Mobile device detection

Mobile Device Detection (or 'Device Detection') refers to software that identifies the type of mobile device visiting a web site and either redirects the end user to a dedicated mobile web site or adapts the format of the web site to suit the end user’s device.

Background

Most desktop web browsers use HTML and display a relatively consistent web page regardless of the browser type or computer manufacturer.

However, mobile browsers may use HTML, WML (WAP) or a number of other markup languages. In addition, there is a much wider diversity in screen sizes, browser types and operating systems than with desktop computers.

As a result, a web site solely designed for the larger screen of a desktop computer is often unlikely to appear correctly or legibly when viewed on the smaller display of a mobile phone.^[1]

Solution

Any internet-connected device that ‘requests’ a web page via its browser will identify itself with a User agent code. Determining the type of browser or device from the User Agent offers a web developer the opportunity to encode a web page so that it behaves appropriately for each web visitor.

Mobile Device Detection combines a list of User Agent data – sometimes referred to as a Device Description Repository (DDR) – with a software solution (API) to access the User Agent list.

Device Detection providers

• DetectMobileBrowsers.mobi
• DetectRight
• DeviceAtlas
• 51Degrees.mobi
• OpenDDR
• ScientiaMobile
• WURFL
• Apache Mobile Filter

References

1. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_web#Limits