Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
view it wherever they had cell coverage, as opposed to downloading it and reading it
offline.
A similar concept to WAP was the Java Platform, Micro Edition, and often abbreviated
j2me. j2me allowed users to load small java applets on their phone that could connect to
specific services in the same way WAP did, providing a similar experience. While j2me
(Java Platform, Micro Edition) was available on phones 2-3 years ago, along with the
ever-popular feature phone-friendly Brew MP operating system from Qualcomm, it was
limited by odd security settings and precautions that providers might put on a phone.
Oddly enough, it was available on phones that already had working web browsers that
could go anywhere. This madeone wonder why you might load up a special Gmail j2me
applet when you could simply visit the mobile version of Gmail.
Finally, by about 2005, most smartphones on the market contained a fairly decent web
browser that one could open, type in a URL, and view an actual web page. These web
pages were typically one of the following two varieties: normal web pages crammed
onto a smaller screen (see Figure 1-12) or specially created mobile versions of a website
(see Figure 1-13). Both had their advantages and disadvantages. The normal page
usually looked horrible on a small screen, with information flowing off the page,
unreadable, or in technical terms, unrenderable (rendering is the process by which a
web page is shown in a browser). While the information was usually horribly displayed, if
one had enough patience and skill, one could usually find what they needed.
Figure 1-12.
My personal blog, desktop-view, displayed in a mobile browser
