Experience with a Wireless World Wide Web Client

Joel F. Bartlett, DEC WRL

One-line summary: WWW browsing with wireless (cellular) modem on PDA-class device is feasible; latencies are tolerable if proxy and caching are used, and "most" pages are acceptable on 320x240 mono screen.

Overview/Main Points

To separate fact from fiction in PDA hype, a text-only WWW client was developed for Newton with Motorola ARDIS. (This is before Envoy.)

A dedicated proxy constructs a screen description designed for easy parsing on the Newton.
A web page can span multiple screens; PDA prefetches subsequent screens of same page.
Caching is done at PDA (and at proxy? hard to tell).
No graphics.
Latency: ~1s to display cached page; 2-3s to get one from proxy.
Standard wish list: lower power, fewer pieces (ie integrated communication device), wider deployment of standard wireless infrastructure, faster CPU's.

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