Opera 8.5 beta for Windows Mobile, Pocket PC is released - provide feedback in this thread

Opera 8.5 beta for Windows Mobile, Pocket PC is released - provide feedback in this thread

Opera 8.5 beta version for Windows Mobile, Pocket PC is available!

Please provide feedback in this thread. (If you find bugs, you can of course report them to our bug database)

The version is available for both WM 2003 and WM 5.0.

The beta build has a 45 days trial period.

Features:

- zoom
- downloadmanager
- automatic url entry
- address bar
- 4-way navigation
- pop-up handler
- multiple windows

To download, see product pages: http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/products/winmobileppc/

Installation instructions:

- The CAB installer package can either be downloaded directly to the Pocket PC, or downloaded using your desktop computer, and transferred to the Pocket PC using your ActiveSync software.
- Use Start, File Explorer on the Pocket PC to locate and run the installer
package.
- Follow any instructions to complete the install
- You can now run Opera using Start, Programs, Opera Browser.

Happy surfing!

Looking forward to hear your opinions.


Anne-Hilde

It seems that the cab files are corrupt
Are there any ftp mirrors available?

We're looking into this now. Which version did you try? WM or WM 2003

WM2003 - but the WM5 cab is also corrupt - maybe our web-proxy destroys the package - thats why I ask for a ftp mirror.

On WM2003 SE Opera won't start .... (i'm not the first with that kind of problem -> http://www.ppc-welt.info/community/showthread.php?t=81960)

On my Dell X50v (WM2003, italian version) it seems to install correctly, but after that, it doesnt start
I have both tried to install it in the incorporated memory card and in the main memory, but nothing happens.

I've downloaded and installed the WM5 version on my MDA Vario (HTC Wizard) with no problem. It started up OK and I was able to browse the net via my ActiveSync link.

Somebody has found the solution for the WM2003 start problem:
German users should move the folder /application data/opera to /anwendungsdaten/opera

Wow, that is a good browser! I'm using a iPaq 3950 with PCMCIA expasion jacket and Sandisk CF 128MB wireless card, WM2003.
Tried to copy the .cab to my ipaq and failed with a conversion error! Copied it to my SD card with reader and it installed after warning it might not work.
But it works. Has changed my life (in 2 minutes) as I can now use my PPC for more than RSS feeds.

Thanks

http://forum.golem.de/read.php?8296,545115,545115#msg-545115

Solution for German PPC User ...

First bug revealed:
Opera ignores the system proxy settings and there is no local option for a proxy.

i cant download please provide zip cab file. i have an xv6700 with wm 5.0 thank you

In the very same way as the German users did, I moved the Opera folder from /Application Data/ to /Dati Applicazione/ and it now starts.
However, there are some strange behaviours, now let me use it for awhile and I will update about my issues...

German users should also edit the opera.ini file and change all "Application Data" to "Anwendungsdaten".

THANKS OPERA

you cant believe how much i waited for a opera version for WM2003SE.
Thanks to the guy who posted the tip with the german directory problem. i was just about to throw my dell x50v on the wall, when it didnt work first ...

But now, all is fine! :-)


My suggestions:

our displays are small, so the scrollbars are _much_ to thick!
other browsers use only a third of the thickness.

the backgrund of the buttons in the adress bar is somehow... scrambled on my device

Yeah! The proxy settings could be changed in the opera.ini file:
[Proxy]
Use Automatic Proxy Configuration=0
Use HTTP=1
Use HTTPS=1
Use FTP=1
Use GOPHER=1
Use WAIS=0
HTTP server=my-web-proxy:8080
HTTPS server=my-web-proxy:8080
FTP server=my-web-proxy:8080
Gopher server=my-web-proxy:8080
WAIS server
Automatic Proxy Configuration URL=
Enable HTTP 1.1 for proxy=0
No Proxy Servers=crest2000
No Proxy Servers Check=1

Why is the left softbutton 'go to'. I think 'back' would be much more usefull.

I am very, very happy about this browser om my PPC. I use a Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 420, running Windows Mobile 2003SE. I created a folder called "Opera" on my 2GB SD card and installed Opera 8.5 beta there. There were no problems during installation and it ran from the first start. However, I discovered 2 problems:

1. While a page is loading, if I scroll up and down, the text "breakes". Imagine that you write some text on a piece of glass and you drop it on the floor. This is how the text loox like.

