Microsoft Corp. has unveiled an early version of a new Web browser for mobile devices that it said will make browsing full-sized Web pages faster and easier on small smart-phone screens.
Deepfish, as the software from Microsoft's Live Labs group is called, takes a Web page intended for a desktop Web browser and turns it into a small image that fits on a mobile phone's screen. Users can zoom in on the part of the page they want to read or click on.
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To date, most Web browsers for mobile phones work best with pared-down versions of existing sites, limiting mobile users' access to the Internet to a sliver of what's available to desktop Web surfers.
Microsoft said on the Live Labs Web site that the Deepfish technology is in very early stages, and "still a few releases from beta quality."
Deepfish's unveiling Wednesday followed another mobile Web browser development from Microsoft. ZenZui, a startup that used technology developed at Microsoft's research lab, on Monday showed off a visual way to store and navigate bookmarked Web pages on a mobile phone.
For now, a limited number of users with smart phones or Pocket PCs running Windows Mobile 5.0 or later can download Deepfish from the Live Labs Web site.
