SurfCube on Mango Part 6 - Join SurfCube V4 Beta! Here’s what’s coming

It’s been a while since we released a new SurfCube version. The reason is simple – we have been working hard on our biggest update yet – SurfCube 4!

Today, I would like to invite you – no, ask you – to help testing this up and coming new version. SurfCube 4 will only run on Mango devices, but if you have one, and interested in what the future of web browsing brings for Windows Phone 7, then please apply!

Here is a quick what’s new for SurfCube V4:

Mango Features

• New browser engine – SurfCube Uses Mango’s new, fully HTML5 compatible IE9 engine for faster and more compatible browsing
• Full support for multitasking and fast app switching
• Support for background audio
• Pinnable tabs - you can pin the currently opened tabs to your Start Screen as a new tile! So, if you routinely check Engadget, WMPoweruser, WPCentral and 1800PocketPC for gadget news, you can open them from the Start Screen with a single tap:
  
• Share – we have removed our own Twitter sharing mechanism in favor of the one built into Mango. Now you can just as easily share web pages on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and you don’t even have to set the credentials through SurfCube – if you have them set up in the OS itself, you are good to go!

Navigation Enhancements

• Brand new navigation mode – bottom menu. One of the most often heard complaint about SurfCube (now that we have tabs, video playback, etc solved) is that it is complicated to use. First time users are presented with a mandatory tutorial on the different methods they can use to control the cube. Now we have introduced a new method, dubbed “bottom menu” which works just like any Windows Phone 7 application, so new users should feel right at home. No more tutorials, no more tricky control schemes to learn. Of course, the old (and IMHO much cooler) navigation methods (the joystick, edge grab and phone flick) are still there – you just have to turn them on in the settings menu. Then you will be presented with a with tutorial for that one specific control scheme. These new tutorials are full of little animations to make sure that everybody gets how the control scheme is used.
  
• Joystick design – the joystick now clearly indicates which directions the cube cannot be turned in, making users feel more confident about their position on the cube.

Tab Browsing Enhancements:

• Opening a new tab now automatically takes you to the top side to let you choose a site to display in the new tab. Previously, you had to perform an additional cube rotation for this.
• Always open tabs in… - We have had “open in background tab” and “open in new tab” context menu items on links (long press) for a while. Now, you can specify that a certain web page should open all its links in a background tab or a new tab. This makes SurfCube the best solution for browsing portals. If you want to check out the news on CNN for example, you can set its home page to open all links in a background tab. Then just tap on the links you are interested in, and by the time you have finished scanning the front page, all of the interesting articles are loaded and ready for you. To enable this feature, just long tap anywhere on the page and change the “Open Links” setting for the Page.
• If you don’t use quick tabs, we now have an option to turn the cube back to the front from the tab side as soon as you selected a tab.

Even Better Landscape Support

• More space for favorites and history– we have changed the design so that you can now see 50% more items in Landscape mode on the top face of the cube.
• Quick Tabs can now be on the top or on the right side in Landscape mode, letting you choose how much screen real estate you want to sacrifice. Flipping between the two modes is easy – just turn your phone to the other side. This is what it looks like:
  

Miscellaneous

• New Context (long tap) menu design. Since we introduced new features to the context menu, we changed the design, and now have a small pivot to choose whether the action you are about to perform is for a picture, a link or a page.
• Faster app launch. We have decreased the application’s net launch speed by 20%. It is still not as much as we would have liked to, so we will continue to invest in app startup speed in the future.
• Enhanced video player – The video player can handle HTML5 videos (as long as they are supported on the phone), and has a cool new position indicator while seeking within the video.
• Reorganized settings – we have reorganized the settings (right) face of the cube. All the cube navigation settings are on a single pivot page.
• Favorites are now organized alphabetically
• Clock and connection status is now visible on the top face of the cube.
• Tons of little bug fixes – we have fixed a lot of bugs, such as not being able to position the cursor in a text field because it brought up the context menu instead, desktop mode, Google search always opening in desktop mode, visual glitches and inconsistencies. We have also made a dozen performance fixes, so hopefully browsing will be more fluid – and fun than ever.

So, there you have it – our biggest release since V1. If you would like to help us beta test SurfCube 4, here is what you need to do:

• Make sure you have a Mango phone. SurfCube V4 won’t run on phones that have not been updated
• Send your Live ID and Email address to apps@kinabaluinnovation.com or just reply to this email.
• Wait until SurfCube beta is ready and available in the next few days. Then you will receive a Beta invitation email, with a link that allows you to download SurfCube 4 Beta 1.
• Play around with it, and let us know what you think!
• Accept our gratitude for helping us with this release – and with the previous ones as well. Without your awesome feedback, SurfCube wouldn’t be where it is today.

Thank you,
The SurfCube Team