Blackberry BROWSER VERSION 4.7.0 - FUNDAMENTALS GUIDE Fundamentals - Page 5

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Fundamentals Guide
Understanding the BlackBerry device browsing
environment
When you develop web content for the BlackBerry® Browser, you must be aware of the web standards that the BlackBerry Browser
supports and determine how to develop web content that functions within those supported standards. However, to create an
effective browsing experience on the BlackBerry Browser, you must understand more than just what the BlackBerry Browser
supports. You must also be aware of the physical components of the wireless browsing environment in which the BlackBerry
Browser exists, and how they contribute, positively and negatively, to the user's wireless browsing experience. These physical
components include the following:
•
The BlackBerry devices: BlackBerry device models have different versions of the BlackBerry Device Software, different screen
sizes, and different input methods.
•
The wireless network: Wireless networks possess less bandwidth than wired networks or Wi-Fi® networks. Wireless networks
provide reduced data transfer rates, which results in increased network latency.
•
The network gateway: Network gateways connect the wireless network, over which the BlackBerry devices communicate,
to the wired network, on which web servers and data systems exist. Different network gateways offer different support for
content optimization and content delivery strategies. The BlackBerry Browser is designed to communicate through several
network gateways.
Developing content with the wireless environment in mind can help you to work around some of the limitations inherent in
wireless browsing. With a greater understanding of theBlackBerry Browser, you can make the content development decisions
necessary to provide the functionality that users require, while also providing a positive wireless browsing experience.

Characteristics of BlackBerry devices

BlackBerry® devices come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and capabilities. Among the currently available BlackBerry devices that
might request your content, there is a range of software and hardware. The different hardware and software characteristics of
BlackBerry devices have an impact on the user's browsing experience, and might influence the decisions you make as you create
content for the BlackBerry® Browser.
BlackBerry devices can differ in the following ways:
•
BlackBerry® Device Software version
•
screen size
•
input methods, including the navigation method (trackwheel or trackball) and the keypad (QWERTY or SureType® keypad)
The User-Agent header that accompanies every request from the BlackBerry Browser provides the BlackBerry device model
number, from which you can determine the physical characteristics of the BlackBerry device, and the version of the BlackBerry
Device Software that the requesting BlackBerry device is running.

Understanding the BlackBerry device browsing environment

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