Minimo 013 Released

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/dougt/archives/009772.html' target='_blank'>http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/doug...ves/009772.html</a><br /><br /></div>Another early version of Minimo (the Mozilla browser for Windows Mobile), v0.013, has been released. New features include a new UI including a "HomeBase sidebar", initial download support, better support for WM5 Smartphone, and lots of bug fixes.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20060218-Minimo013.gif" /><br /><br />You can download it from the linked page. Prolific member Menneisyys has a review of 0.013RC2 <a href="http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&amp;p=552&amp;more=1">on his blog</a> and has appended some comments about the "final" 0.013 release in <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46583&amp;highlight=">this thread</a>.

[OSUKid7]

Interesting... at first glance, it seems like they've improved it a lot since earlier versions, but as I start to play with it, the primitiveness shines through. I can't even bring up the SIP to enter urls... geez. :roll: No thanks. I think I'll stick with Opera on my Pocket PC for now.

[jngold_me]

No thanks. I think I'll stick with Opera on my Pocket PC for now.

Yeah I agree. Even in beta form, the WM5 version of Opera is just so much more polished than Mini-me(mo). I also think Opera is faster.

[topps]

No thanks. I think I'll stick with Opera on my Pocket PC for now.

Yeah I agree. Even in beta form, the WM5 version of Opera is just so much more polished than Mini-me(mo). I also think Opera is faster.
Thanks for the tip. I was going to take a look but have been quite disappointed in how rough Opera is. This would be even worse.

I am happy to see that there is some development going on in mobile browsers but sorry to see that simple things like copy&amp; paste of a URL into the location bar of Opera is not possible.

Is NetFront any better? I tried to load it today but won't run on WM5.

[Menneisyys]

I am happy to see that there is some development going on in mobile browsers but sorry to see that simple things like copy&amp; paste of a URL into the location bar of Opera is not possible.

It's possible - use Paste in the context menu (that is, you need to tap and hold the address bar with the stylus). Unfortunately, keyboard shortcuts don't work with Opera because it uses non-native GUI components, with all their problems (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&amp;p=478&amp;more=1) (the lack of keyboard shortcuts is only one of them).

Is NetFront any better? I tried to load it today but won't run on WM5.

3.2 doesn't work under WM5 (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&amp;title=wm5_aamp_potential_netfront_users_netfro&amp;more=1); the Technical Previews of 3.3 do. I really recommend the latest one, 1.04 (see this article (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&amp;p=502&amp;more=1) on it if interested).

[Menneisyys]

I also think Opera is faster.

Opera is by far the fastest browser on the Pocket PC right now. Minimo is considerably slower - as with NetFront and IEM/PIE.

[isajoo]

everyone is raving about opera... but when i look for it to download... i cannot seem to find it. it asked to use a smartphone.

is it really that much more faster than pie or netfront?

could someone put a REAL link to download opera for POCKET PC?

[sickens]

Here's the link:

http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/products/winmobileppc/

click either WM2003 or WM5 depending on what you're running :)

[Menneisyys]

It's worth remembering that Opera (as of the current beta) under WM2003(SE) likes stalling a lot, unlike under WM5. That is, your pre-WM5 Opera experience may be considerably worse than that of with WM5 devices.

If you have a WM5 device,however, Opera is the way to go. It only has minor glitches -the problems related to non-native GUI components and the inability to render pages correctly that are more than 15-20-30 kbytes in size.

[Dermot81]

Opera for WM2005 is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[isajoo]

opera takes up 5mbs which could be too much for most peoples pda..but its is around 30% faster loading speed... worse part is it is not as good at rendering pages as pocket ie... plus only 45day trial. not bad overall.

[Menneisyys]

Opera for WM2005 is the greatest thing since sliced bread.


Agreed. Apart from its (minor) bugs, it really rocks.

[Menneisyys]

1st... no biggy but it takes up 5mbs which could be to much for most peoples pda..but its is about 30% faster loading speed...

I haven't benhcmarked it with my standard page loader benchmark suite (I'll wait for the final version for that to save time), but the app seems to be able to render most pages much (not just 30%) faster than either PIE/IEM, Minimo or NetFront (the latter in normal mode; the text-only mode of NF is much faster).


it is only 75% good at rendering pages as good as pocket ie in my tests...

Could you provide us with some URL's like these? In my practice, Opera has rendered almost everything OK. Or, did you mean the lack of One Column mode, which indeed can be useful some time?

no bad overall if your using phone/modem it would save some money on bandwidth.

