Internet Explorer Mobile

Internet Explorer Mobile (formerly named Pocket Internet Explorer; later called IE Mobile)[1] is a discontinued mobile browser developed by Microsoft, based on versions of the Trident layout engine. IE Mobile comes loaded by default with Windows Phone and Windows CE. Later versions of Internet Explorer Mobile (since Windows Phone 8) are based on the desktop version of Internet Explorer. Older versions however, called Pocket Internet Explorer (found on Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile), are not based on the same layout engine.

Internet Explorer Mobile
Internet Explorer Mobile 10 in Windows Phone 8 showing Wikipedia main page
Developer(s)Microsoft
Stable release11.0 (February 10, 2014 (2014-02-10)) [±]
Operating systemWindows CE, Windows Phone
TypeMobile browser
LicenseProprietary
Websitehttps://support.microsoft.com/en-sg/help/10671/windows-phone-tips-and-tricks

Internet Explorer Mobile 11, the last version that was supported, is based on the desktop version of Internet Explorer 11 and came with Windows Phone 8.1. A new browser, Microsoft Edge replaced Internet Explorer Mobile in Windows 10 Mobile.

Features

The latest version of Internet Explorer Mobile includes tabbed browsing. The browser supports multi-touch gestures, including pinch-to-zoom as well as tap-to-zoom, although not the Touch API at present. Bing Search is tightly integrated with Internet Explorer Mobile. It can display websites in both "mobile" and "desktop" versions.

Platforms

Internet Explorer Mobile 6 is included with Windows Mobile 6.5 and Zune HD. Internet Explorer Mobile 7 is included with Windows CE 7. Internet Explorer Mobile 9 is included with Windows Phone. Each version has the same Trident rendering engine as its desktop counterpart, but with additional improvements.

Version history

Version 1

Pocket Internet Explorer was first introduced in Windows CE 1.0, released in November 1996.[2] It does not derive from the Internet Explorer code and was written from scratch for being as lightweight as possible. PIE 1.1 was later released that supported cookies, HTTPS, and SSL.

Version 2 and 3

Pocket Internet Explorer 2.0, released in September 1997 with Windows CE 2.0, added many new features: offline browsing, resizing images to fit to screen, and richer HTML support, including framesets and tables. PIE 3.0, introduced in July 1998 with Windows CE 2.10, added support for JScript and various secure protocols.

Version 4

Pocket Internet Explorer 4 was the first to support ActiveX, CSS, VBScript as well as further extending support for HTTPS and advanced HTML features. Pocket PC 2002 version of PIE brought limited support for DHTML and XML, and also the ability to browse WAP sites – a feature not present in Internet Explorer for PC, Internet Explorer 6.0 added support for IFrames. The web browser supports FTP, XSLT, cookies and animated GIFs among other features.

Version 6

On July 8, 2008 at the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft announced Internet Explorer Mobile 6 for their next version of Windows Mobile. Andy Lees, Microsoft's senior vice president of mobile communications business, said that Internet Explorer Mobile 6 was going to be a full version of Internet Explorer 6 on Windows Mobile.[3][4] It was shown running briefly during Microsoft's 2009 CES Keynote on a Palm Treo Pro,[5] and again in an official video for Toshiba's TG01 phone, which has a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.[6]

Internet Explorer Mobile 6 was released as part of Windows Mobile 6.1.4, and some OEMs also installed it on Windows Mobile 6.1.4 Standard devices.[7] New features include enhanced Javascript and AJAX support (Jscript v5.7 from Internet Explorer 8) and support for Adobe Flash Lite 3.1.[8] The browser also has a redesigned finger friendly Graphical user interface.[9][10][11] Overall rendering quality and speed are also improved with this version;[10][11] however according to Gizmodo and Engadget it didn't render pages as well as Opera Mobile and browsers based on Webkit.[10][11][12]

Version 7

On February 15,2010 Microsoft unveiled its next-generation mobile operating system, Windows Phone.[13] With it, came a new version of the Internet Explorer Mobile browser. New features for the browser included multi-touch gesture support, tabbed browsing, a new UI, smooth zoom in/out animations, and a hybrid rendering engine of the Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 desktop versions.[14] According to Engadget and Gizmodo, rendering speed and quality has significantly improved and was now on par with those of competing mobile browsers based on WebKit.[15][16][17][18]

Version 9

At Mobile World Congress 2011 in February, 2011, Microsoft unveiled a major upgrade to Internet Explorer Mobile based on the rendering engine of Internet Explorer 9.[19] Like its desktop counterpart, the browser features full hardware acceleration. Changes in this version included moving the address bar to the bottom of the screen and having it present in landscape orientation.[20] Microsoft showed a number of HTML5 demonstrations for the browser. This is the last version supported on Windows Phone 7.

