GPRS (EDGE) vs WAP, or what to look back for when doing a mobile version of the site
- Cross post from my blog
Recently, sitting in a bar with my friend, I heard this situation from him. Customers came to him, who desperately needed a mobile version of their site. But the fact is that people are not alley at all, they need WAP or GPRS (or as the development of technology that works in Russia - EDGE). What Moscow needs now (let's talk about it, I can't say anything about the regions), what is convenient for it 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, better argue with me;)
Let's start by quoting Wikipedia, this will give us an idea of what we are going to talk about.
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WAP (English Wireless Application Protocol) is a means of gaining access to Internet resources via a mobile phone only, without the aid of a computer and / or modem. In essence, this is a technical standard that describes the way in which information from the Internet is transmitted to a mobile phone display.
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a superstructure over GSM mobile communication technology that performs packet data transmission. GPRS allows a mobile phone user to exchange data with other devices in the GSM network and with external networks, including the Internet. GPRS assumes billing according to the amount of information transmitted / received, and not the time spent online.
As you can see, both technologies are 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 a superstructure over GSM mobile communication technology.
Now let's go point by point.
Charging. Let's take as an example my favorite operator - this is Vimpelcom (Beeline), it is worth considering that prices are about the same for the entire mobile communications market, with slight fluctuations.
As you can see, WAP compared to GPRS is hellishly expensive. This is due to the cost of technology support, and the fact that even if both technologies give access to the Internet - they give it in different ways, and to different phone models. By the way, someone surely remembers that a couple of years ago, WAP was charged not for the information transmitted, but during 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 the support for this language is dying off, 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 it will be forgotten. Why? Yes, there is no sense in it, dear, slow, we need additional expenses for the creation and support of the site, but still in demand. But it is a matter of time.
And sites designed for viewing using GPRS can be put up with the usual xHTML + CSS - just by observing some of the nuances that lie on the surface and are visible to any developer who has common sense. Moreover, it may well turn out that the developer only has to write the styles, for mobile devices - but this is not important, everything depends on the site of the parent, its structure, and so on and so forth.
Work with large files. The modern business pace requires speed. That is why people climbed into the network from mobile phones. For example, this morning, when I went to work in the subway, I extorted a form in the .doc format from a bank site, opened it and partially filled it. If the trip lasted more, I would finish filling out and send this same vord file by email. On the wap, I would also be able to do it, though it would be worth several times more expensive, it would be several times slower and it’s not a fact that I would be able to finish the file at a snail's speed on the subway, there are breaks and dead zones even in the center of the Moscow metro . Another adequate plus in the direction of 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 billing and working with large files are already resolved. It can be summarized like this:
Recently, sitting in a bar with my friend, I heard this situation from him. Customers came to him, who desperately needed a mobile version of their site. But the fact is that people are not alley at all, they need WAP or GPRS (or as the development of technology that works in Russia - EDGE). What Moscow needs now (let's talk about it, I can't say anything about the regions), what is convenient for it 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, better argue with me;)
Let's start by quoting Wikipedia, this will give us an idea of what we are going to talk about.
')
WAP (English Wireless Application Protocol) is a means of gaining access to Internet resources via a mobile phone only, without the aid of a computer and / or modem. In essence, this is a technical standard that describes the way in which information from the Internet is transmitted to a mobile phone display.
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a superstructure over GSM mobile communication technology that performs packet data transmission. GPRS allows a mobile phone user to exchange data with other devices in the GSM network and with external networks, including the Internet. GPRS assumes billing according to the amount of information transmitted / received, and not the time spent online.
As you can see, both technologies are 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 a superstructure over GSM mobile communication technology.
Now let's go point by point.
Charging. Let's take as an example my favorite operator - this is Vimpelcom (Beeline), it is worth considering that prices are about the same for the entire mobile communications market, with slight fluctuations.
- WAP - an average of 2 rubles per 10K of received or transmitted information.
- GPRS - an average of 6 rubles for 1MB of received or transmitted information.
As you can see, WAP compared to GPRS is hellishly expensive. This is due to the cost of technology support, and the fact that even if both technologies give access to the Internet - they give it in different ways, and to different phone models. By the way, someone surely remembers that a couple of years ago, WAP was charged not for the information transmitted, but during 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">
<br/>
!
However, today the support for this language is dying off, 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 it will be forgotten. Why? Yes, there is no sense in it, dear, slow, we need additional expenses for the creation and support of the site, but still in demand. But it is a matter of time.
And sites designed for viewing using GPRS can be put up with the usual xHTML + CSS - just by observing some of the nuances that lie on the surface and are visible to any developer who has common sense. Moreover, it may well turn out that the developer only has to write the styles, for mobile devices - but this is not important, everything depends on the site of the parent, its structure, and so on and so forth.
Work with large files. The modern business pace requires speed. That is why people climbed into the network from mobile phones. For example, this morning, when I went to work in the subway, I extorted a form in the .doc format from a bank site, opened it and partially filled it. If the trip lasted more, I would finish filling out and send this same vord file by email. On the wap, I would also be able to do it, though it would be worth several times more expensive, it would be several times slower and it’s not a fact that I would be able to finish the file at a snail's speed on the subway, there are breaks and dead zones even in the center of the Moscow metro . Another adequate plus in the direction of 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 billing and working with large files are already resolved. It can be summarized like this:
- GPRS is cheaper than WAP;
- GPRS is faster than WAP;
- GPRS provides more opportunities for development than WAP;
- Support and development of the WAP-version of the site is more expensive, I think so;
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/30081/
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