DailyTech - Microsoft Deepfish Impressions

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Blog: Gadgets Microsoft Deepfish Impressions
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - July 22, 2007 2:16 PM

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23 comment(s) - last by Anh Huynh.. on Jul 25 at 3:41 PM

DailyTech WAP page on my Cingular 8525 (Source: DailyTech, Anh T. Huynh)

Microsoft Deepfish rendering DailyTech web page, in full (Source: DailyTech, Anh T. Huynh)

Deepfish zoomed into DailyTech (Source: DailyTech, Anh T. Huynh)

Impressions of Microsoft's new mobile web browser

Last March Microsoft released its Deepfish technology preview to a small number of beta testers. Deepfish is a preview of Microsoft’s new browser technology for Windows Mobile devices. Unlike the current Pocket Internet Explorer for Windows Mobile, Deepfish renders the full webpage and displays it in a zoomed view a la iPhone browser style.

Anyone could have signed up for the technology preview, with Windows Live ID. However, Microsoft is no longer accepting applications for Deepfish. Microsoft approved my application last month and I have since completely switched over to Deepfish as my primary mobile browser.

As it is a closed beta, Microsoft issues activation codes to approved applicants. The browser phones home to Microsoft to ensure a valid activation code every time the browser is started. If too many people use the same activation code, Microsoft will invalidate your activation code.

Nevertheless, I love the browser. In its early stages, it is still fully usable to browse web pages. Deepfish resolves my annoyances with Pocket Internet Explorer where it would attempt to render the full page, but instead messes things up by rendering it in a single column. Web pages show up in its entirety and the controls are quiet easy to use.

How to use

It did take a few minutes to get used to the navigation scheme. Microsoft has designed Deepfish with considerations for touch screen-less mobile devices. The browser cannot operate with just the touch screen and relies on physical button inputs. This is not too much of a problem and easy to get used to. On my Cingular 8525, aka HTC Hermes 100 or TyTN, the directional controls are used.

Pressing the button in the center of the directional key brings up the Zoom options. From there, you can use the directional keys to move a gray box to select the area of zoom. You can also move the gray box around using the touch screen. A tap of the touch screen or pressing the center button again will zoom into your selection.

Everything is easy to use. In a zoomed view, you can scroll the webpage using the directional controls or touch screen. Scrolling the webpage with the touch screen is easy with a few slides of the thumb. All this can be done without the use of a stylus. Links are not selectable when the web page is in its primary zoom mode. Selecting links require another press of the center button and it highlights links that you can select using the directional keys. You can also tap the links with the touch screen as well.

Microsoft does not include a help file with the browser, so I actually had to read the F.A.Q. on the Deepfish web page to figure out the controls. The browser is not too intuitive at first launch.

Why I love it

After being stuck to the confines of Pocket Internet Explorer, Deepfish is exactly what I wanted in a browser. I can view full web pages and forums without being reduced to a simplified view. Once I was used to the controls, it was very easy to use. I can operate the browser without the use of a stylus, not that I ever used my stylus much anyways.

DailyTech renders beautifully in Deepfish and I can view all the comments without selecting a bunch of different links, like with the DailyTech Mobile web page. Every webpage I have been to renders properly, as it would in Firefox, but in a zoomed out view. And with my 3G connection, that Cingular charges an arm and a leg for, web pages load fast with DSL-like speeds, at least in the Seattle area.

Shortcomings

While I love Deepfish, it is not perfect by any means. The browser does not accept cookies and has issues with logins for most web pages that rely on cookies. While it can fill out some text input boxes, the text you input does not show up on the rendered page, which gets annoying. The controls, while simple to use, could use some refinement. There are times when I try to thumb scroll the page and somehow it switches to link mode and goes to some random link I did not select.

Final thoughts

Despite the shortcomings, Deepfish works fairly well for reading web pages. It requires further refinement, but this is a technology preview and not a final shipping product. Deepfish is a step in the right direction and the browser Windows Mobile should have always had since it entered the internet realm. With mobile phone Internet connections speeding up to 1Mbit and higher, minimized page views are a thing of the past. Microsoft needs to refine and finalize this product and ship it ASAP.

In short, Deepfish is the browser Microsoft should have shipped with Windows Mobile 6.

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Finally

By bozilla on 7/22/2007 5:35:40 PM , Rating: 2

And yeah, this is how the browser should work. Full support to the browsing unlike iPhone's crippled Safari version.

I'm anxious for new wave of devices to start coming out with WM and Deepfish (I am looking at you - Toshiba Portege G900, you superphone you)

RE: Finally

By Anh Huynh on 7/22/2007 11:30:34 PM , Rating: 2

The Toshiba G900 is pure sex in a phone. Too bad it costs close to $850 USD, quite a bit steep. I'm looking forward to the new HTC Kaiser though.

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RE: Finally

By Enoch2001 on 7/22/07, Rating: 0

RE: Finally

By bozilla on 7/23/2007 3:13:59 AM , Rating: 2

?

Even though iPhone's Safari is pretty cool browser, it still lacks a lot of things Deepfish will have.

