I've been increasingly using the built-in wireless capability of my device and finding it useful and fun. I've really grown to appreciate the universe of mobile sites on the Internet, something I've covered extensively in past columns. In my column in the May 2005 issue, we looked at a number of the top mobile sites. And in the July 2004 issue, we covered mobile sites that offer streaming media.
You can find our directory of mobile portals on our Web site (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/mobile). This directory also lists sites that offer streaming media.
In this column I want to direct you to Google's new mobile offerings, as well as point you to some useful Pocket PC-related resources on the Internet.
Google Mobile
Google always seems to do a great job at whatever it focuses on, and I'm delighted to see the company increasingly giving attention to mobile services.
Last spring Google put up a Web page that summarizes its mobile offerings (http://mobile.google.com). Also, if you go to this Web page (http://mobile.google.com/submit_email.html), you can give Google your e-mail address so that you can be among the first to get updates on Google Mobile developments and to try out future Google Mobile beta services.
Google Mobile Web search
For a number of years Google has had a few mobile search options, each oriented toward a different platform. But currently the most functionality is offered by their XHTML search option, including Web search, image search, and local search. According to the Google Mobile site, if you go to their main Web page (http://www.google.com) from your Pocket PC, you should be automatically redirected to an XHTML search page. But when I do this, I'm sent to Google's search page for Palm OS devices (http://www.google.com/palm). This page is displayed in a single-column view (Fig. 1), as are the pages that list the results of your search. But if you tap on an item in the results pages, you are usually taken to a full-sized Web page (Fig. 2). To view the page, you have to scroll around a lot.
Fig. 1 (top): Go to Google.com from your Pocket PC and you are automatically redirected to a search page designed for the Palm. Fig. 2 (bottom): Unfortunately, this leads you to full-size Web pages.
If you encounter this problem, go directly to Google's XHTML search page (http://www.google.com/xhtml) and do your search (Fig. 3). You'll get a list of the same links in the results page, but when you tap on a link, you're taken to a stripped-down, text-only version of the Web pages that fit the small screen of your device (Fig. 4).
Fig. 3 (top): Go directly to Google's XHTML search page and do a search. Fig. 4 (bottom): The resulting links lead you to text-only Web pages that do not require right and left scrolling.
Like Skweezer and Thunderhawk, Google's XHTML page passes the Web pages you request through a "proxy server," which reformats them before they are sent to your Windows Mobile device. Since you're receiving text-only Web pages, less data is being sent to your device and pages load faster. (Of course, the third-party proxy services I mentioned offer additional features and have more sophisticated rendering, which includes graphical elements. Also, since Google is a search engine, it only serves up pages stored in its index, whereas these other services will take you to whatever URL you type in.)
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