Universe Web Browser Beta Released

Posted By: Ryan Friday, March 9, 2007 1:10:58 AM

Universe 3 is a new Palm OS web browser. Developer Donald Kirker has just released RC1 as a public beta. The browser has the ability to have up to three open browser tabs, the usual HTML/XHTML/WML support and an integrated RSS reader.

The developer recommends a full backup before installing and using as the software is considered an early beta. It is being released under the GPL and the source code will be released soon.

Universe Palm OS BrowserThe current Universe 3 feature-set includes:

  • A Tabbed interface (supporting up to 3 tabs)
  • Advanced 5-Way scrolling (based off of the Nokia S60 Browser)
  • Integrated RSS reader
  • Private browsing (mask the history, cache and cookies)
  • Support for JPEG, GIF, BMP and PNG (with alpha channels) images
  • Support for HTML/XHTML/WML/RSS 1.0/2.0
  • Support for WAP 1.0/2.0
  • Support for Hires and Hires+ screen sizes

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Table support

Eugenia @ 3/9/2007 2:48:44 AM # Q
Is this newer version has any table support? The earlier versions didn't.

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Excellent.

t3h @ 3/9/2007 7:33:25 AM # Q
Wow, finally. Installing!

Palm TX + 1GB SD + Motorola v3x = awesomeness
RE: Excellent.
t3h @ 3/9/2007 7:50:52 AM # Q
1. It's a little slower (but the page looks way better).
2. Tabbed browsing = AWESOME!
3. Page rendering with the font on small = nice. You can finally read a decent amount onscreen.
4. Scrolling with up/down arrows "forgets" to render text on some pages. Damn.
5. RSS reader = cool...
6. Wish you could load one tab while reading another... but is this realistic?
7. Oh well, Blazer, you lost your assignment to the rightmost button on my TX :)
8. Damn, it just froze. Still, what's the tally? Universe = 1, Blazer = 999999 :)
10. Compressing proxies, Opera Mini style would be cool for ultimate bandwidth reduction (GPRS browsing = make it much faster and less expensive).
11. "Enable one handed menu" and "Private Browsing"... makes me wonder...
12. No HTTPS, but apaprently that's coming.

Oh well, it looks pretty damn cool, and when it's done, I'd gladly pay $10 or $15 for this.

Palm TX + 1GB SD + Motorola v3x = awesomeness

RE: Excellent.
blonkythorpe @ 3/9/2007 11:22:46 AM # Q
Definitely not replacing Blazer for me unless it speeds up quite a bit. As for crashing, since I got the program Flush It! (http://miska.borec.cz/palmos.en.php), Blazer almost never crashes for me (used to be about every other day, now it's only happened once since I installed Flush It!).
RE: Excellent (not !!)
palmato @ 3/9/2007 12:38:20 PM # Q
Tried to load a large but "nothing blazer can't handle" web site, waited a while, then the Tx crashed and went into soft reset. Tried to restart Universe but had a soft reset again.
So I had to remove it and reinstall it. (note for deleters: there are three Universe items to remove, Universe, Universe-conn and Universe-url).
This time I tried to load a smaller simpler site, and it just froze.
Again the usual procedure to remove all, reset, reinstall. Tried to load Palminfocenter, a task which did succeed but in a quite long time and with a few misses. Then switched to slashdot, and again it went into soft reset after a long while.
End of the story for Universe on my palm.

Looks like an early beta to me, not a release candidate.


--------------------------
Hey Admin: Why do we have to keep two profiles?

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Bugs for me

CleverClaire @ 3/9/2007 10:35:41 AM # Q
Wow,

I can't get anything to load at all. Ever site I try gives me an "Error: Failed to retrieve requested URL."

I looked at his site and see no way to report bugs. Anyone know how?

RE: Bugs for me
PacManFoo @ 3/9/2007 11:11:34 AM # Q
I had the same problem at first. I then used the applications memu connect feature to connect to Wi-Fi and also the Goto URL in the menu to surf to a site and this worked. It seems very slow though and only lasted about 5 minutes on my TX before getting the boot.

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22
Apple - MP2000, MP2100
RE: Bugs for me
PacManFoo @ 3/9/2007 11:15:30 AM # Q
I should have said I was using the Universe Web Browser program menu for connecting and for go to url.

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22
Apple - MP2000, MP2100
RE: Bugs for me
CleverClaire @ 3/9/2007 11:57:11 AM # Q
Ahhh.

Using the options button at the bottom of the screen then go to url works for me too. Interesting.

RE: Bugs for me
CleverClaire @ 3/9/2007 11:58:35 AM # Q
Still I see other bugs. Like if I open the options menu and try to use the 5 way to scroll down the page behind the menu scrolls and the screen refresh covers the menu or part of it anyway.

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lots of potential

drbuzz0 @ 3/9/2007 12:46:38 PM # Q
Nice looking. A bit unstable with big pages... but it is the beta. Tabs are cool. Pages look nice.

But it really badly needs javascript support. Even basic javascript is a necessity for a lot of pages.

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Quick comment on an old thread.

