Menneisyys
02-17-2006, 01:44 PM
It was yesterday that I've reviewed (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=549&more=1) Release Candidate 1 (RC1 for short) of Minimo, the great, free, alternative Web browser for the Pocket PC and was very happy with its stability, (comparative) snappiness and generic compliance.
Some hours ago, a new version, Release Candidate 2 (RC2 for short) was released. Sure I jumped on it right away to find out if it's worth switching to it.
Changes over RC1
The most important change is the toolbar on the left. It's a one-time bar only; that is, if you click any icon, it will be hidden in all tabs and you will need to restart Minimo in order to be seen them again. This may not exactly be what the authors wanted.
The uppermost yellow star, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2YellowStar.png, brings up a pre-defined directory of mobile-optimized news sources (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2NewIconsYellowStar.bmp.png).
The G icon, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2G.png, brings up Google in a new tab.
The third, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2ThirdIcon.png, icon takes you to the Technorati Mobile web site (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc23rdIconMobirati.bmp.png).
The fourth, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc24thIcon.png icon, opens Weather Underground in a new tab (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc24thIconWU.bmp.png).
The fifth, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc25thIcon.png, icon, takes you to the Yokel website (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc25thIconYokel.bmp.png).
I haven't found a way to redefine these icons - in neither the home directory nor \Windows\Mozilla could I find any related, 'hackable' configuration or resource files related to these icons/their targets.
Other changes in context menus
Also, there are some other, really minor, negligable changes. RC1 only had 'Toggle Full Screen' in the generic (non-image/link/selection) context menu (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc1GenericContextMenu.bmp.png); RC2 has Find, Reload (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2GenericContextMenu.bmp.png) and, if it's not invoked on a brand new tab, also Back in it to make page navigation and in-page text search easier. Otherwise, the context menus haven't changed – the link context menu (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2LinkContextMenu.bmp.png) still only has "Open link in New Tab" (and no niceties like 'copy link' or 'save link content') and the image context menu (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2ImageContextMenu.bmp.png) still doesn't contain anything like 'save image' or 'display alternate text'.
Other changes
There don't seem to be any (at least usability-wise – this doesn't mean for example "hidden" bugfixes). For example, the WM5 hardware keys still work the same way as in RC1 (and there's still no 'Action' button). Similarly, the Preferences menu is still the same.
My HTC Wizard, Minimo started with the Mozilla homepage (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2MozillaMainPage.bmp.png) instead of Google. The main dispatcher homepage seems to redirect to this page too from time to time – at least from PPC PE devices.
Yahoo Mail
Strangely, this version (when I logged into Yahoo Mail to run my JavaScript/SSL/file upload compliance tests) loaded Yahoo Mail far slower in my tests than RC1. I've even run into '10061' connect errors on my Pocket Loox 720 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2YahooMailConnectError.bmp.png). I don't know if you encounter the same.
SSR-related bugs
I've already mentioned some subtleties like the not visible button submenus in Yahoo Mail in my previous reviews.
There're other problems SSR may cause; for example, take a look at this file uploader Yahoo Mail dialog screen (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2SSRYahooMailFileChooser.bmp.png) (with active SSR).
Also, you may dislike the by default one-column mode of Minimo.
Therefore, you may want to consider switching it off entirely in Preferences (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2SSRDisable.bmp.png).
Non-ASCII characters are still problematic on non-UTF-8-encoded pages
Unfortunately, the character encoding problem causing non-English characters to be rendered as simple rectangles on non-UTF-8 encoded pages are still present (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2CharBug.bmp.png). Note that this bug is not device-specific – here's PPC PE screenshot on my HTC Wizard (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2CharBugWizard.bmp.png) of the same problem.
This bug must be fixed (it isn't hard at all – after all, UTF-8 is already working OK. In any up-to-date programming language/environment/class library, defining a character conversion rule is just an additional one programming statement) in the final version!
Java compliance
Unfortunately, Minimo (still) doesn't support Java applets. Don't let the .jar files (the traditional Java containers) in the chrome subdirectory mislead you (they did mislead me before I did peek inside these files only to find out they have nothing to do with Java): these files do not contain Java .class files but Web resources (HTML, CSS files etc). Minimo is not based on Java at all – for example, a quick 'java.applet' search inside the files returned nothing.