RIght now on Safari, Ajax-enabled sites are hit or miss due to some limitation to Javascript with Safari and of course no Flash support is another MAJOR thing. We don't need to surf super heavy movie websites, but there is A LOT of flash based sites that are pretty nicely done and very light.

So yeah, Deepfish aims to be a better experience overall.

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RE: Finally

By Enoch2001 on 7/23/2007 1:07:54 PM , Rating: 1

I do agree that iPhone's Safari is in need of improvement. The lack of Flash is a major issue, in fact. I just think calling it "crippled" is a little harsh.

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RE: Finally

By TomZ on 7/23/2007 1:59:56 PM , Rating: 2

Considering the majority of web sites use Flash, I think that "crippled" is not far off the mark. Flash is now a de-facto web standard, almost as important as HTML itself.

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RE: Finally

By quiksilv3r on 7/23/2007 3:35:54 AM , Rating: 2

And you've obviously spent too much time with shoving your iphone...nevermind.

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RE: Finally

By Enoch2001 on 7/23/07, Rating: 0

RE: Finally

By robinthakur on 7/24/2007 10:09:35 AM , Rating: 2

Purlease, the magical part of the iPhone is when its vibrating inside your lower colon!

In all seriousness though, I'll buy one when they come out in UK. My HTC Tytn windows mobile is just awful to use, so fiddly!!

RT

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RE: Finally

By Hare on 7/23/2007 9:20:00 AM , Rating: 2

Has anyone tried the browser on Nokia devices? I just can't see why everyone is so impresses with deepfish or iPhones browser. Nokia's browser uses Safari components (open source), renders pages just like desktop browsers and supports javascript (also has a flash player).

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RE: Finally

By Anh Huynh on 7/23/2007 12:34:04 PM , Rating: 2

I haven't owned a Nokia phone since my days of customizing my 3390 with blue lights ;)

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Opera

By TomCorelis

(blog) on 7/22/2007 6:01:18 PM , Rating: 2

Just out of curiosity, have you tried Opera Mobile? It's not quite as refined as you make Deepfish sound, but I've found that it works better than IE, at least on my Blackjack. It does the Zoom thing too, but not very fluidly.

RE: Opera

By Anh Huynh on 7/22/2007 11:26:42 PM , Rating: 2

Yea, I've tried Opera. Never really liked it much. It consumes too much memory and half the time I have to close most of the applications I have running just to launch it. It also doesn't render some web pages right. However, there's a new Opera beta that I've yet to use.

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RE: Opera

By Flunk on 7/23/2007 12:42:13 PM , Rating: 2

You will have problems with Opera for Windows Mobile if you don't have a high spec device. But if you have 64MB of RAM and a 400mhz+ processor it's quite useful.

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RE: Opera

By therealnickdanger on 7/23/2007 2:17:48 PM , Rating: 2

I currently use Opera Mini on my Samsung A900 and it allows me to do so many magical things! I almost loaded Opera on my Q but then I discovered that modifying the registry keys to display PIE as IE6 solved nearly all my issues. Deepfish sounds wicked, though.

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Runs serverside?

By TomCorelis

(blog) on 7/22/2007 8:41:40 PM , Rating: 2

According to Gizmodo, Deepfish renders everything server side and sends you a snapshot?

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/hands+on-vid...

What's wrong with downloading the page normally and zooming it out?

Say it ain't so!

RE: Runs serverside?

By Anh Huynh on 7/22/2007 11:29:24 PM , Rating: 2

Yep, its server side and in its early stages, but still quite usable. I'd imagine Microsoft would sell the technology to the phone providers, so AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon would take care of the server-side duties.

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RE: Runs serverside?

By TomZ on 7/23/2007 8:45:57 AM , Rating: 2

That's a smart architecture - let the servers do the heavy lifting, leaving a small, light client application on the user's device. I assume they can also optimize the bandwidth with. I like that approach a lot.

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RE: Runs serverside?

By omnicronx on 7/25/2007 11:44:08 AM , Rating: 2

but this could also leave limitations present. being server side is most likely the reason cookies do not work, and text forms are not displayed on your screen, since it is prerendered.

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Sounds a little like Opera on the Wii

By giantpandaman2 on 7/24/2007 3:08:56 PM , Rating: 2

Well, at least the way the zoom function seems to work. I'm curious, Anh, of what you think about that. Has anyone tried the DS's version of Opera? How does it compare?

RE: Sounds a little like Opera on the Wii

By Anh Huynh on 7/25/2007 3:41:50 PM , Rating: 2

I haven't used Opera Wii in a while, but I remember it being a bit more fluid and very well implemented. But, the Wii has more processing power and could benefit from a high resolution.

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Caption Picture

By Possessed Freak on 7/23/2007 4:20:48 PM , Rating: 2

Man, I was hoping you would use Dopefish from the Commander Keen series.

Who cares?

By wmtemna on 7/24/2007 6:30:26 PM , Rating: 2

I have been using a browser call Picsel Browser. It blows Deepfish out of the water. No server side crap. No proxy. Just downloads and renders pages perfectly. If Microsoft was even a little smart they would buy Picsel.