2. When trying to load a fairly large picture, I get this error message: "Internal communication error ...", where "..." is the location of the picture.

Anyway, good job !

Very nice and fast browser!

Same problem with the background of the buttons on my device (MDA compact aka Qtek S110).

Nice option would be an import of bookmarks ;-)

What´s about the trial period? Do we have to pay for this browser after 45 days?

Regards

Hisdudeness

It's a quantum leap from PIE!!! It crashed a few times to me, but after having changed all the "Application Data" to "Dati Applicazioni" (I'm from Italy) things look much better (the background of the buttons issue was solved by this) and, generally, the rendering of the pages is great. However, unfortunately, the Italian news website http://www.ansa.it renders strangely.

I have been playing with the WM5 version on my Axim X51v (German version). Here are a couple of things where, in my opinion, Opera still need improvement (mostly cosmetic nitpicking, but hey):

1) The application icon is 32x32 only, so it gets scaled to 64x64 on the VGA screen, which looks ugly. Surely a real 64x64 icon is trivial to add.

2) The zoom feature works on www.google.de, but not on www.heise.de/newsticker/ , for example. Might be CSS-related, I guess.

3) I would love to have a menu entry that quits Opera completely. Forget Windows Mobile guidelines, I hate going to settings - memory to quit a program and I hate having too many applications running at the same time.

4) The scrollbars look out of place. Don't know what widget set Opera is using, but isn't it possible to use standard scrollbars? Or at least make them look like standard scrollbars?

Other than that, great work! Installation went without problems, and even though it's still beta, it beats Pocket IE in every way I can think of. Since the beta version will expire in 45 days, does that mean the final version will be ready by then? Has the price for the final version already been determined?

Installed without a hitch... It's pretty great but I would like to see the following improvements:

1) Cache settings: one of the reasons why I dislike pIE is because its unconfigurable caching quickly fills up my pocket pc. It would be nice if there's an option to limit the cache to an arbitrary amount.

2) The bottom bar looks too blank, you may want to add some shortcuts there.

3) The windowing looks too blank.. it would be nice if there's an option to popup the tabs.

Bug: Transfer window will not close when using menu>close

Steps to reproduce. From the browser window tap Menu > Tools > Show Downloads
In the transfers window tap Menu > Close
Browser Window is brought to the front. Tap the close button in the top right corner

You can keep repeating the steps and be in an infinite loop. The only way to actually close the transfer window is by tapping the close button.

I'm using WM5 on an iPaq hx2415. Opera installed to storage card.

Originally posted by spacechild:

I have been playing with the WM5 version on my Axim X51v (German version). Here are a couple of things where, in my opinion, Opera still need improvement (mostly cosmetic nitpicking, but hey):

1) The application is 32x32 only, so it gets scaled to 64x64 on the VGA screen, which looks ugly. Surely a real 64x64 icon is trivial to add.

2) The zoom feature works on www.google.de, but not on www.heise.de/newsticker/ , for example. Might be CSS-related, I guess.

3) I would love to have a menu entry that quits Opera completely. Forget Windows Mobile guidelines, I hate going to settings - memory to quit a program and I hate having too many applications running at the same time.

Try using Ctrl+q

Thanks for the feedback

The plan is to have a final version released when we're ready for it, hopefully very soon. Price is not decided.

Anne-Hilde

I have got an Imate JasJar with Wm5. Opera works very well except for a thing: it freezes for a while when it's loading a web page and sometimes even when scrolling a page.

Originally posted by spacechild:

I would love to have a menu entry that quits Opera completely. Forget Windows Mobile guidelines, I hate going to settings - memory to quit a program and I hate having too many applications running at the same time.

Actually I have seen many applications that have an 'exit' menu item . It would be a nice addition I think.

