TGO on the go - mobile phone style!!

[Guest Boomhower]

Let me start this off by saying that I do not know anything about this, so my questions/comments here are just that. Ignorance of the 1st degree!

What all is involved with incorporating/implementing a WAP based service for TGO? I knew nothing about this (& pretty much still know nothing), until I recently became a BlackBerry user. While searching the web for tips/tricks, I ran across many other forums for BB users. One of which utilizes a WAP along with their HTML site. Their HTML site is much like TGO's. Full of graphics and images, which makes for long wait times while loading up on a mobile phone. As I know many of you do, I myself like to sneek-a-peek at TGO while I'm at work, but through my mobile phone is the only way that I can do this. I have no other internet access. I can visit a WAP forum, which loads about 12 kb's per page in seconds, verses a HTML page that loads at anywhere from 150 kb's to over 200 kb's in addition to all the images which can take minutes depending on the size. (Let's just say that I've been caught SEVERAL times sneeking-a-peek at TGO , waiting for a page to load)

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Regular HTML link.......http://forums.crackberry.com/

WAP version.............http://wap.crackberry.com/

Basically, the WAP version removes all of the avatars, sigs, images, etc., and just gives you the text. But it also kinda stinks cause you can't view images posted in the WAP version (I don't know if that could be changed or not), but at the bottom of every page, it gives you the link "Return to default view", which takes you back to the full HTML version and you can view any images that were posted from there......I know how we gun nuts to like to show and tell, and also sell with pics.

Now, for those of you still reading this post, and all of you that are technically knowledgeable about this kind of stuff, what all is involved?

And most importantly, Tungsten, is this something that you would like to pursue? Speaking for myself only, this would definatly be a nice convenience.

[Fadex]

I have accessed TGO on my Blackberry several times and thought it was pretty good. It takes longer to navigate but the download times are pretty comparable to what I have with Comcast when I'm at home.

[Guest eyebedam]

Get a iPhone & it looks exactly like it does from your PC & also loads just as quick.

[Guest Boomhower]

I have accessed TGO on my Blackberry several times and thought it was pretty good. It takes longer to navigate but the download times are pretty comparable to what I have with Comcast when I'm at home.

Get a iPhone & it looks exactly like it does from your PC & also loads just as quick.

I went back and pulled up TGO again on my phone and it loads different Kb's each time I access the site ....but it's still not as fast as a PC. It can't be. A mobile phone doesn't have the processor speeds of a PC.

As for the iphone, no thanks. Carrier issues, and we'll just leave it at that....besides, I have full HTML on my phone and it looks just like it does on my PC as well. (you iphone guys crack me up )

Edited January 4, 2009 by Boomhower

[Guest eyebedam]

Honestly I just threw that out there to mess with you. Which blackberry do you have? I been eyeing the new bb storm. I'm looking for a new phone I'm tired of the iPhone.

[Guest Boomhower]

Honestly I just threw that out there to mess with you. Which blackberry do you have? I been eyeing the new bb storm. I'm looking for a new phone I'm tired of the iPhone.

The Storm

To stay on topic, and not turn this into a "oh yeah, well I've got a _____" thread.....I'll send you a PM with my opinion of it.

[Guest utarch00]

+ 1 on the iPhone

[Guest abailey362]

i access from my treo and just usually stop the page from finishing loading once most of the text will be on the screen.

There is an option to turn off images in the user CP, but you will have to change it back to view images.

I think that the different page size has to do with what vendor banner is being displayed at the top, as some are larger than others.

[Guest Boomhower]

Let's think beyond our modern day smartphones for a min. WAP would extend to regular mobile web based phones as well. Like Verizon's mobile web 2.0 that they offer on a lot of your regular everyday people phones (not saying anything is wrong with that ). Which is also cheapier on the monthly bill. A lot of people may not even know that they could utilize this feature for that purpose.

We all know what our smartphones are capable of nowadays. That's probably one of the reasons that we have all bought into them. Full HTML on a mobile phone ROCKS!!!, but this way also offers you a quicker way of navigation.

[TGO David]

I've messed with a WAP "theme" (that is what vBulletin calls them) before on another forum and it was a huge mess to maintain. The vBulletin developers claim that version 4.x of the software will include a native WAP theme. If they do, I'll implement it here.

As others have said, the iPhone's browser is hands down the best mobile browser out there. Nothing that Blackberry offers even comes close. I'm switching to an iPhone from a Blackberry 8330 Curve very soon for that exact reason. I need the browser more than anything else for work now.

[Guest Boomhower]

I've messed with a WAP "theme" (that is what vBulletin calls them) before on another forum and it was a huge mess to maintain. The vBulletin developers claim that version 4.x of the software will include a native WAP theme. If they do, I'll implement it here.

Thanks for taking a look into this!!

As others have said, the iPhone's browser is hands down the best mobile browser out there. Nothing that Blackberry offers even comes close. I'm switching to an iPhone from a Blackberry 8330 Curve very soon for that exact reason. I need the browser more than anything else for work now.