To be absolutely sure, I've visited several Java applet demo pages which, otherwise, work just great in Pocket Internet Explorer/ Internet Explorer Mobile Java plug-ins (see for example this (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=462&more=1) and this (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=492&more=1) article on them; the latter discusses WM5 compliance); for example, the JDK1.0 Clock applet (http://java.sun.com/applets/jdk/1.0/demo/Clock/index.html) didn't run (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo13rc2_clockAppletJDK10.bmp.png) (also see this WM5 (HTC Wizard) Thunderhawk screenshot (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/ThunderhawkWM5_clockAppletJDK10.bmp.png)) just like the JDK 1.2-specific version of the clock applet (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo13rc2_clockAppletJDK12x51v.bmp.png). As I've predicted, Minimo wasn't able to render these applets.
As the entire Minimo architecture lacks Java support, it's highly unlikely that it will be able to run Java applets in the near future.
Please note that Java has nothing to do with JavaScript; Minimo's compliance with the latter is excellent.
Important note
As with RC1 and the latest Thunderhawk, if you find RC2 very slow on your Window Mobile 5 Pocket PC or not start at all, then, try hard resetting your Pocket PC, installing Minimo on a completely clean device and start to reinstall all your applications, each time checking whether Minimo (and Thunderhawk, which is in the habit of not starting at all on not completely clean Pocket PC's) runs equally fast than before. When, after installing a specific program, it considerably slows down, you know which third-party application to avoid.
This problem is particularly acute on Dell Axim x51v's. Incidentally, even on freshly hard reset x51v's (with the latest, most stable, A06 ROM), Minimo sometimes crashes (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo13rc2x51vCrash.bmp.png). This has never happened on my other WM5 test device, the HTC Wizard. It seems (not just because of this case but, as far as my experience is concerned in general) the latter may have a considerably better/stable WM5 implementation.
iPAQ 2210
I'm not particularly happy with the way it behaved on my 2210. It may be a bit (?) slower than RC1 and even gave me autocompletion exceptions as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo13rc22210AutoCompletionException.bmp.png).
Note that I hadn't time to thoroughly test it on my 2210 (I've concentrated my forces on my newer devices). 2210 users, beware – you may still want to stick to RC1 if you run into the same problems.
Verdict
There aren't many changes, capability/usability-wise, compared to version RC1 and the problems still seem to be the same. It maybe worth upgrading. Do not, however, delete the "old" RC1 version - it may prove more stable than this version.
Recommended reading
The Release Candidate 1 Review (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=549&more=1).
Download link
http://www.meer.net/~dougt/pre/minimo_013rc2.zip
Some hours ago, a new version, Release Candidate 2 (RC2 for short) was released. Sure I jumped on it right away to find out if it's worth switching to it.
Changes over RC1
The most important change is the toolbar on the left. It's a one-time bar only; that is, if you click any icon, it will be hidden in all tabs and you will need to restart Minimo in order to be seen them again. This may not exactly be what the authors wanted.
The uppermost yellow star, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2YellowStar.png, brings up a pre-defined directory of mobile-optimized news sources (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2NewIconsYellowStar.bmp.png).
The G icon, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2G.png, brings up Google in a new tab.
The third, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2ThirdIcon.png, icon takes you to the Technorati Mobile web site (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc23rdIconMobirati.bmp.png).
The fourth, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc24thIcon.png icon, opens Weather Underground in a new tab (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc24thIconWU.bmp.png).
The fifth, http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc25thIcon.png, icon, takes you to the Yokel website (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc25thIconYokel.bmp.png).
I haven't found a way to redefine these icons - in neither the home directory nor \Windows\Mozilla could I find any related, 'hackable' configuration or resource files related to these icons/their targets.
Other changes in context menus
Also, there are some other, really minor, negligable changes. RC1 only had 'Toggle Full Screen' in the generic (non-image/link/selection) context menu (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc1GenericContextMenu.bmp.png); RC2 has Find, Reload (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2GenericContextMenu.bmp.png) and, if it's not invoked on a brand new tab, also Back in it to make page navigation and in-page text search easier. Otherwise, the context menus haven't changed – the link context menu (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2LinkContextMenu.bmp.png) still only has "Open link in New Tab" (and no niceties like 'copy link' or 'save link content') and the image context menu (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2ImageContextMenu.bmp.png) still doesn't contain anything like 'save image' or 'display alternate text'.
Other changes
There don't seem to be any (at least usability-wise – this doesn't mean for example "hidden" bugfixes). For example, the WM5 hardware keys still work the same way as in RC1 (and there's still no 'Action' button). Similarly, the Preferences menu is still the same.
My HTC Wizard, Minimo started with the Mozilla homepage (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2MozillaMainPage.bmp.png) instead of Google. The main dispatcher homepage seems to redirect to this page too from time to time – at least from PPC PE devices.
