Reviews
AvantGo,
take two
Venerable web news clipping service gets serious
Five
years ago, AvantGo was the hottest thing going in the handheld
universe. Browsers on all devices then were absolutely awful ÷
they aren't much better nowadays, but at least they actually work
most of the time. Using an ingenious mechanism that piggybacked
on top of built-in mini-browsers as well as the browser in your
host personal computer, AvantGo would snarf up ãchannelsä of text
content and sync it to your devices for later reading while disconnected
from your host PC.
It
was free and it worked. Millions of us spent countless hours reading
news from various sources. AvantGo became so much a part of the
handheld experience that it was practically inseparable from the
device. Microsoft integrated the service directly into the Pocket
PC, where it remains today as a default option in ActiveSync and
in Pocket Explorer.
Tempus
has a way of fugiting, and AvantGo didn't change much with the
times ÷ until now, that is. Now owned by a subsidiary of Sybase,
AvantGo has been relaunched with a completely redesigned client
for Pocket PC, Palm OS 5, Symbian UIQ, and Symbian 6.1/Series
60. It's still free, but there are even more ads littering the
place than the previous version. They've got to pay their programmers
somehow, I suppose.
AvantGo
is now a standalone client application that doesn't rely on a
mini-browser to do the heavy lifting. Ad annoyances aside, the
new clients acknowledge today's reality of always-connected devices
like smartphone hybrids and WiFi-equipped traditional PDAs that
lack voice capabilities. With decent bandwidth, no longer is it
necessary to sync through your personal computer's browser to
get the goods. Though the previous rev could be made to sync through
the air, you can now control which channels you want updated and
even select new channels on the fly.
The
new interface is a bit busier than before, but not unpleasantly
so. You now have tabs for the various sections and a help file;
if basic blue doesn't thrill you, there is even an option to select
alternative color schemes. PalmT3/T5 users will enjoy AvantGo's
high-resolution display support. Everything feels snappy and solid;
I experience no problems in days of testing on my iPAQ 6315.
Though
much of this content is available sans ads using traditional mini-browsers,
AvantGo is an easier way to get current info in specific areas
not covered by services like MSN Mobile, Yahoo Mobile, Opera's
newsfeed service, and other free feeds. If you haven't looked
at AvantGo lately, it's time to look again.
öDavid
MacNeill
www.avantgo.com
Home
