More and more, the mobile web is catching on and website owners are developing mobile-friendly versions of their websites. While this trend has not quite caught up in Nigeria, a number of Nigerian websites are already either mobile-friendly or have mobile versions of their websites. The list includes:
- The Punch
Web: punchng.com
Mobile: mobile.punchng.com - MobilityNigeria
Web & Mobile: mobilitynigeria.com - NgBot
Web: ngbot.com
Mobile: mobile.ngbot.com/m/ - Alireta
Web: alireta.com
Mobile: alireta.mobi
Mobile websites tend to be lean and use up less bandwidth than full desktop websites, so they are useful for people with low bandwidth or narrowband access. As such, they can help keep browsing costs down. Mobile websites also load faster than their full web versions.
Analytics software for this website shows that 18% of MobilityNigeria traffic is currently from mobile users.
A great resource for finding all kinds of websites with mobile versions is WapReview. It has both a desktop version (wapreview.com) and a mobile version (wapreview.mobi). It also has a directory of mobile websites from around the world, Nigeria inclusive, so you should bookmark that site.
When browsing on your mobile device, do you find mobile versions of websites useful in anyway? If yes; which mobile websites do frequent? If no, what are your reasons for prefering full web versions?
This post was written by
Mister Mobility – who has written 922 posts on Mobility blog.
Founder, Mobility blog, serial lifestyle entrepreneur, speaker, & writer. Charming, passionate, tenacious & non-conformist. Will dance! Follow him on Twitter @Mister_Mobility.
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January 25th, 2010 at 10:17 am Browsing with
A very timely information. Will it be possible for Giants like yahoo and google to add options of adding attachments to e mail on their mobile sites?
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January 25th, 2010 at 12:33 pm Browsing with
Kay123,
It does not seem that Google in particular thinks that file attachment/upload is important on mobile, considering that the browse-for-file functionality does not exist in the Android mobile web browser.
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January 25th, 2010 at 5:02 pm Browsing with
Without mobile websites, how would I catch up with news and articles from useful mobile websites when I am in a moving vehicle (not driving), having to wait for someone, or in the loo?
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January 25th, 2010 at 5:41 pm Browsing with
Mobile versions are a great way to hop on the net really cheaply. Once i get to my village the only reliable way to connect to the world is through these sites.
Full internet will be difficult to get on the regular gsm signals that are ubiquitous here. The village folks here often hook to BBC and yahoo mobile sites for info and mails. Its these mobile sites their dumb phones can best handle. Its a great way to bridge the digital divide.
For me Mobility Nigeria, BBC, Nairaland, Yahoo and Google are the mobile sites i check most often at work, in a bus, or before i start my day.
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January 25th, 2010 at 5:46 pm Browsing with
The mobile sites I use frequently are those of Gmail and Facebook. As kay123 stated adding and downloading attachments remains a problem with Gmail mobile version.
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January 25th, 2010 at 8:04 pm Browsing with
@kay123: good question for yahoo & google
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January 26th, 2010 at 2:05 pm Browsing with
In Nigeria, access to stable power supply is difficult, expensive and sometmes, just unavailable. Access to STABLE, RELIABLE internet connection is a big headache.
With mobile versions of sites proliferating, it is progressively becoming apposite to use a mobile device to access the ‘net in Nigeria.
This predominantly eliminates the problems of power (get a phone with good battery life), internet connectivity (have all the Network SIMs in a matchbox – in case the one in your phone can not connect), keep abreast of all the latest free browsing techniques (in case you subscribe to a data plan & still can not get internet service).
However, with outstanding progress made by mobile web browsers (UcWeb, Bolt, Digia@Web, Opera, SkyFire TeaShark, Safari, NetFront, jb5…) in displaying full websites, sites without wap versions can USUALLY still be used (with higher data usage / costs).
Thank God for these server-assisted browsers!
Wap versions of sites often lack some functions of the full site. For this reason (and not mind the extra cost!), I would always prefer (try) the full site (first).
A comparison of the full / wap- sites of FaceBook, stumbleUpon & NairaLand is exemplary, quite illustrative and revealing.
Some of my favorite wapsites are mobilitynigeria, m.getjar.com, m.wadja.com
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January 26th, 2010 at 3:01 pm Browsing with
@ eyebeekay, i can see u’ve tried a lot of mobile browsers. Do you know any browser that will match or better Opera mini 5 beta2 in terms of features. I want to try zain network again. I have tried UC browser 7, Bolt 1.6 and Bolt Lite before but i’m not satisfied. Or is there a way i can configure opera mini to work on a zain line? Thank you.
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January 26th, 2010 at 5:39 pm Browsing with
@kay123, I hope we will not be accused of derailing the topic on hand..
Among the mobile browsers I have used, I would say it is a STRAIGHT battle between UCWeb & Opera (on the Java and native browser fronts).
