as long as the price point is agreeable with the masses.

And obviously any phone that’s not tethered to a specific wireless provider (*cough* iPhone *cough*) is always better.

While I am not an iPhone user (I am still happy with my ancient flip phone), I am sure many of our readers here are. So for you iPhone users, I thought I would pass along an article on Wired you might want to take a look at: 10 Most Awesome iPhone Apps of 2008.

The article outlines different applications, most are free with the rest $3 and under. Most of the outlined items are applications, but a few games made the list. Another thing to note as well are the user comments which point to even more applications you may want to give a look.

Again, I’m not an iPhone user so I cannot personally comment on any of these applications, but considering most are free, what do you have to lose?

The Iphone is just cool. Calling it a phone is almost a disservice because what it really is is a full mobile computing platform. And in that vein, it can also be a mobile GAMING platform.

Now, I’m not a big gamer (my regular readers know that). But, I did spend a little time playing around in the App Store looking for some decent free games for the Iphone. I wanted to see what the phone could do. And I came across Maze Finger.

This game is simplistic as hell, but the graphics are pretty cool. I decided to create a quickie video to show you. NOTE: I was using a Flip Video in the dark to record this, so yeah, it is kind of out of focus. But, you’ll get the idea.

What do you think? Do you think the Iphone and the Ipod Touch could be Apple’s competition to some of the other popular mobile gaming platforms? I do.

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I am in my second week of owning and using an Iphone 3G and I’m really liking it. Yes, I’m a nerd, so this phone strokes all the right places (that sounded weird). And nothing shows this more than how I put the phone to use on Saturday as I spent a day away from the office with my wife and daughter. Let me illustrate:

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A report has resurfaced today from Daily Mail that Apple is working on releasing an Iphone Nano before Christmas.

This is pure rumor, and could very likely be pure BS. Since when has Mail Online become a source for breaking news about Apple?

But, they “broke” the story and it is currently taking up a lot of space over at Techmeme. Because it has to do with Apple, it resonates with the tech echo chamber. But, it is very likely based on a really thin rumor that has very little basis in reality.

Let’s look at some facts:

1. Apple is barely keeping up with demand for the new Iphone 3G – which they JUST released.
2. The Iphone is, in case you hadn’t noticed, pretty damn small already.
3. It is a phone. How small can it go and still be useful?

If we see this hit a site like MacRumors or AppleInsider, perhaps I’d put slightly more stock in it. But, when I think about British news organizations, I think sensationalism with a mix of bullcrap.

This story is link bait through and through. And who found it interesting enough to comment on, despite the obvious hook? This guy.

The Iphone is the cool gadget of the times. And proof of that is that when I wanted to go look at (buy ) one recently I found that both Tampa Apple stores and all local AT&T stores were out of the Iphone 3G. Damn.

But, the device is not without issues and one of those issues is battery life.

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Man, it has to be embarrassing when a company so colossally screws up the message. This is what happened this morning when it came out that AT&T was going to offer free wireless access to all Iphone users at the more than 17,000 AT&T wifi hotspots across the country.

Excitement mounted at sites like Iphone Alley and Gear Diary. The only problem was…

It wasn’t true. AT&T made a big mistake. According to CNET:

For the second time in less than six months, AT&T mistakenly published a notice on its Web site indicating that Apple iPhone users would get free access to the wireless operator’s more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots around the country.

The notice was on the AT&T website for an hour before it was removed. AT&T issued the statement:

“We have not made any announcement regarding free Wi-Fi and iPhone.  The Web page was posted in error and is being removed.”

OK, here’s the big question: Why did this happen? Again?! (it happened in May, too). Somebody at AT&T obviously typed this announcement and posted it. These things don’t appear on their own. So, that means that somewhere in the deep, dark crevices of AT&T, we either have rouge employees who are practicing wishful thinking or trying to embarrass the company or we have real intentions within AT&T to offer free wifi and somebody just jumped the gun before they were ready to make the official announcement.

Which is it?

One thing is clear: this makes AT&T look REALLY bad. You just don’t pull these kinds of stunts.

The team over at Autoblog acquired an iPhone 3G that touts new GPS features and tested it out.

The verdict can be easily figured out just by the title of their post:

Should’ve bought a Garmin? Testing the iPhone 3G’s GPS capabilities

Before telling you the worst about iPhone 3G GPS, every single thing I knew was going to suck about GPS on the iPhone is 100% true.

• It is NOT real-time GPS. This is unbelievably ridiculous. Even regular cell phones have real-time GPS, meaning real-time turn-by-turn directions. This is NOT in the iPhone 3G.
• No re-routing. Again, ridiculous. I mean, c’mon.. even a sub-$100 GPS unit has a re-route feature, but iPhone 3G? Nope.

I had a few people state to me that now that iPhone has GPS there’s no reason to have a standalone GPS anymore.

I beg to differ.

GPS on iPhone absolutely sucks. A discontinued Garmin StreetPilot i3 built three years ago could run circles around it.

To Autoblog: Yes, you should’ve bought a Garmin.

A system called UConnect Web will be available as a $500 option (cheaper than a sunroof option) in its ‘09 models. As far as how many models is indeterminate. Along with the one-time $500 cost is $29 a month for the service. This will probably be best used in rental cars as a “cool” option, but for the rest of us.. eh. More info here.

For those with more expensive tastes, Mercedes has rolled out iPhone integration. Translation: It’s a dock that is specifically designed for the iPhone inside the car. Cool? Stupid? You be the judge. More info here.

If you happen to be an iPhone user you may find this of interest: ThinkFree has a demo of their mobile suite specifically tailored for the iPhone. Personally I think this is pretty darned cool because TF has one of the best online office suites I’ve ever used. It’s one of the very few web services that performs as good as it looks.

Make sure to check out the latest/greatest from ThinkFree labs (with video demonstration) right here. This is the kind of office-app stuff that biz really likes to see.

With last week’s announcement of the Iphone 2.0 (due to be released on July 11th), I was yet again pondering the thought of switching to the Iphone. The Iphone is very revolutionary for the smartphone market. The interface is amazing. The fact that almost anyone can actually use the features of the Iphone is amazing. Anybody with a Windows Mobile phone can attest to the difficulty you will have accomplishing seemingly normal things.

But, all in all, what is the real cost of switching to the Iphone?

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There have been some GTA IV images posted where in the game you see a company called “Fruit.”

One a Fruit’s products is the iFruit Phone. The “ad” states:

The above says:

No buttons.
No reception.
No storage capacity.
All ego.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. See source link below for bigger photos.

(By the way, I still think the best Apple parody ever is the Banana Junior 6000.)

[Source: The Gadgets Page]

It has been a dream for quite some time that Mobile phones become a true extension to our computer. That dream hasn’t been a reality. Even when you do have a smart phone that can get online, the interface was clunky and you couldn’t just add/remove apps as you wanted. The cell phone carrier dictates what you can and cannot do with your phone. And if you want to change it before your contract is expired, they’ll charge you a penalty for your troubles.

This is all going to be changing, though.

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