Opera, as opposed to Opera Mini (or Thunderhawk), doesn't use a central server to reformat the input page, in times, causing GPRS cost lowering. The only way to shove off GPRS costs is using a third-party service (Skweezer, MobileLeap, OnSpeed, Toonel etc). Opera and Opera Mini have nothing to do with each other - except for having been produced by the same developer.

Opera (as with Minimo or any, proxy-compliant PPC Web browser) works just great with the latter two services - I certainly recommend them. You may want to read this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=360414) here at PPCT on this subject.

[stevelam]

Opera for WM2005 is the greatest thing since sliced bread.


Agreed. Apart from its (minor) bugs, it really rocks.

Well that wouldn't be hard, I am sure that sliced bread is no good at page rendering! :lol:

[Gator5000e]

Is there a way to set Opera to scroll by page instead of link? ALso, it seems to scroll very slowly on my Axim X51V. Takes a while for the new page to refresh and at time you have to wait while the picture redraws. I really hope ReenSoft gets PIE Plus for WM 5 out soon.

[Menneisyys]

Is there a way to set Opera to scroll by page instead of link?

Please read http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46500

[Gator5000e]

Thank you!!

[Menneisyys]

I really hope ReenSoft gets PIE Plus for WM 5 out soon.

I wouldn't keep my breath - they have just released the new version, without WM5 support (please see this review (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=388838) if interested) and I don't think they'll be able to/will have the time to implement the tabbed interface under WM5 - at least in the near future.

Therefore, I'd go for Spb Pocket Plus instead if you really want to stick to IEM instead of, say, Opera - you may want to read this article (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=389450) on the WM5 compliance of current PIE/IEM plug-ins.

[isajoo]

I am not a expert... BUT i am a end user and I dont think opera has come out with anything amazing... the pages i viewed were not up to par for a pocket pc format... more like a win3.1 in the 80's format.

http://www.geocities.com/imtiazsajoo/Pie1.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/imtiazsajoo/Opera1.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/imtiazsajoo/Pie3.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/imtiazsajoo/Opera3.JPG

I hope u can see the difference i see in the overall Graphics layout.

Pie looks more like a desktop format... it also used the webtext format instead of opera using a standard one text style.

[Dermot81]

I am not a expert... BUT i am a end user and I dont think opera has come out with anything amazing... the pages i viewed were not up to par for a pocket pc format... more like a win3.1 in the 80's format.

[pictures are in above post]

I hope u can see the difference i see in the overall Graphics layout.

Pie looks more like a desktop format... it also used the webtext format instead of opera using a standard one text style.

Are you using a VGA device? On VGA PDAs, Opera page layouts really set themselves apart from PIE ones since Opera eliminates pixel doubling.

[isajoo]

i'm using a qvga toshiba e750... what does double pixeling do?

[Menneisyys]

i'm using a qvga toshiba e750... what does double pixeling do?

Please read this article (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39544).

[topps]

Thanks to Menneissys for your excellent reply about using Paste from the context menu...should have thought of that rather than using Ctrl-V.

What I have been primarily using this for is to paste URLs from my Favourites in PIE into Opera's location bar. But this is a pretty clunky way to do it. However when I took a quick look at the folders, I could not see an equivalent folder for Opera.

I quite like how Activesync can help with the Favourites. Easiest way to copy from device to device...but now how can we do this with Opera?

[cmonex]

It's worth remembering that Opera (as of the current beta) under WM2003(SE) likes stalling a lot, unlike under WM5. That is, your pre-WM5 Opera experience may be considerably worse than that of with WM5 devices.

If you have a WM5 device,however, Opera is the way to go. It only has minor glitches -the problems related to non-native GUI components and the inability to render pages correctly that are more than 15-20-30 kbytes in size.

lol, is that only a MINOR glitch, if a browser cannot render a page correctly that is larger than 15 kbytes??? aww :)

btw i found opera very slow on a qtek 9000 (htc universal). IE was certainly faster for me. :( but the VGA res was amazing ;)

[topps]

btw i found opera very slow on a qtek 9000 (htc universal). IE was certainly faster for me. :( but the VGA res was amazing ;)

Hmm, I found the opposite - for me, Opera is much faster than IE. Just wish I could figure out how to make the bookmarks/favourites more effective - I use these lots in IE (more than on the desktop).

[cmonex]

btw i found opera very slow on a qtek 9000 (htc universal). IE was certainly faster for me. :( but the VGA res was amazing ;)

Hmm, I found the opposite - for me, Opera is much faster than IE. Just wish I could figure out how to make the bookmarks/favourites more effective - I use these lots in IE (more than on the desktop).

well, maybe depends on the type of pages you or i visit? humm

[advantagex]

I am new to alot of this stuff, what are some of the major benefits of Opera compared to minimo and IE? Which one carshes the least?