“No concrete plans for HTML 5 support” for Windows Phone 7 browser

August 4, 2010 | By Surur

Not supported in Windows Phone 7 During a press event in Hamburg led by Frank Prengel, Technology Evangelist for Microsoft Windows Phone in Germany, told attendees Microsoft had no concrete plans to add HTML 5 support to Windows Phone 7.

Prengel was giving a demonstration of the Windows phone 7 hybrid IE7/8 browser, noting the smooth, hardware-accelerated text scaling and other features.

On flash support, he said this only awaiting a suitable final version from Adobe, hopefully available within 6 months of the introduction of Windows Phone 7.

HTML5 is an evolving web standard which substantially increases the capabilities of browsers to perform complex functions without plug-ins, including display video and use hardware capabilities of devices. It will be fully supported in the next version of desktop Internet Explorer, version 9.

See the demo video after the break.

Via winfuture.de.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged browser, browsers, software, video

Danny

They always have to be ludicrously out of touch on something.
http://intensedebate.com/people/djguapo djguapo

IMO, this should be the first priority out of the gate after launch, higher than clipboard even.

http://intensedebate.com/profiles/vangrieg vangrieg

Would you care to give an example of a real-life web site where HTML5 is needed right now? Granted, there are some where you can use either Flash or HTML5, but are there HTML5-only ones?

http://intensedebate.com/people/djguapo djguapo

Youtube

konyn

well then, I hope Opera is up to the rescue.
efjay

This cant be correct, WP7 is lacking in features already and instead of getting in gear to add these features they are playing them down? Do they not see the mobile market we see, with android and apple being seen as the only smartphone alternatives?
Pedro de la Riva

Opera cannot be the Rescue, as MS already said there will be no alternative browser

So you wil have only Internet Explorer on WP7, which means:

- No Flash
- No Silverlight
- No HTML5.

This is absolutely great, isn't it ?

Danny

Android barely has flash and iOS will never get it or silverlight so carping about those is pointless. Especially since we know for sure that they are actively working on both of them. HTML5 is a different beast since it is entrenched on other platforms and is slowly beginning to define their browsing experiences.

VIW

Android barely has flash? I beg to differ. True that some flash functionality doesn't work nice on a smaller screen and with a touchscreen interface, but Adobe Flash 10.1 beta 3 works great even on my HD2 with Android 2.2 loaded. And since basically every Android phone released this year / late last year will official get Android 2.2/Froyo, it won't be long before the majority of Android phones will be flash-enabled.

http://intensedebate.com/people/chinch chinch

seems obvious that when IE9 is done it will be ready for WP7, along with HTML5

Still, MS needs to have a Webkit browser for WP7… if for no other reason to shut up fanboys & bloggers. This vocal minority of dorks are simply obsessed about this.

Jessica W

Shutting up fanboys is not the only reason to use a WebKit browser.

WebKit is the fastest mobile browser out there. Google's using it. Safari and SkyFire are based on it. It is the gold standard for mobile browsers.

http://intensedebate.com/people/chinch chinch

Gold standard is a moving target and WebKit is not the end-all-be-all. If Apple released something new tomorrow WebKit zealots would suddenly hate it. Obviously a "site" optimized for webkit browsers will run fast on said browsers. Yawn. Gold Standard is a moving target.

GOLD STANDARD in mid-2011 will be HTML5 AND FLASH. Along with whitelisting/blacklisting sites to auto load plugins as well as "click to load content". There are no obstacles to having that in WP7 imho.

None of that is realistic today or in the upcoming months with today's phone hardware

Danny

I don't think ie9 = wp7. Would be great if that was the case but 9 is due in a few months and html5 wp7 seems like it is a lot longer off

GP007

Since html5 itself is still a moving target why is everyone in a rush to support something that's not even finished? I mean right now they're talking about dropping SVG Fonts and making them optional.

If MIE in WP7 gets a update mid-2011 (6 or so months after RTM) and adds/moves to the IE9 engine that'd be enough for me. Hell I use IE8 as my default browser on win7 and haven't missed all the great html5 stuff out there.

Gosh

Every day they give us a new reason to not use WP7… no wonder they've been so tight-lipped about it.
efjay

Here is an example of what you can do with an HTML 5 capable browser:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/04/playons-web-ap…

I dont expect it at launch but having no plans to include it is showing the same shortsightedness that led to WM's current abysmal state. Time to start thinking 3 steps ahead, MS rather than always looking back.
Jessica W

Microsoft is behaving like the Microsoft of old.

Rejecting, or giving half-hearted support to an international standard.

This is a perilous move. The entire mobile industry is moving to WebKit and HTML5. Microsoft is the only player to reject both of these. It leaves Microsoft in the cold.

It can't behave like the old monopolist when it is only a minor player in the mobile biz.
iWantMore

Microsoft are acting like any other company with self-interests. I think people forget that the priority is not so much about what we want or need (even though we are paying them), it's about the vision that company has for us and how they differentiate themselves in the market. This is the illusion of the free-market.
Jos Dewey

One of my favourite things while I'm stuck using a borrowed iPhone is the broswer and it's compatibility with websites.

There's a mobile version of YouTube for HTML5 and it works so beutiflly well, it's like a little YouTube application in of itself and when you open videos it just opens them up in the iPod player… the damn streaming player on Windows Mobile phones never played a damn thing.

Anyway, this is a big disappointment. Well, not to me since I knew better than to get my hopes up for WP7. Really, there is nothing at all to like about WP7 and I'm seriously sick of waiting. It's been 6 months already and the only thing they do is disappoint.

VIW

Or you could just stop waiting and get yourself an iPhone / Android phone. I stopped waiting (got a Milestone… and now Android on the HD2) and haven't looked back since.

Mika

I agree. If there are any reasons that one preferred other phones over WP7, just get that phone rather than waiting. Since WP7 will only be its version 1 upon released, I bet there are still lots of improvements coming on the queue.

As for HTML5, I doubt there are lots of websites supporting HTML 5 at of now. Perhaps 1-2 yrs down the road before the technology is matured? Therefore, I do not think this will be a big issue for me. However, I will still choose iPhone 4 over WP7. Because iOS4 is a much more matured OS as compared to WP7. At the very least, iOS4 has task switching and the all time favorite Copy & Paste.
Jos Dewey

I'm waiting because I broke my HD2 after owning it for 3 months and I can't afford something new yet.

I paid $850 for it last December so it'll be towards the end of the year before I can pick up a new phone.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1129472245 Max Magana

If I recall correctly, the guy who helped develop the HTML5 web standard has said that the first fully compatible software isn't expected until 2012, and he expects full adoption only by 2022.

It's not like they're behind the times.