One of the areas that has always been lacking in the Microsoft Pocket PC world has been the lousy browsers. The lack of basic browser support has enabled companies like NetFront and BitStream (with their Thunderhawk product) to create a mini-industry of replacement browsers. In the case of Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC, the stock Internet Explorer version included is more than adequate for most browsing tasks.

The Internet Explorer version shown above seems quite similar to the disappointing versions of Pocket PCs past. The format looks the same, it has similar buttons, and includes the same lackluster start page. Underneath, however, is a drastically improved Internet Explorer that can do nearly everything IE 5.5 and 6.0 can do.

One of the biggest gripes from the corporate sector has been the total lack of support by Pocket Internet Explorer in handling Outlook Web Access (OWA). In most corporations users feel that email is a critical application that needs to be accessed no matter where one happens to be. In the case of the Pocket PC, OWA proved to be one of the biggest rocks that Microsoft stumbled over. Thankfully, OWA works quite well in the Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC world.

Shown in the screenshot above, Internet Explorer is able to access Outlook Web Access without a problem. Not only is it able to display the proper views...

..it's able to open messages within a specific windowed pane.

In addition, popular sites like CNN are able to be viewed in the slightly restrictive 320x240 screen

And, in a side by side comparison of the same website, Pocket IE 2003 compares rather favorably against IE 6.0 on Windows 2000. There are some minor issues with the style sheet interpretation, but overall, Pocket IE 2003 works rather well.

One of the other complaints with prior versions of Pocket IE was its network and rendering speed. I can definitely say that Pocket IE 2003 is somewhat faster than it's predecessors.

Again, using a controlled environment, we set up Windows 2000 Advanced Server with Internet Information Services (IIS) and performed a generic speed test that contained 1MB of uncompressible data. Using a Toshiba e740 running Pocket PC 2002, and the newly released e755 running Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC, a head to head comparison was done using a private, standalone Wireless network.

We ran ten tests on each unit, with the cache cleared between each test. Each unit was hard reset to ensure a clean operating environment. The IIS Server used was an AMD Athlon 1.8Ghz with 1GB of RAM on a Cisco 3500 series 24 port 10/100 switch with the network port set to 100/Full Duplex. The access point used was the ubiquitous Linksys WAP11 802.11b Access Point. The averaged results are as follows:

Average download time - 11.2 seconds

Average Estimated Line Speed - 741.8 kilobits/sec, 90.9 kilobytes/second

Average Download time - 10.1 seconds

Average Estimated Line Speed - 816.1 kilobits/sec, 100.4 kilobytes/sec

As you can see, Pocket IE 2003 is slightly speedier than Pocket IE 2002. Your mileage may vary, since the tests performed were in a controlled networking environment, and the real Internet as we know it has lags here and there.

One of the other major complaints about Pocket IE of revisions past is the fact that the browser could not handle SSL sites with certificates properly. If you encounter a website that uses SSL with certificates, you'll get a page similar to the one shown above that asks you if you want to continue, a-la IE 6.0.

You'll also get warning when you leave SSL encrypted sites. One of the nice things is that you can shut the warning off if you want to.

One of the bad things about Pocket IE 2003 is that it tempts you, pleases you (in most areas), and then truly disappoints you in other areas. Strong security websites like Banks and Stockbrokers will bomb out as shown in the example above. I couldn't even get into the main Bank of America web page at all.