Yahoo Mail
Strangely, this version (when I logged into Yahoo Mail to run my JavaScript/SSL/file upload compliance tests) loaded Yahoo Mail far slower in my tests than RC1. I've even run into '10061' connect errors on my Pocket Loox 720 (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2YahooMailConnectError.bmp.png). I don't know if you encounter the same.
SSR-related bugs
I've already mentioned some subtleties like the not visible button submenus in Yahoo Mail in my previous reviews.
There're other problems SSR may cause; for example, take a look at this file uploader Yahoo Mail dialog screen (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2SSRYahooMailFileChooser.bmp.png) (with active SSR).
Also, you may dislike the by default one-column mode of Minimo.
Therefore, you may want to consider switching it off entirely in Preferences (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2SSRDisable.bmp.png).
Non-ASCII characters are still problematic on non-UTF-8-encoded pages
Unfortunately, the character encoding problem causing non-English characters to be rendered as simple rectangles on non-UTF-8 encoded pages are still present (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2CharBug.bmp.png). Note that this bug is not device-specific – here's PPC PE screenshot on my HTC Wizard (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo013rc2CharBugWizard.bmp.png) of the same problem.
This bug must be fixed (it isn't hard at all – after all, UTF-8 is already working OK. In any up-to-date programming language/environment/class library, defining a character conversion rule is just an additional one programming statement) in the final version!
Java compliance
Unfortunately, Minimo (still) doesn't support Java applets. Don't let the .jar files (the traditional Java containers) in the chrome subdirectory mislead you (they did mislead me before I did peek inside these files only to find out they have nothing to do with Java): these files do not contain Java .class files but Web resources (HTML, CSS files etc). Minimo is not based on Java at all – for example, a quick 'java.applet' search inside the files returned nothing.
To be absolutely sure, I've visited several Java applet demo pages which, otherwise, work just great in Pocket Internet Explorer/ Internet Explorer Mobile Java plug-ins (see for example this (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=462&more=1) and this (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=492&more=1) article on them; the latter discusses WM5 compliance); for example, the JDK1.0 Clock applet (http://java.sun.com/applets/jdk/1.0/demo/Clock/index.html) didn't run (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo13rc2_clockAppletJDK10.bmp.png) (also see this WM5 (HTC Wizard) Thunderhawk screenshot (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/ThunderhawkWM5_clockAppletJDK10.bmp.png)) just like the JDK 1.2-specific version of the clock applet (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo13rc2_clockAppletJDK12x51v.bmp.png). As I've predicted, Minimo wasn't able to render these applets.
As the entire Minimo architecture lacks Java support, it's highly unlikely that it will be able to run Java applets in the near future.
Please note that Java has nothing to do with JavaScript; Minimo's compliance with the latter is excellent.
Important note
As with RC1 and the latest Thunderhawk, if you find RC2 very slow on your Window Mobile 5 Pocket PC or not start at all, then, try hard resetting your Pocket PC, installing Minimo on a completely clean device and start to reinstall all your applications, each time checking whether Minimo (and Thunderhawk, which is in the habit of not starting at all on not completely clean Pocket PC's) runs equally fast than before. When, after installing a specific program, it considerably slows down, you know which third-party application to avoid.
This problem is particularly acute on Dell Axim x51v's. Incidentally, even on freshly hard reset x51v's (with the latest, most stable, A06 ROM), Minimo sometimes crashes (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo13rc2x51vCrash.bmp.png). This has never happened on my other WM5 test device, the HTC Wizard. It seems (not just because of this case but, as far as my experience is concerned in general) the latter may have a considerably better/stable WM5 implementation.
iPAQ 2210
I'm not particularly happy with the way it behaved on my 2210. It may be a bit (?) slower than RC1 and even gave me autocompletion exceptions as can be seen in here (http://www.winmobiletech.com/022006Minimo13/Minimo13rc22210AutoCompletionException.bmp.png).
Note that I hadn't time to thoroughly test it on my 2210 (I've concentrated my forces on my newer devices). 2210 users, beware – you may still want to stick to RC1 if you run into the same problems.
Verdict
There aren't many changes, capability/usability-wise, compared to version RC1 and the problems still seem to be the same. It maybe worth upgrading. Do not, however, delete the "old" RC1 version - it may prove more stable than this version.
Recommended reading
The Release Candidate 1 Review (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=549&more=1).
Download link
http://www.meer.net/~dougt/pre/minimo_013rc2.zip