Yesterday was the big unveiling of iPhone 2.0. Even with its lowered price, many customers are still locked into contracts they can't break yet, and others still - believe it or not - are happy to continue using their mobile devices of choice, be them Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, or something else altogether. Unfortunately though, no matter what device you use, browsing the mobile web can be somewhat of a challenge. However, now there are new applications that allow you to browse the mobile web in completely new ways: with tiles.
There's an application for Windows Mobile users called Zumobi. Finally out of beta, this app offers a unique way to browse the mobile web - it loads up a widgetized interface displaying tiles that represent your favorite web sites. You "browse" the sites by zooming in and out - a process that's much easier than typing in a URL using the small buttons of your mobile device. You can pick and choose which tiles you want on your page from the Zumobi gallery or you can create your own from any RSS feed. The only drawback to Zumobi, of course, is that it's currently limited to Windows Mobile. A Blackberry version is in the works, but it hasn't arrived yet.
For everyone else, there is a new application called Goojet which brings the concept behind Zumobi to anyone with a mobile phone. With this app, the tiles are called by the rather silly name of "goojet," and there are also many to choose from in their online gallery. There are goojets for Gmail, YouTube, Twitter, News, Shopping, Weather, and more. And as with Zumobi, you can create your own personal goojet from any web site that has an RSS feed. You can even create a personalized goojet with one click to make a mobilized version of your favorite web site. With Goojet, there's a social element, too - any goojet you create can be shared with yours friends via the mobile app.
The Goojet web site was annoyingly difficult to use - requesting plugins in Firefox and not displaying at all in IE - a pop-up appeared saying "operation aborted". (This could be some misconfiguration on my part, but I did not delve into it to determine what that may be. I have no other issues with IE.)
Despite these problems, it may be worth it to put up with Googjet's site since the end result is a mobile app that lets you browse the web in a way that's very similar to Zumobi, but without needing a Windows Mobile device to do so.
For the iPhone-less, widgetized browsing such as that provided by these two applications makes the mobile web more personal and usable...which should at least tide us over until we can all afford to get our iPhones, too.
Comments
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These are some sweet applications. I've used them a little bit on my phone.
Maybe I can convince Apple to send me an iPhone for me to review on my website?
I doubt they will be fooled by my trickery...
Posted by: The Tech Juice | June 10, 2008 7:56 AM
"..it may be worth it to put up with Goojet's site..."
Just tried visiting the site with Safari on an 800x600 monitor (used for web development testing and dedicated email monitor)....yikes.
Usability that would make Jakob Nielsen keel over and then roll in his grave.
Posted by: Jeff | June 10, 2008 8:02 AM
@Jeff - agreed! It's awful. Just heard about Widsets too - http://www.widsets.com - give that one a look instead.
Posted by: Sarah Perez
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June 10, 2008 8:47 AM
@ Sarah and Jeff - Hi. I'm Guillaume and I'm the CEO of Goojet. Many thanks to both of you for the feedback! User reaction is exactly what we need to improve.
We're aware of the issues you've faced and are sorry about that. As you know this is still a beta from a young start-up :-)
We hope the beta will help us get the product spot on the concept Sarah described spot on and which is exactly what we're aiming for. Just bear with us a bit and we'll come back soon with a site compatible with lower resolutions (right now we're optimized for higher res from 1024x768) and with a fix for the flash plug-in issue you've obviously face in Firefox.
You can use goojet.com to connect with me online and I'll be very happy to keep you posted personally on when this happens.
Posted by: Guillaume Decugis | June 10, 2008 10:56 AM
I´m also dissapointed for its design.
Posted by: Rainbow | June 10, 2008 3:17 PM
Posted by: Pallab | June 11, 2008 6:46 AM