Sick of Pocket IEs limitations? Good, so are we. Come with Anthony Newman as he tours NetFront, a gorilla of a browser for Windows Mobile.
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Introduction
Since the Pocket PC's inception, its users have been frustrated by the inclusion of programs so watered down from their desktop counterparts that they became a liability. Pocket Word is one example of this, and Pocket Internet Explorer is another. Although it gained a great deal of behind-the-scenes features in its PPC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003 incarnations, it still lacks a number of very basic capabilities expected by many users. Access bring us their NetFront browser, now at version 3.1, to remedy these flaws.
 | NetFront is laden with features - and toolbars, if you like
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Changes from the older version 3.0 are numerous, including the addition of full-screen, font size control and content wrapping, as well as many subtle tweaks to the user interface and menu layout.
NetFront is a hefty browser. For best performance, it requires the latest Windows Mobile 2003 (including Phone Edition devices) platform running on an X-Scale CPU. In terms of bulk it eats up 7 MB of storage memory, and another 5 MB or more when the program is executed. Of course, caching and loading of pages and images takes up even more, so this is not for those with cramped devices. Thankfully, NetFront does run from a storage card, although Access do not recommend it and in fact withdraw support for card installations, which we think is a little harsh.
However, for those with suitable machines, NetFront is rewarding. On top of basic HTML 4.01 support, it features XHTML, cHTML, XHTML Basic, WML1.3, CSS, ActiveX, ECMA, DOM, SSL, TLS, Cookies and Java, as well as a range of common image formats. There is no other browser for the Pocket PC that supports so many languages, protocols and formats as NetFront, and for those frustrated by the limited mobile browsing experience, this is a welcome relief.
The features don't stop there, of course. As a mobile browser, NetFront supports what they call 'Smart Fit', a rendering technique for fitting pages to the smaller screen and resolution of Pocket PCs. Unlike Pocket IE's fit to screen option, Smart Fit actually works, although NetFront can of course operate without it.
Multiple window support is not new to the Pocket PC thanks to third-party additions to IE, but NetFront elegantly integrates support for five tabbed windows into the browsing experience. This was perhaps the biggest complaint with Pocket IE. Desktop features continue to abound, with bookmarks, auto-complete, history, search support and common plug-ins available, as well as the ability to upload files and save images from pages to the device.
To further suit mobile devices, the browser can 'Auto-Cruise' web sites, collecting them for viewing offline, meaning NetFront becomes a great way to catch up on pages while on the train without paying extortionate costs in GPRS fees.
Navigation is a pleasure in NetFront 3.1. Pages can be zoomed and adjusted for easy viewing, and zipped around by dragging with the stylus. Menus are arranged logically
With all these features, we were concerned that NetFront might be slow, to put it lightly. It does chug occasionally on all but the fastest machines, and there is a noticeable delay on first startup compared to the lighter Pocket IE. However, menus proved responsive and even large pages rendered swiftly and remained navigable quite easily. Overall, we were pleased by NetFront's performance.
Option-freaks will be satisfied by the customization available, with a tabbed option screen to turn on or off a range of features, configure viewing preferences and manage connections through proxies and dialups.
Availability
NetFront 3.1 is available now for $29.80 USD. A limited 45-day trial version is available.
Conclusion
NetFront 3.1 whips any of its competitors, certainly on this platform. With little sacrifice in speed or usability it introduces a number of much-needed desktop features such as tabbed browsing, protocol support, offline browsing and easy navigation. For the increasing number of Windows Mobile users with an interest in wireless internet, NetFront is an invaluable replacement for Pocket IE. Its only real flaw lies in its system requirements, so readers are advised to be aware.
- What's positive: Supports everything and is very easy to use
- What's negative: System requirements are high
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Price and availability
The will start selling for TBA () in November 1999.
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