This month saw the start of the Microsoft Browser Ballot in EU countries. As part of the deal with the Competition watchdogs in Europe, Windows users are being presented with a randomised “ballot” screen of alternative browsers, including Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome, as well as the company’s Internet Explorer product. Is there any implication to the mobile market in this decision? Maybe...
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I sure would love to use Opera Mobile as default browser for opening links in email and gravity.
Yep, lack of being able to set a default browser is the major problem.
Is Opera Mobile 10 going to be free when it goes to final release? Previous non-beta versions cost money. I don't know if I would want the ballot (why isn't the one for handling text files, mp3, video, etc.), but I would like to be able to select which application handles what type of content like Android does.
We are working to have browser choice implemented. I can't promise it will make it into Symbian^3 😞 but it should be there for S^4.
teknolog wrote:We are working to have browser choice implemented. I can't promise it will make it into Symbian^3 😞 but it should be there for S^4.
It would be nice if the functionality thats in place right now would work.
Nokia 5230, under settings/phone/application settings. There's "Default apps". The 4 options listed for browsing, playing music, video and viewing images - select each one and it just gives one choice.
It should allow selection of Opera, but doesn't.
Very, very irritating, especially as the stock Symbian browser is basically dire. In isolation its not too bad, but after using Opera Mini and Mobile, I've not once used the Symbian browser. Its slow, doesn't handle standards well (despite being webkit based), insensitive to clicks.
Interesting how Nokia development seems inconsistent. Ovi Maps, Sports Tracker, Wellness Diary, Photo Viewer. All fantastic applications.
If only the default settings app would work - then I could have Opera as the default, photo viewer for images .... I've had 25 years in software development, and cannot even begin to understand why a device ships with options that just don't work.
@clonmult (and @teknolog)
We should really find out if it's not actually possible to do this at any level in Symbian or if it's just maybe an non-public API (or have we already established this). Nokia are obviously giving themselves the option to change the default, so there must be some way.
I don't quite agree about the inbuilt browser either - early releases of Opera were huge memory hogs, and even now it's not perfect. One thing the default browser is, is memory efficient - at least give it credit for that.
How come apple doesn't have to give you the choice on mac osx?
Tenkom wrote:How come apple doesn't have to give you the choice on mac osx?
Apple don't have a dominant market position to abuse.
Brendan Donegan wrote:
I don't quite agree about the inbuilt browser either - early releases of Opera were huge memory hogs, and even now it's not perfect. One thing the default browser is, is memory efficient - at least give it credit for that.
I can't comment on early releases of Opera, but as of the latest releases of Opera Mini and Opera Mobile, they're both fast, standards complaint (score of 98 on the acid test, compared the 40-something for the Symbian browser) and easy to use.
I used to think that the Symbian browser was quite fast, at least on previous non-touch symbian devices. But on the 5800 and 5230 its dire. Press a link and you have to waaaiiit for it to do something. Web pages tend to look pretty terrible. Slow at loading pages. Its not useless by any means, but I'd prefer to have a browser that works well, looks good and renders pages fairly accurately than one whos main saving grace is a smaller memory footprint. Only once had a memory issue on the 5230, and that was caused by the Ovi store ....
At least Nokia (unlike Apple) have no issues with allowing alternate browsers, Opera is available via the Ovi store.
Unregistered wrote:Apple don't have a dominant market position to abuse.
Not yet anyway, and does anyone have a copy of IE8 for Mac OS X laying around? Apple is slowing getting rid of all Flash on their products. They are not thinking about browsers at this moment.
clonmult wrote:
... I've had 25 years in software development, and cannot even begin to understand why a device ships with options that just don't work.
