This is good news. Other than the lack of games, I mostly feel like a smug asshole when I compare my Lumia with my friends' phones, but the browser is the one clear area where WP8 lags behind its competitors.
Just one week to go for 8.1 update 1, excited for Cortana as she comes outside USA, the other improvements like live folders, browser refinements etc are just icing on the cake :)
Would you hate it if the site actually has feature parity with the desktop site (almost never happens)? Because that is the only reason I dislike mobile sites for certain tasks. For tasks it support, I always prefer the mobile site.
No, webdevs have learned that you have to support the most dominant platforms, no matter what happens. FWIW, developing feature-parity sites for Windows Phone is a pain in the ass. The browser is buggy, behaves oddly, and is miles behind Mobile Safari/Google Chrome. This may help end users but will further make things difficult for devs.
It's unfortunate companies are having to do workarounds like this, but in the end it is the user experience that is important. It is good to see Microsoft taking these steps, and I hope it works well.
Oddly enough I liked IE10 on WP8 better than IE11 on WP8.1. Yes, mobile sites were pretty much broken, but most desktop sites worked well. But the biggest difference was that on IE10 it did not support most advertisements, so it was like having AB+. With IE11 most of the adverts display, but the layout is wrong so there is no way to exit out of the ones that get in your face. Hopefully WP8.1 Update (1) will fix this because I would much rather deal with a slightly off viewing experience where I can get to content rather than a 'better' (or at least more accurate) experience where the content is hidden or inaccessible. Really, enabling add-ons like AB+ or the desktop IE11's tracking protection features would be the best solution to this problem. That said, reading mode in IE11 is pretty slick on the phone and does a good job at stripping out the junk... but it also strips out the related pictures and videos, so it is not a clear win.
Personally though I avoid mobile versions of sites whenever possible. Typically I dislike their formatting, and frequently they're not a true duplication of the real site. They're often missing features/links/etc., sometimes to the point of absurdity. I've had to spend 20 minutes trying to get to part of a real site that I'd typed the direct URL in for, because the site ignores what I typed, and redirects to a crippled mobile site.
I like that mobile IE has a setting to request the desktop version. Seems like maybe Firefox on Android has that too? At any rate I always switch to the desktop version of a site when possible, even on a 4" phone...some extra scrolling beats a broken interface and missing features in my book.
Only just got 8.1 on my phone so don't expect the update to come my way for another 3 months or so. Wife still has got it or a few others I know. Wish that MS would ban dumb phone companies from adding rubbish on the phones that can prevent or slow down the release of updates. Nobody cares about them anyway.
Developer preview is the Microsoft's bypass system for delivering fast updates directly to consumers with no interference from phone companies and carriers, that is why you don't need to be a developer or anything to get Dev. preview, just download an app and login, voila you are enrolled :)
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soryuuha - Thursday, July 31, 2014 - link
finally Windows Phone IE is catching up with Android/iOS browser counterpart.althaz - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
This is good news. Other than the lack of games, I mostly feel like a smug asshole when I compare my Lumia with my friends' phones, but the browser is the one clear area where WP8 lags behind its competitors.skiboysteve - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
Very happy about this. Agreed on the irony. I hope the desktop mode setting still works fineAlexvrb - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
Agreed, a lot of sites have crappy mobile versions and I prefer the desktop experience, even if I have to do a bit of zooming and scrolling.BMNify - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
Just one week to go for 8.1 update 1, excited for Cortana as she comes outside USA, the other improvements like live folders, browser refinements etc are just icing on the cake :)wrkingclass_hero - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
I hate mobile versions of sites so much. Personally I would much prefer browsing the desktop site.Brett Howse - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
You can set IE to request the desktop or mobile site in the settings, so the choice is yours.invinciblegod - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
Would you hate it if the site actually has feature parity with the desktop site (almost never happens)? Because that is the only reason I dislike mobile sites for certain tasks. For tasks it support, I always prefer the mobile site.CSMR - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
Nice to have a fast rate of updates, but I don't like the idea of supporting non-standard HTML.Klimax - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
And webdevs have proven they can't learn from history...Tegeril - Saturday, August 2, 2014 - link
No, webdevs have learned that you have to support the most dominant platforms, no matter what happens. FWIW, developing feature-parity sites for Windows Phone is a pain in the ass. The browser is buggy, behaves oddly, and is miles behind Mobile Safari/Google Chrome. This may help end users but will further make things difficult for devs.jamyryals - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
It's unfortunate companies are having to do workarounds like this, but in the end it is the user experience that is important. It is good to see Microsoft taking these steps, and I hope it works well.CaedenV - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
Oddly enough I liked IE10 on WP8 better than IE11 on WP8.1. Yes, mobile sites were pretty much broken, but most desktop sites worked well. But the biggest difference was that on IE10 it did not support most advertisements, so it was like having AB+. With IE11 most of the adverts display, but the layout is wrong so there is no way to exit out of the ones that get in your face. Hopefully WP8.1 Update (1) will fix this because I would much rather deal with a slightly off viewing experience where I can get to content rather than a 'better' (or at least more accurate) experience where the content is hidden or inaccessible.Really, enabling add-ons like AB+ or the desktop IE11's tracking protection features would be the best solution to this problem.
That said, reading mode in IE11 is pretty slick on the phone and does a good job at stripping out the junk... but it also strips out the related pictures and videos, so it is not a clear win.
Wolfpup - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
This is great that they're tweaking it.Personally though I avoid mobile versions of sites whenever possible. Typically I dislike their formatting, and frequently they're not a true duplication of the real site. They're often missing features/links/etc., sometimes to the point of absurdity. I've had to spend 20 minutes trying to get to part of a real site that I'd typed the direct URL in for, because the site ignores what I typed, and redirects to a crippled mobile site.
I like that mobile IE has a setting to request the desktop version. Seems like maybe Firefox on Android has that too? At any rate I always switch to the desktop version of a site when possible, even on a 4" phone...some extra scrolling beats a broken interface and missing features in my book.
toyotabedzrock - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
As a long time Opera user the irony in this is so sweet. The number of sites that served Opera bad code because of the browser id was huge.lorribot - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
Only just got 8.1 on my phone so don't expect the update to come my way for another 3 months or so. Wife still has got it or a few others I know.Wish that MS would ban dumb phone companies from adding rubbish on the phones that can prevent or slow down the release of updates. Nobody cares about them anyway.
BMNify - Friday, August 1, 2014 - link
Developer preview is the Microsoft's bypass system for delivering fast updates directly to consumers with no interference from phone companies and carriers, that is why you don't need to be a developer or anything to get Dev. preview, just download an app and login, voila you are enrolled :)