I was happy to see a "landscape" switch in Opera on my WM2003 non-SE PocketPC (Dell Axim x3i), but unfortunately it doesn't work

having created a new window I clicked the URL-box to enter a URL. Unlike other programs, the keyboard (or whatever your preferred way to enter text is - transcriber etc) doesn't pop up automatically. Having entered a web adress and pressed enter, the keyboard doesn't disappear either, but has to be hidden manually

Easy install on an HTC Harrier (Verizon XV6600) with WM2003. I'm able to navigate using both profile and landscape modes. Page loads are compatible with IE. Loads seemed to be somewhat slower than NetFront's Smart Fit load, but I like the Opera formatting better, so it might be a tradeoff.

landscape works ok on my qtek9100, only the progressbar is missing.

hitting the tab on my keyboard doesnt bring the focus to the next field.

Thanks Opera for your efforts!

It works fine on my Imate K-Jam, both landscape and portrait mode. It's very fast and small screen rendering is a very very good technology!

My suggestions (new features not planned yet?):

1) sync bookmarks with Opera Desktop edition (windows)
2) rss reader (sync with Opera Desktop edition)

No bugs to reports, at the moment.
Cheers
Maurizio (Italy)

I've just loaded Opera 8.5 beta on my Dell X50v wm2003se machine, and I'm very impressed.and have the following suggestions/issues:

1. Add menu and goto buttons to the top bar and to the pop up context menu which allows much easier access when running full screen.

2. Option to remove scroll bar in full screen and use drag on screen (or cursor pad) to move.

3. Add option to map hardware buttons to functions such as page up/down, full screen, etc.

4. Add option for browser to fool website to give standard (not PDA) web pages on a VGA device I can see normal pages just fine.

5. Make the reload button have a multiple use - press reloads, press during load stop (as current), press and hold pops up a menu for Navigate options (freeing up the back button space for menu).

6. When a website is loading the stop button does not seem to work.

7. Toggling full screen and then using the OS to select landscape causes the bottom bar to appear in landscape (even though full screen is toggled). Reveting back to portrait (again using the button) results in a bottom bar being present. To get back to full screen I have to deselect and then reselect full screen.

Overall, I'm EXTREMELY impressed!

Regards,

PJE

Great work - Operas HTML render engine is much better then the engines from PIE and Netfront.
I hope the released version will be faster - I've used Opera on Zaurus and it was much faster.

I like the polished GUI and here are some suggestions for the next release:
- native scrollbars.
- open the soft-keyboard when an edit field or the URL field gets the focus.
- proxy settings in the options dialog.
- smaller fontsize in the adress bar on VGA devices.
- a "add target link to bookmarks" entry in the context menu for hyperlinks.
- a "point and scroll" mode for faster page navigation
- the jog wheel (on Loox devices) should scroll instead of moving the focus.
- user defined browser identification string

Another suggestion/bug:

D-pad control don't works on portrait mode, but works fine on landscape.
Keyboards arrow controls works fine on landscape (obviously)

It would be most useful to browse with D-pad and smooth scrolling (by page and not by links), overall on web pages with a lot of links (i.e. http://pdainfo.lepocketpc.com/pda.php). The best would be to browse as Palm Browser:

- left-right control: link by link showned in current part of web page
- enter control: open link currently focused
- up-down control: page by page

Thanks again
Maurizio

PS Sorry for my english....

Hi again...

I seem to be having page corruption issues on my X50v (2003SE) with long pages. The webpage is drawn corrently for the top five or so screen heights and then is corrupted after that point.

I agree with the above posts on the D-pad scrollinf and keyboard SIP poping up when the adress bar has focus (and disapearing when the focus is lost).

Keep up the good work.

PJE

It doesn start in my pda. I ve downloaded WM5 version and my device is Imate JasJar (HTC Universal). I ve installed in sd and rom and it doesnt start

How can i change the user agent in this version?

I installed Opera 8.5 beta on my HP iPaq hx4700 Pocket PC running Windows Mobile 2003SE. Here are the problems I found so far:

• Forward slash ("/") is displayed as question mark ("?") in the address bar.
  
• When I increase font size in Opera, words move closer together and start to overlap each other.
  

This is all for now. I am at the office, so I cannot really connect to Internet with my PPC here, but I will do some more testing at home.

