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Mozilla Heading to Mobiles

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it-was-inevitable dept.

mu22le writes "CNET News.com has an interview with Doug Turner, the project leader of Minimo, the version of Mozilla for small devices. The article (also commented upon at mozillazine) roams from the challenges a small devices browser presents to the competition with Opera for Mobile. Brace yourself for the forthcoming Minimo 0.3, due in January."

5 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. I'd use it if... by teiresias · · Score: 4, Informative

    Now if I just use one of my micro mobile devices for browsing the web...

    My cellphone, my pda, hell probably my digital camera can probably get on the Internet. But if you think I'm browsing webpages on that kind of screen your nuts.

    My hats off Doug Turner and to the guys programming Minimo but I just don't browse the web on my micro devices. I use them for their other features.

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    -Teiresias
  2. Ummm... by LWATCDR · · Score: 3, Informative

    32 to 64 megs is lightweight?
    Man that seems like a pretty heavy memory requirement.

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    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:Ummm... by Rosonowski · · Score: 3, Informative

      I think that's more of a "total system memory" thing.

      PDAs tend to come in 16,32,64, and the occasional 128MB models.

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  3. VGA PPCs by chman · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've got a Loox 720, which has a fabulous VGA screen. Except, it may as well not have one, because everything is just double the size for compatibility's sake. PocketIE just doubles the size of all graphics, making web browsing a real chore on non-mobile-optimised sites. There's a workaround, that involves using SEVGA or OzVGA to eliminate this pixel-doubling, but that breaks a lot of applications, and just looks ugly in others. Better support for VGA devices is crucial if whatever's left of the market is going to go anywhere, as the increased resolution adds so much functionality to these devices - web browsing, email, even Office functionality such as viewing spreadsheets becomes feasible. MS really dropped the ball here. Has anyone had any luck with other apps? I'm using PIE with MultiIE, which is a great addon, but it's annoying having to soft reset every time I want to do some web browsing.

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    This comment was formatted for readability, but I forgot the line break tags
  4. Re:Eventual PPC port? by Herr_Nightingale · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've been following the project for a while now, and Pocket PC is not even on the roadmap; Minimo is strictly *nix. Also, it requires a gigantic chunk of memory (min. 32MB) to run, and it's far from fast. There is absolutely no comparison to Opera. None.
    Mobile Opera is tiny (like 200k!!) and super-efficient, but only runs on smartphones right now.
    It looks like we have a chance of seeing Opera on the iPaq sooner than Minimo, even though Opera too doesn't care much for Pocket PC.

    In the meantime, try NetFront 3.1 - it's sweet. But it doesn't work on 2003SE in landscape mode.