Fringland Ltd, the developers of the popular mobile application, Fring, have just released a version for s60 5th Edition. This means that the application is now available for the Nokia 5800.

The Fring application allows users to be able to make internet calls (including Skype) , chat using the most popular IM clients like Yahoo, MSN, ICQ etc, and also allow users to stay in touch with their social networking friends.

I have already downloaded Fring for my 5800 and will take it for a spin. You can be sure that I will report back to you my findings in a couple of days. Watch this space for my review.

In the meantime, all you 5800 users can go right ahead and download Fring.

Bolt is the name of a new java-based browser for mobile phones. The browser uses the WebKit rendering engine (s60 and iPhone built-in browsers come to mind, anyone?) and a proprietary font engine.

Bolt is developed by Bitstream, the guys behind the niche ThunderHawk Browser.
The developers of Bolt have made the following claims about Bolt:

* Full PC-style browsing on all types of mobile phones
* Web content is never reformatted, repurposed or removed
* Loads pages faster than competing mobile browsers
* Patented navigation and display technologies get you where you’re going faster
* 23:1 over the air data reduction speeds delivery of pages to your phone
* Consumes 1/3 of the battery power of other mobile browsers

Furthermore, the developers say:

Rather than offering a simplified, mini version of the Internet, BOLT provides users with a fast, efficient, feature-rich way to enjoy full PC-style web pages and rich media applications on all levels of mobile devices.

Built on Bitstream’s ThunderHawk browsing technology, BOLT is the result of 5+ years experience developing mobile browsers that optimize usability, speed and performance on resource-constrained systems with limited memory, processing power and screen space. (Source: Bolt Browser – About)

But does Bolt live up to these claims? I have taken the browser for a spin over the last few days, and here I present my findings in this review.

Interface

The Bolt interface is beautiful. Opera Mini looks bland in comparison. With Bolt, you get the feeling that you are actually browsing on PC. The startpage is especially well-organised and laid out, with three main tabs, History, Favourites (bookmarks), and Feeds. There’s also an address bar (with word auto-complete function) at the top of the page. Loading the startpage presents you with yourlist of bookmarks right away.

Bolt sports an arrow pointer similar to navigation with a mouse on a PC. The arrow pointer changes to an active pointer (hand-icon) when it moves over a clickable item.

Full PC-style Browsing

Bolt pulls this off well. In other words, what you get is what you would see if you were browsing on PC. I found the text still quite readable in this format, though I had contrary expectations.

But, beautifully, there’s a “Mobile View” option under “Settings” allowing you switch to accessing the mobile formats of mobile-friendly websites. If the website does not have a mobile version, Bolt simply displays the desktop version of web page – without reformatting anything – even if Mobile view has been selected.

Excellent job!

Speed

Bolt is fast. Very fast. I didn’t do any scientific comparisons, so I am very sure that I cannot give figures. Still my experience is that Bolt matches Opera Mini in speed. I leave it to others to give us the specific statistics that will proclaim one as the faster.

Data Compression

Bolt uses compression technology to deliver web pages to the user. Bolt claims that content is compressed 23:1 before being sent to the handset, reducing data traffic and page load times.

Video and Flash

Bolt has limited flash support. You cannot watch Youtube clips directly on the browser, but it allows you to watch them via RealPlayer. For those on an expensive data plan, here’s the good news: Bolt compresses the video into very manageable sizes (most I tried ended up between 300kb and 600kb – I think the 23:1 compression ratio is believable). Of course, viewing quality suffers.

Other Features

- Find text on page
- Back/Forward
- Pop-up blocking
- Magnification (zooming)
- Image download (download is transferred to the built-in browser)
- Navigation shortcuts
- FTP (I haven’t been able to get it to work yet)

In all I have found Bolt a very refreshing application to use. It has replaced Opera Mini as my backup mobile browser. Now, if only I can get that FTP feature to work…

If your mouth is watering a bit by now, please go ahead and download your copy of Bolt.

With so many different mobile phones in the market it can be a daunting task selecting what device to use. Here are a few tips:

Display
How large a display do you need? What type of tasks do you want to carry out with your phone? You will need a large screen if you intend reading documents or watching videos. For videos, you do need more than just size. You need a sharp, crisp screen.

What Connectivity Options?
If you need internet on the move, don’t settle for anything that does not have at least GPRS (General packet radio Service). EDGE is even better. 3G the more so. And if you need super-fast access, a HSDPA/3.5G phone is a must.

If you hang around hostspots a lot, you should be looking at a device with a Wi-Fi radio too. No point ignoring those high-speed WLAN networks around you!

As for local connectivity, if you will be transferring files from one device to another, a phone with bluetooth and/or USB connectivity is a must.

Need to Input Lots of Text?
If you need to input a fairly good amount of text, you certainly need a device with a QWERTY keyboard. You won’t get laptop speeds, but it is way better than the multi-typing on regular phone keypads.

Some touchscreen phones also have fairly good on-screen keyboard options. You can look in that direction as well.

Documents Editing
If you need to input lots of text, in all probability you also need to edit office documents e.g. Word files. In this case, be sure to find a phone that comes with built-in document editting.

Size
Yes; size! Over the years, I have observed that the size of a device is very important to people. So, look around and see if you can’t find a phone with all the features you need packed into the size you want. In all probability, you will find one. Just note that on a general scale, the smaller a device is, the more the usability is hampered. For example, a smaller QWERTY keyboard device usually means you get lower text input speeds.

Dennis Bournique over at WapReview has put up a news item about a solution for copying text from webpages while browsing on mobile. Of late, the absence of a text copy feature on most mobile browsers has been a pain in the neck for using them for serious business.

I remember that my venerable Nokia 9500 let me copy text from webpages using its built-in browser. But for some reason, Nokia backpedalled and has refused to implement this on S60.

Usually, touchscreen phones such as the Sony Ericsson P1i made copying text from webpages a breeze. But if you are using almost anything non-touchscreen, you are left stranded.

This is why this excellent solution (stop-gap albeit) is much welcome. According to Dennis:

A clever coder who goes by the handle “Cousinisaac” has found a way make web text copying possible not only in Opera mini but with several other mobile browsers too.

Cousinisaac created a simple web form at mobitol.com that makes it all possible. You enter a URL and Mobitol retrieves the target’s text and displays it in an editable textarea. If your phone and browser support copying text from edit boxes you should be able to copy it from Mobitol. Mobitol also lets you view and copy the html source of the target page if you want.

Works well on the Nokia E90. Here are screenshots:

Above: Mobitol opened before any other action. This is on a Nokia E90, hence the wide screen.

Above: After tyoing in address and hitting the “Go” button. You can see text from the specified address showing in the text area at the bottom of the page.

Above: Using Ctrl + A, the copied text is highlighted, and with Ctrl + C copied for pasting in office document editor or notepad.