Screenshots of Opera for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://pocketcenter.de/707.html' target='_blank'>http://pocketcenter.de/707.html</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050817-Opera.jpg" /><br /><br />I had an epiphany today. There aren't actually that many <i>unique</i> browsers for the Pocket PC. To name a few, there's <a href="http://www.windowsmobile.com/">Internet Explorer Mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.access-us-inc.com/Products/client-side/Prod_NetFront_nf_ppc.html">NetFront</a>, and <a href="http://www.bitstream.com/wireless/index.html">ThunderHawk</a>, but the vast majority of browser-related applications for the Pocket PC jazz up Internet Explorer Mobile rather than offer a different product altogether. Wouldn't you love to have more range to choose from? Months ago, Minimo was announced, and as of today, it is still trudging along slowly in the beta phase. But what about <a href="http://www.opera.com/winmobile/">Opera</a> for Windows Mobile? Smartphone users were officially graced with its presence in June, and as expected, there were a lot of questions being thrown left, right and centre as to whether Pocket PC users would receive a version of what Opera like to pride themselves on - a browser which delivers "speed, security, and simplicity". As far as official announcements were concerned, Opera stated that a Pocket PC version was on the roadmap, but left no further details.<br /><br />To help alleviate some of the pain and suffering experienced by Opera fans, <a href="http://pocketcenter.de/707.html">PocketCenter.de</a> has just posted three screenshots of the Opera browser running on a Pocket LOOX 720. If the Smartphone version is anything to go by, it probably won't be free come final release, but based on what Opera's capable of, it may end up being plenty of bang for buck.<br /><br />Are any of you excited by the idea of having Opera on your Pocket PC, or is your heart set on another browser?<br /><br />Translation: <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpocketcenter.de%2F707.html&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools">German to English (Google)</a>

[PocketPC Addict]

I've looked forward to Opera for PPC for a long time. Love the desktop version. I am wondering how big it will be on the PPC. Considering the desktop version weighs in at only 3.5MB or so, even if they did a straight port over, it would still be a pretty reasonable impact on memory. :D

I hope they also add the option of saving the cache to a storage card without having to tweak the registry.

[dochall]

Are any of you excited by the idea of having Opera on your Pocket PC, or is your heart set on another browser?


8O Excited isn't the word. I would gladly pay for it now as long as supports VGA properly. Minimo isn't going fast enough for me and everything else just doesn't do it - severly lacking in VGA support and abysmal support and information (yes I'm looking at you Netfront).

[Jonathan1]

I'll wait for mozilla to mature. Browsers are a point I will not move on. I'm not going to pay for a web browser. Its one thing back in the mid 90' when I purchased internet in a box and got Spry Mosaic, mail, GOPHER, and a few other apps. But at this point web browsing is so ubiquitous that it would be like going to the library and needing to purchase the library card for the low, low price of $19.95 before you can rent anything. (Yah yah I know taxes at work. But I'm also paying for my internet access to.) I just don't believe in paying for "that" software. Name anything else and I'll shell out the cash but web browsers. Nope. But that is me. Doubtless YMMV on that opinion. For those who love Opera more power to you.

[surur]

Any way to get onto this beta?

Surur

[Bacco]

I'm with the majority posters here. I can't wait. I used Opera on my Smartphone and loved it. Don't know why they started with the Smartphone first.

[PocketPC Addict]

I'll wait for mozilla to mature. Browsers are a point I will not move on. I'm not going to pay for a web browser. Its one thing back in the mid 90' when I purchased Internet in a box and got Spry Mosaic, mail, GOPHER, and a few other apps.

I remember that package! I was talking with people at lunch the other day "hey, whatever happened to gopher?" LOL

But at this point web browsing is so ubiquitous that it would be like going to the library and needing to purchase the library card for the low, low price of $19.95 before you can rent anything. (Yah yah I know taxes at work. But I'm also paying for my Internet access to.) I just don't believe in paying for "that" software. Name anything else and I'll shell out the cash but web browsers. Nope. But that is me. Doubtless YMMV on that opinion. For those who love Opera more power to you.

