Windows Phone Thoughts: Web Browsing Made Easy (Or At Least Easier): MultiIE v3.0 Reviewed

Enhanced Go Button
On the right side of the address bar, next to the go icon, is an arrow for a drop-down menu. These choices allow you to use the address bar text as the source text for Web searches, etc.


Figure 5: Enhanced Go Button menu.

For example, if I type Pocket PC in the address bar, and select Search Web – Google, on the drop down, I will execute a search on Google for Pocket PC.


Figure 6: Search Google for Pocket PC.


Figure 7: Google results.

I have to admit, I love this feature, and it’s a real time saver. Gee, Pocket PC Thoughts is only ranked behind Pocket PC magazine and Microsoft…have to see what we can do about that :D .

In addition to several types of searches, if you have a Skweezer account you can use this feature to quickly view Web sites through that service – in effect giving MultiIE a built-in screen reformatting capability. Keep in mind that you are still using the Skweezer service but MultiIE sure makes it one heck of a lot easier to get there.

But How Does it Look on its Side?
Another area where MultiIE does a great job of integrating other applications is in screen rotation. To take advantage of this feature you must have the Nyditot Virtual Display application installed. MultiIE recommends using the Resize Desktop profile (320x320 res, zoom set to default) to rotate without reboots.


Figure 8: Using Rotate feature, portrait view.

For this capture I’ve set up Nyditot as recommended for MultiIE, everything looks good except you’ll notice I’ve lost my sound control, and more importantly my close button.


Figure 9: Using Rotate feature, landscape view.

To get this landscape view all I had to do was tap Rotate Screen in the MultiIE menu and immediately I have a rotated screen – with no reboot! Loosing the close button is a problem, but you can quickly change your zoom in Nyditot to get it back temporarily. Again, a nice job integrating other applications into MultiIE.

Still Need More Space, Try Full Screen
MultiIE also provides the ability to hide all the address bars, window tabs, scroll bars, etc. so that you can use your full screen for viewing a Web page. If you look at the extreme bottom right corner of PIE when using MultiIE you will see a tiny triangle drawn across the corner of the screen. Tap that and everything other than the Web site goes away.


Figure 10: Full Screen view.

Nicely implemented and if you need to scroll the screen just use another of MultiIE’s features – tap and drag on the screen, the page you are viewing will scroll with your drag. Another option is to use one of the many tap and hold context menus that MultiIE provides.