Bedrock Browser Release Notes

- -

- Release Notes for
- Bedrock Browser Alpha III -

- Updated: 9-Apr-2010
- -
NOTE: These release notes were current as of the time the software was packaged for release. For up-to-date release notes, visit the Browser Team's Wiki pages. -
-

Overview of the Release:

The Bedrock Browser is Nokia's latest web browser based on the latest open-source WebKit - engine and built using the Qt application framework.

The Bedrock project's mission is to provide a fast, easy to use, web-standards based browser - that can compete alongside the best of the mobile browsers.

This release of Bedrock is the Alpha 3 release. While the functionality has certainly has been enhanced - since the Alpha 1 and 2 releases (which were released to a very limited audience) and the performance has also been improved over previous releases, - the performance is still behind where we want and need it to be.

Please review the rest of the Release Notes and provide feedback on this release via the feedback mechanisms available from the Welcome page (press Back) - or on the Backstage site.

Target Platforms/Devices:

The Bedrock Browser is released as a signed SIS package that can be installed on N97 devices. We recommend using a CE device with the latest - firmware patches as opposed to an R&D / prototype devices.

Prerequisites:

Nokia N97 device, consumer version (CE) recommended. Use this release on an R&D / prototype device at your own risk.
Latest platform software loaded/updated onto the device. This release has been tested with: N97 Software Version 12.0.024 dated 04/08/09
Sufficient free space (12-15 MB minimum) on C: drive. HINT: Open the platform browser and clear your browser cache - you'll free up a few MB that way.
NOTE: It is required for this release that you install ALL of the provided software packages on the C: drive.
NOTE: If you had previously installed the Alpha 1 or 2 release OR any version of the Qt framework, please review the installation notes carefully and remove older components from your device as directed.
Default network setup on the device. The N97 connection settings must contain a default Destination Network of "Internet" that contains the proper access points (APs). The browser will connect to the network via this "Internet" Destination Network.
IMPORTANT: Ensure that the default access point (as defined in the connection settings for the Destination Network) is available when running the Bedrock browser. There have been cases where an unavailable WLAN AP prevented loading of pages.

Functionality to Evaluate:

- The following features are a few we encourage you to try out! -

Bookmarking: Add a bookmark by visiting the Bookmarks view and pressing the + button. This will add the current page to your bookmark list.
Most Visited: Press the "Stars" button in the lower right of the main content view to show thumbnails of your most visited pages. After browsing the same pages multiple times, confirm that the Most Visited thumbnails represent your most visited pages!
History: The browser captures page view history in chronilogical groupings. Press the Menu button and choose the History view. Expand and collapse the date groupings. Try clearing all your history using the button in the lower-right of that view.
Searching from URL Entry bar: The URL Entry text field isn't just for entering web page addresses! Try entering a search term like "ski the alps" and the browser will provide search results!
Zooming: Basic incremental zoom-in/zoom-out is available by pressing the zoom button on the main toolbar. Two zoom buttons will then be displayed for zooming in and out.
Zooming: Double-tap "fit-to-block" zooming will zoom/focus in on a block of text or an image. Please also try and give us feedback on Zooming back out using a double-tap gesture.
Viewport scaling: The browser now supports the meta tag options for setting the viewport (display area) for the web page. See below for limitations/impacts. Google "meta viewport" for details on this feature. If you know of sites that use this feature, please try them with the browser.
Windows View: Tap the "Windows" button on the toolbar to open the windows manager and add a new window. Then return to switch between windows.
Session Restore: The browser will restore the previous session including session history in each of any open windows. Try opening multiple windows and browse multiple pages in each. Then exit the browser (red "end" key) and then launch the browser again. All your windows and history should be restored!
Standards Tests: The WebKit engine in this release has been updated and is now doing a much better job on standards tests (like ACID3).
Virtual Keyboard: The Virtual Keyboard should now work OK in portrait (tall) mode of the browser. There still may be some usablity issues, however, when using the VKB to enter text.

