In my previous post I wasn’t that positive about the new mobile browser, Deepfish, that Microsoft Research have been working on. This morning I decided to give it another shot, this time on the i-mate SPL device. The first problem I encountered was that you can’t install both the Pocket PC and Smartphone versions on the same desktop. I suspect (hope) as this product reaches RTM this will be resolved into a single download and installer.
Once installed I was literally amazed with how easy Deepfish is to use. To give you an idea I thought that I would grab Pocket Controller and take some screenshots. BTW this is the first time I’ve really used Pocket Controller (Dave Glover swears by this product) and the whole experience has been great -> Installation, Connection and working with the device.
Integration into Programs (an improvement over the PocketPC version)
Website in fullscreen
Pressing Enter displays the Zoom selector which can be controlled using the cursor pad -> very intuitive, unlike the Pocket PC equivalent
After zooming – The Cuemap shows where on the page you are. Again the cursor pad can be used to navigate around the screen.
Pressing Enter again turns on navigation mode – links are highlighted and a small arrow appears over the link. Again the cursor pad allows you to roam through links in the current view (pressing Back goes back to scrolling mode)