What’s happening with the S60 browser?

Posted on 4/11/2008 by Jonathan Greene

I just caught a post in my reader, which is a bit alarming and rather disappointing if true.

There has not been a checkin to the S60 port in over 8 months… As far as I can tell, the port is dead… Does anyone know the status of the port? If the port is in fact dead, I would like to suggest that we tag (with some keyword, or component) all of the remaining S60 bugs and close them.

As I think back to the Mobile World Congress briefings and hands on time I had with the upcoming Nokia handsets, I don’t actually recall seeing anything new or different in the browser. I even saw some FP2 things, but nothing around the browser than would make you think there’s anything new to expect on that froont.

Has Nokia conceded mobile browsing to Apple? Aside from bringing the minimap, there’s not much going on here. Bookmarklets are missing as is the very basic ability to manually launch a new window – which is something I’ve griped about many times. The potential is there and the newer devices have enough horsepower, but we are left wanting more …

I’d love to hear what if anything is going on here …

Technorati Tags:

This entry was posted in iPhone, Nokia, Safari. Bookmark the permalink.

  • Pingback: Pink iPhone

  • Pingback: Blogs de Santiago de Compostela — Planeta Santiago

  • Pingback: davidgp.com — “Hace tiempo estaba indeciso, pero ahora ya no estoy tan seguro”

  • Pingback: coComment - Site

  • Pingback: IntoMobile - Mobile Phone News and Reviews

  • Pingback: Apple Incorporated - All Things Apple

  • Pingback: davidgp.net — Cosas que suceden en internet alrededor de davidgp

  • Pingback: IntoMobile - Mobile Phone News and Reviews

  • http://www.umpcportal.com Steve Paine

    Funny. I was using it on an N82 this morning and thinking ‘ this thing is falling behind.’
    I’m pretty much an Opera Mini guy on the N82 now.

    Steve.

  • http://www.atmasphere.net/wp Jonathan Greene

    I am not an Opera Mini fan at all …

  • http://www.varunnangia.com varun

    And that’s precisely why I switched to the iPhone a few weeks ago. I’ve been waiting for some of these basic features since June 2006.

    Sad, but I do think it’s the end of the road for higher-end Nokia devices as a serious platform.

  • N95

    well, to be honest, i _hope_ they let i die. this thing is soo far behind a decent with regard to speed and user experience that it would be lost time and money to further invest. nokia must bring something that can at least match the iphone browsing experience, and thats why the probably concentrate on a new browser on the coming S60 Touch devices.. (at least, i hope so..)

  • http://www.mobile9.com Zach

    Very odd. The browser did recently get some Flash Lite 3 love though that is still making it’s way through some existing devices.

    I remember last year I met with someone at a firm hired by Nokia who asked me a whole bunch of questions about mobile browsing. They wrapped up the meeting by showing me some very cool looking (seemingly) Flash-based stuff. Maybe we’ll see a browser replacement next year…

  • Pingback: Is S60 Saying Goodbye to its Webkit-based Browser? | The Boy Genius Report

  • Pingback: Is S60 Saying Goodbye to its Webkit-based Browser? · TechBlogger

  • http://thoughtsons60.com JonnyBruha

    What do you think the S60 browser would look like on an S60 device with a touch screen?

    Aside from tabbed browsing (which the 3rd Edition browser is capable of doing with a quick text file and natively managed by pressing the 5 key), I still find the S60 browser to be the best in terms of functionality. The iPhone may be great for viewing web pages, but if you want to do anything with the content on those pages, you’re SOL and JWF.

    When I had the N95-4, N810, and iPhone sitting on my desk, I preferred the N95-4 for browsing first for the T9 and the speed, the N810 second for the huge screen and extra functionality, and the iPhone last because finger flicking is a poor (though fun) solution for scrolling.

  • http://silpol.blogspot.com/ A.T.

    what if it is not just browser? what if you mark on your calendar to re-read this one year later or more?.. ;)