http://www.osnews.com/story/10157/The_Sad_Story_of_Secure_Mobile_Browsing Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:03:20 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I thought you said mobile computing is dying. Wed, 30 Mar 2005 23:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? No, pure PDAs are dying. But phones and smartphones-PDA hybrids are thriving. Wed, 30 Mar 2005 23:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Besides, there are 10 million pure-PDA users out there. Even if their market is transformed to phone-PDAs these days, these people still use these devices. Companies should take resposibility on these products they released and offer upgrades for at least a 2 year life cycle. Wed, 30 Mar 2005 23:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Microsoft is still bundling IE 5.0x with these OSes. And we all know how unsecure 5.0.x is.

In many cases it is impractical to update these devices for many technical reasons.

However, that's part of the point with Microsoft and why they're interested in this market. Microsoft always put slightly crap technology into initial products (and let's face it, they have done with Windows Mobile), especially within markets that they don't yet dominate, to give people no option but to upgrade everything later on when they do dominate it (or at least have greater market share). This makes way for new releases of products (Windows Mobile) that they are actually serious about and they feel that they've eventually got right.

Yep, a lot of the problem with updating mobile devices now is the differentiation that providers do with them. It's almost the same as the Linux desktop distribution world at the moment. One option would be standardisation, and that would suit Microsoft down to the ground. Unfortunately, it's not palatable for everyone else. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Companies should take resposibility on these products they released and offer upgrades for at least a 2 year life cycle.

Funny you should mention resposibility . The upgrade is to throw the device away and get a new one. That's something that's been practised in the PC industry, and is taken on to another level with mobile devices. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >In many cases it is impractical to update these devices for many technical reasons.

Yep, that's what the article says too.

But it's not just Microsoft to blame or its OEMs. My SonyEricson phone keeps crashing and there were never updates released for it. It seems that these gadget devices are usually released in one-go and then they never work on updates. Like a single-use toilet paper. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? >The upgrade is to throw the device away and get a new one

This does NOT guarantee that security holes are fixed. It simply guarantees (possibly) a newer version of the browser. But that doesn't mean the browser in question that's bundled was EVER tested properly for security holes.

>That's something that's been practised in the PC industry

This is not true. We are not talking about faulty hardware here, we are talking about security holes. And any major desktop OS provides security updates. And that's what I want for mobile browsers/OSes too.

And yes, the way to go would be to standardize and not create custom versions of mobile OSes that break from model to model. Standardization is important to be able to rollout effectively fixes. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I remember similar thing on the pc when the internet was on the rise 10 years ago. There were many versions of Netscape and IE back then (probably mostly just co-branded), and some versions were incompatible with some sites, and plugins, etc.

It's going to be a mess for a while, until companies decide that it is beneficial for them to adhere to some set of standards standards. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Who wants to browse the web on a tiny display and have to scroll 19 times just to view the entire page??? NOT ME! Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I browse OSNews with my SonyEricson regularly and it's pretty usable at 128x160 (check the link in the story for proof).

I am sure that users who own smartphones with bigger screens are in an even better situation than I am. Mobile browsing is possible, if done right. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 01:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? i am very happy with Webviewer. It is small,fast and I can visit all my favorites websites without any problem. Netfront is awesome too but big. Opera is nice too but if there is a problem with the proxy server, forget it.

i love my n-gage qd.

-2501 Thu, 31 Mar 2005 01:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? I kind of find mobile browsing handy. On my SX1 I get to check stocks and sports scores on my yahoo, get the latest from /. and, of course, OS News looks great on mobile Opera. As screens get better (think PSP) and speeds get faster (at least 3G) we'll see these become very real devices. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 01:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? What browser is this? Is this Symbian's native browser that comes with the n-gage? Can you tell me if osnews renders ok with it, with no ads and with no vertical sidebar? Thx! Thu, 31 Mar 2005 01:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? check this out....you can try it first if you want. i hope you like it.

http://shop.my-symbian.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=695&...

or go to http://www.reqwireless.com/webviewer.html

-2501 Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Ah, yes, now I understand. You meant the Reqwireless WebViewer, which is java-based. Do you like that browser? I find it underwelming personally... I used its emulator in the past, osnews works fine with it, but the browser is not very capable. Try the emulator here:
http://www.reqwireless.com/demo-webviewer.html Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? i visit osnews.com everyday and it renders osnews.com just perfect. it doesn't come with the n-gage but you can buy it at
my-symbian.com , handango.com or reqwireless.com . this version is for the S60 series and it is just 51k!

