Cosmos for Android lets you surf the web via SMS

There are times when 3G and 4G data connections aren’t accessible. You could be in a signal dead zone, abroad and wanting to avoid serious roaming fees, or you could live in a country where the infrastructure doesn’t exist. In any of those cases Cosmos is bound to be incredibly useful because it allows you to surf the web using nothing more than text messages.

All you need is the page’s URL, and you’ll be sent a stripped down version of the webpage via text message. How does it do this? Essentially it accesses the webpage’s source code and removes the CSS and Java, ending up with a clean text copy of the webpage that can be sent easily via text.

While there are some problems with this system, like the fact that you’ll need unlimited texts and exact URLs for the webpages you want to request, but it is a great way for people to receive information if they are in serious need of it. Infrastructure be damned.

The app is due for release at the end of the month on all Android devices, but you can have a look at the app’s code right now if you’re so inclined.

Featured image: On the phone via Wikimedia Commons

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