Just out: AvantGo 5.7 build 35!

[Alexander Turcic]

Just a few minutes ago iAnywhere Solutions announced a "major" upgrade to its AvantGo client. The upgrade to Version 6 enhances the popular mobile Internet service with new features including wireless browsing; customized wireless synchronization (enabling faster, more reliable syncs); expanded channel management and personalization capabilities; and improved customer support (at least that is what the company claims - I guess they're referring to their new support site).

The list of changes is indeed long and I recommend you to click here to find out more.

AvantGo is available for are all major mobile device platforms including Palm OS 5, Pocket PC 2000/2002, Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC and the Symbian OS based Series 60 and UIQ platforms.

[Alexander Turcic]

Btw, I think this is just the "official" and final version of the production release we discussed earlier.

[hacker]

This version still claims to be v5.7 Build 35 here.

I hope they don't seriously think this is a contender for the other similar clipping and HTML applications out there. This is more adware than ever! 90% of the screen is taken up by useless trinkets and advertisements.

Look at all of the wasted space in the attached image below. I only selected two channels here, and captured the screenshot with ScreenShot on my T3 at full-screen (we wrote a conduit for ScreenShot that is now included in pilot-link). An enormous waste of usable space.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by hacker

This version still claims to be v5.7 Build 35 here.

Thanks Hacker! I guess you call it wishful thinking when I put v6.0 there. Actually I really don't know what I what I was thinking...

I corrected the title accordingly.

[sUnShInE]

I'll testify that it's total bloatware.

I had the earlier version on my smartphone, and decided to upgrade when this one came out. I couldn't even get the app to load... because it's over 2.5Megs. And that's without clipping any content. I grab my content online.

Crazy, eh?

[TadW]

I agree with you both. Why would anyone still use AvantGo today? It is slow, bloated, and full with ads.

Is anyone here actually still using AvantGo? If yes, why? Don't you prefer the alternatives such as Plucker or iSilo?

[Pride Of Lions]

Originally Posted by Alexander

Thanks Hacker! I guess you call it wishful thinking when I put v6.0 there. Actually I really don't know what I what I was thinking...

I corrected the title accordingly.

The attached thumbnail shows what appears to be the much-promised Palm OS 6 (yes, code-named "Cobalt." I liked numbered designations better, you know which one is latest and such.)

Anyway, Mark/Space is working on a beta of their Missing Sync for Palm 4.0 that includes an AvantGo conduit. I'm trying it right now, and I have to say, I do miss the simplicity of just HotSync-ing some content onto my Zodiac2 (and have ever since AG decided not to support Mac OS X back in 2002, was it?) Since then I have plunged into iSilo and I'm amazed by all of it's wonderfulness, sincerely. The only thing missing from it is a timer where I can set it to open up an .ixl file and crunch away. Right now, I have to remember to open the file before I go to bed so that the scheduled conversions inside will take place at 4am. When I forget to do so (like last night) my morning HotSync doesn't add any new content.

I wholeheartedly concur that iSilo completely whups AG in every way, except the convenience of just HotSync-ing to get new content. I hope that the Mac OS X 10.4 (blah blah "Tiger") has this "Automator" feature that will let me program which app's will open and when.

AG is fun for the convenience. My getting-more-techy-by-the-day Mom loves it on her Zire71, and if she can overlook the ads then all is well in the world.
POL9A

[hacker]

Originally Posted by Pride Of Lions

The attached thumbnail shows what appears to be the much-promised Palm OS 6 (yes, code-named "Cobalt." I liked numbered designations better, you know which one is latest and such.)

Its a plain-jane T3 device, not Cobalt at all. Maybe AvantGo tried to make it look like Cobalt, but IMHO, they failed. The whole UI makes no sense. They have PalmOS-based menus (accessed via the normal tap-on-Menu-button option), then they have those tabs, and inside those tabs, more dropdowns. Its a real nightmare, and a horrible waste of functional space that could be better served by showing actual content.

They also removed the ability to change fonts into anything usable. It is here that things like Plucker really excel, with the ability to use anti-aliased fonts (see attached screenshots). I don't know if iSilo can do this, but iSilo doesn't handle HTML very well at all, so I don't even compare the two.

Anyway, Mark/Space is working on a beta of their Missing Sync for Palm 4.0 that includes an AvantGo conduit. I'm trying it right now, and I have to say, I do miss the simplicity of just HotSync-ing some content onto my Zodiac2 (and have ever since AG decided not to support Mac OS X back in 2002, was it?)

