AvantGo 3.3 Contact Info: info@avantgo.com URL: www.avantgo.com PalmInfoCenter.com Bottom Line: The Price: Free, requires sign-up The Pros:
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AvantGo 3.3 Review By Ed Hardy 4/26/2000 The Palm has always lacked a Web browser that did everything a full-featured browser ought to do. Until now. The latest version of AvantGo has gone a long way towards making it the single Web browser you need on your Palm. It now boasts an adequate browser for manually surfing at the Web while the automatic downloading of Web content is still the best in the business. AvantGo was originally designed to do one thing and do it well: allowing a user to select from preformatted "channels" on the company's Web site (www.avantgo.com) and downloading these channels onto the user's palmtop for reading offline when a HotSync is performed. The channels include everything from the New York Times to Palm Infocenter. If you aren't using AvantGo, you are really missing out on one of the great features of your Palm. As good as the off-line browsing of channels is, there are still times when you need to manually browse through a site or two. This latest version has vastly improved AvantGo's usability as an on-line Web browser. To do this, the user interface has been slightly redesigned. The most obvious change they made is the addition, at the top of each page, of a small icon that looks like a folder. Clicking on this opens a page where you can type in your URLs (see picture). There is also a drop-down box that is a history of URLs that you have typed in recently and another with handy shortcuts for frequently used elements in URLs like "www." and ".com". After typing in your URL, simply press the OK button at the bottom of the page to be taken to the site you have requested. Naturally, this requires a live connection of some kind to the Internet. AvantGo also has decent capabilities for displaying sites, within limits. It will allow you to use sites that require cookies and you can choose whether to display graphics or tables. But there are a few frustrating limitations like AvantGo's total failure when dealing with frames or image maps. No product is perfect and AvantGo is no exception. There is no process for notifying users about the latest version, even though when you create a user account you there is an option to be reminded of updates. It is possible many of you are still using vision 3.1 because you simply didn't know that 3.3 was available. Also, you can't add or use bookmarks with AvantGo. You could substitute bookmarks by making a channel for each site you frequent, but that can become tedious. And the process for upgrading isn't terribly intuitive. You need to visit the AvantGo Web site, click on "Sign Me Up", then work your way through the process like you are a new user until you can download the software and drop out. AvantGo is really what having a Palm is all about. It allows you to easily download a large amount of information into a very small space and access that information when it is most convenient for you. It is one of the few indispensable third-party apps that all Palm users should have and the improved manual browsing features in version 3.3 are welcome enhancements to an already solid product. AvantGo, Inc. recently received $31 million in venture capital which they will certainly use some of to create an even better piece of software to make your life easier. Editor's Comments: On the wireless web, you could call me a frequent flyer. I regularly use my Vx equipped with an OmniSky wireless modem to surf the 'net. Prior to AvantGo 3.3 most of it has been with Proxiweb. 3.3 drastically improved the overall speed of the browser and added a nice status bar at the top that lets you know how many bytes have been downloaded. Finally you can cut and paste in the open URL dialogue and you can use the date book and address hard keys for the forward and back functions. The online web improvements to AvantGo are excellent, but I'll still keep Proxiweb around when I need to use bookmarks. -Ryan |
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RE: Avantgo 3.3
RE: Avantgo 3.3
Upgrading
RE: Upgrading
The upgrade comment was very useful. I really didn't remember where I should go to download the software. I've looked all over the AvantGo website and didn't find any download link. Then I decided to come here (Palm Infocenter) and reading your comment I cold find out how to download the AvantGo software.
Thanks,
Vladimir
info@palmbr.com
http://www.palmbr.com" CLASS=NEWS TARGET=_NEW>http://www.palmbr.com
RE: Upgrading
I probably should have added to the review a paragraph about how I don't much like the way the AvantGo Web site is organized. Some items that I think are very important and that should have large prominent links on the home page are hidden off on sub-pages. Ryan had to point out the user guide to me and I'm not surprised I couldn't find this link to upgrade my software. AvantGo recently reorganized their site so that it is much better but there is still some room for improvement.
RE: Upgrading
500K is too big
RE: 500K is too big
does pendragon do color?
RE: 500K is too big
It worked with Hotmail
I've download it, and the first thing I did was try it with Hotmail. I could "sign in", "read e-mail"; "delete e-mail" and "send e-mail"... Everything worked very well!!!!
Vladimir
info@palmbr.com
www.palmbr.com
RE: It worked with Hotmail
Apparently, MS has created a "mobile" version of HotMail because I wasn't brought up in the regular version of HotMail's pages but on a page that had been optimized for a small screen, which is great. I'd guess they created if for their PocketPC users but HotMail was able to detect that I was a Palm user and automatically served me the correct page. I was able to read, send, and delete e-mail, too.