There is a free (non-limited) version of Opera - it shows Google ads.

I think you might be missing the point of paying for Opera. For me, it replaces quite a few paid-for applications I would have to buy that individually would cost the same or more than the browser itself. Quite a few of them are subtle and not so obvious, but they still save me a lot of time.

1. One time saver is the quick response in the email client. no opening other windows, hitting reply or anything, just type what you want to say and click send. Very much like a forum "quick reply" box without the wait.

2. Notes. I priced all sorts of note-to email products on the market to plug into Outlook that I could use to somewhat automate repetitive responses clients and employees. Things like Password resets, etc. Some were cumbersome, others were buggy. One worked fine at $160+ Opera has it built in. Right click and select the template and you're done! :) Plus, you can even use the quick reply box to right click and insert template for even faster results.

3. The download manager is well thought out and cuts out steps taken to download and optimizes the speed of the downloads. I am very happy with the speeds I get.

4. Newsgroup notifications. If you have some newsgroups you like to read, Opera can be scheduled to download them and pop up a notification when new postings are there. Prevents hitting the refresh button over and over and over.

5. The tabbed browsing is second to none. You can open all your pages at once, keep them open in the background, tile them for side-by-side comparisons or cascade them(I don't use cascading, but others love it). If close out of the browser, it will remember everything you had open and take you back to all of the pages.

6. Spell checker for forums and email posts

There are quite a few more subtle options that save me a lot of time and money I would list, but got to run... :wink:

[AIO]

Are any of you excited by the idea of having Opera on your Pocket PC, or is your heart set on another browser?


8O Excited isn't the word. I would gladly pay for it now as long as supports VGA properly. Minimo isn't going fast enough for me and everything else just doesn't do it - severly lacking in VGA support and abysmal support and information (yes I'm looking at you Netfront).
I wonder if it supports "True VGA", not the WM2003SE kinda VGA.

[manywhere]

Can that be true? Is it done already?? Opera confirmed only back in june (http://operawatch.blogspot.com/2005/06/opera-browser-for-pocket-pc.html) that they would be making a Pocket PC version of their browser. In other words, that is fast programming from their side! 8O

Talking about the link, why are they mentioning Opera Mini in that post? Are they running Opera Mini (only) on a Pocket PC with a J2ME application?? :?

[Deslock]

Christ-in-a-sidecar, would someone - anyone - please release a VGA browser for PPC that doesn't suck? After all these years, PIE (as well as every browser based on it) still blows big, fat, hairy, oozing chunks (crappy javascript support, slow as death, limited features... WTF!)

NetFront is the only one worth anything, and it doesn't work properly in VGA without VGA_SE/ozVGA.

Save us Opera/Minimo, you're our only hope.

[signothefish]

I'm trying to figure out if the maroon "O" in the capture stands for Opera, or Overstock.com. The two logos look almost identical!
http://images.overstock.com/f/102/3117/8h/www.overstock.com/img/mxc/hp_header_sabineNoship.gif

[ricksfiona]

I would love a replacement for Pocket IE. Tabbed browsing and real security would rule!

[carphead]

Come on enough already. Just release it. It can't be any worse than NetFront and must be better than PIE by a long shot.

So is this going to be the next place for browser wars?

[KTamas]

I'll wait for minimo.

[saru83]

i would love to get Opera on my JAM, i used to have it on my P800/P900/P910 &amp; it was awesome, so good job OPERA :wink:

[disconnected]

With every new PPC OS, the only built-in app I've ever really wanted to see improved is PIE. It looks almost the same now as it did in 2000. I know there are lots of people that have been waiting for the improvements to Word and Excel, but I rarely even use those.

