GPRS (EDGE) vs WAP, or what to look for when making a mobile version of a site
- Cross-post from my blog
Recently, while sitting in a bar with my friend, I heard from him such a situation. Customers came to him who desperately need a mobile version of their site. But the fact is that people do not have an alley at all, they need WAP or GPRS (or as an evolution of the technology that works in Russia - EDGE). What does Moscow need now (let's talk about it, I can’t say anything about the regions), what is it convenient for her to use, what is cheaper? What is cheaper to develop and maintain? Below I will try to give some answers to these questions, they are deeply subjective - so do not judge strictly, it is better to argue with me;)
Let's start by quoting Wikipedia, this will give us an idea of what we're going to talk about.
WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is a means of gaining access to Internet resources using only a mobile phone, without resorting to a computer and / or modem. In fact, it is a technical standard that describes the way in which information from the Internet is transmitted to the display of a mobile phone.
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service - General Packet Radio Communication) is an add-on to GSM mobile communication technology that performs packet data transmission. GPRS allows the user of a mobile phone to exchange data with other devices on the GSM network and with external networks, including the Internet. GPRS involves charging according to the amount of information transmitted / received, and not the time spent online.
As you can see, both technologies are still different from each other in their essence. If WAP (which was developed, by the way, already in 1995, and more or less widely implemented in 1998) is an independent protocol, and GPRS is an add-on on GSM mobile communication technology.
Now let's go through the points.
Billing Let's take my favorite operator as an example - this is Vimpelcom (Beeline), it is worth considering that prices are approximately the same throughout the mobile market, with slight fluctuations.
As you can see, WAP is hellishly expensive compared to GPRS. This is due to the cost of supporting the technology, and the fact that even if both technologies give access to the Internet, they give it differently and to different phone models. By the way, probably someone remembers some couple of years ago WAP was charged not for the transmitted information, but for the session :)
Technical characteristics for the developer.
WML (Wireless Markup Language) is a document markup language for use in cell phones and other mobile devices according to the WAP standard.
Example:
However, today support for this language is dying away, towards the XHTML Mobile Profile. This is a crucial step, because either WAP will die, or it will become a real alternative to GPRS. However, I am sure that the development of WAP will stall and be forgotten. Why? Yes, there is no point in it, dear, slow, additional expenses are needed for the creation and maintenance of the site, but still in demand. But it is a matter of time.
And sites designed for viewing using GPRS can be made up of ordinary xHTML + CSS - just observing some nuancesthat lie on the surface and are visible to any developer who has common sense. Moreover, it may well turn out that the developer only needs to write styles for mobile devices - but this does not matter, it all depends on the parent site, its structure and so on and so forth.
Work with voluminous files.Modern business pace requires responsiveness. That is why people climbed into the Network from mobile phones. For example, this morning, when I was driving to work in the subway, I downloaded a .doc form from the bank’s website, opened it and partially filled it out. If the trip lasted longer, I would finish filling out and email this same Word file. On wap, I would be able to do this too, though it would be worth several times more expensive, it would be several times slower and not the fact that I could upload a file at a turtle speed in the metro, cliffs and dead zones even in the center of the Moscow metro . Another adequate plus towards GPRS.
In fact, you can argue for a long time, I did not set myself the task of convincing you of something, for me at least charging and working with voluminous files already solve. You can summarize something like this:
Recently, while sitting in a bar with my friend, I heard from him such a situation. Customers came to him who desperately need a mobile version of their site. But the fact is that people do not have an alley at all, they need WAP or GPRS (or as an evolution of the technology that works in Russia - EDGE). What does Moscow need now (let's talk about it, I can’t say anything about the regions), what is it convenient for her to use, what is cheaper? What is cheaper to develop and maintain? Below I will try to give some answers to these questions, they are deeply subjective - so do not judge strictly, it is better to argue with me;)
Let's start by quoting Wikipedia, this will give us an idea of what we're going to talk about.
WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is a means of gaining access to Internet resources using only a mobile phone, without resorting to a computer and / or modem. In fact, it is a technical standard that describes the way in which information from the Internet is transmitted to the display of a mobile phone.
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service - General Packet Radio Communication) is an add-on to GSM mobile communication technology that performs packet data transmission. GPRS allows the user of a mobile phone to exchange data with other devices on the GSM network and with external networks, including the Internet. GPRS involves charging according to the amount of information transmitted / received, and not the time spent online.
As you can see, both technologies are still different from each other in their essence. If WAP (which was developed, by the way, already in 1995, and more or less widely implemented in 1998) is an independent protocol, and GPRS is an add-on on GSM mobile communication technology.
Now let's go through the points.
Billing Let's take my favorite operator as an example - this is Vimpelcom (Beeline), it is worth considering that prices are approximately the same throughout the mobile market, with slight fluctuations.
- WAP - an average of 2 rubles per 10KB of received or transmitted information.
- GPRS - an average of 6 rubles per 1MB of received or transmitted information.
As you can see, WAP is hellishly expensive compared to GPRS. This is due to the cost of supporting the technology, and the fact that even if both technologies give access to the Internet, they give it differently and to different phone models. By the way, probably someone remembers some couple of years ago WAP was charged not for the transmitted information, but for the session :)
Technical characteristics for the developer.
WML (Wireless Markup Language) is a document markup language for use in cell phones and other mobile devices according to the WAP standard.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC "-//WAPFORUM//DTD WML 1.3//EN" "http://www.wapforum.org DTD/wml13.dtd">
Это страничка для скачивания первой мелодии<br/>
Это ссылка для перехода ко второй карте!
Это страничка для скачивания второй мелодии
However, today support for this language is dying away, towards the XHTML Mobile Profile. This is a crucial step, because either WAP will die, or it will become a real alternative to GPRS. However, I am sure that the development of WAP will stall and be forgotten. Why? Yes, there is no point in it, dear, slow, additional expenses are needed for the creation and maintenance of the site, but still in demand. But it is a matter of time.
And sites designed for viewing using GPRS can be made up of ordinary xHTML + CSS - just observing some nuancesthat lie on the surface and are visible to any developer who has common sense. Moreover, it may well turn out that the developer only needs to write styles for mobile devices - but this does not matter, it all depends on the parent site, its structure and so on and so forth.
Work with voluminous files.Modern business pace requires responsiveness. That is why people climbed into the Network from mobile phones. For example, this morning, when I was driving to work in the subway, I downloaded a .doc form from the bank’s website, opened it and partially filled it out. If the trip lasted longer, I would finish filling out and email this same Word file. On wap, I would be able to do this too, though it would be worth several times more expensive, it would be several times slower and not the fact that I could upload a file at a turtle speed in the metro, cliffs and dead zones even in the center of the Moscow metro . Another adequate plus towards GPRS.
In fact, you can argue for a long time, I did not set myself the task of convincing you of something, for me at least charging and working with voluminous files already solve. You can summarize something like this:
- GPRS is cheaper than WAP;
- GPRS is faster than WAP;
- GPRS provides more development opportunities than WAP;
- Support and development of the WAP version of the site is more expensive, it seems to me;