Browsing the Internet on conventional cell phones -- like the ones that come free with a service ... Coming soon: better browsi

Browsing the Internet on conventional cell phones -- like the ones that come free with a service contract -- has not exactly been a user-friendly experience. Dealing with clunky browsers, long download times and page after page of text menus is just no fun.

Software companies are developing better applications that make mapping, searching and e-mailing easier. Networks are getting faster and more reliable. And the phones themselves are getting easier to customize.

And as more cell phone users start exploring mobile Internet applications, cellular service providers, which collect fees for data transferred to phones on their networks, as well as content organizers such as Yahoo and Google, are taking aim at the market.

According to Forrester Research, the number of U.S. mobile phone customers who use data applications has already jumped from 6 percent last year to 15 percent in 2005.

Future growth in the mobile arena will partly depend on mobile software makers understanding that cell phone customers want different things from their devices than their desktop computer at home. Mobile consumers have little patience for confusing menus and don't want to see Web pages that are made for larger computers on their cell phones.

``When you're on the go, the last thing you want to do is take a big Web page to your cell phone,'' said Chris McDonnell, a Cingular spokesman.

Earlier this month, Google launched satellite mapping and driving-directions software for mobile phones. The program is downloadable from http://mobile.google .

``I think that what they've done is take their usual simple interface, easy-to-access services and translated that to a pretty good product for mainstream phones,'' Forrester Research's Charles Golvin said.

Faster cellular networks, such as Verizon's EV-DO and Cingular's HSDPA, are slowly turning on across the country, and could significantly improve the mobile Web experience, analysts say.

In addition, people can personalize their mobile phones more and more, and are excited to do so. See the billion-dollar ring-tone market as proof.

Cingular's customizable browsing service MEdia Net, launched Nov. 17, appears on menus of many Cingular phones. It has reorganized news and services links while playing up personalization big time.

MEdia Net allows consumers to decide which feeds they want on their ``home page,'' the first page they see when they activate the program, whether it's news, sports scores, weather or horoscopes. And to access other services, such as instant messaging, Web searches, mapping and driving directions, customers have fewer menus to click through than before.

MEdia Net runs on Cingular phones in the GSM format but is not available on many phones purchased through AT&T Wireless, the company Cingular purchased in 2004.

Later this year or in early 2006, Cingular plans to put customizable news feeds onto their customers' ``idle screens,'' or the screen people see when they turn on their phones. Cingular expects this to get customers to explore their phones' possibilities even further.

Of course, most wireless plans charge a fee when a person uses any data service on a mobile phone. Cingular charges 1 cent per kilobyte downloaded, but customers can also buy data packages starting at $4.99 a month. Cingular estimates that checking one's e-mail requires a transfer of 4 kilobytes.

Analysts stress that while using the Internet on a mobile phone is getting better, it's far from perfect. Small screens on cell phones aren't going away, but software is beginning to make the best of what's possible.

This is cache, read story here