I suspect that, as UCWeb gains more popularity, trust and acceptance, they can actually been the browser to beat. With better funding (more SERVERS), I feel they have the technical superiority to floor the OPERA guys.
With the latest version 7 of UCWeb and Opera 10 Mobile, both of them have shown maturity and stability that are simply lacking in the others.
In terms of speed, I give it to UcWeb. Problem is, UCWeb often have server outages. This is not common with the Opera Servers.
When UCWeb is working, it is wonderful. Very very FAST. Real solid. Handles downloads better than Opera. But in terms of aesthetics (font rendering), Opera is better.
My advise: install both. No browser is perfect in ALL respects. They can complement each other. OperaMini 2 Beta 2 (java)+ UcWeb 7 (native) recommended. OperaMobile 10 beta 2 has issues. SkyFIRE is even faster but falls down @ accurate copious-page rendering.
I am not aware of (nor used) any better mobile browser than these two.
PS: You said, ‘Or is there a way i can configure opera mini to work on a zain line?‘. Do you mean what I think you meant? I hope you don’t incur the wrath of BIG BROS..
Yes, though..
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January 26th, 2010 at 10:29 pm Browsing with
I’m not a fan of free browsing. I’ll sugest that mobinaija should craete a way in which we can interact with others so no one will go off topic. Activity on MobilityNigeria forum is very low. My be a facebook group will be a good option.
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January 27th, 2010 at 8:11 am Browsing with
Kay123, i was happy when the ‘forums’ section was created. I am however surprised that people have not been using this (much). I really wonder y..
My view is that MobilityNigeria can actually be eliminated, and all activites shifted to the Forums Section. That way, Yomi does not have to be the only one thinking of topics about which to write. For instance, it is easy for him to miss important happenstances (like the SkyFire Browser 1.5 released a week or so back).
It is of course just my opinion..
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January 27th, 2010 at 10:53 am Browsing with
EyeBeeKay, you said:
That would include you especially. You didn’t post the SkyFire 1.5 release that you mentioned in the forums. Neither did you use the “Tip Us” link available to give us a heads-up.
At least, a number of others have used the forums a couple of times.
Announcement: The forums have been re-developed on a new application that should make it more user-friendly. We will continue to fine-tune it. Feel free to post
We will not be eliminating MobilityNigeria, so if you want to discuss any other issues outside of what is published here, please use the forums.
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January 27th, 2010 at 1:56 pm Browsing with
Eliminating MobilityNigeria and moving to a forum format leaves room for “CyberBullies and Wackos” as moderating a forum is a lot time consuming than moderating a blog.
The forum is not utilized cos I guess most folks don’t know the answers to the questions been asked or they are simply too “occupied” to contribute their quota.
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January 28th, 2010 at 4:58 am Browsing with
Hi Eyebeekay, pls answer the question posed to you. If you consider answering it here to be derailment, pls post it to the forum you are refering to. I have used so many of the browsers you listed until opera stopped suddenly. I do not subscribe to free browsing but i want to be using opera with my zain. So your post will be helpful.
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January 28th, 2010 at 1:24 pm Browsing with
Now that zain has discontinued? the use of operamini on their network, i have been forced to use the native s60 browser (wap & web capable) to access the internet with the zain lite plan.
However i often ensure that i type the mobile url of the site (for those i know) i want to visit (e.g mobinaija.com, m.yahoo.com etc) so the browser does not end up loading the full site.
I have tried ucweb and skyfire but they dont come close to operamini in page rendering and usability. I just hope that in the near future, we’ll be able to use operamini on the zain network.
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January 28th, 2010 at 1:31 pm Browsing with
I have been using Seven’s email application for over a year now on my E71. You can attach files, receive email direct to your phones (works both on smartphones and other phones), so what is the buzz about attaching files on yahoo and gmail. Seven email application gives me blackberry functionality on my E71.
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January 28th, 2010 at 2:34 pm Browsing with
The rate @ which these networks are making Opera Mini useless will only increase the legion of free browsers. I just pray Etisalat and Glo don’t join them. I’m sure they can ban these free browsers 4 life but they don’t want to spend their profits.
Anyway, Bolt browser is curently installed on my phone and works well across all networks even MTN that has blocked Opera mini.
@michael okiei: The ability to redirect to mobile websites automatically is one of the beauties of Opera Mini and I hope other mobile browsers include this function soon!
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January 28th, 2010 at 4:59 pm Browsing with
@chukwudi
operamini actually routes traffic through their servers (which feature high page compression technology suitable for small screen devices) with minimal usability losses on most standard webpages.
The native s60 browser doesnt feature this, so unless i visit a site that has automatic mobile redirection, it just loads the full page thereby using more data.
For example if i visit vanguard’s full site with my inbuilt browser, i use about 200+Kb as opposed to operamini’s 20-30 Kb.
In the meanwhile, i have just downloaded Bolt and it seems a viable alternative for me in terms of cost savings.
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