Mobile access to the Internet with handheld devices has been technically possible for quite a while and consumers are aware of the services but not so ready to use them. A central reason for the low usage is that user experience of the mobile Internet is not yet sufficiently good. This paper analyses the mobile Internet from the end-user perspective, identifying factors and solutions that would make Internet usage on a mobile device an enjoyable experience. User experience can be improved by a better understanding of users and usage contexts, by developing mobile services that better serve the needs of mobile users, easing service discovery and by developing the infrastructure needed for the mobile Internet. The paper 'User Experience of Mobile internet – Analysis and Recommendations' discusses all these aspects and gives development recommendations. Multidisciplinary and multicultural cooperation between the various actors in the field is needed to improve user experience.
Below is a section on Mobile Browsers and Proxies. The review was done early 2007, so it's outdated and needs further review.
Browsers and Proxies
The number of different mobile browsers may decrease via standardization efforts but on the other hand the number of browsers may increase as the number of Internet-capable devices increases. The variety of browsers is a challenge for service providers who should provide content accessible by all the different browsers.
Quite a few mobile web browsers can access standard web content that was originally designed for large-screen viewing. The browsers adapt the content to make it more suitable for handheld access (Jones & Marsden, 2006).
Adaptation can be implemented as server-side, client-side or intermediate adaptation (Laakko & Hiltunen, 2005). Algorithms used to transform the content of web pages into smaller units making it suitable for viewing on small-screen mobile devices typically fall into four categories (Schilit et al., 2002): Scaling, Manual Authoring, Transducing and Transforming.
Web page transformation, whether at the site or at the browser level, can be grouped into three broad transformation categories: Direct Migration, Linear and Overview (MacKay et al., 2004) (Figure 4).
These technologies face challenges due to increasing website complexity, use of JavaScript, browser differences, lack of useful device data and failing compliance with standards (Moore, 2007).
Each transformation technique has navigational advantages and constraints (MacKay & Watters, 2003) as well. Many current automated transformation options do not consider features such as user task, familiarly with information, web-page layout and mobility of the user, and their impact on the usability of the resultant transformed page (MacKay et al., 2004). Further research to improve these solutions and user experience will be required.
Below is a section on Mobile Browsers and Proxies. The review was done early 2007, so it's outdated and needs further review.
Browsers and Proxies
The number of different mobile browsers may decrease via standardization efforts but on the other hand the number of browsers may increase as the number of Internet-capable devices increases. The variety of browsers is a challenge for service providers who should provide content accessible by all the different browsers.
Quite a few mobile web browsers can access standard web content that was originally designed for large-screen viewing. The browsers adapt the content to make it more suitable for handheld access (Jones & Marsden, 2006).
Adaptation can be implemented as server-side, client-side or intermediate adaptation (Laakko & Hiltunen, 2005). Algorithms used to transform the content of web pages into smaller units making it suitable for viewing on small-screen mobile devices typically fall into four categories (Schilit et al., 2002): Scaling, Manual Authoring, Transducing and Transforming.
Web page transformation, whether at the site or at the browser level, can be grouped into three broad transformation categories: Direct Migration, Linear and Overview (MacKay et al., 2004) (Figure 4).
These technologies face challenges due to increasing website complexity, use of JavaScript, browser differences, lack of useful device data and failing compliance with standards (Moore, 2007).
Each transformation technique has navigational advantages and constraints (MacKay & Watters, 2003) as well. Many current automated transformation options do not consider features such as user task, familiarly with information, web-page layout and mobility of the user, and their impact on the usability of the resultant transformed page (MacKay et al., 2004). Further research to improve these solutions and user experience will be required.
Mobile Adaptation Techniques
Kaasinen, E., Roto, V., Roloff, K., Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila, K., Vainio, T., Maehr, W., Joshi, D., Shestra, S. User Experience of Mobile internet – Analysis and Recommendations, Accepted to International Journal of Mobile HCI, Special issue on Mobile Internet User eXperience, IGI Global, 2009.
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