Known Limitations:

WebKit Performance: Although improved, there are a number of known issues with the Qt WebKit used in the release of Bedrock.
Out of Memory Handling: Handling of low memory conditions is not yet optimized for browsing large web pages. In some case, loading large or image-intensive pages can cause the browser to lock-up or crash. Please report the sites/pages to us if you experience this.
UI Performance: We are still evaluating and responding to performance issues. When using this Alpha release, please be patient when performing actions. Avoid repeating the same actions quickly in response to a lack of response. Once a button or link is pressed or a touch gesture is applied, it may take some time for the resulting action to be reflected in the UI. Also, sometimes touch gestures are "lost" and you may need to repeat them to activate the control.
Radio Buttons on web pages may not appear: There is a known issue with radio buttons: depending on the UI "theme" used on the device in combination with the zoom factor of the browser and/or page, radio buttons may not be rendered. If you notice this problem, try setting your General Theme to "Nseries 3"
Cursor disappears from URL Entry bar (and other text fields) when editing: This is a known bug that can definitely make it challenging to enter text. Use the hardware keyboard navi-key to scroll inside a text area.
Battery and Signal Strength indicators on the status bar (top) are not "live" and will not update: Don't trust them. Or, consider it a new feature - infinite battery life!
Text Prediction / T9 Issues: Please be sure that when entering any text into any edit field (especially the URL entry box!) that text prediction is turned OFF.

+ Release Notes for
+ Bedrock Browser TRUNK VERSION +

+ Updated: 25-May-2010
+

Overview of the Release:

The Bedrock Browser is Nokia's latest web browser based on the latest open-source WebKit + engine and built using the Qt application framework.

The Bedrock project's mission is to provide a fast, easy to use, web-standards based browser + that can compete alongside the best of the mobile browsers.

This release of Bedrock is the Alpha 3 release. While the functionality has certainly has been enhanced + since the Alpha 1 and 2 releases (which were released to a very limited audience) and the performance has also been improved significantly, + the performance is still behind where we want and need it to be.

Please review the rest of the Release Notes and provide feedback on this release via the feedback mechanisms on the Backstage site.

Target Platforms/Devices:

The Bedrock Browser is released as a signed SIS package that can be installed on N97 devices. We recommend using a CE device with the latest + firmware patches as opposed to an R&D / prototype devices.

Prerequisites:

Nokia N97 device, consumer version (CE) recommended. Use this release on an R&D / prototype device at your own risk.
Latest platform software loaded/updated onto the device. This release has been tested with: N97 Software Version 12.0.024 dated 04/08/09
Sufficient free space (11-12 MB minimum) on C: drive. HINT: Open the platform browser and clear your browser cache - you'll free up a few MB that way.
NOTE: It is required for this release that you install ALL of the provided software packages on the C: drive.
NOTE: If you had previously installed the Alpha 1 release OR any version of the Qt framework, please review the installation notes carefully and remove older components from your device as directed..
Default network setup on the device. The N97 connection settings must contain a default Destination Network of "Internet" that contains the proper access points (APs). The browser will connect to the network via this "Internet" Destination Network.
IMPORTANT: Ensure that the default access point (as defined in the connection settings for the Destination Network) is available when running the Bedrock browser. There have been cases where an unavailable WLAN AP prevented loading of pages.

END OF RELEASE NOTES

Functionality to Evaluate:

