My OperaWii + Opera
Sunday, December 24, 2006 12:54:43 AM
Well I finally got a Wii a few weeks ago after waiting online at the Times Square Toysrus. I waited for a couple of hours and finally got one from their big shipment of 3000. I'm apparently considered lucky for getting one, let alone at a big name store. So I got a Wii and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
A few days ago the forecast channel was released. Not exactly the most exciting channel, but an awesome channel nonetheless. Then on Friday, the internet channel trial version was released. Now before we get to my thoughts we must remember that this is only a trial version and doesn't represent exactly what the final browser will be like. Now onto my thoughts:
Navigation
Easy as to be expected from Opera. There backward, forward, reload/stop, favorites, and start page. B (trigger) button for scrolling around the page and + and - buttons for zooming in. Zooming levels differ based on the content looked at so if you're looking at this it should zoom until this text fills the width. Not all the time it works so well, but it's normally fine. Also pressing 2 gives you a single column view just like cell phones, really makes stuff easier to read.
Favorites
By pressing 1 or the favorites button you can see you're favorites. You can add favorites, remove them, or move them. They are shown as thumbnails, which is good if you want to remember the pages, but bad because the favorites load a little slower.
Flash Support
Now this is a big topic so I'll try to keep it short. Youtube, as in the videos on Youtube.com, does not work, but youtube videos embedded elsewhere do. Many flash games from sites like WiiCade do work, but many don't (ex. Curveball and Tactical Assassin do work, but paintball doesn't). Hopefully better support will be added and maybe a little partnership with Adobe will do us all some good.
RAM
Unlike PDA's and cell phones, all images and flash videos (that I've tried) load. Opera has taken painstaking measures to make sure this works. This surprised me just as much as the Game Boy Advance RAM cartridge (for the Opera DS browser) surprised me. Really shows the ingenuity of the Opera Team. Good Job!
Problems Found
With all the good, there is, of course, some bad.
Suggestions - I will send these to someone at Opera for review
This post will be updated as more problems are found and suggestions are thought up of.
A few days ago the forecast channel was released. Not exactly the most exciting channel, but an awesome channel nonetheless. Then on Friday, the internet channel trial version was released. Now before we get to my thoughts we must remember that this is only a trial version and doesn't represent exactly what the final browser will be like. Now onto my thoughts:
Navigation
Easy as to be expected from Opera. There backward, forward, reload/stop, favorites, and start page. B (trigger) button for scrolling around the page and + and - buttons for zooming in. Zooming levels differ based on the content looked at so if you're looking at this it should zoom until this text fills the width. Not all the time it works so well, but it's normally fine. Also pressing 2 gives you a single column view just like cell phones, really makes stuff easier to read.
Favorites
By pressing 1 or the favorites button you can see you're favorites. You can add favorites, remove them, or move them. They are shown as thumbnails, which is good if you want to remember the pages, but bad because the favorites load a little slower.
Flash Support
Now this is a big topic so I'll try to keep it short. Youtube, as in the videos on Youtube.com, does not work, but youtube videos embedded elsewhere do. Many flash games from sites like WiiCade do work, but many don't (ex. Curveball and Tactical Assassin do work, but paintball doesn't). Hopefully better support will be added and maybe a little partnership with Adobe will do us all some good.
RAM
Unlike PDA's and cell phones, all images and flash videos (that I've tried) load. Opera has taken painstaking measures to make sure this works. This surprised me just as much as the Game Boy Advance RAM cartridge (for the Opera DS browser) surprised me. Really shows the ingenuity of the Opera Team. Good Job!
Problems Found
With all the good, there is, of course, some bad.
- Obviously, the flash compatibility problems
- The browser has trouble dealing with pop ups, sometimes getting so confused it either pauses or goes back to the start page. This one happens quite often and really needs to be fixed
- Well at least for me, digg doesn't want to load and it heads straight back to the start page
Suggestions - I will send these to someone at Opera for review
- Ability to zoom further than size of object being viewed
- Ability to type/edit url's without going back to the start page
- Ability to make favorites into list form with possible folders
- Ability to drag and drop favorites when in edit mode
- Of course, better flash support
Tabbed browsing, though this may already be implemented, if so then an easier way to do it and an X button on each tab (this seems to be in beta as favorites don't work with it and moving up and down, you need to use a scroll bar) - Pop ups and any new windows must open a new tab to keep order in the browser
- Any pop ups that do open should have a close button
- D-Pad buttons should be mapped to keyboard up, down, right, and left buttons, they should also move the page up, down, right, and left for navigation
This post will be updated as more problems are found and suggestions are thought up of.
Well, as I won't have much to talk about normally, I can at least try to make it funny.
