AvantGo...Love It...Hate It!

[S0larW1nds]

I'm new to the PPC game, I've had my Ipaq 2210 since January, thank goodness for PPCT with all the knowledge a techie could need.

AvantGo: Such a nice service and application. But the problems I have with them all seem so annoying and obvious why can't they be fixed.

Love the freeness but the 2Mb cache limit could be better.

Love the fact that you can cache any site/page (with or without images and link depth) since some may not have feeds available.

Hate the fact that if you do want even 1 link depth and the site has so many other links before the one(s) you really want that the channel size is quickly exceeded. Idea: can they allow a config page that allows you to select the links you want to follow or have you select which site directory you want stay in or drill down into e.g. http://site/reviews or http://site/reviews/cameraphones ya kno!

Hate the fact that one big link or image can kill the channel size limit even on a one page channel. So can't they allow an option that disregards links or images over a certain size so the other content is not lost?

Hate the fact that I emailed support and they totally dismissed these ideas I had.

Hate the fact that there may not be any other product out there as good or better than AGo, maybe with some of these features I mentioned.

Hate the fact that if you select not to follow offsite links in a channel that clicking on a link take you to an error page...couldn't it allow you to open the link in the browser if you are online or bookmark?

That's all for me; for now. But if I were a better programmer I would write an app that could do these things. Let me know what you think. Am I justified or am I just a babbling unsatisfied techie?

Have a Good one!

[gregmills]

I hate the full screen ad they show me and that when I click "no thanks" it informs me that it will submit my response the next time it syncs.

Tap AvantGo
Tap "No Thanks"
Tap "OK" to clear form notification
Tap to select Channel

At any time you are 4 taps from any actual content with AvantGo.

I also find that the AvantGo channel seems to be the last thing most content providers are worried about. The Hollywood.com channel stopped working for months and I finally unsubscribed. Others don't update their AG channel as often as their web site so the content on my device is always old.

I wish more web sites would dump AvantGo in favor of a working version of their site optimized for small screens. If they separated their content from the style (as any good standards compliant web site should) then it would be as simple as creating a new style sheet for mobile devices. Then we could could use mobile favorites to syncronize the content and uninstall AvantGo.

Another good option would be a nice RSS feed. I love RSS but a lot of content providers only put the headline or a one sentence summary in the feed. Since the linked content isn't included in the feed they need to provide more detail in their summaries. That way the feed is useful and interesting to read and yet we'll still tend to come to their site for the full story.

But yeah, AvantGo is extremely frustrating.

[Jason Dunn]

Between WiFi and GPRS, I thankfully haven't used AvantGo in over a year. It's time is passing...being connected is the future, not offline crawling.

[Wiggin]

I hate the full screen ad they show me .....
But yeah, AvantGo is extremely frustrating.

My my... how critical the public masses can be on FREE services. I get such a kick out of people who moan and groan at AvantGo's approach to make some money so the can provide a 100% free service to the masses.

Jason's point is true, connected surfing is the path of the future. But in the meantime, AvantGo is an excellent way to grab 2MB of content to sift through at your leisure.

If you're annoyed by the service and product, stop using. Otherwise, sit back, enjoy the service being provided at NO COST to you. :?

:way to go:

[S0larW1nds]

Thanks for yur input.

I am sorry for being critical of free services (I did say I loved it), but even free serveics should be improved over time; but it seems that only when competition comes do we see progress (i.e. gmail, hotmail, yahoo). But I did ask some questions to AvantGo and it seems that even with subscription all you get is more cache 8Mb, not any improved features/services.

Jason's comment about connectivity is true but for us in the Caribbean we are now breaking free of voice and data monopolies so only this year did we see gsm/gprs services; only time will tell when wifi will be available. So I have to cache it when I can :roll: . with AGo, still best at what it does.

Thanks again, I'm AvantGone.

[gregmills]

My my... how critical the public masses can be on FREE services. I get such a kick out of people who moan and groan at AvantGo's approach to make some money so the can provide a 100% free service to the masses.

Jason's point is true, connected surfing is the path of the future. But in the meantime, AvantGo is an excellent way to grab 2MB of content to sift through at your leisure.

If you're annoyed by the service and product, stop using. Otherwise, sit back, enjoy the service being provided at NO COST to you. :?
:way to go:

What's the free service? The web page designers build their AvantGo channels and update them themselves. So AvantGo is not a content provider. They don't even provide any software innovation that facilitates the viewing of the content. You read your AvantGo channels in Pocket Internet Explorer. AvantGo does provide a conduit to sync that content to your PPC which in the process attaches their ads.

Windows Mobile already has mobile favorites built-in. This would accomplish the same thing without the ads but most web sites don't have mobile versions that I can set up in my mobile favorites. I'm not so much frustrated by AvantGo as I am by the fact that for some web sites I don't have any option but to use it. If two web sites in particular would provide an RSS feed or a version of their site formatted for mobile devices I would happily dump AvantGo from my Pocket PC.

I have WiFi but I'm not always in a wireless hotspot and even if WiFi was available everywhere it kills my battery. It's nice to have my RSS feeds and mobile favorites to read offline when wireless connectivity is not available. Pulling up that local content is faster too.

No offense, but don't lecture me about appreciating free software. I don't mind paying for it if it's truly useful.

[hdsalinas]

Since we are on the subject,

how do you set up avant go wireless? I cant seem to get it to work.

thanks

[Wiggin]

No offense, but don't lecture me about appreciating free software. I don't mind paying for it if it's truly useful.

None taken, of course.

AvantGo is a free service to YOU, not the content providers, something you have apparently missed, else, why would you be arguing for them?? very odd :?

If you don't like the content they arrange for you to receive, or the method in which they deliver it to you, or the advertisments they present to you in order to fund their FREE service, than what you should do is use your Pocket IE Favorites, or your RSS feeds, or use the Wi-Fi capabilities and surf real-time... and NOT use AvantGo.

If you USE AvantGo, than perhaps you should consider the cost you pay for using their service and adjust your expectations accordingly.

No offense offered...of course.
:way to go:

[gregmills]

AvantGo is a free service to YOU, not the content providers, something you have apparently missed, else, why would you be arguing for them?? very odd :?

If you don't like the content they arrange for you to receive, or the method in which they deliver it to you, or the advertisments they present to you in order to fund their FREE service, than what you should do is use your Pocket IE Favorites, or your RSS feeds, or use the Wi-Fi capabilities and surf real-time... and NOT use AvantGo.

If you USE AvantGo, than perhaps you should consider the cost you pay for using their service and adjust your expectations accordingly.

You're pretty much completely missing the point. And you're counterpoint is as much invalid.

Just because a service is free no one should ever offer any criticism of it? It's free to walk on the beach but if it were littered with garbage you would be inclined to complain.

And AvantGo really isn't free, it's $14.95 per year for the end user and who knows how much for the content provider. A fee which I wouldn't mind paying if I could get to my content without the ads and if I got as much storage space as my Pocket PC would allow. Why should I accept the artifical limitation of 8 megs when I have 128 free on my device? Is the conduit not going directly to the content provider for the data? Surely that must be the case since the performance between content providers varies widely.

So why do I continue to use it? Because there are two sites with information that I like to keep current on my PPC and there is simply no other option available to me for those two sites.

I used to love AvantGo on my Palm. Back then the Palm didn't have a built-in browser and Avantgo only had the one banner ad on the channel screen and an occasional survey. 2 or 8 megs was a gracious amount of space on a Palm Vx and the ads weren't a problem. Now that I have Pocket PC I have a lot more options. I can use Mobile Favorites and I can get RSS feeds. I discovered that most of the sites that I used to read in AvantGo are just mobile versions created by the content provider and they are more easily accesible outside of the ad-blocked AvantGo interface.

But there are couple of sites that will not work unless I sync them with AvantGo. AvantGo is providing some form response in the background that gets my customized content and I can't figure out how to get to the same content otherwise. So I'm forced to artificial size restrictions and full screen advertising.

I dislike AvantGo free or otherwise and I would rather not use it. Unfortunately, for some content I don't have a choice. The cost of the service is not the point.

[SteveHoward999]

And AvantGo really isn't free, it's $14.95 per year for the end user and who knows how much for the content provider. A fee which I wouldn't mind paying if I could get to my content without the ads and if I got as much storage space as my Pocket PC would allow. Why should I accept the artifical limitation of 8 megs when I have 128 free on my device?

It is free if you accept the 2 Mb-limited free option ... an option that was recently upgraded to 3 Mb if users filled in a profile survey.

I like AvantGo. I don't have to buy a newspaper any more. Reading in the bathroom is a lot less wearing on the arms now ;-)

Steve

[shawnc]

Hate to interrupt the great discussion between wiggin and gregmills :bad-words: but I happen to love avantgo. Jason's point is valid, but many simply are not able to be connected all the time. Many of us thoroughly enjoy avantgo content on the bus/train commute to and from work. Other than a few occasional glitches, it is very reliable. It also has a considerable range of content. Does it have every site that every person would like to have without paying one cent, obviously not. But it has a diverse selection of content.

Nothing wrong with avantgo. Keep in mind some folks just HAVE to complain. If I've got to click 4 times so avantgo can generate some advertising revenue, well, I think I can fit that in to my busy schedule.

[gregmills]

Fine,

I'm a big whiny complainer. I moan and groan too much. I look gift horses in the mouth. Bring on the AvantGo love fest!

Consider me the loyal opposition, but don't call me names. I get defensive. :twisted:

[Jeff Rutledge]

O.K. guys, please move your "discussion" offline.

Thanks.

[sylvangale]

Even though I have unlimited GPRS and a bluetooth equipped PDA I still use Avantgo primarily for news. While yes it is frustrating when something doesn't sync right. You live with it and figure out ways to deal with it. Such as setting up a multitude of alternative news sites.

For example on my free wee little 2MB account I have:
AccuWeather
BBC News
Business Week
Cnet News
New York Times
PC World News
Reuters New
Wall Street Journal
USA Today
Wired News
Yahoo

Now sometimes I do forget to put my PDA in my cradle. Then I may switch to my second battery and turn on the bluetooth, but offline content is by far the fastest and convenient to me and so I continue to use Avantgo.

One thing I really do miss is the dedicated Avantgo reader on Palms. Why? Stylus free browsing. If anyone knows of a way to set buttons to navigate in Pocket IE please share!

[Jeff Rutledge]

If anyone knows of a way to set buttons to navigate in Pocket IE please share!

You can't do this with PIE itself, but you can get a 3rd party app to do it. MultiIE (http://www.multiie.info/) allows you to map buttons.

[sylvangale]

Thanks for the suggestion Jeff. Didn't realize there were any browsers with hardware button support now and with Wellsfargo killing online access through PIE in 7 days... what better time is there to change to another browser.

[gregmills]

You guys inspired me!

I went back through the catagories of channels available on AvantGo and I went looking for mobile versions and RSS feeds for the sites that looked interesting to me. I also went back to the mobile versions of the sites that I was already using AvantGo for.

I figured out how to get those last couple of sites to synchronize their data through Mobile Favorites, and I found a few new sites to add. Then I unsubscribed from my last two AvantGo channels. I synchronized to clean that content out. And, I uninstalled the AvantGo client from my desktop PC.

I found out that I still had to turn off the AvantGo task in ActiveSync. No problem, but then I went to remove it from my PPC and... CRAP (pardon my language), AvantGo can't be removed from my PPC. It was pre-installed so it's burned on the ROM and apparently it cannot be uninstalled. In fact it's the only location listed under Mobile Favorites for which the delete button goes grey when I select it. There's one more reason to HATE it. :wink:

Oh well, I don't have to open it anymore. You guys were right. If I don't like it I don't have to use it! And now (to borrow S0larW1nds' phrase), I'm AvantGone! :mrgreen:

[sylvangale]

Why not have Avantgo, Mobile bookmarks, and RSS feeds all syncing in harmony. Why the hate? :mrgreen:

When you're out alone in a long line somewhere with no cell signal, no wifi signal, and your MS PIE mobile bookmarks dead... and a dead Avantgo link you know you killed purposefully... you will truly be alone.

:frusty:

[Jorgen]

being connected is the future, not offline crawling.


Yes, but for us who live in the now, reading offline contents is fine. I happily read AvantGo even while sipping latte in coffeeshops with free wireless Internet connection (well, after the novelty wore off).

But to get back to the original question: you can make your own offline content in iSilo using iSiloX (both from www.isilo.com) and the awsome sitelist from http://www.turcic.com. iSilo is my favourite reader for ebooks and well worth the money (iSiloX is free). They have a free trial period.

Jorgen

[gregmills]

At the risk of belaboring the point...

I've put up a few reasonable arguments as to why I don't particularly like AvantGo. How about we turn the tables and those of you on the "love" side of this thread tell me what there is to like about it?

I get that it's "free." We don't have to go aver that again. :wink:

[Don't Panic!]

Now that Mazingo Text Service has gone the way of the dodo, Avantgo is the only player in town. That's why I love Avantgo.

Don't Panic!
Bobby

[shawnc]

At the risk of belaboring the point...

I've put up a few reasonable arguments as to why I don't particularly like AvantGo. How about we turn the tables and those of you on the "love" side of this thread tell me what there is to like about it?

I get that it's "free." We don't have to go aver that again. :wink:

Seem's reasonable. For me, I wake up in the morning and wirelessly sync my avantgo content as soon as I finish showering. The entire sync process takes less that 2 minutes. That's from start (turing my ipaq and WLAN on) to finish (turning ipaq off and placing in briefcase). Don't have to bother with docking the ipaq, turning on my desktop or laptop or anything of that nature. So in less than 2 minutes I have more content than I could read in the entire day, even if I did nothing but read my content. For technology, I have sites such as CNET, NYT Technology, PC World and Wired News. I have my local weather forecast for the next few days and I also have current news and sports from such providers as MSNBC, Reuters, and the NYT.

I get 8MB of storage and it's all for.....opps, not allowed to mention that :wink: . It is a fairly reliable application, I have very few problems with it. As a matter of fact, if you compare it to other things within the PPC OS (alarms, active-sync, etc), it goes from being fairly reliable to VERY reliable. I'm not a techie, so maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't know what's not to like. Oh yeah, there is that 4-click thing :lol: !

[gregmills]

For me, I wake up in the morning and wirelessly sync my avantgo content as soon as I finish showering. The entire sync process takes less that 2 minutes. That's from start (turing my ipaq and WLAN on) to finish (turning ipaq off and placing in briefcase). Don't have to bother with docking the ipaq, turning on my desktop or laptop or anything of that nature. So in less than 2 minutes I have more content than I could read in the entire day, even if I did nothing but read my content.

I just don't know what's not to like. Oh yeah, there is that 4-click thing!

Shawn makes a great point and gets in a good jab at the end. :way to go:

I did not know that wirelessly synching AG content without going through ActiveSync on a PC was even possible. Now my situation is a little different from yours because my PC is always on. And since the alarms in WM2003 are so unreliable I leave my PPC in it's cradle overnight where it updates my Mobile Favorites every hour. So when I get up in the morning I grab my PPC and go. I have a full battery, fresh content and no sychronization necessary.

However, If I had the ability to sync my content wirelessly over the Internet I could see myself wardriving into a subdivision finding an open access point and updating it. If I'm away from my computer for a couple of days that would come in very handy.

[Jorgen]

For me the same: the ability to wirelessly update the offline content via my broadband system wherever I am in the house + the fact that www.space.com will not disclose the URL for their mobile content, keeps me running AvantGo.

I would prefer to use the iSilo reader and make my own content but can live with the web-browser.

Jorgen

[shawnc]

Shawn makes a great point and gets in a good jab at the end. :way to go:

Glad you took it in the spirit in which it was intended. Also happy to shed some light on the subject.