MarkSpace has done a great job of wrapping a slick commercial front-end around our Free Software libraries (pilot-link). They continue to maintain their conduit back-end in their own code, however (that isn't really our area of focus).

With my latest release of pilot-link, MarkSpace's product is even faster over the network, and more stable with newer devices. Its really improving well. 4.0.3 is based on pilot-link 0.12.0, and previous versions are based on pilot-link 0.11.8. Well done, and kudos to them for maintaining an even keel with the licensing.

[sUnShInE]

Originally Posted by TadW

I agree with you both. Why would anyone still use AvantGo today? It is slow, bloated, and full with ads.

Well for browsing wirelessly it was actually pretty good because unlike a traditional browser the links were all set up for you in categories, etc. As I said the older version worked really well. Fast and sleek, everything you would expect. The new version totally sucks though. Unfortunate really. So much for "improvements". It may have alot to do with the tabbing system they integrated. I'm not sure though, since I could never even get it to launch!

Maybe I'll try the pda version. I'm sure it will zip right along on my new T3.

[hacker]

Originally Posted by sUnShInE

Well for browsing wirelessly it was actually pretty good because unlike a traditional browser the links were all set up for you in categories, etc.

The catch with "browsing" wirelessly, is that every single request goes through AvantGo's own servers. You never talk directly to the webserver from your handheld. Try it for yourself, visit a website you can view the traffic logs from, and watch them as you visit the site. You won't see your IP coming in, you'll see the AvantGo proxy IP making every request.

This, since it is not stated anywhere, presents an enormous security risk, because users believe they are using the web directly, like they would with a desktop browser. If you are visiting your webmail, protected (SSL) sites, or submitting credit card info through AvantGo, it goes through AvantGo's network first, and that's a problem.

But I'm just pedantic with security like that.

[tovarish]

Originally Posted by TadW

I agree with you both. Why would anyone still use AvantGo today? It is slow, bloated, and full with ads.

Is anyone here actually still using AvantGo? If yes, why? Don't you prefer the alternatives such as Plucker or iSilo?

my thought exactly, i stopped using avantgo years back when i discovered isilo and now i use plucker and netfront.

[tvchip]

When I first started using my Axim two years ago, I started using AvantGo. Then after finding this site and learning about other programs, I became a big believer in iSilo.

I still like iSilo, but the new version of AvantGo has won me back. The reason is simple, because I can sync wirelessly without having to go through my PC. Syncing via wi-fi is much faster (only about a minute for 30 channels), versus about 15 minutes via iSilo, and my USB connection between my PC and my PDA. And now I can sync at work or at home, or anywhere with a WiFi connection.

Yeah, I still have beefs with Avantgo, but I really like this upgrade.

[hacker]

Originally Posted by tvchip

The reason is simple, because I can sync wirelessly without having to go through my PC. Syncing via wi-fi is much faster (only about a minute for 30 channels), versus about 15 minutes via iSilo, and my USB connection between my PC and my PDA. And now I can sync at work or at home, or anywhere with a WiFi connection.

The reason you perceive it as "faster", is because AvantGo is serving you completely different "clipped" content, run through their proxy. iSilo/iSiloX hits the real website hosting the content, and fetches it directly, hence your delays and speed differences.

Receiving a page that has been filtered, stripped, scraped, and cleansed specifically for PDA display, is very different from hitting a webpage directly, making the proper socket requests, and converting the content and graphics into a format for display on a PDA.

The AvantGo approach, while "faster" (to you, but not to others), is nice in some situations, but presents a few problems for most other people:

1. You can't use it for Intranet and Internet content
2. Its a MAJOR security risk if you use pages that require authentication
3. It only works when AvantGo is allowed to reach the content (I know several sites that specifically block AvantGo's proxies, and you can't access their content at all using AvantGo, even though the website is public and accessible to the rest of the world. In fact, AvantGo even reports a completely false error regarding the connection state).

Its really nice for "quick hits" kind of browsing and news, but it is definately not a browser replacement, or anything that should be used for real production data. Its just too slow and too much of a risk for the rest of the world to even consider. That's not just my opinion, its the opinion of a growing number of users and businesses who are looking for faster, more-scalable alternatives.

[tvchip]

All your reasons are good reasons, and I still use iSilo for clipping web content. But I'm a TV newsguy, and so most of my clipping is for local, national and international news sites that can be refreshed easily through the day. So AvantGo's new version allows me access to the content I need.

I have had little problem creating my own custom content on AvantGo. Even ESPN's mobile content (which used to be blocked) is now working on AvantGo.

Again, it works for me and my needs as a journalist.