Nokia Browser for Symbian
Developer(s) | Nokia |
---|---|
Stable release | 8.3.2
|
Operating system | Symbian OS |
Platform | S60 platform |
License | BSD |
Website | browser.nokia.com (offline) |
Nokia Browser for Symbian (formerly known as Web Browser for S60) was the default web browser for the S60 and Symbian mobile phone platform.[1] The browser is based on a port of Apple Inc.'s open-source WebCore and JavaScriptCore frameworks which form the WebKit rendering engine that Apple uses in its Safari Web browser.[2][3]
History
[edit]The first version in 2002 was lacking support for the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Wireless Markup Language (WML) and Adobe Flash Lite. s60 version 2 introduced support for WAP and WML.[4] Hence the Nokia Services (WAP) browser was the default browser on initial device shipments of this platform.
Nokia announced porting WebKit to the S60 Browser in June 2005,[5] and made it available in November.[2] At the 2006 World Wide Web Conference, Nokia announced that it was releasing the source code for its port of WebKit back to the community.[6]
Browser
[edit]It supports:
- HTML
- WAP 2.0 (XHTML)
- Cookies and JavaScript
- Wide web pages can be formatted for mobile viewing
- Multi-file download
- Super web browsing
Drawbacks:
- Multi-window browsing is not supported.
- It does not compress pages, which puts a greater strain on the phone's processor and bandwidth usage.
S60v3 Browser (1 April 2006)
[edit]It supports:
- HTML
- WAP 2.0 (XHTML)
- Cookies and Adobe Flash Lite
- Multi-window browsing
- Many files (up to 10) can be downloaded at once. This s60 v3 was the first version to support Adobe Flash Lite.
Nokia Browser 7.0
[edit]Nokia Browser 7.0 is supported on S60 5th Edition devices.
This version supports all of the features of prior to the Nokia Browser 7 releases, as well as the following additional features:
- Support for touch devices
- On-screen zoom controls
Nokia Browser 7.1
[edit]Nokia Browser 7.1 is supported on S60 3rd and 5th Edition devices.
New features:
- Based on WebKit 525
- Full support for Flash Lite 3.0[7]
- Supports kinetic scrolling[8]
- User-configurable shortcut keys and visual keymap
- Full-screen view[9]
Drawbacks:
- Copy paste support is poor. If you have a device with no Control-key or Pen-key, you can not copy paste in most web forms. With older Nokia models, like N95 or E90, this was not a problem, as N95 had a Pen-key and E90 had a Control-key. New N86 and N97 do not have such keys. However, E72, which was released in 11/2009, has a Control-key.
- Some jQuery effects are not supported (fadeIn and slideDown)
Nokia Browser 7.2 (Symbian^3)
[edit]The Nokia Browser 7.2 is supported on Symbian^3 and S60 (3rd and 5th Edition) platform devices.
New features:[10]
- Support for Capacitive touch display
- Two finger touch support (pinch open and pinch close) - on capacitive touch devices only
- Support for Optical Finger Navigation
- Flash Lite 4.0 - On Symbian 3 devices only
- Flash Lite 3.1 - On Symbian 3, S60 5th Edition, and S60 3rd Edition (Feature Pack 2) devices
- Search Client Integration
Nokia Browser 7.3 (Symbian Anna)
[edit]Nokia Browser 7.3 is pre-installed on Symbian Anna devices (like the Nokia E6 and Nokia X7). Browser 7.3 is also available to Symbian^3 devices (Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7, Nokia E7, Nokia N8) as part of the upgrade from Symbian^3 to Symbian Anna. Some S60 3rd Edition and S60 5th Edition devices received the updated browser in the form of firmware updates.[11] This version brings a touch-optimized user interface in addition to better web standards support and improved performance.
New features include:
- Basic HTML5 support
- CSS 3 support
- JavaScript 1.8 support
- Viewport meta tag support
- Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) support
- Flash Lite 4.0.3 support
- VGA screen support
- Multi-window browsing
- touch-optimized user interface:[12]
- Split-screen virtual keyboard support for live update of input fields
- Easy to access address bar at the top of the page with improved auto-complete
- Back button is always accessible
- Full screen and quick menu access button
Nokia Browser 7.4 (Nokia Belle)
[edit]Nokia Browser 7.4 is pre-installed on Nokia Belle devices (Nokia 600, Nokia 603, Nokia 700, Nokia 701). Browser 7.4 is also available to Symbian^3/Anna devices as part of the upgrade from Symbian Anna to Nokia Belle.[13]
Browser 7.4 added support for the following features:[14]
- HTML5 Audio/Video APIs and UI
- HTML5 Geolocation APIs and UI
- URL hash tag navigation (back/forward) within a web page without page reloads
Additionally, the user interface is changed in comparison to v7.3 as follows:
- Previous/next page, Bookmarks, Multi-window navigation, menu buttons at the bottom
- Direct access to RSS web feeds from the menu
- Links can be shared via SMS, e-mail, or Bluetooth
Nokia Browser 8.3 (Nokia Belle)
[edit]Come with Nokia Belle FP2 (Nokia 603, Nokia 700, Nokia 701, Nokia 808)
- Better HTML5 and JavaScript support
- Contains a bug (v8.3.2.21) where selecting "clear privacy data -> all" doesn't actually clear cookies; they must be cleared specifically.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Nokia Browser for Smartphones". Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
- ^ a b Nokia PR (2 November 2005). "Nokia introduces a new Web browser for S60 3rd Edition". press.nokia.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
- ^ "Nokia Developer - S60WebKit". Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
- ^ Eldar Murtazin (28 December 2006). "Description Nokia Web Browser S60 (OSS Browser)". mobile-review.com. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
- ^ Nokia PR (13 June 2005). "Nokia develops a new browser for Series 60 by using open source software". press.nokia.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
- ^ Nokia PR (24 May 2006). "Nokia releases 'Web Browser for S60' engine code to open source community". press.nokia.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
- ^ S60 Browser 7.1 - Nokia Developer Community - Discussions Archived 21 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Developer.nokia.com. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
- ^ Nokia N97 Mini Exclusive Hands-On Review. Techie-buzz.com (21 February 2010). Retrieved 2013-10-23.
- ^ Browser version-specific information Archived 13 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Developer.nokia.com (22 February 1999). Retrieved 2013-10-23.
- ^ "Nokia Browser 7.2". Browser version-specific information. Nokia Developer. 2 November 2011. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
- ^ Browser and Maps updates for many S60 3rd Edition and S60 5th Edition phones. Allaboutsymbian.com (29 June 2011). Retrieved 2013-10-23.
- ^ All About Symbian - Symbian Anna roll out has started
- ^ (in Dutch) Home - Nokia - Nederland. Europe.nokia.com. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
- ^ Browser 7.4.x. Developer.nokia.com (22 February 1999). Retrieved 2013-10-23.
External links
[edit]- Nokia Browsers
- S60WebKit (Rendering engine)