WAP was designed and is maintained by the WAP Forum, which was created in 1998 through the joint efforts of Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia. Today, the WAP Forum includes more than 100 members ranging from handset manufacturers to consulting firms.
WAP consists primarily of two components. First is the all-important WAP browser, which is responsible for processing bytecode sent to it by the WAP gateway. The WAP gateway creates the interface between the Internet and the WAP browser. In a typical WAP transaction, the browser sends a request to the gateway, which then sends a request to the respective Web server on the Internet; the Web server responds to the gateway with the requested WML (Wireless Markup Language) file.
The gateway encodes the file into bytecode, which is then transmitted to the WAP browser. Next, the browser decodes the bytecode and displays the requested Web site. Because bandwidth on wireless networks is limited, bytecode is used to transmit the WML file instead of just transmitting the raw WML file.
WML works well for WAP devices because it is a fully compliant XML (Extensible Markup Language)-based language. It provides better efficiency than HTML because of its use of the deck concept. To understand this, think of a deck of cards. A single WML file contains a deck with multiple cards. Each card is a separately displayed screen, depending on the input from the user. Unlike with plain HTML -- where every link you click on downloads a new HTML file -- a single WML file contains many pages or cards. This reduces unnecessary downloading. (For more on WML, see "WML Takes XML on the Road.") For more on XML, see our special report.)
Approaching Ubiquity?
So why should an IT staff care about WAP-enabled device features? Because chances are you will stumble across WAP if you plan to stay in the IT field for the next few years. In fact, you may have stumbled upon it already.
Many companies are actively pursuing development initiatives to WAP-enable their corporate e-mail packages and applications. Employees won't need to sit at their desks to check their e-mail messages or perform simple queries on company databases; they'll have everything they need in their hands. With the right WAP-enabled device, just about anything is possible.
The key now is to avoid the problems you've had with other fledgling technologies. You should establish policies before your users purchase WAP-enabled devices on their own. Just as with any other electronic device connected to the corporate network, the maintenance of WAP devices will be the responsibility of your IT staff. As evidenced by our desktop Web browsers, every browser behaves differently, so limiting the number of different WAP browsers you'll test and making sure your WML code works with them will save you and your staff time and headaches down the road.
Picking and Choosing
When choosing a WAP-enabled device, consider the role the device will play. WAP-enabled devices come in many sizes and styles, ranging from PDAs (personal digital assistants) to pagers.
A WAP-enabled PDA is a powerful tool, but it has drawbacks. The PDA's biggest disadvantage is that a user can install software on it, which can lead to your worst nightmares: viruses and system crashes.
WAP-enabled pagers probably are ideal for any user who needs access only to a WAP browser. And though the features are limited on most pagers, they can access WAP-based e-mail clients.
Between the extremes comes the compromise: the WAP-enabled phone -- it holds the middle-ground between powerful PDAs and simple pagers. Some WAP-enabled phones include organizers and address books, but they restrict the installation of new software on them, which undoubtedly will spare you much agony.
When you're shopping for WAP-enabled devices, screen size is a major concern. Small devices that fit easily in your pocket might be nice, but your users will find themselves squinting an awful lot. The screen sizes on the products listed in our Interactive Buyer's Guide charts run the gamut.
Motorola's StarTac phone has a two-line display. PDAs, such as the Handspring Visor Platinum, have displays showing more than five lines. If the device's WAP capabilities won't be used often, sacrificing a few lines could be a wise choice. But if your IT staff is supporting the device chances are good that its WAP capabilities will be used quite a bit. Choosing a device with four or five lines of display is probably your best bet -- you'll get a decent amount of text on the screen, and that means less scrolling for your users.
You may want to consider devices that support graphics. They often keep users very happy, even though the graphics are nothing spectacular. WAP graphics look more like the icons found on a typical Microsoft Windows desktop. Since most devices do not support color and the resolution supported isn't great. As for color displays, they are out there, but color costs a pretty penny. Consider it a luxury not worth the cost in most cases.
What You Get
Bottom line: If the device is large and clunky, it will never be used as intended. Choosing a device that's neither too large nor too heavy will be in your users' best interests. But remember that you'll probably sacrifice display size with a device that's too small. If you want a device with a full keyboard, you'll likely need one of the larger devices. Think like Goldilocks here and go for the one that's just right.
Another major size factor is the battery. Most of the products listed in our Interactive Buyer's Guide charts use rechargeable batteries and can be purchased with a variety of battery styles. Your users might appreciate a battery with a longer run-time, but this will add to the device's weight and size -- and with all the junk people carry around, who needs that?
Finding a battery with enough run-time for a full day's worth of usage probably is your best move. If users need to recharge the devices more than once a day, the whole thing will just become a nuisance; dropping the devices into the chargers before going to bed at night should be more than tolerable.
When it comes to power consumption, WAP phones commonly experience consumption levels comparable with typical cellular phones.
Be careful, though. The Handspring Visor Platinum PDA with the phone attachment, for example, requires two sets of batteries: The phone module has a rechargeable lithium ion battery, while the actual Visor Platinum is powered by a set of AAA batteries.
The Microbrowser
The client software that enables WML content browsing is known as a microbrowser. A microbrowser is software manufactured on a chip and sold to a handset manufacturer, which then builds the WAP browsers into its products. Openwave Systems (formerly known as Phone.com) is the leading microbrowser manufacturer. Most WAP phones use Openwave's microbrowser, though some handset manufacturers, such as Nokia, make and ship their products with their own microbrowsers.
To qualify as a WAP-enabled device for inclusion in our Interactive Buyer's Guide charts, a product had to have a WAP-compliant microbrowser available. The most recent WAP browser version -- 1.2.1 -- was released in July. Version 1.2 has been around since March 2000, so most of the WAP browsers available are version 1.2-compliant. Some of the features expected in the next release of the WAP browser are end-to-end security and support for PKI (public key infrastructure).
WML microbrowsers are nowhere near as appealing to the eye as HTML browsers; in fact, WML microbrowsers look positively primitive. With very little support for graphics and limited text display, these microbrowsers may give you the feeling that you've time-warped back to the days of "dumb" terminals.
Functionality is also limited, and browsing is in no way as simple as sitting at a computer with a full keyboard and mouse. This is true regardless of which WAP-enabled device you own. Navigation is very different from what we're used to on our desktop computers; for example, the Nokia 7110 has the Naviroller, which lets you both scroll and select (this is similar to the Microsoft IntelliMouse with a scroll button). With the 7110, you input text by scrolling through a list until the correct character is highlighted, then you select the character by pushing the Naviroller.
Additional Features
Most of the products we surveyed have features other than their primary uses, which might be as a phone or a pager. Some of the additional features provided by these devices include calendars, two-way paging, hands-free operation and address books.
Service providers now have a large amount of control over the browser and the available features, so finding a device with all the features you want won't be your only decision. You'll still need to find a service provider that can support the device with the features you've selected. As frequently happens with cell phones and pagers these days, the device you purchase may have tons of nifty features, but your service provider supports only a few -- or worse, disables them all.
Shopping for WAP-enabled devices can be a challenge, so the best way to start is by finding a service provider. Once you make that decision, you can work within the line of devices it supports for its subscribers.
Mitch Hochhauser is a computer consultant based in Syracuse, NY. Send your comments on this article to him at hoc@nvbb.net.
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