First Look: UCWEB Browser by UCFLY
UCFLY has just released a native S60 3rd version of their UCWEB Browser in English. Competing with the Services browser and Opera of old, UCWEB is a WAP/mobile site browser with some interesting functionality but a long way to go in terms of interface and usability. For more info you can check out UCFLY’s site (linked page is translated to English by Google).
There is some cool functionality to be found within UCWEB. For example, you can store web pages for offline browsing in UHTM or TXT format - in theory at least. I experienced a lot of crashes when I tried to take advantage of this feature.
The other big feature that this new browser touts is the ability to open multiple pages which is something that the S60 browser is sorely missing. Unlike saving pages, I had no problems opening multiple pages and moving back and forth between them. In the screen shot below you can see in the top left corner that I’m viewing open page 4 of 4.
I also had good experiences with downloading files and with other basic functionality. UCWEB is a bit slow though since it downloads pages and then effectively stops data flow until the next time data transfer is needed. You can set it to refresh at user-defined time intervals but that can really slow you down.
Other notes:
- Scrolling through long pages or pages with a lot of links is a huge PIA
- There are some keyboard shortcuts such as scroll and back, but not for some core functions that really need shortcuts
- I couldn’t get the app to auto-connect, regardless of the Access Point I designated under settings
- Occupies a lot of RAM
- Lots of crashes!
Some major work is still needed to make this app a usable browser but the vision is clearly there. Even with all of the problems I still like it more than the Opera WAP browser and even the S60 Services browser for that matter. I wish I spoke Chinese so that I could submit some bug reports myself, but I’m anxious to see future versions of this little app once the bug reports start flowing in and UCWEB is cleaned up a bit.
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UPDATE: Sorry I missed this initially, but UCWEB is not solely for WAP/mobile sites. It can do full web as well, supposedly. I say supposedly because the setting is there, but I still can’t get it to load any full web pages after adjusting it.
To enable full web, go to Menu -> Settings -> Browser (tab) and change “Browser type” to “WEB browser first”.
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@cybette Thanks for the offer! I would need to set aside about to hours to cover everything I think. ;) I have received word that this version is very preliminary despite the fact that I don't see a beta designation anywhere. Let's see what the next version does before I go asking you to translate 5 pages of bug reports/feature requests. ;-)
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You're right, that was poorly worded. Because at the time I wrote the review I thought that this browser was WAP only (which for me it still is since it won't load full pages!), I was speaking in terms of the Services browser. Even still though, UCWEB does handle multiple pages better than the S60 web browser IMO. I like the tally feature up in the corner. If they add a shortcut to cycle through the pages that would be optimal.
I'm excited to see where they take UCWEB because it has A LOT of potential.
Haven't heard from you lately by the way. I abandoned twitter but are you on Jaiku?
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I heartily agree that the multiple page browsing is disappointing on the native browser, but possible nonetheless! ;P
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@ladiko Thanks for the post. I hadn't discovered the left/right function but it would have been PLENTY helpful when browsing link-packed sites like mobile9! Regarding your question, I think that there are several setting that just aren't operational yet. Actually, this is probably good news because that might indicate that an update isn't far off.
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