WAP 2.0 takes today's WAP 1.0 Mobile Web experience, which is primarily a text- based infotainment browsing
and
messaging offering, and turns it into a graphically rich, interactive, 'Internet -like' user experience.
For instance, a richer user experience is achieved via color applications, pull down menus, radio buttons,
and photo images. In addition to an improved GUI, WAP 2.0 offers other key advantages in terms of
'end-to-end security', capability of using XHTML and 10% faster browsing times vis à vis WAP 1.X.
A summary of WAP 2.0's technical capabilities vs. WAP 1.X is provided as follows:
| Capability |
WAP 1.X - Today |
WAP 2.0 - 2004 |
| Markup Language |
WML |
XHTML |
| Networking |
UDP |
TCP |
| Transfer Protocol WAP HTTP / 1.1 |
WAP |
HTTP/1.1 |
| Security |
No (WAP gap) |
Yes (end-to-end security) |
| WAP Push |
Text only |
Graphics Push & Pull |
| User Profiles |
Limited |
Full User Agent Profiles |
| Script |
WML |
WML |
| Presentation |
Monolayer |
CSS |
| View PNG, JPEG, GIF and images |
No |
Yes |
| Transport |
IS-95 (2G) |
1 X RTT (2.5 G) |
WAP 2.0 client supports next generation wire-line application environment (e.g., xHTML)
while providing backward compatibility with HTML, WML etc.
Memory size requirements (RAM) vary by OEM with ranges from 500 KB to 1.5 MBs.
WAP 2.0 also enhances device performance by rendering from binary code.
WAP 2.0 supports standard internet protocols (TCP/IP) with backward compatibility for the WAP stack.
In addition, it offers the following:
- Compresses xHTML data to optimize airlink communication.
- Provides a mechanism for DNS management
- Storage of user agent profiling data
- Quality of service is enabled
