Dive Deep into the Web with Deepfish

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://labs.live.com/deepfish/' target='_blank'>http://labs.live.com/deepfish/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Today at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference (eTech), Microsoft unveiled a new mobile technology, called Deepfish, designed to offer mobile users quick and convenient Web browsing that more closely resembles the experience of browsing the Web on desktop computers. Microsoft is making a limited technology preview available to the public on a first-come basis."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20070329-deepfish1.jpg" /><br /><br />You all know that Internet Explorer Mobile isn't the best browser for non-mobile-friendly sites. Enter Deepfish and its zooming mechanism. It closely resembles Safari on the iPhone in that you zoom into and load only the portion of the page that you need to access. The result is a very fast and enjoyable browsing experience, although truth be told, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Some dynamic content isn't supported, text input in certain form fields is a little flaky, and the interface needs a bit of polishing up - all the things expected in a preview version. That's where you come in. Microsoft would like your feedback, so head over to the <a href="http://labs.live.com/deepfish/">Deepfish web page</a>, download the application (note that it's being offered on a limited first-come, first-served basis), and give it a test run. Additional screenshots are available after the break.<br /><br /><b>Update:</b> Head over to <a href="http://on10.net/Blogs/larry/exclusive-video-new-mobile-web-browser--deepfish/">on10.net</a> for a video tour.<!><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20070329-deepfish2.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20070329-deepfish3.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20070329-deepfish4.jpg" />

[Tye]

Oh wow, when did Microsoft acquire Picsel Technologies? :twisted:

[Paul Martin]

Loading up pages within Deepfish seems a little slow and it's taking a bit to get used to navigation, but very intriguing. Thanks for the post, Darius.

[Don Tolson]

Looks like they already have their quota.

[Menneisyys]

Looks like they already have their quota.

Yup, they have :(

[signothefish]

System requirements

Device: Windows Mobile Smart Phone or Pocket PC.
Operating System: Windows Mobile 5.0+
Internet connection: Required.
For Desktop setup: NET Framework 2.0, ActiveSync 4.0+ or Windows Mobile Device Center(WMDC) for Vista.
Minimum Device Memory: 64MB Program Memory. Deepfish supports external storage when available.

[Menneisyys]

System requirements

Device: Windows Mobile Smart Phone or Pocket PC.
Operating System: Windows Mobile 5.0+
Internet connection: Required.
For Desktop setup: NET Framework 2.0, ActiveSync 4.0+ or Windows Mobile Device Center(WMDC) for Vista.
Minimum Device Memory: 64MB Program Memory. Deepfish supports external storage when available.

Yup, under-dvelopment browsers seem to be all WM5+ -only: NetFront 3.4, the promised Opera 9 and, now, DeepFish.

[palmsolo]

It looks like someone at Microsoft has been playing with a Nokia S60 3rd Edition device. The new S60 web browser has mini-map views that allow you to pan and zoom in, with a very cool visual history feature. There is nothing wrong with copying a good thing though and IMHO the S60 3rd Edition browser offers the BEST mobile browsing experience so it is cool to see Microsoft trying to bring this to Windows Mobile devices.

[ecsk2]

Looks like they already have their quota.

Yep (whatever it was 100?)

So now what, does one have to start looking for some not so 'official' source(s) to try it out??

[krypticide]

It's a nice program, but there's a lot to improve on. I can also see why multi-touch would be useful for this. They should also consider using Picsel's tap interface, which is pretty intuitive.

[Tye]

It's a nice program, but there's a lot to improve on. I can also see why multi-touch would be useful for this. They should also consider using Picsel's tap interface, which is pretty intuitive.
I wish Picsel would stop marketing to the manufacturers and start releasing their software for everyone. With just a bit more polish, it could easily become the best PPC browser out there. I think it's one of the most beautiful pieces of software I have ever used.

I am now trying out the DeepFish browser and I don't really like the fact that it uses a proxy to pump out the webpage to the PPC. It seems to work like a mix between Thunderhawk and Picsel. I do understand that this is a tech demo though, so I guess I can't be too hard on them.

[mattbugz]

Weak!! I missed it. :(

Thanks you for your interest in Deepfish; At this time the tech preview has reached the limit of initially available installations. We will send you a notification if we make additional spots available at a later date.

[mmidgley]

someone compared this to the iphone's browser. does the iphone browser require a desktop processor somewhere to be involved, or does it do it all on its own?

i really look forward to better handheld browsing, but the answer is NOT to use another PC. as others have said, i'm not slamming this program (i'm glad to see ms trying stuff). its just my opinion of how mobile browsing should work...

m.