RE: It worked with Hotmail
Glad to see Hotmail is there!
RE: It worked with Hotmail
Even before the 3.3 AvantGo version, Yahoo had announced that they'll releasing a mobile version of Yahoo Mail. There is already a version of Yahoo Mail for Palm VII users. I have on my Plam IIIx a mobile version of Yahoo Messenger and it works very-very-very well. ICQ in the other hand, doesn't work at all :((((
Vladimir.
info@palmbr.com
www.palmbr.com
RE: It worked with Hotmail
RE: It worked with Hotmail
RE: It worked with Hotmail
AvantGo 3.3 & Hotmail - The best part is.....
Part 1 - Using a desktop browser I've sended an e-mail with an attached JPG colored file to my Hotmail account.
Part 2 - I've entered my Hotmail account using AvantGo and, just like it happens in the desktop Hotmail Messages, I could see the attached image bellow the written part of the e-mail message. Of course the image became grayscale.... but with only 3kb.
Linux Syncing with Gnome Pilot
gnome-pilot no longers works (the MAL portion.) Anyone
else have this problem or know of a solution?
RE: Linux Syncing with Gnome Pilot
on linux. I don't think gnome pilot has been ported
to it yet. Go to http://www.tomw.org/malsync.html
Tom
" CLASS=NEWS TARGET=_NEW>http://www.tomw.org/malsync.html
Tom
Hmmm...
They said they would eventually... hmm.
RE: Hmmm...
Hmmmm...
Slower Screen Refresh?
Accessing A: Drive
Modems
I can't find it anywhere. While I as search through the WWW, I came across a news letter stating that all Pilots will be able to surf the web by the end of the year (using a clipon modem probably similar to the V); as per CEO of Palm.
Does anyone know where I can get a modem?
My Pilot has been updated to 2 MB RAM and 3.3 OS. I works great!
Thanks
RE: Modems
How secure are Proxiweb and Avantgo?
communications, and reformat web page data for the Palm device.
But I thought the link between secure web site and my Palm was secure???? That means no one can read my data?
But then, how can these proxy servers reformat secure data? It must be decrypted first. Reformatted, then re-encrypted to the Palm. I thought secure data streams could not be "broken"???!!!! If Avantgo and Proxiweb reformat the data, that means secure data is exposed on the servers!!! This indicates secure transactions on the web are a sham.
I have tried contacting the companies about this. But they never answer. I guess they are caught!
RE: How secure are Proxiweb and Avantgo?
Motorola L-series & Palm V
Pls let me know how I need to configure my Palm.
Thanks in advance.
Verne
RE: Motorola L-series & Palm V
THE PHONE MUST BE AN IR-CAPABLE PHONE
You must go the menu and "activate" the IR port. Since the IR port uses battery power, you may want to turn it off when you're not using it.
On the Palm Pilot side
(1) TELL THE PALM PILOT ABOUT YOUR PHYSICAL CONNECTION
If you installed the new OS, there are some changes here.
(a) Go to PREFS - CONNECTION. Add a new connection called "IR modem". Under "connection method", select "IrCOMM to Modem". Dialing is TouchTone and volume is whatever. Under "details", set speed to 57,600, flow control to automaic and init string to AT&FX4.
(2) TELL THE PALM PILOT ABOUT YOUR NETWORK CONNECTION
Go to PREFS and then NETWORK. Type in your ISP's phone number and your login id and password. You'll also be asked which "connection" (from above) you want associated with the network. Select your new "IR modem" entry.
From now on, when a program tries to make a TCP/IP connection, it will automatically dial out on your mobile phone using the infrared port.
RE: Motorola L-series & Palm V
I was able to connect my Nokia 8220 to my Palm V until recently, I got this error message: Error 5459 Unknown network error has occurred. I did not do anything different and am not sure why it happen. Can someone advise what is this error?
Many thanks.
Handspring Visor Deluxe & Motorola L series
OS Running 3.1.
Thanks
Nick
i just cant figure out how to delete files on my palm pilot
RE: i just cant figure out how to delete files on my palm pilot
1)Turn on the Palm device
2)Tap on the home icon with stylus.(Home is the little icon in the grafitti area that looks like a house.
3)Tap on the little bar on the top left hand side of the screen. This is the menu bar. (It should have a clock reading on it)
4)From the menu bar, there will be a dropdown, and one of the listed items will read "Delete"
5) Tap delete. The screen will say "Please Wait"
6)After a moment, a screen will appear listing all the items on the device. Pick the unwanted item, tap on "Delete" at the bottom of page, and voila.
How to sync my palm v using a proxy
Thanks Jorge
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Avantgo 3.3