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Newest Wap Interface


Jeremy

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I tested this on my own cell phone and was able to enter a log. check it out at

 

http://wap.geocaching.com

 

This will be the permanent location for the WAP interface. You can also log caches with a web browser if you want to bypass all the web pages on geocaching.com

 

Let me know if your phone doesn't work with it. We tried it with a multitude of mobile phone simulators, but I'm sure we missed a couple.

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so this would be a good thing to use to log caches when the site is sucking on mondays?!? right?!?

The wap interface uses all the same servers, so using it instead probably won't help much.

 

;) Elias

I would think in terms of bandwidth there would be a savings, since the gc.com pages are about 25-50x larger then the wap pages, and there are less page loads involved. I guess if most of the bottleneck is with the database though, there might not be much savings.

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Bandwidth isn't really an issue in terms of how busy the servers are. Its the number of simultaneous connections that bog them down. We have enough bandwidth with Internap such that returning 100 bytes vs. 100k really doesn't make much difference. But a database hit from the WAP site is equally as expensive as a similar hit from the main site.

 

;) Elias

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Works great on my Motorola T730. :rolleyes:

 

As far as bookmarking - the Motorola is a slow process. :blink: I have to find the menu item that says my bookmarks, then start. It gives me an "add bookmark" as one option, then i have to type in the name. Then it asks me to enter the URL, then it asks me if I want to move it to "my bookmarks" Everythings is "yes' and I'm ready to go. ;)

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Cool. But it would be great if the option buttons and entry fields were always at the top of the screen. For example, if all you need is the hint, you've got to wait for the entire cache page text to load, then scroll all the way to the bottom. Some of the cache pages are pretty big, and it can take quite a while to scroll 5,000 characters on little phone display.

 

Or maybe a hint option that doesn't require displaying the entire cache page...

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Bandwidth isn't really an issue in terms of how busy the servers are. Its the number of simultaneous connections that bog them down. We have enough bandwidth with Internap such that returning 100 bytes vs. 100k really doesn't make much difference. But a database hit from the WAP site is equally as expensive as a similar hit from the main site.

 

:rolleyes: Elias

ok, it was a hopefull idea.

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Amazingly, these pages work just fine on my t-mobile sidekick! I didn't think the sidekick did wap, but apparently it does. Very cool. I will have to give this a try and see how it works in comparison to my normal method (boulter's geocaching quick search).

 

A few missing pieces of functionality that I use on a regular basis:

  • Ability to drop travelbugs when making a log entry.
  • Ability to disable/enable a cache.
  • Ability to do anything with travelbugs (i.e. grab them from a cache, leave notes, etc.)

--Marky

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I didn't think the sidekick did wap, but apparently it does.

I'm actually using the term WAP loosely. It will attempt to render in the correct format for any mobile device, but it is specifically meant to handle WAP. That's why you can visit the site in a browser window. Normal WML sites cannot render in IE.

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For the record, my phone is the CDM-8900 on Verizon Wireless. It worked great with the new WAP interface.

 

I love my 8900 and have hacked the heck out of it. I love being able to download pics from the phone for free and was sooo happy to get rid of the annoying Verizon banner on it.

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That's a good link. Get a cable off eBay and you can download to your heart's content. I bet I have taken thousands of pics and never paid a dime to get 'em onto my PC. Plus I can upload my own ring tones for free and I got rid of that darn flashing banner. My phone now works as it should without the Verizon advertising :huh: Have fun!

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Woohoo! A non-Javascript-required version of the site. I can actually once again see the second page of a nearest search! (Too bad the f=1 parameter doesn't work, though.)

 

I really like how there are text equivalents for the type, rating, and Foundit icons, as these don't appear on the normal site, and you get nothing if you turn off images because of a slow internet connection.

 

Suggestions: Allow nearest search based on waypoint ID. Provide search by name.

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There seems to be a difference in the way that the wap site determines if a log is encrypted to the way that the main site does it. It looks to me as though the wap site uses the presence/absence of square brackets to determine whether a log should be encrypted, which the main site uses the flag that the user sets when entering their log.

 

Other than that, it's pretty cool! Works great on my i-mate Pocket PC phone; so much faster than accessing the main site in Pocket IE.

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Oh sure, that works fine. But since the prompt says "Enter a Waypoint (e.g. GCHWA6):" then it should work correctly when I just enter GC78. Omitting the leading GC should be optional.

 

Suggestion: If 4 chars or less are entered, add the GC except if the input already starts with GC.

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