atmaspheric | endeavors

a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself

atmaspheric | endeavors header image 2

What’s happening with the S60 browser?

April 11th, 2008 · 14 Comments · Nokia, Safari, iPhone

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:

Tags:

14 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Steve Paine // Apr 11, 2008 at 7:57 am

    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.

  • 2 Jonathan Greene // Apr 11, 2008 at 9:45 am

    I am not an Opera Mini fan at all …

  • 3 varun // Apr 11, 2008 at 10:01 am

    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.

  • 4 N95 // Apr 11, 2008 at 10:16 am

    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..)

  • 5 Zach // Apr 11, 2008 at 10:38 am

    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…

  • 6 coComment - Site // Apr 11, 2008 at 11:58 am

    links from Technoratiview blog

  • 7 Pink iPhone // Apr 11, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    links from TechnoratiDaily news of Gadget, Computer, Electronic and technologywrote an interesting post today on Here’s a quick excerpt 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

  • 8 davidgp.com — “Hace tiempo estaba indeciso, pero ahora ya no estoy tan seguro” // Apr 11, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    links from TechnoratiAtmasphere.net. Según comenta Michael Smith la versión de WebKit para S60 lleva 8 meses muerta. Sin ningún comentario o corrección de bugs. 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

  • 9 Is S60 Saying Goodbye to its Webkit-based Browser? | The Boy Genius Report // Apr 11, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] [Via atmaspheric endeavors] [...]

  • 10 Blogs de Santiago de Compostela — Planeta Santiago // Apr 11, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    links from TechnoratiLeo unas pelín preocupantes declaraciones sobre el desarrollo del porte de WebKit a móviles S60 (cómo el Nokia N95) enAtmasphere.net. Según comenta Michael Smith la versión de WebKit para S60 lleva 8 meses muerta. Sin ningún comentario o corrección de bugs. 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

  • 11 davidgp.net — Cosas que suceden en internet alrededor de davidgp // Apr 11, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    links from TechnoratiLeo unas pelín preocupantes declaraciones sobre el desarrollo del porte de WebKit a móviles S60 (cómo el Nokia N95) enAtmasphere.net. Según comenta Michael Smith la versión de WebKit para S60 lleva 8 meses muerta. Sin ningún comentario o corrección de bugs. 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

  • 12 Apple Incorporated - All Things Apple // Apr 11, 2008 at 6:44 pm

    links from TechnoratiInvention Of the Year: The iPhone - The Best Inventions Of The … News: Nike+ coming to iPhone, iPod touch Flexibility and Swiftness Find finest and cheap OEM Software for PC and All Macs; Comdex 1996: Day 4 MAC OSWhat’s happening with the S60 browser?Bill Gates, più genio o uomo di Marketing? Are Stars Like Fleas? Using Automated Tools to Make Your Natural SEO More Efficient … …but I don’t feel like blogging! Arrivano i “Microsoft Store”

  • 13 Is S60 Saying Goodbye to its Webkit-based Browser? · TechBlogger // Apr 11, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    [...] [Via atmaspheric endeavors] [...]

  • 14 JonnyBruha // Apr 12, 2008 at 3:04 am

    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.

  • 15 A.T. // Apr 12, 2008 at 7:20 am

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

  • 16 IntoMobile - Mobile Phone News and Reviews // Apr 15, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    links from TechnoratiThe bandwagon of people saying that Nokia was going to stop using WebKit for future implementations of the S60 browser: Electronista Symbian-Freak The Boy Genius Report Sideshow BarkerAtmaspheric | EndeavorsAnd today from the official S60 Browser Blog: “… one of our developers did some housekeeping on the Tiger branch of the webkit project, and some people thought it looked like we were backing away from the whole open-source project. No, no, no

  • 17 IntoMobile - Mobile Phone News and Reviews // Apr 15, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    links from TechnoratiThe bandwagon of people saying that Nokia was going to stop using WebKit for future implementations of the S60 browser: Electronista Symbian-Freak The Boy Genius Report Sideshow BarkerAtmaspheric | EndeavorsAnd today from the official S60 Browser Blog: “… one of our developers did some housekeeping on the Tiger branch of the webkit project, and some people thought it looked like we were backing away from the whole open-source project. No, no, no

Leave a Comment