INTRODUCTION

    Mobile internet browsing… almost unheard of 10 years ago. Yet here we are, surrounded by WiFi and cellular networks, and
with the ability to obtain a device capable of connecting to these networks relatively cheaply (WiFi at least). Pocket Internet
Explorer (PIE) is the default browser on most Windows Mobile devices. While it gets the job done, only limited configuration is
available, and optimization is not completely implemented. Fortunately for Windows Mobile users, there are alternatives. Inline with the demand for mobile internet exploring, 3rd party applications have emerged, filling the gaps PIE left open. One such application
is PIEPlus. ReenSoft, creators of PIEPlus, have recently upgraded this application to version 2.11. Does the new version bring big improvements? Does this software offer a better surfing solution than the default PIE? Read on as PIEPlus 2.11 is put through the
paces.

SETUP

    Setup is as simple as downloading the Windows installer, or any one of the three cab files (WM 5.0, 2003, 2002). Sizes
are 890KB, 600KB, 600KB, 500KB respectively. No unusual errors or prompts were noticed during installation. I would, however, recommend removing old
installs, just to be on the safe side.

    PIEPlus occupies approximately 600KB on the device. It can be installed into main or storage memory.
One caveat about storage memory though, if you install the application on a storage card, you must ensure your card is installed

before

launching PIEPlus.

PRODUCT FEATURES

    PIEPlus is a feature rich product. As a PIE user, I was unaware of how much a browser could be tweaked. I was used to the stock standard limited menu and thought that’s all there was to it. PIEPlus certainly proved there is a staggering amount of configuration one can tap into. The change from PIE to PIEPlus reminded me of when I switched from IE6 to firefox…

 From the ReenSoft site, here are some of the features, including those new in V 2.1x (note <new> for 2.0, <new> for 2.1x) :

• Optimize the web content to fit PIE
• Multiple Tabbed Browsing
• Screen drag with sensitivity setting
• Fullscreen mode
• Hardware button mappings with press-and-hold support
• Save a file, image or page with all the elements color=#FF0000><new>
• New Toolbar UI <new>
• Toolbar on WM5 <new>
• Multi-step Back/Forward <new>
• URL Alias <new>
• URL Service with URL builder <new>
• Open URL from closed <new>
• Open link in new tab or new background tab color=#FF0000><new>
• Navigate link with D-Pad on WM2003 or above
• Scroll by line or page with D-Pad on PPC2002 or above
• Scroll by line or page with Jog Dial
• Extended context menu
• Custom user agent setting as IE5.5 or IE6.0 or anything color=#FF0000><new>
• Enable/disable script and script warning Enable/disable ClearType Screen Rotation above WM2003SE <new>
• View HTML source

    I’ll now explain a little bit about the more prominent features. Note: the
ReenSoft PIEPlus page also has a great deal of detail plus FAQ, therefore, feel free to check their site if you require additional information.

Pocket Web Optimizer

- From what I could discern, this basically optimizes the page for use with smaller resolutions
(reminded me a bit of Blazer from my Treo 650). Some of the images are removed, and horizontal scrolling is a thing of the past. Pages seemed to load faster, too (I was unable to measure this scientifically though).

The above shots show the difference PWO makes. Left = PWO off, right PWO = on. All unnecessary images are removed.

Once again, the left image has PWO disabled, right enabled. This time the difference is the missing horizontal scroll bar.

Tabbed Browsing

- As the name implies, more than one page can be opened at once. This feature is also found in Firefox, and
now IE7. Although I’m still getting use to it on the desktop, it really makes life easier on the Pocket PC, very simple and very intuitive.

Here’s a shot of the path to opening new pages, right image displays PIE with 3 pages open

Full Screen

- PIEPlus allows the user to view pages in full screen mode, with a restore button to jump back to regular viewing

This is a shot of a page in full screen mode, it makes the most of valuable screen real estate.

Back/Forward Button –

This is a feature I really like. When you hit the back or forward buttons, you are not just taken 1 page
back or forward, rather are presented with a menu of recently viewed pages in order. Very useful if you are clicking through multiple pages. It will even bring up details about the page i.e. "2007 ford mustang – Google" rather than just "Google".

Here’s a glimpse at the forward/back menu on PIEPlus .

URL Alias/URL Service –

Aliases can be assigned to lengthy URLs, and a URL builder is available to generate URLs. For example: you can type ebay, then hit the URL builder and it will generate http://www.ebay.com… pretty cool.

Here’s a shot of the expanded URL service menu.

Configuration –

As eluded to earlier, PIEPlus is highly configurable. The standard PIE options are available, along with an "options plus" selection. Options plus contains: Browser agents, scrolling config, button mapping, screen/menu/tab/view options, URL service/alias parameters… the list goes on! The context menu is also very comprehensive.

The above shots display the Agent and Tab panels within the "options plus" menu.

Also very detailed is the context menu. Users have the ability to move in various directions with ease.

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HELP
SUPPORT

    There’s an online help option within the application that launches a mobile help file. There are several known issues to do with this application that have been identified and addressed.

SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS

    This application uses about 600K of memory and is compatible with the following operating systems:

• PocketPC 2002, WM 2003, WM 2003 SE, WM 5.0
• Not compatible with PocketPC 2000

size="2">It can be installed to either storage or main memory.

BUGS AND WISHES

face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">    They’ve pretty much thought of everything with PIEPlus. The only thing missing is a method of disabling the application. Short of
uninstalling it, I was unable to "turn it off" to revert back to standard PIE. I doubt this would be an issue, once it is installed there
should be no reason to revert to default PIE. Because there are so many options, a casual user may become confused. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as too many options are better than not enough. It also defaults to the best settings.

PURCHASING

face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">    size="2">The product comes with a 14 day trial, after which a registration key must be purchased for USD$14.95.
Purchases are handled direct from the developer via PayPal, or it can be obtained from Handango/Pocket Gear. Users of version 1.x can upgrade to 2.x for USD$7.45

PROS

• 
  

  Optimized pages

• 
  

  Tabbed browsing

• 
  

  Highly configurable, many options

CONS

• 
  

  Must uninstall to disable

• Vast array of options may confuse

size="2">Value
Ease of Use
size="2">Features
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OVERALL
IMPRESSION

    For those who do a lot of browsing on mobile devices, PIEPlus 2.11 will come as a godsend. For occasional/casual users, default PIE has probably met your needs. PIEPlus is, however, a highly configurable, impressive piece of software at a great price. I would definitely recommend checking it out, even if you are only online occasionally. The optimization feature alone is worth the price, cutting "noise" from pages, speeding up load times and reducing bandwidth requirements. It’s a good day when an outstanding product becomes even better. Kudos to ReenSoft for continuing to innovate.

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