Erica Sadun has an interesting piece over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog which laments the uber-slow Edge data speed connection.
It is a good read- especially if you have found yourself humming the Carly Simon song more than once while waiting for a web page to load.
Just a few days ago my response would have been,
"Yeah, Edge stinks but who cares– June 9th is almost here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
That was before last week’s rumors that the 3G iPhone might see a bit of a delay.
I am going to continue under the assumption that my credit card will be taking a hit on or close to June 9. In the event that I end up keeping my first generation iPhone a bit longer, though, a tip for speeding up webpages over Edge just might come in handy.
According to Tuaw reader ishcabittle if you proceed a news/text-based site’s web address with…
http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2F
the site’s data will be funneled through Google and stripped of its data-sucking graphics. On a graphics rich page that can make one heck of a big difference.
I tried it using the New York Times’ standard page.
In a spot with limited Edge connectivity loading the page was down right DEADLY.
Loading the same page after first pushing it through the Google URL, while not great, was certainly better.
Of course the best option is to use RSS feeds, iPhone-optimized sites (there are one or two out there now!) or to save your serious browsing for those times when you have access to WiFi but, hey, its nice to have this option in your back pocket too.
Thanks to ishcabittle for the tip.
Tags: iPhone, tips and tricks, Edge, New York Times
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been using iphoneiquity to get past the slow Edge speed when browsing on Edge (www.thesmespace.com/smeutils/iphoneiquity). It allows me to strip out images if I want and also compresses the page and formats it Gor the Iphone. I also get a unique URL for the page itself which I keep in a folder called Edge. A tip is to not include the menu bar. Very handy when on Edge.
OMG I’M A INTERNET CELEBRITY
Hey- ya gives credit where credit’s due!
just now noticing, but the “Mobilize” bookmarklet (raw code: javascript:document.location=’http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=’+document.location) effectively does the same as my little URL trick… whatever page you’re currently on will be rung through the google mobilizer.
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