Netfront vs Web Pro

[Fidipaldi]

Anyone else using the Palm Tungsten Web Pro browser on the NZ 90?

I use the WebPro. It is 816K, much less than the Netfront. I use it with GPRS and can surf the net.

Does this also work with Netfont? Is netfront better?

Comments?

[PvV]

I use both WebPro and NetFront and they both have their strengths and weaknesses. NetFront has the higher resolution and the full-screen (HiRes+) ability, but for some reason can't access all possible sites. (Yahoo being a famous one.) WebPro is a lot smaller (leaving more memory for other things) and can access Yahoo, but doesn't look as good. Plus, as I've mentioned before, only NetFront can manage my work e-mail (which is Lotus Notes-based).

[nz007]

anyone got a copy of Web Pro?

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by nz007
anyone got a copy of Web Pro?

http://leggnet.com/clie/

[yOyOYoo]

I think Netfront looks fantastic, and for all of your people who say it doesn't work with yahoo, my homepage on netfront is set to yahoo! Yahoo mail, maps via mapquest work beautifully on my TG50. Maybe it's because the NX and TG50 use a different version of netfront?

In terms of functionality, I think web pro works a lot better. I just keep netfront on my MS with powerrun for show purposes only. Scrolling left to right is really annoying.. I wish we sony users had a D-pad.

[YTTAN]

I got the same feeling and thinking with yoyoyoo.

I got no problem with yahoo too.(using nZ90)

Webpro is for speedy surfing webs with word and basic images while Netfront is for surfing webs with good graphic and flashs/gif.

[Gravity]

NetFront constantly crashes with me (almost every other webpage i had to reset my NX-70), so i switched to webpro. sure the pages do not display as nicely, and it isn't high screen, but it is a lot faster loding, and can access every page on the net with it (including hotmail and my bank account)... and hell, it just feels more stable.

say, anyone else have stability issues with netfront?

[l0keman]

I use netfront and my problem is the file is huge and I always get a warning saying page is too big and will not be displayed properly. Exspecially on this website. What gives, cause theese are not big pages.

[PvV]

yOyOYoo, do you load the "thin"version of Yahoo in netfront or the regular version?

[yOyOYoo]

regular version... I guess the thin version doesn't want to work?

[swinter]

i tried both and found both worked well for my purposes. but only Webpro can handle hotmail (and, I presume, other SSL sites). not to mention that it takes up much less of my precious RAM.

thanks for the link n2ifp!

[greg elmassian]

on the netfront crashing issue, there are some databases that get corrupted, delete them with cliefiles, and all is well, it think it is the info file... all the files start with nf3...

Greg

[ashVID]

FYI the latest version of Pocketlink is HIREZ+ and looks GREAT! v2.55 I think


ash =o)

[swinter]

Originally posted by ashVID
FYI the latest version of Pocketlink is HIREZ+ and looks GREAT! v2.55 I think


ash =o)

Small footprint, but does it handle SSL?

[thinking]

Originally posted by swinter


Small footprint, but does it handle SSL?

No it does not. My search is on....
Frank

[reno]

I have been using Web Pro for a couple of weeks and love it for use on my home and work WiFi networks. It looks fair, is fast and seldom crashes. However, I haven't been able to use it at a commercial hotspot (since it can't get to the palm proxy server). Anyone figure out how to log on at a Starbucks, etc?

[greg elmassian]

If web pro only works through a proxy, I think you can't get connected via it... Once you are connected, if you could exit Netfront, for example, without dropping the connection, and start up web pro, maybe it would work..

[costa rhu]

I keep getting a time out error when I try to use either NetFront or Webpro, based on Compuserve dialup (and I think I am connected). This is via Ambicom CF modem.

Any ideas?

[mrbjg4]

Pocketlink often (every 3rd time running) gives me fatal errors until I reinstall it. Otherwise I would use it.

[reno]

Greg,

Good idea. I will try to use a small browser to get into the net, then see if I can switch over to Web Pro without breaking the connection.

Anyone have any idea which is the smallest browser that doesn't use a proxy?

[soulbarn]

Netfront would be great if it didn't crash all the time. Mine does. I mean, all the time. I think people get different results (just guessing here) because we all tend to go to the same websites; so, if you're unlucky enough to have websites that Netfront hates, the program is just about unusable.

