Cruising the Web on a smartphone is about like cruising for a date on a tricycle — the basic concept is there, but the delivery is laughable. If you are using an iPhone, then it’s more like cruising in a Volkswagen Beetle — better, but still short of the Lamborghini speeds we’re used to on the open cyber-highway. Considering everyone — from carriers and handset manufacturers to Web browser designers and search engines — are racing to own the mobile Web space, why are mobile Web browsers still so lame? Part of the problem lies within the device landscape.
I don't own an expensive smartphone. Like most people, I use a regular cell phone with cheap unlimited data plan. The best mobile-friendly portal by far is a1r.mobi (for guys) and a1r.mobi/me (for women). Both offer news, information, entertainment, live chat, forums, and 411. From either site, you can easily get to everything you want - fast, and everything is mobile-friendly. Plus, unlike my company workstation, I can take my mobile phone on breaks to read my personal e-mail or top news stories without company snooping. Most people with web-enabled cell phones don't use the feature because they don't know how (or that it even exists), or think it may be too expensive (check your carrier plans). The main reason I didn't use my mobile phone at first was it was too much of a pain to find truly mobile-friendly sites. Most sites took too long to load, looked crappy when they did load, and often just froze. http://a1r.mobi is way different. Try it out on your own cell phone and see for yourself. Like me, you may decide you don't need to trade up to a smartphone to enjoy web browsing. If you do own an iPhone or other smartphone, it's great for you too!
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The Mobile Web Experience: Why So Lame?
Posted by: Pam Baker December 25, 2007 01:00 PMCruising the Web on a smartphone is about like cruising for a date on a tricycle — the basic concept is there, but the delivery is laughable. If you are using an iPhone, then it’s more like cruising in a Volkswagen Beetle — better, but still short of the Lamborghini speeds we’re used to on the open cyber-highway. Considering everyone — from carriers and handset manufacturers to Web browser designers and search engines — are racing to own the mobile Web space, why are mobile Web browsers still so lame? Part of the problem lies within the device landscape.