MultiIE 3.0 Review by Benjamin Ries

I must begin by confessing that I have what can only be described as a love-hate relationship with software plugins. Of course I am eager to see standard apps extended and modified to my personal tastes – but I’ve seen far to many amateur projects turn into malignant little beasts. On the PC, this seems especially true of Internet Explorer “addons”: too many of them promise the world, but mostly end up getting in the way, fighting with each other, and refusing to die once you decide to uninstall.

Needless to say, I was skeptical when I first encountered MultiIE 3.0 (http://www.southwaycorp.net/). Retailing for $14.95 (US) as well as offering a 14-day trial version, this program met and exceeded my expectations. Not only does the app deliver what it promises, but it fits Pocket IE like a glove in doing so.

Feature-Packed

Aside from being the first Pocket PC to offer tabbed-browsing in the default browser, this Pocket IE companion boasts some pretty great features on the developer’s website, including:

• Enhanced GO button menu (use address text for web searches, etc)
• Quick URL builder menu (never type http://www.com again)
• Save images
• Scroll screen line by line
• Common IE related registry tweaks

…and much more. Most of these features are enabled through a special menu button shown below:

The "MultiIE Options..." item reveals a configuration dialog for most of the other features.

MultiIE provides a thoughtful helping of its own added features to the browser (such as customized hardware buttons shown above), along with easy access to most of the typical IE "tweaks". Again, I was astonished by the degree of care with which this app treated my existing setup - you'll notice above that it was able to recognize registry changes made by another tweaking program, allowing me the option of keeping my current configuration. This is an attitude of integration rarely found among most software - too often, programs pretend that they are the be-all and the end-all (witness the amusing war of the mediaplayers for your file associations in Windows: "excuse me sir, but I believe that I would be best for openning mp3's-", "sir, some other program has stolen an association from me! let me take it back!" etc.) It was refreshing to find this robust program to be so well-behaved.

Mind Your Tabs

Of course, the title-bearing centerpiece of all this functionality is tabbed browsing. Now before you get too excited, I must report that MultiIE does not seem to understand pop-up windows any more than the original Pocket IE (although these days, that helps as much as hinders). New browsing "windows" or "tabs" are meant to be openned by the user, either through the context menu of a link, or through the main MultiIE menu. The developer enthusiastically says that "MultiIE was the first application to provide multiple windows in Pocket PC (originally called TapRight) back in 2000. Since then, even though many have copied MultiIE features, I've tried to add in the features that make MultiIE the best web browsing experience."

"Tried..." and succeeded, for the most part. For people like me, who typically keep three or four browser windows open on their desktop PCs, the tabbed browser is an ideal multitasking approach to handheld web surfing. However, making this little novelty work with your existing Pocket IE still presents an unfortunate limitation: program memory.

While browsing with several tabs, I couldn't help but notice what was going on with my favourite task manager (MagicButton, for those who are curious - great freeware for the minimalist). It appears that to the OS, a completely new instance of Pocket IE is created by MultiIE for each new "tab". Curious, I did the following impromptu memory test (as pictured above):

• One browser took up 0.6 MB
• Two more tabs took up an average of 0.69 MB per tab/browser

Good Looks, However Mysterious...

One of the things that struck me about the program was its visually-attractive additions to the existing browser layout. The icons, menus, and overall placement are tastefully done - something that borderline obsessive-compulsive users like myself will be sure to enjoy.

Unfortunately no help file or tutorial is provided to point new users towards the program's features. Although the developer's website offers a few helpful screenshots, users are largely expected to teach themselves the interface. Admittedly, this is almost perfect for end-users like me who like to poke around without consulting documentation; nevertheless, I'm sure some of the more dependent people out there would be greateful for basic information (for instance, a program FAQ section on the website). After entering full-screen mode, I finally began to panic...

...and not because of the reported cell phone spam on c|net! Actually I was browsing a differnet page when I first attempted full-screen mode, and it turns out that by default, you can only leave full-screen mode by hitting a tiny white triangle on the bottom-right corner of the page (I later found this with a closer look at the configuration dialog). This wasn't obvious from the start, and I've since configured one of the hardware buttons to toggle fullscreen mode. It should also be noted that trying to full-screen browse a page that contains textbox controls can be quite annoying, as the Input bar will pop up any time a textbox gets the focus, and that automatically ends full-screen mode. It would be nice really nice if MultiIE could supress this event somehow.

Conclusion

My inner addon skeptic was still not satisfied, however, until I uninstalled the application and ran Pocket Internet Explorer. Behold, everything was as it had been in the beginning! I could not detect any trace of MultiIE (let alone any broken functionality) in the browser. I find it particularily endearing that an application that does so much to fiddle with IE could offer such a graceful and clean exit. Happily, I reinstalled MultiIE and continue to enjoy its features.

Its worth mentioning that this app has special built-in compatibility with NYDITOT Virtual Display (for horizontal browsing without any reset) and Skweezer (a subscription proxy service that makes standard websites more suitable for viewing on handhelds). I have yet to try out either one of these features.

For a program that does so much to enhance the standard Pocket PC web browser, MultiIE is very stable and nothing short of impressive. It has certainly been a while since I was left with that feeling of "wow, they've thought of nearly everything" when using software, but this app offers precisely that level of sophistication. Most of the missing functionality seems to be a necessary tradeoff for using Microsoft's provided browser (and thus maximizing compatibility with other 3rd-party programs). All in all, this app puts other Pocket IE tweaks and browsing alternatives to shame.