None of the browsers will handle Java applets, WMLScript, or plug-ins. However, both PocketLink and Xiino can download and install .PRC and .PDB files directly from the Internet.

The other major feature that the browsers differ in is the handling of tables. All of them handle tables to some extent, but not necessarily in ways that you would find useful. EudoraWeb only displays the leftmost portion of the table that fits on the display, omitting any form of horizontal scroll bar. This is particularly limiting at many news sites. PocketLink has limited table support, wrapping the table if there are more than four columns and treating embedded tables as part of the parent table. Xiino has a scaling algorithm for tables that sometimes works well and other times results in illegible formatting. Blazer has a different approach to reformatting tables for the display.

The complete details of the browsers' HTML support can be found in their respective technical documentation. An interesting contrast is that EudoraWeb support font colors while Blazer does not support font size or color. As might be expected, none of the browsers supports style sheets.

Other applications and protocols
Another significant feature is support for other applications. For example, one of the strengths of EudoraWeb is its tight integration with the Eudora mail reader. This allows HTML links in mail to be followed in the browser and links in HTML to bring up the mail reader. PocketLink has no provisions for this type of link.

Blazer takes and entirely different approach. Using the fact of their proxy server, mailto links bring up a Web form for sending mail. Although it's not integrated with any Palm OS mail applications, I feel this is a clever solution to the problem.

However, Xiino has the best solution in concept with a generic handler capability in which you can specify the application to invoke based on the URL type. By default, Xiino handles http, https, ftp, and res links, but you can easily set up a handler for mailto links to your favorite mail application. Unfortunately, in the 1.0E version I evaluated, the user interface has a bug that prevents adding new URL types.

Looking ahead
The ultimate proof of an application's utility is how well it works in real life. To that end, I chose four of my favorite Web sites with different stressing characteristics to sample the browsers' capabilities. In part two of this browser survey, you'll see the results of this test. Stay tuned!