-2501 Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? > I visit osnews.com everyday and it renders osnews.com just perfect

Thanks, yes. I have added mobile support for it about 8 months ago or so. The emulator doesn't look good, I hope the phone version looks more appealing. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? i don't have too much memory left so this one works perfect. make sure you select the option "Enable images". i think it renders images better than Netfront. The only bad thing about it is that you can't download files to your cell phone.

-2501 Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? yeah...also pocket ie can only do auth basic (clear text) in response to a 401 challenge. This means ssl must be used. Major bummer for me (don't want to do ssl for an embedded web server I developed) Thu, 31 Mar 2005 03:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Like a single-use toilet paper.
Er... do you know of any other kind?

This does not move me as much as other OSnews. I don't own a PDA for self-protection. I'm sure I'd lose the thing or forget it somewhere and then some dushbag gets his mits on my personal data. That's not happening.

For the same reason I have a cell phone that allows me to make a phone call and send these annoying little text messages. I don't need it for anything else. I don't want it for anything else.
The more of your life you store on these gizmos, the more you're afraid someone is going to run off with it. And, if you're in the spotlight and known for depending on that kind of technology, you're going to be a natural target for people who are very interested in the contents of your PDA-ish type device. I know Paris Hilton having her phone hacked brings a smile to the face of the people reading these pages. But there will be people who will have data actually worth stealing on their PDAs.
How many laptops, PDAs and cell phones are lost/forgotten/stolen every year? How much information is on these devices that you really can't stand other people messing around with?

I'm not having a PDA. I'm not important enough to be an interesting target [not by a long stretch] but somebody might think I am and the net result is I lost my PDA. Not worth it. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Eugenia, when visiting osnews with opera on my sx1(series60) there is no "view all comments" link, is it normal? Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Yes, this is normal. Offline-browser users (e.g. AvantGo, Plucker) have asked to take this out so when they configure their fetchers to download two level of osnews pages they don't have to download huge duplicated pages that in some cases even drive them out of drive space. Some had even asked me to take out the printer-friendly version but I had to say "no" on this one, as it's used a lot by mobile browsers that can't do tables well (e.g. AU).

Also, many mobile browsers crash or stop downloading after 32 or 64KBs of data, and so we have to be carerful to not serve big pages like the "view all comments" which in some cases are extremely large. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? This is not true. We are not talking about faulty hardware here, we are talking about security holes. And any major desktop OS provides security updates. And that's what I want for mobile browsers/OSes too.

Unfortunately it is true. Updates are provided in the PC world because they're much easier to do, and they're just demanded. However, through various means Microsoft and Intel have grown rich from subtly forcing people to jack it all in and get a new computer at regular intervals.

In the mobile world, they want to take that on to another level. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 14:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? > Microsoft and Intel have grown rich from subtly forcing people to jack it all in and get a new computer at regular intervals.

I had my previous PC for 5 years, I am not one of these people that buy PCs for no good reason. I bought my new PC just 2 weeks ago, and I intend to keep it for at least 4-5 more years. Thu, 31 Mar 2005 23:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? there is another web browser for the S60 series called
Doris....check it out!

http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&plat...

-2501 Fri, 01 Apr 2005 01:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Yup. OSNews already supports Doris too. We have support for 70 mobile browsers. Fri, 01 Apr 2005 01:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread? http://osnews.com/thread? Curious, Windows Mobile OS is not binary compatible with typical Win32 executables, right? Moreover, does IE4.0 on Mobiles support ActiveX and such? Has there been security breaches in the past? Don't mean to ask these questions as a troll. Ultimately, you're right. Security is something that we should always keep in the back of our minds these days. I'm just wondering where we are in the overall scheme of things and how much risk we are taking on today. Fri, 01 Apr 2005 16:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments