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  • YouTube Find: Mobile browser showdown

    by 
    Nik Fletcher
    Nik Fletcher
    12.11.2007

    The iPhone's data connectivity is arguably the one thing that people begrudge. The device experience is fantastic, until you try and browse 'the proper internet' via your mobile network. At this point, most are thinking "Why EDGE, Steve, Why?", and those who chose to plunk down the bills for another phone (N95 anyone?) grin smugly. But this smugness might be short-lived, for the folks at Blackfriars Marketing have stumbled across a German YouTube clip proving that the width of your 'tube' might not be the only deciding factor. In this case, it's the hardware used to process 'the proper internet'.Now you're probably thinking 'huh?' but let's put it this way: the iPhone's connectivity may be slower, but once the data is there, the hardware in the svelte enclosure gets the data in front of you faster than other handsets out there. The other browser in the video coughs and splutters whilst the limited hardware scrambles to show the content.So what does this really tell us that we already know? Yes, the iPhone OS is snappy and suave. Yes, the screen is simply stunning. And yes, desktop-class Mobile Safari means we can see the full internet. And yes, we'd love to see some 3G-love come to the iPhone (this video merely re-inforces that). But the video also reminds us of something that, in the face of iCriticism, gets quickly overlooked: the iPhone clearly isn't a mobile telephone platform. It's a mobile computing platform, and under the hood we've got a lot to be thankful for.Video and Nokia-fan-abating disclaimer after the break!