Bookmarking - add a bookmark by visiting the Bookmarks view and pressing the + button. This will add the current page to your bookmark list.
Most Visited
History
Searching from URL / Entry bar - no scheme
Zooming: Basic incremental zoom-in/zoom-out is available via the two zoom buttons on the lower toolbar.
Zooming: Double-tap "fit-to-block" zooming will zoom/focus in on a block of text or an image. Please also try and give us feedback on Zooming back out using a double-tap gesture.
Viewport scaling: The browser now supports the meta tag options for setting the viewport (display area) for the web page. See below for limitations/impacts. Google "meta viewport" for details on this feature. If you know of sites that use this feature, please try them with the browser.
Windows View: Tap the "Windows" button on the toolbar to open the windows manager and add a new window. Then return to switch between windows.
GoToAnywhere View: Now includes Bookmarks, History, and Visual History. Try adding a bookmark (it will add a bookmark to the current page in the content view).
Session Restore: The browser will restore the previous session including session history in each of any open windows. Try opening multiple windows and browse multiple pages in each. Then exit the browser (red "end" key) and then launch the browser again. All your windows and history should be restored!
Standards Tests: The WebKit engine in this release has been updated and is now doing a much better job on standards tests (like ACID3).
Navi-key scrolling: The 4-way navi-key and middle "Select" key can now be used to scroll the page and select items.

Known Limitations:

WebKit Performance: Although improved, there are a number of known issues with the Qt WebKit used in the release of Bedrock. Some have a major impact on performance of the engine. For example, rendering after a zoom-level change is known to be slow. See our wiki page for more details.
Out of Memory Handling: Handling of low memory conditions is not yet optimized for browsing large web pages. In some case, loading large or image-intensive pages can cause the browser to lock-up or crash. Please report the sites/pages to us if you experience this.
UI Performance: We are still evaluating and responding to performance issues. When using this Alpha release, please be patient when performing actions. Avoid repeating the same actions quickly in response to a lack of response. Once a button or link is pressed or a touch gesture is applied, it may take some time for the resulting action to be reflected in the UI. Also, sometimes touch gestures are "lost" and you may need to repeat them to activate the control.
New for Alpha 3
cursor disappears from URL / Entry bar when editing
Battery, Signal strength are not "live"

OLDER ISSUES - RETEST
Adding a new window: When adding a new "blank" window from the Windows View, the browser may (incorrectly) restore a previously open window instead of creating a new, blank window.
Restoring Session: When launching the browser the previously open windows and pages will be restored. If the pages that were previously open were large or somehow otherwise problematic for the browser, restoring the session might restore those problems as well. If any strange behavior is seen when restoring the last session, try closing as many windows as possible and ensure that each window contains a "simple" page (like Google's search page).
Changing the browser orientation from landscape to portrait and vice-versa is better supported now, but there are some known issues. For example, in any view that shows a page thumbnail, that thumbnail is not updated to reflect the orientation change. Also, entering text in portrait mode is "undefined" at this time - any virtual keyboard that might come up has not been fully tested in that mode. We recommend using the hardware keyboard for text entry.
Form input password fields: Character hiding IS supported when entering a password into a form field, but this is actually problematic. Because no "preview" of the typed character is provided, it is not possible to verify the character typed. Be sure you have the proper text entry mode (lower case, all caps, mixed) set before entering a password.
Secure page indication is now supported, but the indicator may not refresh properly when switching between windows or moving back through history.
HTTP authentication is supported but the masking of the characters as the password is entered is not yet enabled. Also, the HTTP authentication dialog has no "OK" button. Press the hardware Enter key to submit the authentication.
Form field input masking is not yet supported. This can cause some form entry use cases to fail if the data entered is not formatted correctly.
Text Prediction / T9 Issues: Please be sure that when entering any text into any edit field (especially the URL entry box!) that text prediction is turned OFF.
Viewport scaling is supported but in some cases will result in pages that are "clipped" vertically on the page. If pages are not rendered properly (you can sometimes "see" the previous page "under" the offending page) try changing the zoom level.
File downloading is NOT yet supported. If you attempt to load content that isn't rendered in the browser itself, it will NOT be downloaded. So, for example, clicking a link to another HTML page will load/render that page. Clicking a link to a JPG image will load that image into a page in the browser. But clicking a link to a PDF, MP3, ZIP or other type of content file will not result in a download. Nothing will happen.
File uploading via the HTML form <input type="file"... mechanism is NOT supported.
The URL entry bar is now designed to "scroll off" the top of the view when the page is scrolled up. It has been noticed that sometimes the bar will not re-display after scrolling back up.