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Nokia N8 Web Browser Gets Demoed on Video

Mark Guim — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:43:58 +0000

A video showing the Nokia N8 and its web browser popped up on YouTube. It didn’t have the cool professional lighting from Nokia’s official videos and you had to turn your head to watch it. However, it gave us a nice little preview of the web browser for the upcoming device. Unfortunately it was immediately taken down.

update: Re-uploaded by another user

The video started with a preloaded page from Arab Nokia on the browser, then the Nokia N8 proceeded to demo kinetic scrolling, multitouch pinch-to-zoom, flash support, and the transition between landscape and horizontal orientation. Overall, it looked smooth and snappy, but zooming out seemed to be a little slow. Grey and white boxes were visible before re-rendering the page. It was a pre-production device, so I hope that gets fixed when the final version comes out.

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Nokia Acquires Novarra to Improve Browsing Experience on Series 40 Devices

Mark Guim — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:14:18 +0000

Nokia announced on Friday it has signed an agreement to acquire Novarra, whose mobile browser and service platform will be used by Nokia in Series 40 devices later this year. Following the acquisition, Novarra will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia.

“Delivering an optimized internet experience on our devices is core to our mission,” said Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Services, Nokia. “By driving innovation in all segments of our portfolio, we are building one of the largest consumer audiences for web services and content. Novarra’s Internet services technology delivered on the world’s most widely-used mobile platform, Nokia’s Series 40, will help us achieve this.”

Novarra, Inc. is a privately-held company based in Chicago, IL and has more than 100 employees.

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Video: How to Enable The Hidden Portrait Mode On Nokia N900 Web Browser

Mark Guim — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:28:51 +0000

I noticed a bug report about portrait mode on the Nokia N900’s web browser. Wait… there’s portrait view now? It seems this hidden feature can be enabled on the web browser by pressing Ctrl-Shift-o. This works on the latest Nokia N900 firmware 2.2009.51-1 and seems to be an undocumented feature. I made a video to show you how it looks.

You can also watch this video in HD on Youtube. Subscribe to the channel to preview the latest videos before they get published on the blog.

Pressing the three buttons toggle it on and off, maintaining the setting even after rebooting the Nokia N900. The screen automatically rotates when the keyboard is closed and the device is held upright. It goes back to landscape view if keyboard is slid open. The on-screen keyboard also appears in landscape view only.

Despite some of the drawbacks I mentioned above, it’s cool that Nokia left this “hidden feature” to be found by its users. I believe this option was hidden because it is simply not finished yet.

I actually prefer to use browser in landscape view, but some websites appear better in portrait mode. For example, my favorite Nokia N900 Twitter web app, Hahlo.com, looks great in that view.

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Vlog: Nokia N97 vs iPhone 3GS Web Browsing

Mark Guim — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:37:36 +0000

I love Nokia devices, but when it comes to web browsing, the iPhone is simply better. In this video, I compare the speed and user experience of the current flagship Nokia N97 vs iPhone 3GS. Take a look.

You can also watch this video in HD on Youtube.

Overview

iPhone 3GS loads websites faster than Nokia N97. It is more noticeable on larger websites.
iPhone 3GS features multi-touch that is very effective when zooming in/out of sites. Not possible on Nokia N97.
Scrolling and double-tap to zoom work similar on the iPhone 3GS and Nokia N97
Nokia N97 can play flash within web pages, but Youtube videos are nicely integrated with iPhone’s browser.

Overall, the iPhone is a better web browsing device. Watch out for more Nokia N97 vs iPhone 3GS comparison posts and videos soon!