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Opera Mini Internet browser is a bliss - also in Windows Mobile phones ! Review : Opera Mini in Pocket PC August 22, 2005 [Pocket PC] | By Edward J. R. Opera Mini is available now only for customers of one mobile phone operator in Norway, it is not available commercially yet for anybody else. Yet we managed to get Opera Mini and test it thoroughly! Opera Mini is a browser written in Java and it works in each of several hundred millions mobile phones equipped with Java (nowadays pretty much every mobile phone has Java on board). However it is little known that also most of Windows Mobile phones have Java on board (not from Microsoft, 3rd party product) and can run Opera Mini. Not only Windows Mobile phones can run Opera Mini, but they can run it extremely well: In this story we present review of Opera Mini running in Pocket PC. Please note: it works perfectly also in MS Smartphone phones! ... and since it uses soft keys for navigation, MS Smartphone is perfect for Opera Mini too! Actually there are 2 versions of Opera Mini - HiFi and LoFi (High Fidelity and Low Fidelity). Here we test HiFi version. Opera Mini is designed to work with phones that are not smartphones - phones that can run only Java programs but can't run "native" applications. Opera Mini is using server as intermediary between mobile phone and the web server that is being browsed. This intermediary server is reformatting content to fit in Opera Mini. The IP address of this server (in our test case) is 193.69.116.46 (and it is located in Norway - country where Opera company is located). With Opera Mini browsing of full blown (not just cut down, mobile versions of) web sites is possible: ... but the only mode available is "one column" mode, that is representing all content in one column, so that no horizontal scrolling is needed - only vertical scrolling is needed to view pages, even if they are complex and in PC have multiple-column design. The home page of Opera Mini, that opens at the beginning of browsing, looks like this: You can however enter any web address in a text entry dialog (typical for wireless Java applications): Also combo box selections are done in typical way for Java: Of course you need so called "Midlet Manager" to run Opera Mini: The "Midlet Manager" is a front-end to Java virtual machine and nowadays most Windows Mobile have it, because particularly mobile operators are insisting to have all their phones Java compatible.... Here is dialog with settings, that shows you what parameters can be changed: The Midlet Manager with Opera Mini is also polite enough to ask, before accessing network: ... what could be crucial if you are for example roaming and you wouldn't like to spend too much money on Internet browsing. General impressions about using Opera Mini in Pocket PC: user interface of Opera Mini is soft-key based, so it's very good that all Windows Mobile 5.0 phones, also Pocket PC phones, not just MS Smartphones, use concept of soft keys and single handed usage frames are not supported in the sense that they are reformatted to one column (as anything else too, including tables) operation of the browser is very fast stylus is working! in other words: one can grab the scroll bar and select links on pages also with a stylus! Opera Mini uses "Small Screen Rendering" technology - the same as in Opera for smartphones but most of processing (reformatting of content) is done on the server side, so speed of browsing may be even bigger than in Opera (and other Internet browsers) for smartphones Conclusion: Opera Mini is a bliss - very fast and user friendly. Here we have dismissed a myth, that Windows Mobile phones can't run Java - yes, they can and very often even better than so called "Java phones" especially designed for Java. While Opera browser is available already for MS Smartphone, it is not available yet for Pocket PC, but Opera Mini works in both: Pocket PC and MS Smartphone! Moreover Opera Mini is using intermediary server, thanks to which browsing may be much faster and more pleasant. Although at this moment Opera Mini is not available outside Norway, it allows us to get a feeling what users of regular (non-smartphone) phones will be able to run in their phones, and (as we have proved) it works perfectly also in Windows Mobile phones, so if mobile phone operators would like to improve user experience, they could make agreement with Opera company and bundle Opera Mini also with Windows Mobile phones! To learn more about Opera Mini click here. Credit: Jonny Axelsson, Core Technology, Opera Software ASA. Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later) [ 2 Comments ] << Previous Story Next Story >>

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