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The Nokia Express browser and Opera Mini are built this way and technical folks know this. These browsers are used in resource constrained devices that cannot r

by anuraj 14y ago

The Nokia Express browser and Opera Mini are built this way and technical folks know this. These browsers are used in resource constrained devices that cannot run a full fledged web browser and also conserve on bandwidth which is crucial for countries like India where 3G coverage is still patchy and expensive. I think user has the right to be better informed in this case. So is the case with Google Chrome which relays each and everything you do back to Google servers.

justincormack 14y ago
Funny there is an article today about how Safari had to run in 128MB RAM when it came out, which is apparently what these phones have. So writing a real browser may well still be possible.
- anuraj 14y ago
  A phone's 128MB memory is not same as PC's 128MB. Phones usually have execute in place (XIP) memories, which means the OS and apps share some space. Also each app is budgeted a certain memory (Phones use near real time OSs compared to usual OSs in PCs), so as not to exceed the memory limit anytime. There is no virtual memory to grow to. So the assumption is not correct especially for feature phones that do not use modern smart phone OSs which are more nearer (by no means same) to desktop counterparts.
- dagw 14y ago
  The lower end Asha 30X series has 32MB of RAM and 10MB of internal storage to play with. Squeezing a real browser with acceptable performance into that is probably non-trivial. The second aspect is one of bandwidth. Pre-processed sites are a lot smaller than the full sites. Many people with these phones probably don't have data contracts with generous limits. And when you're paying pr byte and downloading over GPRS, every byte that doesn't have to be downloaded counts.
- rplnt 14y ago
  Your calculation forgot to include a decade of web evolution. Surely you agree that webpages from 2002 are different to those from 2012. Whether it's the size (images, javascript, html, css), complexity (css, html, javascript) or functionality (css, html, javascript).

by anuraj 14y ago

justincormack 14y ago

Funny there is an article today about how Safari had to run in 128MB RAM when it came out, which is apparently what these phones have. So writing a real browser may well still be possible.

anuraj 14y ago
A phone's 128MB memory is not same as PC's 128MB. Phones usually have execute in place (XIP) memories, which means the OS and apps share some space. Also each app is budgeted a certain memory (Phones use near real time OSs compared to usual OSs in PCs), so as not to exceed the memory limit anytime. There is no virtual memory to grow to. So the assumption is not correct especially for feature phones that do not use modern smart phone OSs which are more nearer (by no means same) to desktop counterparts.
dagw 14y ago
The lower end Asha 30X series has 32MB of RAM and 10MB of internal storage to play with. Squeezing a real browser with acceptable performance into that is probably non-trivial. The second aspect is one of bandwidth. Pre-processed sites are a lot smaller than the full sites. Many people with these phones probably don't have data contracts with generous limits. And when you're paying pr byte and downloading over GPRS, every byte that doesn't have to be downloaded counts.
rplnt 14y ago
Your calculation forgot to include a decade of web evolution. Surely you agree that webpages from 2002 are different to those from 2012. Whether it's the size (images, javascript, html, css), complexity (css, html, javascript) or functionality (css, html, javascript).