Thoughts media sites and iPod Touch...

[dwhitney]

I've been a long time viewer of all 3 sites (probably 5-6 years maybe)?

Anywho, I just picked up an iPod Touch and have to say it is quickly running up the list of favorite all time gadgets (and I've owned a bunch - even the non-apple kind for those of you thinking fan-boy - not...). The interface and web browser have to be experienced first hand to be believed. They are stunning and highly intuitive to me.

That said, all the thoughts media sites appear to be auto-detecting the type of device/browser accessing the site and delivering either the desktop or mobile version. The iPod Touch (and iphone for that matter) are detected and delivered as mobile sites but the reality is that they are much more like a desktop than a mobile. Would be nice if they would default to desktop version for those devices.

The PPC site and DM site both have links in the footer to get to the desktop version (which I've now bookmarked on my touch) but I can't find anything similar on the SM site.

Thanks.

[Mike Temporale]

Hrm... I know you can do SmartphoneThoughts.com/Mobile to get the mobile version. Not sure about the reverse. Perhaps Jason can shed some light on that.

[dwhitney]

Hrm... I know you can do SmartphoneThoughts.com/Mobile to get the mobile version. Not sure about the reverse. Perhaps Jason can shed some light on that.

Correct. The /mobile is what is being automatically served up providing the user no choice in the case of the SM site. Would be nice if the auto-detect either gave the customer the option right up front or defaulted touch/iphone users to the desktop version of the site instead.

Also... I noticed the forums (on all sites) default to the mobile version with no apparent way (I could be overlooking the obvious so sorry if so...) to use the desktop view instead.

That said, while this is currently largely an apple (touch/iphone) issue only given the unique high screen resolution of those devices offer, I strongly believe (after having used one) that it is going to be the way all mobile devices migrate to over the coming years so it will become a larger and larger issue. The concept of mobile versons (at least as we think of them now) of web sites I think drastically changes. Though we are still VERY early in that evolution.

On that note, I SO wish the Kaiser had a VGA screen but then I'd be experiencing this challenge on that device... :)

Thanks again.

[dwhitney]

I guess the real challenge here might be if we can get Jason to read a thread that has an Apple product listed in the thread title... :)