{"id":6312,"date":"2010-02-05T12:52:23","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T19:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wapreview.com\/?p=6312"},"modified":"2010-02-05T15:45:24","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T22:45:24","slug":"the-n900-forecasts-mobile-browsings-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/6312\/","title":{"rendered":"The N900 Forecasts Mobile Browsing’s Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"N900<\/a>\"N900<\/a><\/p>\n

Using the N900’s MicroB browser is really an eye opener.\u00a0 The combination of a relatively large screen, 800×480 px resolution, very good JavaScript performance and full desktop Flash is turning my my mobile browsing pattern upside\u00a0 down.\u00a0 When I use Opera Mini on an N95 or the Android browser on the HTC Magic, I typically spend 75% of my time on mobile sites and the rest on “full” web sites.\u00a0 With the N900 it’s more like 50\/50 and the percentage of desktop sites is rising as I find more and more that deliver deliver a richer browsing experience on the N900 than their mobile equivalents. The screenshots are a representative sampling of how desktop sites look on the N900.\u00a0 Click the thumbnails for to see the images in their original 800×480 glory.<\/p>\n

The N900 reinforces something that I’ve long believed would eventually happen, the merger of the\u00a0 mobile and desktop webs. This doesn’t mean that users will simply switch from using mobile sites\u00a0 to desktop ones on their phones.\u00a0 Rather it marks a fundamental difference in the way that we look at the web and mobile devices. Going forward, web designers, developers and publishers will need to take into account that a rapidly growing percentage of their users will be visiting their “desktop” sites with phone browsers.<\/p>\n

It’s not just a matter of tweaking the CSS and layout of desktop pages to\u00a0 ensure that they render attractively and are usable on mobile devices.\u00a0 Having a\u00a0 significant percentage of mobile visitors means taking into account the different needs\u00a0 of mobile visitors and their device’s extra capabilities. As Tomi Ahonen has been pointing out for years<\/a>, mobile phones are actually more rather than less capable and powerful than PCs. Tomi has identified 10 “C”s (capabilities) of mobile phones, several of which are especially relevant to the web sites and web services. What Tomi calls Context <\/strong>(where, when and what)\u00a0 Charging <\/strong>(seamless payment), Community <\/strong>(social networking)\u00a0 and Creation <\/strong>(citizen journalism, micro blogging, photo and video sharing)\u00a0 are four that stand out.\u00a0 As mobile users flock to desktop sites, publishers and designers need to enable these special mobile capabilities to the highest degree possible.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n