Issue with viewing blog with Blackberry

I received this from a reader:

This my be my issue alone, but I am not sure.

Last week I had to migrate from a Palm Treo to a BlackBerry Bold.  (Verizon was turning off the wireless sync for the Treo.)

FYI, the WDTPRS blog consistently freezes my BlackBerry; the site loads about 1/3 and then hangs permanently.

I can get into the site by disabling Java, but then the site does not look right.

Don’t know if anyone esle has this problem.

Anyone else?

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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27 Comments

  1. JohnMa says:

    I have a Verizon Bold as well and have had no problems viewing the blog. The problem might be with OS5. Update to OS6 and see if there is still a problem.

  2. JohnMa says:

    I have a Verizon Bold as well and have had no problems viewing the blog. The problem might be with OS5. Update to OS6 and see if there is still a problem.

  3. MrD says:

    I use a BB Storm and if you do not have Java the screen does look different but you can still make out the content.

  4. cregduff says:

    I am on a bb Bold with AT&T and it has worked in the past. This is not upgraded to BB OS6.

    I just tried it and it loads fine, with the theme looking like the iPhone one. Nice.

    Ed

  5. I don’t know if this is related, but I have long had problems with images. They often appear “broken” (i.e. will not appear). If I force a refresh multiple times then they will eventually appear. I have done some debugging and the problem appears to be caused by some sort of effort to inhibit direct linking to the images. My bet is that it causes far more problems than it solves. (Note: the many other sites/blogs I visit do not have this problem.)

  6. Everything appears normal (mobile blog theme) when browse to the blog using my BlackBerry Storm 2 w/ OS 5.0.0.1015 (latest official update).

  7. Alexis says:

    I actually do have the same/similar problem. When I use BlackBerry’s Internet browser to access the site, it freezes, then shuts down my phone entirely. WDTPRS is the only site that disrupts my phone this way (that I’ve so far come across).

    When I use OperaMini, an Interner browser I downloaded on my BB, I do not have the same problem.

  8. David Homoney says:

    No problem with iOS on either iPad or iPhone 3Gs or 4.

  9. unsilenced says:

    I have a Blackberry and it takes FOREVER to open this page, sometimes I just give up and wait until I can get on the computer. It doesn’t freeze but it does take a very long time.

  10. MKubes says:

    I don’t usually access your blog from my Bold (9000), but I just tried and it froze like your reader said – at about the 1/3 mark – but then my phone actually crashed too!

    Still, RIM’s browser is hopeless compared to the iPhone’s and some of the free alternatives for the Blackberry out there, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

  11. Mom2301 says:

    I also have this problem. I have resorted to only using my computer to access teh WDTPRS site.

  12. BenedictXVIFan says:

    I reccomend OS6. It has a browser with some of the same technology as the iPhone. I have no problems whatsoever.

  13. frjim4321 says:

    I have the problem.

    Sounds like a solution might be OperaMINI.

    My BB Bold is a bit older, and I think the RIM OS is 5.4 or so.

  14. OdeM says:

    BB Tour. Freezes and then reboots. If misery loves company, then I am glad I have a little company. We will not be updating hardware for at least another year.

  15. Tradster says:

    I have a BB 9550 v5. The load always hangs at 93k of 388k.

  16. KJA says:

    I have a 6 month old Blackberry Bold and have the same symptom (wdtprs loads slowly). A few months ago, I decide to use the quite time (while the blog is loading) to say a prayer for Fr. Z and his intentions.

  17. KJA: I decide to use the quite time (while the blog is loading) to say a prayer for Fr. Z and his intentions

    You just removed my motivation to fix the problem!

  18. KJA says:

    Father, perhaps in another 6 months I’ll have developed the habit of praying for you immediately when I click on my wdtprs bookmark (right now I still need the hourglass to trigger my prayers). I put this at about the 1st week of July when you could fix the BB problem and still retain my prayers on a regular basis (early in the morning and the late at night).

  19. chironomo says:

    Wow… just downloaded the Opera Mini browser… took about three minutes and is free. Works like a charm… thanks!

  20. Emilio III says:

    I was not able to use my previous Motorola Q (Windows Mobile) phone on the blog since the last server software change. Now that the office changed phone models (to an HTC Incredible) it works fine.

    Nevertheless, I think that it would be really helpful if it were possible to use a different url to force the mobile phone mode rather than depend on the server to identify the client correctly. Having something like m.wdtprs.com available would be more effective than simple faith in server software being perfect. It never will be. :-)

  21. Andy Milam says:

    I’m still having issues with the BB browser.

  22. Tom Ryan says:

    Also, the work “blog” as in wdtprs.com/blog gets the site blocked at many locations. This is not true of so-called blogs that registered a name without that word in the address.

  23. SuzyQ says:

    I have a Storm 2/9550 which is running OS5. It also hangs at 94k of 394k. Occasionally, the blog will continue to load (after sitting for a minute or two) but most of the time the phone crashes and reboots. And it appears OS6 isn’t available for this phone so an upgrade to fix the problem isn’t an option, at least for me. This is the only site I’ve encountered which causes a problem.

  24. frjim4321 says:

    Opera Mini was the answer. A slick browser, free, and as mentioned above a three minute download. Great!

    I now see the mobile version of the site perfectly for the first time.

  25. Phil Steinacker says:

    I have no personal knowledge of this stuff as I don’t utilize mobile technology. However, I am aware that some web design folks have begun to offer configuration of a website to adapt it to mobile viewing. Evidently this is a growing problem because of the ubiquitous nature of viewing the Internet from mobile devices, and apparently it’s the website host who is stuck with providing a solution to site viewers. I don’t know how ubiquitous this soulution is so far, but I imagine it will become more prevalent and more necessary if current viewing patterns become even more prolific.

    I have a good friend in the business who does great web design work at pricing typically half of that charged by a serious web design firm. I e-mailed him to ask his fee for this and so I reproduce his response here:

    Mobile priicing: $5.99 per month hosting – $99 one time setup fee – This will be a site configured for every mobile platform. i.e. it will work on every phone and service provider.

    I believe it invoves reconfiguring your blog in a format suitable for mobile, and then hosting it as a separate site. I believe content updates simultaneously from your original site, but you’ll have to ask him how that works.

    Father, I have no idea how that compares but if his overall design pricing is any indication it should be pretty competitive. By all means feel free to shop around, but beyond the set-up it only adds $6 to your site hosting costs.

    If you want to talk with him I’ll e-mail you his contact info and you can take it from there. I am not involved in this monetarily or any other way except to re-direct you to him if that is your desire (although I have to wonder what the commision on $5.99 monthly might be :-) .

  26. Scout says:

    It hangs my Blackberry. I have to pull the battery to get it to reset.

    Blackberry 8310 (Edge)
    v4.5.0.182 (Platform 2.7.0.106)

  27. HeadSacristan says:

    It freezes up my blackberry curve, and never shows anything. I have to do a reset afterward. I hope we can get a fix for this, so I can read the blog when I don’t have access to the internet.

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