Products & Services
Sites that look fantastic on Nokia touch devices
By Phil on 10 September 2009
Did you know the web browser on Nokia touch devices use the same open source “engine” as the iPhone? Basically, all “iPhone-friendly” websites should work identically on Nokia touch devices.
Many web developers unfortunately only “allow” iPhone’s on certain pages, while redirecting all other mobile browsers to separate pages. So I’ve scoured the net in search of sites that really make the most of Nokia touch devices, such as the N97 and 5800.
Most sites look really great on the big screen of a N97, and nowadays most major websites have mobile-optimized versions. But the sites below have something special for touch devices – have a look… (and if you know of anymore, please shoot a comment below!)
Google Books – One million free books online + Big widescreen mobile device = An awesome mobile e-reader!!
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Sticher – This was a nice surprise, a whole bunch of streaming radio stations (such as NPR, BBC…) to enjoy live, right from the browser.
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Facebook – Touch devices already have a nice, free widget…but a slick browser UI never hurts.
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Sudoku – Simple, free Sudoku, that works well on the mobile. Don’t forget to double click the screen to zoom in for better visibility.
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Google Reader – My personal favorite. The interface is heavenly. I haven’t uttered the word “bored” ever since I discovered Google Reader on my mobile.
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Fox News – The UI sure does look spiffy!
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Digg – Endless hours of news and info on your mobile.
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CNET – Searching for gadgets, on a gadget. Cool!
Related posts:
- MyDailyApp.com highlights – Shazam, Metro and Xmas Calendar Touch
- My three favorite Nokia devices ever, part 3
- MyDailyApp highlights – Weight Tracker Touch, Smart Yoga Pro and Avatar
Tags | 5800-friendly, n97-friendly
September 10th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I sometimes forget how good the mobile browser actually is. (I think I just expect it to perform like a desktop too much – always preferring to load desktop versions over reformatted mobile ones – though the N900 might sort that out)
Over WLAN or O2 3G, browsing is quite enjoyable on my N97. When fonts are set to small, I have moments where I’ve forgotten that I was using a phone.
Opera mini is an alternative I HAVE to use on the move now since switching to T-Mobile (never realised how slow they were in South Wales). But when I get glimpses of 3.5G or WiFi, I go back to the default browser.
I do hope we see some UI improvements in the future though – such as being able to manually hide the sidebar instead of waiting for it to disappear. And perhaps even tabbed browsing. Digia @Web has already shown this is possible with S60’s webkit browser (but @Web is not that stable).
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September 10th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Don’t forget the new version of ESPN.com. It looks awesome on my N97
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September 10th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Great post Phil, and some superb recommendations!
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September 10th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I seriously don’t see what’s so great about those sites… it’s like looking at WAP pages on regular mobiles.
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Ze Stuart Reply:
September 11th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I’m with you ming387, since getting my n97 my short term memory has got much better as I build a list of things I want to do on the internet (I find the experience muchly in want).
Now, sites that looked great my 7110…
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September 10th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
@EverythingBlaxx –
Is it new? It looks like a standard .mobi site. I heard they have some new pages for the iPhone, but my N97 seems to get served the boring .mobi pages?
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September 10th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
@Micky – Cheers, mate! Getting cold up in Kuopio yet? I just got home from the movies and it’s +13 outside, getting colder..
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EverythingBlaxx Reply:
September 11th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Well if you’ve previously gone to ESPN.mobi, you have to clear your private data and goto http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/?w=18p6q&e=AWA&iphone=
After you goto that URL once, every time you go to ESPN.com after that, it will be the iPhone version.
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September 10th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
@ming387 – A few attributes that make these sites work great with my N97: Nice big buttons for my fat fingers. Cool transitions that most mobile browsers can’t do. Making good use out of the entire screen.
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September 11th, 2009 at 6:48 am
Don’t forget the womnderful simplicity of the Betalabs Mobi Site.
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mbrett Reply:
September 11th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Darn finger dislexia again. That’s the problem with typing quick comments. Should pay more attention.
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September 11th, 2009 at 8:40 am
For multiple windows in the default Symbian browser try adding this as a bookmark URL:
javascript:window.open(”http://google.com”)
Whenever you open the bookmark it’ll open a new window, press back and enjoy.
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September 11th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Great! Since you probably have the contacts, why don’t you people call Facebook and tell them that they need to make a similar site as the iPhone-one automatically available to Nokia touchscreens – since most people most certainly don’t have any idea to type that address in their phone. Please do it fast – I don’t want to type connect to Facebook through an iPhone url.
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Aku Reply:
September 11th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Aaaa sorry, not so good after all – not possible to like statuses or comment on those
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September 11th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Google Talk Mobile Gadget also works perfectly on Nokia touch devices.
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September 11th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I use a great Python app named ”UA Changer 1.3” on my 5800 . Changes the user agent to iphone, IE , Firefox , chrome, n95 etc……..no more redirecting hassle……works great…..you guys must give it a try
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September 11th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
personally i’d like to see one of two things happen:
1. we get an easy way to change the phone’s user agent to “iphone…” and the iphone pages come up automatically.
2. those stupid webdevs stop making it just “iphone” versus “wap”
the main issue: sites like bankofamerica.com where the mobile site redirects you to the “optimized for your device” version on every link. right. i go to the pretty iphone version, renders great on my n97, but the !@#$’ing server sees my user-agent is other-than-iphone and when i click a link i’m sent to the dumbed-down wap site. i have to alter the url on every page, and that’s just not worth it.
i’m in the midst of implementing something akin to the app store on the n97 – a local app (wrt based for now) that pulls up the apple.com listings for ‘webapps’ and provides an interface to:
a) open them and see if they work right
b) generate a widget that launches them, like installing them on the phone as apps
c) rate the webapp in 2 categories (works/fails and good/bad)
i’m hoping to recycle the python useragent scripts i’ve seen online to allow these webapps to run n an instance of the browser that claims to be an iphone. i might just use the recent Qt preview release webkit port, however.
i don’t intend to sell it, but rather to pay the $$ to become an ovi publisher and post it as a free download.
so far it’s pretty much just an RSS feed reader, hardcoded to pull in the feed of the recent webapps from apple.com. not much more than that yet, but i’m working on it. anyone have any ideas? want to do the same thing?
i’m rethinking using WRT for this, and might move to Qt (making the Qt webkit port a more immediately obvious choice). also, there is Ovi SDK, but i haven’t jumped into that yet, might not be appropriate (but would help for integrating a webbased, centralized database of which apps work or dont work specifically for s60v5 users).
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September 11th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Thanks Phil!
A quick question concerning the N97.
Most times users are redirected to the mobile site…
is their any setting or application that can be used to
progamme the browser not to redirect? (ie allow the browser
to “think” its using IE,firefox etc.)
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks
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September 11th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Another website that works great on the Nokia touch devices is http://www.namaz.me this is basically a Prayer times application. What is neat is that it uses w3c geolocation on iphone but for nokia phones it uses ip geolocation.
the interface is simple and it looks the same on all devices.
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September 13th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Thank you very much I didn’t know I could do this.
Anyone know of any more site’s?
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September 14th, 2009 at 10:30 am
@RobertH – I asked the browser team that question a couple weeks ago, he said it wasn’t possible unfortunately. (now if there was a hack or 3rd party solution, that’s different)
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September 15th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Does is posible to install these fonts in N900 ? to read Indian telugu language new paper http://www.eenadu.net/fonth... any help from Nokia
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