Version 10

In the Windows Phone Developer Summit in June 2012, Microsoft revealed that the next version of Windows Phone, Windows Phone 8, will come with the same web browsing engine to be used in Windows 8 PCs and tablets.[21] IE10 Mobile will be faster and more secure, with advanced anti-phishing features like SmartScreen Filter to block dangerous websites and malware. With the help of shared core between IE10 Desktop and IE10 Mobile, Internet Explorer 10 Mobile supports a broader range of the HTML5 capabilities (including pointer events)[22] and boosts applications/websites' performance. When it finally came out IE10 Mobile out-performed the Galaxy S III, HTC One S, and iPhone 4S on iOS 6 Beta in the SunSpider benchmark.[23]

Version 11

On July 15, 2014, Microsoft released Windows Phone 8.1, which includes the new Internet Explorer Mobile 11 browser. This version gets even closer to the desktop counterpart, by carrying over many of its improvements.

New features include:[24]

  • support for WebGL;
  • normal mapping;
  • InPrivate Browsing mode;
  • Reading mode;
  • the possibility to swipe left or right to navigate to the previous or next webpage;
  • file upload;
  • a new HTML5 video web player with support for inline playback and closed captions;
  • Windows 8-style website live tiles;
  • the ability to save passwords;
  • the ability to open an unlimited number of tabs (previously the user could open up to six tabs).

Furthermore, the button to refresh the page is now placed on the address bar, and the open tabs can be displayed on other Microsoft devices besides the smartphone in use: if a user is logged in with his Microsoft account on both his Windows 8.1 device and Windows Phone device, tabs on Internet Explorer 11 will synchronize automatically.

Version 11 Update

Microsoft made several changes to Internet Explorer Mobile to make the browser more compatible with sites designed for mobile Safari (iOS) and Chrome (Android). To accomplish this, Microsoft adopted features used in Safari and Chrome, emulates legacy WebKit features, and claims to web servers that it is iOS or Android compatible. The new version of Internet Explorer Mobile was released with Windows Phone 8.1 Update.[25]

  • Pocket Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile 2003
  • Pocket Internet Explorer
  • Internet Explorer Mobile 6 in Zune HD
  • Internet Explorer Mobile 7 in Windows Phone 7.5
  • Internet Explorer Mobile 9 in Windows Phone 7.8
  • Acid3 shown on Internet Explorer Mobile v9.0

See also

References
  1. Ramig, Randy (October 4, 2005). "IE Mobile blog". Microsoft Developer Network. Microsoft. Archived from the original on March 11, 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  2. Garaffa, Dave (19 November 1996). "Hey, Is That A Browser In Your Pocket Or..." Internet.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 1999.
  3. "Andy Lees: Worldwide Partner Conference 2008". Microsoft. July 8, 2008. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  4. Hess, Arne (2008-09-25). "BROWSER: Microsoft's Internet Explorer Mobile 6 aka 6 on 6 is real and shows its face". the unwired. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  5. Bohn, Dieter (Jan 8, 2009). "Microsoft Keynote Outs Sprint Treo Pro on the Sly". WPCentral. Archived from the original on March 30, 2012. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  6. "Official Toshiba TG01 promotional video". WMPower User. February 4, 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  7. for example, the HTC S710 shipped with a browser that identified itself as "IEMobile 6.12" in the User-Agent header
  8. "Internet Explorer Mobile 6". Microsoft Windows Mobile Team Blog. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  9. "IE 6 for Windows phones: Interface improved". CNet. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
  10. "Windows Mobile 6.5 Review: There's No Excuse For This". Gizmodo. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  11. "Windows Mobile 6.5 review". Engadget. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  12. "Windows Mobile 6.5 Review:It Still Sucks". MobileCrunch. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  13. "Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Series" (Press release). Microsoft. Feb 15, 2010. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  14. Fried, Ina (2010-02-15). "Microsoft hits redial in phone effort (Q&A)". CNet. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  15. Windows Phone 7 review – Engadget
  16. Windows Phone 7 browser surprisingly good | WMPoweruser
  17. "Exclusive: Windows Phone 7 Web Browser Comparison (Video)". Archived from the original on 2011-11-26. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  18. Windows Phone 7 In Depth: A Fresh Start
  19. Microsoft shows off WP7's future with multitasking, Twitter integration, and IE9, all coming this year – Engadget
  20. IE9 For Windows Phone Is “Code Complete” – everythingWM Archived July 1, 2011, at WebCite
  21. wfa31sk (20 June 2012). "Microsoft unveils Windows Phone 8 at the Windows Phone Developer Summit in San Francisco". Akibatech31 (blog). WordPress.
  22. Rossi, Jacob (21 September 2012). "Touch Input for IE10 and Metro style Apps". IEBlog (blog). MSDN.
  23. Vygantas (20 June 2012). "Windows Phone 8: Internet Explorer 10 Detailed". FavBrowser.com (blog).
  24. Sabri, Sam (April 14, 2014). "Check out these 8 new kickass features in IE11 on Windows Phone 8.1". Windows Phone Central. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  25. Microsoft (2014-08-01). "The Mobile Web should just work for everyone". msdn.com. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  26. Mick, Jason (August 21, 2014). "Opera Becomes Official Browser of Microsoft-Nokia's Non-Windows Phones". DailyTech. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
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