WEB BROWSERS FOR THE BLACKBERRY


One of the most versatile tools on your handheld is the web browser, but unfortunately not all handhelds have one. A browser is always installed on your handheld, but it requires a special activation to be seen and used. This activation can come from two places, so it's possible to have none, one, or even multiple browsers on your handheld.

The most common way a browser can be activated is from your carrier. Not all carriers offer browser service, but most do. If your browser is activated by your carrier, it will have a name that identifies it with your carrier. For instance, my BlackBerry 7280 has a "Cingular Browser" icon on the home screen.

The other way a browser can be activated is through your corporate IT staff if they have a BES installed with MDS. MDS stands for Mobile Data Services and is a piece of software that can be installed in addition to the BES. If these are installed, and your IT staff configures your handheld to use a browser, an icon labeled "BlackBerry Browser" will be shown on your home screen.

Another common way is through a service called the BlackBerry Internet Browser Service (BIBS). Many carriers offer this service, though there may be an additional fee. The BIBS is very similar to using an MDS except that the server is not controlled by your IT staff. If your carrier has configured your handheld to use BIBS, an icon labeled "Internet Browser" will be shown on your home screen.

WHAT KIND OF CONTENT CAN YOU GET?

tip

If you are in a situation where you do not have a web browser on your handheld and want one, you can sign up for browser service from a third-party provider. See Chapter 14, "Finding and Installing Third-Party Applications," for more information on finding third-party software.


Even if you have a browser icon on your handheld, you may not be able to view every web page out there. This is because there are many kinds of web pages and your browser may not be configured to view them all.

The web content you are most used to seeing on your desktop is content made with Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML. HTML is a feature rich language and is transferred using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Often the rich features of HTML (such as frames and client-side scripting) just don't work well on small devices such as a BlackBerry. To make small devices functional, another web page content type was created called Wireless Markup Language (WML), which is transferred using a subset of HTTP called Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

The point of all this technical mumbo-jumbo is that your browser may be limited to either WAP or HTTP. Generally a browser offered by your carrier will be configured for WAP content but may allow HTTP as well. However, a browser that has been configured by your IT staff will generally allow both HTTP and WAP content.

WHICH BROWSER SHOULD I USE?

So if you have two browser icons, why does it matter what kind of browser you use? Well, one browser may restrict content, but even if you have two that allow HTTP content, there is an important difference that should be considered. That difference is how the browser traffic gets to the Internet.

With a browser offered by your carrier, the HTTP requests go to your carrier first and then to the Internet through a server in your carrier's office. With a browser that is configured by your IT staff, the requests go to your office first and then to the Internet. This difference may seem insignificant, but having requests go to your office first has some distinct advantages.

First is security. I'm sure you trust your carrier, but the fact is that you just don't know what your carrier might be doing with the data while it is relaying it. Without going into details, we can simply say that using the browser which goes through the servers in your office is more secure.

The second advantage is that by having the browser traffic go to your office first, you can access your company's intranet as well as the Internet. Many companies use an intranet extensively for internal operations of all kinds, so this may be a huge benefit.

tip

Pressing the Space key moves the cursor down to the next screenful of data. This can be an easy way to read pages with a lot of content.




Mobile Guide to BlackBerry
Mobile Guide to BlackBerry
ISBN: 0789733439
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 146
Authors: Bill Foust

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