NetFront 3.2 English Finally Released

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://nfppc.access.co.jp/english/' target='_blank'>http://nfppc.access.co.jp/english/</a><br /><br /></div>ACCESS's NetFront is a popular PIE replacement for Pocket PCs. The English release of version 3.2 is now out, including support for WM2003SE, integrated Flash, Rapid Render technology that gradually renders the page, a new Java VM for applets, and some other features. You can see the full list of new features <a href="http://nfppc.access.co.jp/english/about.html">here</a>. They're also offering a new release discount, as mentioned on the frontpage, linked above.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20050622-NetFront32.gif" /><br /><br />One downside to the new release is no official VGA support, as was <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39674">discovered by PPCT member Menneisyys</a> when the Japanese version was released a few months ago. If you need a fully WM2003SE VGA-mode compliant browser, this may not be your first choice.

[PBR]

Scrolling via the cursor key doesnt work properly. That and the fact that there is no VGA support means Access just gets between $14 and $19 out of people for a product that does nothing new and less than the old version..... :roll:

[kamikun]

I can confirm that scrolling with the bar is flaky on the demo version, but on my registered version it works perfectly. Also, don't discount the inclusion of Java. You can really watch StrongBad on your PPC now.

On the Tosh e800 wm2003 FE (MyVGA hack) the VGA display is beautiful. I've uploaded some screenshots to PPCAddict and hopefully they'll be posted later today.

There is another bug that I've run into though. It is impossible to change the font. Although I have selected every option available on the machine and have even checked the registry entry under "access.jp" for font selection, regardless of what you put in that box or select you're always gonna get Bell MT. That came in the eReader font pack and I have no idea why NF3.2 is defaulting back to that one.

Is the upgrade worth $20? I think so. On FE VGA the screens proportion perfectly; the forms work and the HUGE MegaLocataBar is gone. And the working Java. That's neat.

[Silver5]

Right now I have Multi IE running on my i-mate Jam and don't see a reason to pay that much to make a change. I know there are some neat features, but check out the memory requirements...that sure takes away from the cool factor. It seems that it needs more space than Transcriber and Voice Command put together (and they're large!).

Size
> Memory for data storage: About 8.9MB
> Memory for program execution: 4.5MB or more for NetFront v3.2 for Pocket PC only, 8.5MB or more for activating JV-Lite2.
Supported CPU

[Don't Panic!]

kamikun-Have you looked at it without the MyVGA hack running? I'm wondering how it looks with the microsoft version of VGA in place.

[applejosh]

I'm still not seeing it on Handango. I wish I had bought 3.1 from PocketGear.

[signothefish]

The only nice addition I can see is the ability to display embedded Flash scripts. It's just not worth it for me to upgrade, even at $14.80. The best reason I can think of to buy 3.2 is that you're investing in potentially lower prices for future upgrades.

[nitestrike]

I have a couple question/tests, if someone don't mind trying.

1) One does it allow you run the speed test, with java, at Broadband Reports web site?
2.) Under WM2K3SE when roatating the screen to landscape does it take the address bar and the two buttons from one row or two rows?
3.) If anyone is using it with VGA_SE hack does it work well with that too, currently 3.1 works fine except some of the fonts are really huge?

OK, looks like I had three. :lol:

[Phillip Dyson]

Strange, the font on the changes page look just like the horrible fonts in the 3.1 browser when I use it on my e830

[whydidnt]

It's been a while since I used NF 3.1, so I can't remember how all of this compares, but... On my HX4700 - the fonts are UGLY in normal SE VGA mode. The small or smallest fonts are basically unreadable, this also occurs if you zoom below 100%. Makes it worthless in this mode IMO.

In Forced VGA mode, the address bar is double hight, and half of it is obscured by the browser window. The bottom of the screen is covered up by the tool bar, so you have to go to full screen mode if you need to scroll horizontally. The settings and bookmark windows are difficult if not impossible to use because the input areas and fonts are all doubled in size and there is no way to scroll to the right to access everything.

In OzVGA, it looks and works fantastic. Everything is usuable - the settings pages are larger type, but still fit within the screen. the Title bar and tool bar are both usuable and don't seem to interfere with the rest of the screen. However, PIE works very well in this mode also, so I'm not sure it's worth investment.