VampireLestat @ 3/9/2007 1:25:43 PM # Q
Hawkins Numenta...
3 words... BattleStar Gallactica, Cylons.

RE: Quick comment on an old thread.
VampireLestat @ 3/9/2007 1:27:38 PM # Q
Btw, I rarely post anymore because I have been using an HP rx1950 for a few months.
I also got Vista and Outlook 2007.

I was fed up with Palm's WM, split/reunification saga, no OS updates/vision, no firmware updates, no handhelds, 100% Treo focus.

MS WM, Vista, and Outlook offer stability. I abandoned Palm products and I forgot to say goodbye.
Glad I left before the 'Palm is for sale' rumours. Figures, another round of bullshit for Palm fans.

RE: Quick comment on an old thread.
PacManFoo @ 3/9/2007 1:48:46 PM # Q
Now you'll be just in time for the No PPC updates and no more handhelds (Dell out, HP rumored going theat way) and 100% copy your competitors focus. Good luck with that.

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22
Apple - MP2000, MP2100
RE: Quick comment on an old thread.
naio21 @ 3/9/2007 2:02:21 PM # Q
Nice FUD, "PacManFoo".

Ivan
RE: Quick comment on an old thread.
VampireLestat @ 3/9/2007 2:16:13 PM # Q
PacManFoo,

If/When there are no handhelds left, I will buy a phone with PIM functionality.

I left Palm because they are spineless fools who a) split Palm Inc b) adopted WM c) killed their handheld division ON PURPOSE, OF THEIR OWN WILL. (30% canabilization per quarter as Colligan says).

I hate them. I should never have been loyal for a decade. Look where it got us, a bunch of phones with WM. If I would have known, I would have built my life database and software collection around WM years ago. Never again.

RE: Quick comment on an old thread.
just_little_me @ 3/9/2007 3:25:55 PM # Q
How the hell is this even close to on-topic...???

This takes turning every news item into a "i hate palm" diatribe to new lows...

Ryan, come on - kill this puppy.


JLM.

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Ok, so it is a bit unstable

dkirker @ 3/9/2007 2:26:35 PM # Q
So, it seems like it is more unstable than some of my beta testers were leading me to believe (not their fault, although many beta testers that would have been very important did not send any feedback, so most of my feedback was from good test cases or my own tests).

Anyway, some of the bugs and the slow downs are due to the old HTTP engine (which is not great). I am re-writing this. It will be much faster, much more memory efficient and it should handle errors better.

I also know where some of the crashes on startup are coming from. I also know that the rendering engine is also pretty poor (it is a 2 year old sort of "fix" to the original WAPUniverse engine, which wasn't meant to handle full web pages. I am working on a new one, also faster and prettier).

Anyway, yes, this is a work in progress. I'll through up the sources around 3pm PST (I just need to update the copyright info and zip them up) so if any other developers are interested they can take a look.

Thanks for all of the feedback.

RE: Ok, so it is a bit unstable
jfme @ 3/9/2007 5:53:56 PM # Q
Will it work with Youtube?

RE: Ok, so it is a bit unstable
joad @ 3/10/2007 5:33:34 PM # Q
Nice to see someone acknowledging problems right away in a rational manner, and communicating their plan to address the problems.

...now if Palm Inc. could just adopt the refreshing straightforward honesty of dkirker about the shortcomings of their beta testing......

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No joy on 650

freakout @ 3/11/2007 6:30:33 PM # Q
Ack! Universe doesn't work on my Treo 650 for some reason. When I try to open it from the Applications menu it just crashes.

(OT: I am missing my 680 more than ever. I finally gave up on the shonky headset jack and sent the bugger back to Palm for repairs - which I did via Palm Australia, since Palm U.S. were about as helpful as tits on a bull - two weeks ago. And now I wait...)

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650 ---> Crimson Treo 680

RE: No joy on 650
dkirker @ 3/12/2007 3:20:43 AM # Q
There wil be a 650 fix tomorrow.

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I love it.

Eternal_Visitor @ 3/12/2007 3:28:48 PM # Q
it has won a place on my TX. if it had the option to display pages unedited I wouldn't be able to delete netfront fast enough.

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Still a little buggy for my Treo 650

poploser @ 3/15/2007 12:56:15 PM # Q
I installed the update this morning on my Verizon/Treo 650. Its hit or miss so far - My test website is a plain site with 3 small jpegs on it, and no text. Blazer loads it in about 30 seconds. The first time UWB loaded it, it was quick, but I got red Xs. The second time it reset my treo.

Also getting some basic error "can't connect" messages on basic sites, like google. I'll keep watching the site for updates, because I'm excited to find someone even trying to give us Palm users something better! [Verizon users cant use Opera Mini yet]

Also - one of the things I liked about Blazer was it tells you how much was downloading in KB. That way, if it "froze" you could see it, instead of just seeing the spinning icon. If that is something that can be added to UWB in the future, even better.

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cant see images on universe browser

raw2000j @ 6/26/2007 3:08:16 AM # Q
I have universe installed on my treo 755p and also installed the security fiz and the gif lib file and I can't see any images only anx where pictures supposed to be anyone else have this problem?

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