Cheers,

Casius

I installed it on my XDA II running Windows Mobile 2003 and it gave a message "Opera might not install properly on this operating system". It did, however, apart from a few minor glitches - Landscape mode doesn't work, and the customizable interface on google.de/ig yielded unusual results ;-) http://wikipedia.7val.com/ wasn't loaded at all - pity, since it is designed for mobile access.

Anyway, I love it already! Does anybody know about wand settings, btw? I saw some dialog boxes with fat edges resembling the golden edge around a "Wand" dialog box.

More experience later, when I have time to test more.

Best, Stephan

Take a look at this article. It looks that Opera 8.5 for Windows Mobile has a long way to go before being ready for prime time:

Opera 8.5 for Windows Mobile Review

Cheers,

Casius

When I test out browsers, the one website that really taxes it is Yahoo! mail. PIE doesnt work with the REPLY or FORWARD (or any button) for that matter. Minimo works, but it tears up the page tremendously.

OPERA almost.. worked. OPERA worked on the buttons and i could see some mail, but it disappeared before i could actually read any mail.

So if you can get OPERA to work 100% with Yahoo! mail (not the new beta) then I am all yours!!!

thanks!
Pete

Originally posted by Casius:

Take a look at this article. It looks that Opera 8.5 for Windows Mobile has a long way to go before being ready for prime time:

Opera 8.5 for Windows Mobile Review

Talk about pointing out the obvious! That's the nature of beta software, you know...

Hi,

first of all, good work Opera Soft :-)

now to my problem: besides the german-specific problems already solved, opera mobile does not use the system's proxy settings. It requires its own proxy configuration through the opera.ini file. I have an Qtek 9090 ({X,M,V}DA III) with WM2003SE. Do others experience the same problem or am I too stupid to config

Killer_2001

Is there anyway to get this browser to go to full sites automatically, rather than mobile-friendly sites? It looks great on the square screen of a Treo 700w, but even PIE renders very fast with EVDO speeds. I'd like to use Opera to browse full sites, like it does on other mobile devices I've used in the past (like the Series60 version).

NutritionN,

which sites is it?

/t

Love the new release.
The only major difference I see immediately from the hacked version found previously is that spaces typed in forums aren't triple-spaced.

The beta is somewhat sluggish though, both when entering text (causing many missed characters if typing) and scrolling. Hopefully this will be fixed at release. Also, it doe seem that some pages have odd skewering/distortion effects. I can give sites if necessary.

I disagree with the above requests for the SIP to auto-pop-up at entry, unless it is made an option. The number of keyboarded devices are increasing, and the software SIP will only get in the way.

Using WM5 HTC Universal

ESPN, for example. Also, sites like PPC Thoughts come up as the mobile versions. Not that it makes that much difference, but I'd love to browse full sites with some speed that EVDO offers on my device.

www.handango.com is another site that automatically goes to the mobile version.

I am using the Dell Axim X50v (VGA) WM2003se, I like it better than PIE (pocket IE), but I noticed that it closes when you try to go to phpBB forums.

This version is a lot slower than the wzero version.

One annoyinh bug i've noticed is that when you set it on fullscreen, then click a softkey, it takes it off fullscreen mode and doesnt put it back on when youre done with the menus.

is the full version going to support flash etc..?
will it support opera mobile accelerator?

edit: this is on a qtek 9100


also, please add "save target as.." option to links!

Can't scroll links on www.yahoo.com using the cursor pad on a Treo 700w. It's square screen, so it's portrait obviously. The selected link does not go anywhere except to the Search News text box, even if I uncheck jump to content box in settings. Using the stylus does nothing to help, either; it will jump back to that search box no matter what.

I don't like the way it handles multiple windows on WM 2003/2005 devices. I request that tabs be implemented along the bottom of the screen.

I have to agree with previous posters. I like the fact that the soft keyboard does not pop up automatically.

As long as you're soliciting feedback: Would it be possible (or practical) to set a display mode preference when browsing? I like portrait mode for most apps, but like landscape when surfing. Could there be a user preference that brings up Opera in Landscape mode, allows me to surf, and then goes back into portrait mode when I minimize/close Opera? Could that be done site by site (i.e. google in portrait, CNN in landscape)? Could it be set up to revert to portrait if I opened another app without closing Opera?