I've been having random hard resets recently switching from TrueVGA to SE VGA with Oz, so I'm not real comfortable having to use TrueVGA on a regular basis. This has been happening since I loaded the new HP ROM. I wonder if that broke something?

[onebyone1958]

I just purchased the newest version of Netfront 3.2 for my hx4705 and have a question.

Under the “View” option, when I try to set “Encoding” to “Auto-detect”, it does not work. This does work in 3.1.

Any clue as to what I did wrong ?

[beq]

Earlier today I'd tried the upgrade discount code on Handango (using the $14.80 discount code given in ACCESS's email), but Handango refused to recognize it. It says the discount code isn't applicable to any item in the shopping cart, or something like that.

I also tried the $19.80 discount code which is given on ACCESS's website, but Handango refuses it either with the same reason!

Has anyone successfully applied any discount code to purchase v3.2?

[applejosh]

On Handango's site, no. I've emailed Access &amp; filled out a form on Handango. The Pocketgear new user discount code works on Pocketgear, though (I didn't purchase it, but it was accepted). I'll probably go through them if I don't hear back from either party tomorrow. Kind of ticked about that, though.

[welovejesus]

On Handango's site, no. I've emailed Access &amp; filled out a form on Handango. The Pocketgear new user discount code works on Pocketgear, though (I didn't purchase it, but it was accepted). I'll probably go through them if I don't hear back from either party tomorrow. Kind of ticked about that, though.

applejosh,
Same thing happened to me when I tried to upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1. :roll: Hopefully Handango gets their codes working properly as they have likely lost a few customers already...

[surur]

Did you buy the version WITH java before, or without. They are selling the JAVA version upgrade only currently, even if you have no use for it. :(

Surur

[Craig Horlacher]

If you're going to do something better, please do it right! I love the tabbed browsing and the rendering options but native VGA support is so important! How can they release a new browser without vga support? That's crazy!!!

Hmm, we all know Microsoft can't make a browser...Ok Mozilla project, how about FireFox Mobile!!! I'll pay for it!!!

[applejosh]

Did you buy the version WITH java before, or without. They are selling the JAVA version upgrade only currently, even if you have no use for it. :(

Surur

I bought the version WITH java (otherwise, I really didn't see the point of getting a commercial browser, even as great as NF may be - if you're going to pay for a browser, might as well get the full boat). But the upgrade code is working on Handango finally. (The message from Access said "the download site" (i.e. Handango) was having issues in regards to the codes.) All is well now. I don't know if I really like the rapid renderer, but at least the cache works better.

[burtcom]

Netfront users -- is it possible to install and run Netfront from a Storage Card?

Also, is it possible to direct NetFront to keep it's cache and cookie files on the Storage Card instead of main memory?

[kamikun]

Netfront users -- is it possible to install and run Netfront from a Storage Card?

Also, is it possible to direct NetFront to keep it's cache and cookie files on the Storage Card instead of main memory?

#1 - Maybe. The program would not install to the SD Card for me. It defaulted into main memory. Brad Issac over at PPCAddict claims you can just move the whole kit n kaboodle (copy the folders) over to the storage card, change your links in the start menu and you're good to go.

I am too scared to try. 3.2 is working for me now (an uninstall and reinstall seems to have fixed my font problem) so I don't want to experiment.

#2 - Yes. That's in the options section.

[whydidnt]

Netfront users -- is it possible to install and run Netfront from a Storage Card?

Also, is it possible to direct NetFront to keep it's cache and cookie files on the Storage Card instead of main memory?

It installed to my CF card just fine. I just took a quick look at the handheld and it appears to have put one 4kb file in the Programs folder and a bunch of HTML files in the windows folder. It would appear the HTML files are the help files for the program. Not sure why those have to go there, is that a Windows Mobile thing? They aren't huge, but I'd sure like to have them out of my main memory. Otherwise, the main program, files, etc. are on my CF Card.

