A big fan of the Thunderhawk browser

[Jason Dunn]

Jerome Carney sent me a message today, and seeing as it's a bit of a slow news day, I thought I'd pass it along. I haven't tried the Thunderhawk browser since getting the XDA, but I just might - I have to admit that GPRS speeds are a little under whelming to me. I wasn't expecting DSL speeds, but web browsing is a painful experience in most cases (especially if you hit THIS site).<br /><br />"I installed the ThunderHawk browser on my PPC last week, and I gotta say - even with a $50 annual subscription after a 30-day free trial - the ThunderHawk already has me ready to chunk Pocket IE. It's so much more like desktop browsing, that there really is no looking back once you've tried it. Speed is impressive, primarily because only the displayed portion of a web page is downloaded, rather than the entire page, and images arrive pre-compacted. This triggers a slight delay while scrolling, but all and all, it's the better compromise for wireless PDA browsing. <br /><br />And font display... wow! I don't know how they do it. Even with clear-type enabled, I had to keep Pocket IE in large text mode (via a registry hack) to literally avoid headaches. But ThunderHawk's tiny font is somehow very legible, and so far I've yet to reach for the Advil. <br /><br />Granted, there are a couple of gripes: you have to establish a connection manually before launching the ThunderHawk browser, text input is only through the Thunderhawk onscreen keyboard, there's apparently no support for local storage of user IDs required by many web sites... But still... sigh.... this is browsing. I mean, everyone who sees my T-Mobile wants a web demo, but I've been embarrassed to comply, on account of Pocket IE's whole "peering through a keyhole" handling of web pages. Bitstream deserves well-earned credit for pouncing on Microsoft's shortcomings and bringing to market an ingenuous little program/service that puts a lot of pride back in your pocket."

[yellow1]

I've been using this browser for several months and it IS amazing, especially sinde they added support for favorites !

Not compatible with too many PDAs though yet, but they're adding support regularly.

[Hank Scorpio]

Hey I wrote on a forum somewhere that I liked Thunderhawk and it was the only one that let me browse my banks website. I recieved a reply that said "you really want to trust Bitstream with your bank account information?" Just wondering should I be doing bank transactions or even accessing my bank account through Thunderhawk? I think it rocks too, I like typing on the keyboard in the landscape type mode, I don't mispell as much.

[Paragon]

I tried this on my HP567 when it first came out. I found it painfully slow when scrolling. As Jason mentioned he only found it is a bit slow.....I take it that it has improved since then?

Dave

[yellow1]

really depends on your connection speed.
I used to have a 9,600bps CDMA card (yuck) and browsing was STILL decent on my 3670 !

[joe90]

Hi, I totally agreed with all you guys, it's a wonderful piece of S/W. I think you'll get addited to it's ability over PIE. :D

[pschultz]

Could someone post a like where I can find this awsome browser?

[bdeli]

Could someone post a like where I can find this awsome browser?

Here is the link: http://www.bitstream.com/wireless/

Alternatively there is also Access Netfront - still in beta but it works much better than pocket IE - http://www.access.co.jp/english/ppc/index.html

[24va]

Has anyone gotten this to work on a xScale mahine? It locks up on my 3975

[Paragon]

bdeli

I have been using NetFront on my Jornada. You are right it is much better than PIE.

Dave

[blusparkles]

I've been using this on my 3970, and it works like a dream! :D

[RDC]

Granted I didn't spend much time troubleshooting, but I couldn't get Thunderhawk to work on my T-mobile. I only tried installing 2x.

Anyone else have the same experience?

I'll try to install it again tomorrow.....

Chad

[blusparkles]

Are you installing it onto a storage card? I initially tried to install it into the ipaq filestore, and it wouldn't work. I then tried installing it into main memory, and then it worked fine

[mobileMike]

Browsing the main page of this site over GPRS is not bad with the images turned off. If I find something interesting, I just tap-n-hold on the missing images and select to show it. It is not the same as on the desktop but it is better then not being able to do it at all.

- mike

[RDC]

Are you installing it onto a storage card? I initially tried to install it into the ipaq filestore, and it wouldn't work. I then tried installing it into main memory, and then it worked fine

Initially I installed Thunderhawk on my storage card and it didn't work. Then I installed it in the main memory and, again, it didn't work. I'll fool around with it again later this morning.

Chad

[Schtein]

I've been using it the past couple of days with my new bought wireless CF card at home and it works like a charm on my ipaq 3660.


Much better then PIE.

I haven't tried it with my cell phone at 9600bps though when I find the time I'm sure going to try that one out, should be interesting.

edit : I bought my subscription 30 minutes after testing it out, really worth it IMO

[dhpss]

Pros: Font, size, readability,keyboard, display, read normal Web page
Cons:
My Favorite links to Web site that is optimized for PIE, these Web sites are not really usable under TH (for their vertical format). You do need to have another Favorite list for TH.

TH does not offer offline browsing so you could eventually replace Mazingo or IE mobile favorites

The startup time is very long (b'cause their subscription scheme) I am willing to pay one time charge but not yearly subcription...

No Multimedia streaming

TH does not use IE cache, I have my main memory runs out of space very quick. I am wondering if TH fills out its own cache, in addition to the Internet temporary files that PIE uses.

TH acts like IE4.0, when Web site checks for IE version, these might refuse to work.

It would be nice if Microsoft licenses from TH for it PIE?