Really? It's the oldest trick in the book:
throw new NotImplementedException();
I'd be terribly surprised if you haven't seen this firsthand in 25 years. Not saying it's the right thing to do, but at least, certainly there are some very understandable reasons (ie, lack of testing/budget issues/deadlines, or all of these combined going by the general quality of the first n97 firmware)
RollerSMB wrote:Really? It's the oldest trick in the book:throw new NotImplementedException();
I'd be terribly surprised if you haven't seen this firsthand in 25 years. Not saying it's the right thing to do, but at least, certainly there are some very understandable reasons (ie, lack of testing/budget issues/deadlines, or all of these combined going by the general quality of the first n97 firmware)
I've had the good luck of working on systems all the way from small, 2 man developed hotel booking apps all the way through to financial/logistics applications for the largest healthcare providers in the world. I've experienced systems designed just by being thrown together after just thinking "that seems like a good idea" to those where every single detail has been pored over.
The only possible reason for leaving in something like this is shoddy development/testing/design practices. There is no legitimate excuse for leaving in such features, none whatsoever. Anything that you can suggest as a reason is more likely to be excuse for lazy/ignorant/incompetent staff.
personally, i think it's outrageous that microsoft had to do that for windows. microsoft obviously isn't particularly bothered if people use IE or not, but it doesn't make sense to me why they have to offer competition out of the box.
it's not that i use IE, but i just feel that microsoft should be allowed to put in whatever they want into THEIR products. try telling apple that they have to ship chrome and firefox and they'll send down their army of lawyers to ask you to shove it, in marketing-appropriate words.
same goes for mobile phones. you want a s60v5 browser? GOOGLE IT!
brrip wrote:personally, i think it's outrageous that microsoft had to do that for windows. microsoft obviously isn't particularly bothered if people use IE or not, but it doesn't make sense to me why they have to offer competition out of the box.it's not that i use IE, but i just feel that microsoft should be allowed to put in whatever they want into THEIR products. try telling apple that they have to ship chrome and firefox and they'll send down their army of lawyers to ask you to shove it, in marketing-appropriate words.
same goes for mobile phones. you want a s60v5 browser? GOOGLE IT!
I don't understand why Microsoft were required to do it either, it's not like you can't just go and get your preferred browser within 10 minutes, and if you use IE to look at Google they try and ram Chrome down your throat anyway.
Apple's army of lawyers would be crushed by the EU, who would just create a new law to shut them up. They've already come up against the system in Germany and been well and truly slapped out of it.
As for unimplemented options, I would certainly have written code where there were unused pieces in for reasons of extendability or lack of time, or cut down features in some versions however I would never have any unusable options visible to a user, even for reasons of display layout.
I find the built in Symbian browser more than adequate, bearing in mind that I am using a portable device with a small screen i just want to do the minimum I need (I don't spend hours squinting at any phone). I've installed both Opera mobile and mini to try them, and uninstalled them both because they don't really offer me any benefit.
Unregistered wrote:Not yet anyway, and does anyone have a copy of IE8 for Mac OS X laying around? Apple is slowing getting rid of all Flash on their products. They are not thinking about browsers at this moment.
That's not really true about Flash and browser. Apple are currently testing Safari 4.0.5 which includes a lot of work done to improve the way it handles flash (and to protect the rest of the browser against flash problems). This suggests that Apple are putting effort into flash compatibility, rather than just shutting the door on it.
Unregistered wrote:As for unimplemented options, I would certainly have written code where there were unused pieces in for reasons of extendability or lack of time, or cut down features in some versions however I would never have any unusable options visible to a user, even for reasons of display layout.I find the built in Symbian browser more than adequate, bearing in mind that I am using a portable device with a small screen i just want to do the minimum I need (I don't spend hours squinting at any phone). I've installed both Opera mobile and mini to try them, and uninstalled them both because they don't really offer me any benefit.
As of the N95 and N85, I would agree with you on the Symbian browser - its more than adequate. But as of S60v5, it needed more than the basic effort Nokia put into it.
I wouldn't even have unimplemented/incomplete options hidden - its a potential security risk. Until they're complete, they shouldn't be in the release version of the OS.