While I agree that Safari is a pretty kick butt browser, it's still not the end all solution. It still crashes out, but this may be more due to the iphone's software conflicting with the Safari browser, IDK. I think what makes the Safari experience is the multi-touch feature developed by apple. And while I applaud the iphone for its Microsoft Exchange capabilities(BB requires their enterprise server), they do not provide push email for other email clients like google and yahoo, BB does. I also hate being restricted to itunes for updates and the app store for downloads.......it's give and take on both ends, but really boils down to what service provider performs better for you, me thinks.......Oh, and I don't know about the new BB Bold, but the BB Storms BB browser (full HTML on both) is pretty comparable to Safari, IMHO. I've played with 3 different iphones for months now, and only recently bought the Strom.

[TGO David]

I don't know where you saw a Storm that had a browser even remotely comparable to Safari on the iPhone. I've been living with the Curve for about a year now and demo'd a Storm recently just to see if it would work for me and keep me from having to leave Verizon. From what I saw, it still choked bad on sites that use common CSS tricks, DHTML and Ajax.

Safari presents a web page closer to the way the page's author intended. Blackberry's browser presents the page to you the way that RIM thinks it should look. The two are night and day apart.

[Guest Boomhower]

From what I saw, it still choked bad on sites that use common CSS tricks, DHTML and Ajax.

I will have to digress on this....You just stepped above my knowledge base

[TGO David]

I will have to digress on this....You just stepped above my knowledge base

I promise I'm not being argumentative, though. Maybe you can "tweak" a Blackberry's browser so that pages actually look right on them. If that's possible, I'd stick with Verizon instead of moving to an iPhone with AT&T.

Anyone?

[Guest Boomhower]

I don't know of any. My Storm does have a few settings that can be changed, but nothing referring to what you listed in post 12.

Any experience with the Opera browser? I haven't D/L it yet, but there is one available.

I'd say if you've tried the other phones and the iphone suites your needs best, then that's the way you should go.

Edit: Oh yeah......I'm not trying to argue either. I'm already way over my head with this thread anyways. I just pulled together some information from my research and posted it. I just saw it on another forum and thought it was nifty!

Edited January 4, 2009 by Boomhower

[TGO David]

Yeah I tried Opera on my Curve once. It was a little better than the built in browser, but still not as nice as the iPhone. I tell you though, my biggest beef with the iPhone is the lack of an externally replaceable battery pack. Apple's obsession with tiny seam-free devices is nifty when you're talking about an iPod, but a smart-phone really needs to have a battery pack that can be changed out on the fly. Especially when the phone chews through a battery's charge as fast as the iPhone does on the 3G data network.

If I get an iPhone like I'm planning, I will have to pick up something like this:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2009/01/01/review-incase-power-slider-battery-backup-case

What's another $100 when you're already paying out the nose for the service?

[Guest Boomhower]

I D/L Opera mini. I'll give it a test run.

And I agree with the battery issue.....but looks like you found the solution to that. I didn't know they made such a thing.

[Guest TargetShooter84]

I have internet on my phone so hopefully I'll be able to access TGO from it

[Guest Boomhower]

I have internet on my phone so hopefully I'll be able to access TGO from it

What kind of phone do you have TS?

[Smith]

I really like Opera and Opera mini. I've been using them for years and have worked great. That being said, WAP is kinda of an obsolete technology. Most decent phones are fast enough and data speeds are fast enough to where manufactures would be stupid to not use a full web browser.

[strickj]

I promise I'm not being argumentative, though. Maybe you can "tweak" a Blackberry's browser so that pages actually look right on them. If that's possible, I'd stick with Verizon instead of moving to an iPhone with AT&T.

Anyone?

I thought Verizon was suppose to be coming out with an Ipone in early 09.

I wanna say I saw this in a tv commercial a few months back,but cant find anything online about it except for older articles addressing it as a possible rumor ...... or maybe I'm just thinking about the Voyager

AAR,I would love to have one also,but I just can not leave Verizon

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

Opera Mini is pretty good, far better than IE Mobile, which originally came with my smartphone... but it's still subpar for loading most non-mobile-optimized sites. I've done a little browsing and posting on another forum I frequent from the phone, but it's a giant PITA.

I personally think that the key to getting better mobile browsing experiences should go into the realm of the browser software itself; that is, for it to become smarter about taking normal layouts and making them fit onto small screens. The idea of creating separate layouts for "normal" and mobile browsing just chafes with me... as a web dev guy, it just seems very annoying. It's bad enough dealing with differences between IE6/IE7/Firefox/Safari... I don't want any more complexity on top of that.

[TGO David]

I thought Verizon was suppose to be coming out with an Ipone in early 09.

Frankly I think that a CDMA iPhone would suck. Verizon's strength is in their signal availability. They really don't do much else better than their competition.

It's bad enough dealing with differences between IE6/IE7/Firefox/Safari... I don't want any more complexity on top of that.

That's easy: Don't develop to Microsoft standards.

I'm glad that the world is finally telling Microsoft to take their non-standard code and stick it. IE8 shows promise, but FireFox remains my favorite.

[Guest Boomhower]

I know this is taking this thread way of course, but here I'd an Interesting article.

http://www.9to5mac.com/cdma-iphone-verizon-sprint

[NuTcAsE]

I just got an iPhone, and the site looks and works great.