Classification of Mobile Browsers
Today, I am not going to post some CSS3 tricks on Webkit, or stuff like that. Instead, I post a list mobile browsers, since I am often asked about mobile / WAP browsers by engineers, product managers, and mobile-curious or mobile-newbie people. I gathered 30+ major browsers I have worked with (plus a few I have never even seen), and categorize by the markup that browsers can render – WML, CHTML, XHTML-MP, and HTML4.
So, here you go. If you find some mistakes, let me know!
| WML Browsers (WAP 1.x) | |
|---|---|
| Openwave earliy browsers 4.x | |
| Early Nokia browser | |
| Early Obigo browser | |
| CHTML Browsers (Common in Japan) | |
|---|---|
| CHTML browsers | Compact-HTML browsers |
| Compact NetFront | |
| i-mode browsers (CHTML / XHTML) | NTT Docomo |
| XHTML Browsers (WAP 2.x – XHTML-MP / WML) | |
|---|---|
| WebKit | Nokia S40 |
| Nokia S60 – earlier versions, or “Services” browser | |
| NetFront by Access | Palm Blazer 3.x - |
| Sony Ericsson WAP browser | |
| Blazer by Handspring | original browsers before accured by Palm |
| Openwave 6.x | Siemens |
| Sharp | |
| Sanyo | |
| Motorola | |
| Toshiba | |
| Blackberry by RIM | Blackberry browser- earlier version ~4.3? (*) |
| Obigo by Teleca | |
| Polaris by InfraWare | |
| Helio | |
| Motorola MIB | |
| HTML Browsers | |
|---|---|
| WebKit | Nokia S60 3rd gen., “Web” Mini-map browser |
| Apple Mobile Safari | |
| Google Android | |
| Palm WebOS | |
| Iris, by Torch Mobile (now RIM) | |
| Bitstream Bolt (Proxy) | |
| MOTOMAGX (Motorola Linux devices) | |
| Gecko | Mozilla Minimo (dead?) |
| Mozilla Fennec | |
| Maemo (aka MicroB) | |
| Skyfire | |
| Opera (proxy) | Opera Mobile |
| Opera Mini | |
| Nintendo DSi | |
| Nintendo Wii | |
| Blackberry by RIM | Blackberry browser ver.4.6+ (I am not sure about 4.4 and 4.5) |
| Microsoft Internet Explorer (was Microsoft Pocket IE) | (earlier versions do not support CSS?) |
| NetFront 3.x ? | Sony Ericsson browsers |
| Sony PlayStation / PSP browsers | |
| Palm Blazer 4.x | |
| Amazon Kindle | |
| Teleca | Teleca Browser V3.x ? (LG Voyager) |
| Danger (now by Microsoft) | Sidekick |
I have categorized only with the markup type, and did not sub-categorize these browsers. However, if I would, I may want to grade XHTML-MP devices with page memory size (=”deck size”, yes I said deck size), and screen resolution for UI design purpose.
To grade full-HTML browsers, you need to spend massive time and effort on testing rendering capability with CSS, and Javascript DOM compatibility, events, etc. Actually, PPK has done excellent work on mobile browser testing, so you can simply visit Quirksmode.org!
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