It’s annoying, isn’t it? Google announce Buzz, get you all excited and then they turn around and whisper “By the way, Android and iPhone only for the mobile app at the moment”. Sure, you can get a “Google maps layer” if you’re on WinMob but other platforms are left in the dust.. why settle for that when, shortcut I mentioned in my previous post, you can skip the queue and have Buzz running on your “unsupported platform” before it’s released!!**
Here’s how I’ve tested it;
I’ve done quite a bit of playing around with friends phones and have managed to get this working even on LG’s own operating system. It’s so simple, it’s hardly worth writing about, but I will as I’m sure a lot of people don’t know about it!
Yep, that’s it. The key is in the link which, as you can see, “forces” Buzz to work.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in the article, depending on your resolution etc it may look better or worse, though it should work. Check out some limitations I found below.
For Buzz on Windows Mobile, see Update: Buzz on Windows Mobile the information below is now outdated and completely optional as I’ve found a better way of doing it.
It’s not perfect, and I suppose depending on your mobile’s resolution you will get better or worse results. However just as with a lot of things I prove possible here, never assume just because (in this case) Google say there’s no version, it means there’s no way of getting it on your phone.
If you’re a Palm or a BlackBerry user then I deeply apologise – but I don’t have a BlackBerry or Palm so haven’t been able to test the capabilities. However I urge the BlackBerry guys to give it a go by visiting Opera’s website m.opera.com and testing out their BlackBerry version. You may get as lucky as I was! And Palm users, please hang in there! If the default browser doesn’t work for you, try some of the alternatives which are scattered about the vast interwebs (or wait for Google to finish playing around in China and get an app made for you).
The stars:
*https://m.google.com/app/buzz?force=1
** This “trick” may not be limited to Windows mobile, but as it is the only device I can currently test with, I have based my topic on this specific operating system. I’ve tested this with other platforms and it works well!
*** At the time of publishing, Opera Mobile 10 Beta 3 is the most up-to-date. Versions prior or post this version may or may not also work (I imagine they will though!) Other versions work fine also, and other browsers too, but using the link, Opera looks and acts best for phones without a way of getting HTML5 browsers (Windows mobile users, look here)
**** Limits I’ve found: Location unavailable. That’s it, though it could well be down to my service provider not allowing Buzz, or Opera, to gain geographical data from the 3 network.
Enjoy!