Online Web Browsers

There are two major types of web browsers for the Palm: "online" browsers (Blazer, NetFront) which use active Internet connections (wired or wireless), and "offline" web browsers (AvantGo, Plucker, HandStory) which download web pages during hotsync and save them on the Palm for later viewing. In this section, we will cover online browsers only--offline browsers have been covered in the Software section of this site.

Note that most of the information on this page has been gleaned from magazine articles and websites, not from personal experience. As we do start to test these products in person, we will add more detailed reviews to this page.

The first type of Palm-based online web access that came out was called "web clipping," and was based on the Palm.net network which never made it to Canada. Palm models like the VII and i705 were designed specifically for this network, which basically allowed a user to browse specially designed websites over a low-bandwidth network used mainly by pagers.

A related technology that we hear a lot about these days is WAP, or "wireless access protocol," which is not a type of network--it is a type of limited-functionality web browser (or "microbrowser"), allowing users to surf the Internet from a phone or PDA, in text-only mode. WAP browsers can run on top of any type of data network, even slow ones. Obviously, websites need to be specially designed to be viewed this way, so it is not a general-purpose tool; even a first-generation Handspring Treo had a more capable web browser. For simple, targeted, text-only information, though, WAP can still be a powerful and low-cost method of providing wireless access to live data, especially from low-cost cellphones. A WAP version of the DalMedix intranet is available at:

http://www.med.dal.ca/mobile/wap/

However, the recent trend is for PalmOS based units to incorporate some type of direct Internet connectivity (either built-in, or via a cable, infrared, or 1X/GPRS wireless connection to a phone), and then to use a relatively full-featured, online web browser to surf the web without the limitations of WAP. There are a variety of PalmOS browsers available, some of them bundled with wireless-capable models, and others available as 3rd-party add ons. Most people use the browser that came with their Palm, but you don't have to limit yourself to that.

PalmSource Expert Guide - Browsers

If you have a PalmOne Tungsten or Zire you will probably have some version of the Palm web browser, which is known as the "Palm Web Browser Pro 1.0" or the "PalmSource Web Browser 2.0" or "Palm Web Pro 3.0." The versions can get confusing, but the Palm Web Pro 3.0 is the most recent version, and many recent models (except the W and the low-end Zire and Zire21) either come with it, or can be upgraded to it (for a fee). It allows you to switch between proxy and proxy-less modes, and supports most web standards, such as HTML 4.01, xHTML 1.0, cHTML, WML with default proxy, SSL 3.0, HTTP 1.1, JavaScript 1.5, CSS 1.0, GIF, animated GIF, JPEG, PNG, and Cookies.

Note that the use of a proxy server can increase the speed of surfing the Web on a Palm, but can also limit functionality such as VPNs, or have an effect on the appearance of sites.

Handspring/PalmOne Treos (the 180, 270, 300, and 600), as well as the Tungsten T5, come with the Blazer web browser, which is also based on a proxy service. Though reputed to be very fast (hence the name), Blazer 1.0 and 2.0 do not support Java, Javascript, or file downloads, making it a bit less useful than it could be. The latest version of the Blazer browser (version 4.0), available on the T5, is reported to be based on the NetFront browser, and is much more capable. That said, Blazer 2.0 is available as a download from PalmGear for US$19.95, and will run on any PalmOS unit, of any make.

PalmOS 5.x Sony Clies, such as the NX73V, as well as the Tungsten C, come with the Access NetFront browser, already mentioned a couple of times above, and probably the most full-featured and desktop-like PalmOS browser currently available. It does not use a proxy server, supports HTML 4.01, XHTML Basic, WML, CSS, frames, cookies, Javascript, SSL, and pretty much every type of web content there is. The price of all this compatibility is size--the program takes up an astounding 2.1 megabytes of space! NetFront is an OEM-only product, meaning that it's not available for retail sale, but is licenced by hardware manufacurers to be included with their products.

Other than Handspring's Blazer, some of the most well-known PalmOS web browsers available for retail sale are the EudoraWeb Browser from Eudora, PalmComm. EudoraWeb is free, and appears to support a wide range of internet content, making it a strong contender. PalmComm is a simple online browser, good for quick access to information, and costs $10 US.

If you have first-hand experience with browsing the internet on a PalmOS PDA, or with any of the software mentioned here, please let us know about your experience.