Screenshot of TeaShark in action
Maybe we're being unnecessarily critical, but TeaShark seems like a silly name for a hot drink, let alone a mobile Web browser. Although, to be fair, Google and Firefox aren't much better in the names department.
Ill-fitting monikers aside, the current beta release of TeaShark is definitely worth the free download. TeaShark is a Java-based Web browser offering a pretty complete Web 2.0 experience on your mobile handset. Of course, TeaShark isn't alone in trying to bring the "true" Web to mobiles, but from our initial hands-on it does a great job. Unlike the competition, TeaShark is available on any phone that supports Java MIDP 2.0.
TeaShark also seem to have a good grasp on how cumbersome mobile browsing can be and features a few cool touches to speed up page navigation, particularly for handsets with five-way nav keys. Dialog boxes have an auto-complete function; and the ability to select text in the body of a page and use it in a search, or as a number to dial, is excellent. Like the upcoming mobile Opera and Firefox browsers, TeaShark also features tabbed browsing.
The software is currently in beta and even in the short time we spent using it we stumbled over a few bugs. Being able to zoom out and pan over the page is handy, but the browser isn't rendering pages properly after panning at this stage, leaving pages blank until you zoom back in. Also, TeaShark isn't auto-directing to mobile versions of popular sites the way most mobile browsers do, which is troublesome considering how expensive mobile data can be.
The TeaShark beta can be downloaded for free from its Web site.
fredderth
04/04/2008 06:23 AM
Wow, great find. What an awesome browsing experience!
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muni
13/05/2008 04:01 PM
NICE
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dan_rox77
09/06/2008 05:23 PM
Cummon! TeaShark DOES sound weirder than Google or Firefox!
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