[applejosh]

It installed to my SD card without a hitch. I don't see the option where to direct cache files (I looked in the advanced spots, too), but it's going to my SD card under the install directory anyway. It does install to a different directory than NF 3.1 did (and the two are apparently mutally exclusive programs since installing it didn't prompt if I wanted to repair/upgrade the existing NF).

[Mark R Penn]

If you need a fully WM2003SE VGA-mode compliant browser, this may not be your first choice.

Can anyone tell me what would be? How hard can it be to make a browser that really does take advantage of VGA?

Mark

[Janak Parekh]

Can anyone tell me what would be? How hard can it be to make a browser that really does take advantage of VGA?
It's a great question. I'm still upset at the fact that PIE pixel-doubles. :evil: I've found that using SE_VGA or OzVGA, or a res hack, makes some of them more tolerable. But, still, you'd think they'd have gotten up to speed by now.

--janak

[Mark R Penn]

I agree SE_VGA does make them better, but I don't actually want tiny interface items, just proper VGA support for the actual pages I'm looking at :( I also don't want to have to soft reset every time I want to browse, and again when I'm finished.

It all seems so simple to me - render the page at VGA, then let the user zoom in if he wants to.

Mark

[Phillip Dyson]

The fonts and menu size were the whole reason that I stopped using 3.1
If these things aren't fixed, I'm surely not spending money to upgrade.

I'll suffer with PIE until something better comes along.

[Don't Panic!]

Can someone post a screenshot of Netfront 3.2 in the native microsoft VGA resolution?

[ctitanic]

In this release was added support for NetFront 3.2. Now you can change the ID of NetFront making it pass as IE 6.0 or as Pocket Internet Explorer.

For more information about the program and available discounts, please visit

http://www.tweaks2k2.com/portal/staticpages/index.php?page=20050224182009983

[jsmcguir]

be careful with installing to a storage card. If NF is on the storage card, and your PDA turns off while NF is running (mine is set to automatically turn off after 2 minutes of no touches), NF can corrupt your card. I now have a file on my SD card with items that are non eraseable because they have non-standard symbols in the file names. (squares, etc...). Doesn't seem to use up any memory, but sure is aggravating to look at.

I believe this is listed somewhere on their website, or it was before 3.2 came out.

If anyone knows how to erase this file without losing the rest of the card, let me know plase :).

[Phillip Dyson]

In this release was added support for NetFront 3.2. Now you can change the ID of NetFront making it pass as IE 6.0 or as Pocket Internet Explorer.

For more information about the program and available discounts, please visit

http://www.tweaks2k2.com/portal/staticpages/index.php?page=20050224182009983

Can't you already do that under the browser settings?

[Darius Wey]

In this release was added support for NetFront 3.2. Now you can change the ID of NetFront making it pass as IE 6.0 or as Pocket Internet Explorer.

For more information about the program and available discounts, please visit

http://www.tweaks2k2.com/portal/staticpages/index.php?page=20050224182009983

Can't you already do that under the browser settings?

You can, but you'd need to know the IE6 UserAgent string. Tweaks2K2 just takes the pain out of doing it yourself.

[Phillip Dyson]

That makes sense. I remember the pain I went through trying to find what the value was.

[christak]

http://www.i-way.co.uk/~iphillips/WORK/LINGO/CheckUserAgent.htm

8)

[brco]

I bought a full version and got a code. But didn´t get a full version program . With purchase code i can´t activate trial version to full. From support centre don´t write me more than week. If somebody have the full version, please sent me it.

thanks [email protected]

[Darius Wey]

I bought a full version and got a code. But didn´t get a full version program . With purchase code i can´t activate trial version to full. From support centre don´t write me more than week. If somebody have the full version, please sent me it.

Where did you purchase it from? The most reliable places are Handango and PocketGear. If it's one of them, I'd bug their support staff again. You should be getting what you paid for and shouldn't have to ask another person to send you the full version.

[brco]

I bought it from PocketGear. But It dosen´t matter, becouse they write me, that Access co. must sent me full version, but didn´t. I have just activation code and need full version. If somebody have it, please sent me.

thanks [email protected]

[Nurhisham Hussein]

brco, Darius has been gently polite about this, but what you are asking for is illegal. Since you paid for it, you can demand restitution from both Access and Pocket Gear.