[saru83]

With every new PPC OS, the only built-in app I've ever really wanted to see improved is PIE. It looks almost the same now as it did in 2000.
Thats true, PIE sucks :evil: , its really good of Opera to release a PPC version, Opera ROCKS :rock on dude!:

[Sven Johannsen]

I'm not waiting for Opera, or Netfront or anything else. I just want PIE to do it's job. I don't need tabbed browsing, I only have 2 1/4 inches across the top. Native multi-page support would be nice, guess that happens in WM5. I'd like it to support what IE on the desktop supports. Everyday I hit something that isn't supported right. Can't accept Panera Bread's free WiFi Terms of Use, can't get on my Company Web Mail, can't, can't can't. Why the heck should I have to get some third party thing to do what MS should be doing right in the first place. It's an IE world out there, PIE should work in it.

If you want a connected device to be accepted, it has to do what connected folks want to do, out of the box. And what do folks do when connected? Web and e-mail. And what two things really need work on the PPC platform? Web and E-Mail.

Fix PIE :evil:

[whydidnt]

I'll jump on the bandwagon -

If it provides a decent VGA user experience I'll gladly pay for it. I can't figure out why NetFront went to all the trouble of updating their browser without taking it to the final step of making it VGA aware.

Opera was included on the Motorola A780 smart phone (Linux) I'm currently using and it is a pretty robust browser. It seems to work for me on most sites - only have problems with sites that use flash or some types of javascript - much like with PIE today.

[Ketsugi]

Tabbed browsing on a Pocket PC screen? Sorry, that just won't do. Multi-window browsing, yes, but tabbed? I don't think so.

That said, I'm waiting for Minimo to reach release status.

[PocketPC Addict]

why not tabbed?

[Ketsugi]

No space on the screen. As it is I want to be able to view websites in fullscreen mode. Having a tab bar across one side just eats up valuable screen real-estate. Plus, with the screen so small, you just can't have text lable on tabs that are long enough to adequately identify the tab. When I browse with tabs I frequently have anything between 4 and 15 tabs open. That's never going to fly on a PPC screen.

[huangzhinong]

I am the exception here. I don't need any other browser at all. PIE is OK for me, enhancedment of PIE is welcome. Installing a 4mb NETFRONT or maybe 2MB opera for internet browsing is not my option at all. For the same reason, I don't need 3MB PI or AF for PIM or 5MB Textmaker for WORD. PPC is a PDA, forever.

[surur]

Tabbed browsing in Netfront works quite well, especially in true VGA mode. The two taps to change pages using the PIE Pocketplus extension is just too unwieldy for me.

Surur

[ADBrown]

Native multi-page support would be nice, guess that happens in WM5.

Not likely.

I'd like it to support what IE on the desktop supports.

Even less likely.

Why the heck should I have to get some third party thing to do what MS should be doing right in the first place. It's an IE world out there, PIE should work in it.

Pocket Word shouldn't destroy a file's formatting, either, but MS has never cared much for the built-in apps.

I couldn't be happier. I've been an Opera user ever since version 5.0, when I jumped from the increasingly pointless Netscape. Tabbed browsing, fast rendering, and all the dozens of little touches that you only see once in awhile really make Opera so much better than IE. With such a pathetic competitor on the WM platform, hopefully Opera will shine even more.

[surur]

For the people complaining about PIE and about paying for a browser, browsers are actually quite complicated stuff. They are these days not just parsers, but actually virtual machines, with content that can change dynamically based on user input. Just look at those awful floaters on Amazon to see what i mean. They also need to do what they do securely, and allow extensions by plug-ins.

Just because they are free does not mean they are not hard work to make.

Surur

[BUMP THAT]

I must have this!! Seriously. Opera is great. Now for PPC. of course if it is VGA I want it. Looks like it to me on the screens. Now If we could get a BLUE theme as well that would rock!! Definately looks promissing. The netfront browser that I am using (3.2) will jusy close on me or freeze my PPC. So I hope that this opera is way better.