Then again, I've tried almost every Palm browser, and all of them crash a lot. Maybe this little device wasn't really meant to push all the info thru - or maybe we should lobby Opera to make a nice, stable port of their Symbian browser (or Thunderhawk to move their Pocket PC version over here.)

It might be interesting if we started posting the exact URLs that are crashing netfront, along with system configs - Model number, available ram, OS - to see if we can detect any patterns. I'll monitor my Netfront crash patterns and post them to get it rolling.

- dan

[soulbarn]

And I'd just add that one of the big problems with Netfront is that - as far as I can tell - there's no real support from the developer; normally, Palm developers have a lot of give and take with the user community, and that can't help but improve a product. I don't even know where I'd download a netfront update - if there was one!

maybe somebody can enlighten me?

[ashVID]

All of you people talking about crashes need to do a soft reset b4 you use Netfront or ANY web app. They use the dynamic heap and when it gets close to full, things get weird. If I am turning on my Clie to do any Network app I soft reset first. Since i have done this I have not had a single crash!!!


ash =o)

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by mrbjg4
Pocketlink often (every 3rd time running) gives me fatal errors until I reinstall it. Otherwise I would use it.

Are you using the latest v2.55a of PLink? It does not like PowerRun and earlier versions would crash unless you were connected first. Now if your connected first, it'll crash, just the opposite of earlier versions. WebProV and Blazer never have crashed for me. Net Front was nothing but total exasperation for my brother and me.

[reno]

I just switched from Web Pro to Netfront. The new version is great, it installed easily, looks good and hasn't crashed (yet). I really prefer a browser like Netfront that doesn't require a proxy, since I don't like being dependent on Palm corp for my browsing needs (not to mention solving the hotspot logon problem).

[hausponce]

I use both. NetFront to logon at Starbucks. I switch to WebPro or BlazerII afterwards. I can use all 3 if I connect my cellphone via cable to my NZ90. All 3 browsers work great either way.

[PvV]

The nice thing is that a small investment in PowerRun allows you to run your browsers from the MS. This makes the large size of programs like NetFront (2 meg... ouch!) far less of an issue.

[greg elmassian]

i think netfront will still put it's databases in ram, the cache, and a bunch of other stuff.... still eats ram

[oneeyesquare]

Having tried all of them, I prefer Netfront the most.... Heed the advice on soft reset and dynamic heap... Tap the up/down buttons to get partial pages loaded while it's still downloading. If it's been downloading for a bit and you're impatient, hit the stop button, usually it will build the page minus images. Great for forums with big sig pics!!!
Use Powerrun or Jackflash. Powerrun will pull all the accessory files over as well, but takes 9 secs to load on my NZ. I keep it in Flash RAM and don't worry about he rest of the files. My RAM hovers around 4 megs anyway.

[Crucifernum]

Originally posted by PvV
The nice thing is that a small investment in PowerRun allows you to run your browsers from the MS. This makes the large size of programs like NetFront (2 meg... ouch!) far less of an issue.

Well...I tried putting NetFront on my MS using ZLauncher after installing it in RAM.
It won't work.

Do you mean if I install PowerRun, I will be able to transfer NetFront to my MS ? Will it free my RAM on the NZ90 ? That would be fine :)

[PvV]

Cruci,

Yes, if you install PowerRun, you can copy all of NetFront and its files to the MS, freeing up about 2 MB. Contrary to the earlier comment, all files associated with NetFront are on the MS as well. The startup & shutdown time of NetFront is about 8 seconds for me - hardly an issue in my book.

[n2ifp]

A new version of 255b (at PalmGear) PocketLink II is out now and it works great! I can now move all files to the MS, cache too via PowerRun :)!

[Crucifernum]

Originally posted by PvV
Cruci,

Yes, if you install PowerRun, you can copy all of NetFront and its files to the MS, freeing up about 2 MB. Contrary to the earlier comment, all files associated with NetFront are on the MS as well. The startup & shutdown time of NetFront is about 8 seconds for me - hardly an issue in my book.

Ok. I'll get it ASAP.

Thanks.

[Oldster]

I wonder if any of u might be able to help me. I have been trying to browse the net with netfront but it says i don't have enough internal memory to launch the program from the card. how can i clear enough memory for it??

[greg elmassian]

anyone know if you can move the netfront files to the ms, move the netfront program to flash (via jackflash) and run that way? maybe we could avoid the startup delay?

i currently have nf in flash, but of course the rest of the files, including the cache are in main memory

greg

[kusumo]

What is the latest version for WebPro?