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What's New in Internet Explorer Mobile 6

  • Article

4/12/2010

Internet Explorer Mobile 6

Internet Explorer Mobile 6 is a new version of Internet Explorer Mobile that is based on the Trident rendering engine of Internet Explorer 6. This version is the new default for Windows Mobile. Browser features such as the address bar, status bar, and soft keys function the same as in earlier versions but look different. Windows Mobile 6.5 has transparent and opaque states.

Beginning with Windows Mobile 6.5.3, soft keys are replaced by touchable tiles on Windows Mobile Professional phones. **

Internet Explorer Mobile 6 has been enhanced in the following areas:

  • Full compliance with the HTML 4.01 standard
  • Full fidelity desktop rendering
  • Inclusion of Adobe Flash lite for YouTube, Flash ads, and games
  • User interface
  • Finger and touch accessibility
  • Performance
  • Enhanced Script and AJAX support based on JScript v5.7 from Internet Explorer 7

The updates to the user interface include the following:

  • Scroll bars have been removed to maximize the viewable content area. A miniature document map is now available to provide orientation when the user scrolls the page.
  • The progress bar has been incorporated into the address bar.
  • Favorites support retrieving and displaying Web site favicons.
  • The Web site title is displayed in the title bar.
  • Exit command is now available on the soft key menu.
  • Internet Explorer Mobile 6 can be set as the default browser.
  • Layout fixes for small screens
  • Multiple Zoom levels
  • The zoom bar can be set to appear on the left or right side of the device screen.
  • Integrated Search functionality with the address bar

The following improvements have been made to finger and touch accessibility:

  • Redesigned address bar has touch-friendly autocompletion. The autocomplete engine now includes history, favorites, and common Web site suffixes such as .com.
  • The Favorites dialog box now allows touch-friendly access to favorites.
  • A new Windows Mobile 6.5 gesture and physics engine provides the following:
    • Pan and flick gestures for page navigation on wireless markup language (WML) pages used in a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) environment.
    • Bounce animation at the document extremes.
    • Pan and flick in the HTML viewer with pan locking.
  • Support for the Adobe Flash Lite plug-in. This plug-in is an optional, royalty-free component of Internet Explorer Mobile 6 for OEMs, and is subject to a third party supplemental letter and Adobe terms and conditions. OEMs should license codecs directly. The plug-in is compatible with H.264.

Performance improvements include:

  • Fixes to improve page load times.
  • Enhancements to zoom responsiveness.
  • Improvements to memory usage.

There are new features with Adobe Flash, such as auto-rotating a video to the portrait or landscape orientation to maximize screen space.

The interface has a new feature that allows transparent buttons when operating in the normal full-screen mode. Full-screen mode is the default setting, and there is an on-screen button to return to the title and soft key bar.

The OEM can customize the page overview, default reading view, and maximum zoom levels.

User Scenario

The following scenario describes a typical user's experience with the new features.

Marco can’t live without Internet access, which is why he loves having access to the full Web on his phone. When he was delayed at the airport, he used the time to get some things done online, like booking his reservation for a rental car in Barcelona. And since Internet Explorer Mobile 6 can display Adobe Flash content, he kept himself sane by watching video clips on YouTube. Marco loves the fast and smooth zooming that makes it a joy to see the full Web on the phone. Using the browser as frequently as he does, Marco appreciates direct access to his favorite sites right from the Home screen and the touch-friendly user interface that doesn’t make him click through layers of menus.

Internet Explorer Mobile 6 Home Screen Plug-in

The Internet Explorer Mobile 6 Home screen plug-in is a quicker, much easier and more compelling experience for a user accessing Internet Explorer on a Windows Mobile device. This new feature places access to the browser directly on the Home screen, along with a subset of browser favorites. A new user interface lets the user add their Internet Explorer Mobile favorites to the Home screen.

See Also

Concepts

What's New in Windows Mobile 6.5

Other Resources