[logo20heli]

I'm paying $50/year to have Thunderhawk on my machine so I can get decent browsing performance on my PocketPC. And it doesn't even support VGA. While I'd rather have a free alternative browser, I'm still willing to pay some amount (&lt; $50) for a browser. I tried Netfront and didn't like it (why can't they get VGA working). Minimo might be a good alternative when it's matured. I'll also check out Opera when they release it. If its good, I'll pay for it. It will be nice to to have an alternative to Thunderhawk.

[Fedorov]

I'm with the majority posters here. I can't wait. I used Opera on my Smartphone and loved it. Don't know why they started with the Smartphone first.

Same here, used and loved Opera on my Sony P800 phone for a couple of years and even though that was a much smaller screen than I have on my iMate Jam and HP hx4700 it beats all the PPC browsers hands down for speed, rendering, tabs etc....

Can't wait to try this on my PPC!!!

Fedorov.

[Sven Johannsen]

Native multi-page support would be nice, guess that happens in WM5.

Not likely.
Yea, you're right. Must have been wishful recollection.

For Surer... expecting MS to produce a viable browser isn't quite like wanting some third party to develop a browser for free. Just as the expectation is that Pocket Word and Pocket Excel, MS products, that are mobile companions to MS products, would be more than they are, so is the expectation that MSs pocket version of their browser should be significantly more than it is. Sure it takes effort, but it can't even open a second window without some third party add-in for pete' sake.

If the effort isn't going to be put into a decent PIE, then I'd say leave it out altogether. Things that were left out, like PowerPoint and Access, generated a wealth of excellent third party offerrings fairly quickly. Things that were included, though pathetic, didn't seem to generate as much third party interest as quickly. Just MHO.

[Darius Wey]

Native multi-page support would be nice, guess that happens in WM5.

Not likely.
Yea, you're right. Must have been wishful recollection.

Unfortunately, a lot of Internet Explorer Mobile's changes are under-the-hood: speed and security enhancements, full-screen viewing support, and improved scripting support, but as far as multiple-page browsing is concerned, it's still not there, which is where third-party applications such as MultiIE and Pocket Plus jump in. As much of an annoyance as it is, it's taken seven complete revisions of the desktop version of Internet Explorer for tabbed browsing to finally appear. Heh, and when will the mobile version get it? Only time will tell.

[thomas1973]

I would GLADLY pay for this product! I've been waiting for a proper internet browser for the PPC platform for years, after getting the hx4700 with the wonderful VGA screen, I miss a good browser more than ever. Thunderhawk is good, but I'd prefer a 'normal' browser.

I bet Opera will run fast and smooth when they release it, so the only thing I'd look for before buying it, would be true VGA support. A VGA PPC is very capable of showing websites, and actually pretty usable for surfing the net, compared to QVGA units.

Do you hear that, Opera?! VGA! :twisted:


Thomas.

[surur]

I concur,but interestingly, the Loox 720 IS a VGA PPC. I assume from looking at the screen shots closely we can ascertain whether VGA is being used to its full potential or not.

Surur

[Tye]

I'm sticking my neck out here...
Is the screenshot actually showing the PPC version of Opera? Because it looks more like Opera Mini, showing the Opera for PPC webpage.
Opera Mini is just a Java app that can run on a Java engine, so in theory, it could be made to work on the PPC, but it's not actually Opera for PPC.
Anyway, Umm, Opera for PPC? Yeah!!! I tried FireFox for six months. I really tried to love it like Opera, but I just switched back to Opera a few weeks ago. I don't regret the decision. The thing that gets me most excited is that the people at Opera "like to do things right."

[disconnected]

I have MultiIE, and don't mind paying for add-ons, or even a whole browser, but I do want the browser to at least be VGA-capable, to have some sort of bookmarks, and to be able to access most, if not all, websites without getting weirdly formated text, big blank spots on the page where content is missing, or messages about my obsolete browser.