Trolltech's software stack for Linux-based mobile phones will gain a new web browser and browser-based user interface development kit option. The company says it is working with Openwave to port Openwave's Mercury Browser and Mobile Integrated Dynamic Application System (MIDAS) software to Qtopia Phone Edition… 4.0.

Openwave positions its Openwave Mobile Browser, Mercury Edition as the fastest-available mobile browser. The company has published benchmarks that compare the browser favorably to competing products, when tested on Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system.

Touted features of the Mercury browser include:

• Progressive rendering
• Optimized table layout
• ECMAScript Mobile Profile (ESMP)
• Multiple screen display modes, with map and zoom
• HTML 4.01, WCSS 1.1, WML
• HTTP and WSP networking, including proxyless HTTP
• SSL 3.0/TLS 1.0 support, WTLS Class II on WAP stack

MIDAS can be used to build push email clients (left), and music and photo service interfaces (center and right), Openwave says

Openwave refers to its MIDAS offering as a “user experience engine.” The product appears to be a development kit and function library aimed at helping phone designers create interfaces using HTML, CSS, Javascipt (aka ECMAscript), and other web standards, an approach said to reduce development and schedule risk while enabling revenue-enhancing services such as push email and multimedia service management interfaces.

Openwave MIDAS diagram
Openwave is among the largest vendors of mobile phone software, with a customer roster of 70 companies, including many of the world's largest carriers. The company's flagship product is a fairly complete “V7” suite that it ported to Linux in 2004.

Trolltech's current CTO, Benoit Schillings, formerly served as CTO of Openwave, before he joined Trolltech in 2005.

---

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.