Guest Paul [MVP] Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 This is an *incredible* piece of software on Pocket PC, so I can't wait to see it in action on Smartphone! BusinessWire writes... Bitstream Inc. (Nasdaq:BITS) today previews the alpha version of ThunderHawk SmartPhone Edition, its wireless Web browsing technology for cell phones. ThunderHawk SmartPhone Edition uses a server infrastructure combined with a small piece of client code on the handheld device. The server converts Web content into a compact format and sends it to the client on the handheld device, making fast and full-featured wireless Web browsing possible even with the wireless industry's current slow data speeds. This release brings to cell phones the display power ThunderHawk has already demonstrated on Pocket PCs. ThunderHawk speeds the reading of columns of Web text by eliminating left-right scrolling to finish a line and move to the next. And ThunderHawk makes it easy to find information because it maintains the layout already familiar to the viewer without re-flowing pages into one-dimensional structures. Besides its full-screen mode, ThunderHawk also offers a convenient split-screen mode, with the entire page in the upper half to orient the viewer and a highlighted area at full reading size in the lower window. With its support for key HTML standards like CSS and DHTML and security protocols like SSL and 128-bit encryption, ThunderHawk SmartPhone Edition enables wireless carriers to provide complete Web browsing to their customers. ThunderHawk removes the need for operators to build a limited number of specialized or streamlined Web sites for end users. The ThunderHawk thin-client solution is economically appealing because of shared hardware resources, allowing for a low financial investment over time. "We've now focused the time-tested Bitstream font rendering skills on the cell-phone screen, enabling clear and easy display of a Web page on a 176-by-220-pixel SmartPhone viewer," explained Anna Chagnon, President of Bitstream. "Wireless carriers can offer ThunderHawk to differentiate themselves from other carriers who deliver only text-based pages or WAP- or cHTML-based pages," she continued. "Our ThunderHawk SmartPhone Edition lets ThunderHawk customers, whether browsing privately or logging on to a corporate intranet, gain immediate access to the information they need, in a format they instantly recognize." Read the full article by clicking the link above! P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest [email protected] Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Every once-in-a-blue-moon a wish must come true! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest goinnuts Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 any chance of plus members trying this lovely little app out :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest [email protected] Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Not quite so excited after reading about it as it's a client server solution. (Whenever I hear the word solution I know I'm about to get suckered.) One can only hope that it's a "go-through" service like realtime translation by Google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Crispy Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 Not quite so excited after reading about it as it's a client server solution. (Whenever I hear the word solution I know I'm about to get suckered.) One can only hope that it's a "go-through" service like realtime translation by Google. Yes, otherwise I don't think it has a chance of being used on a large scale .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest midnight Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 this works quite well on the pocket pc where you have a stylus, but i can imagine it being an incredibly slow process on the smartphone, reformatting is a better 'solution' if you ask me :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pierre Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 When and how can we test that "looking great" release? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest [email protected] Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Speed, as I understood it, was their motive for making it a client server solution. The server reformats and sends the slimmer content to the client. It was unclear to me though, if admins of webpages/webservers need to make any upgrade for the content to be viewable on the Thunderhawc client. This, I think, would make the product very hard to sell. Lets hope it's some kind of realtime reformatting. Maybe the Thunderhawk client is hardwired to ask e.g. reformat.bitstream.com for DNS resolutions. I'm out of my league now so I'll stop speculating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul [MVP] Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 No chance is required to web pages. When you use the thunderhawk client, it connects via their server and downloads the reformatted pages from there. Shame it's a subscription based model tho :) P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest [email protected] Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 I would gladly subsribe if ANY and ALL webpages are avaliable through their server and the service is quick and functional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest [email protected] Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Here's a thought, why doesn't MS buy Thunderhawk and implement it to the Windows Mobile software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest midnight Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 well, one thing is for sure, i dont wanna use a crosshair on my smartphone, if i wanted to do that i'd by a p800/p900, the whole point of the ms smartphone is that everything can be used without the need for a mouse/stylus, which this software is attempting to emulate using the joystick+crosshair, that cant be fun to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest congeuro Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 It seems a very similar idea to the POGO system thats still kinda around, and that was great because it meant you paid a tenth for the same page as everyone else did!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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