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

Originally posted by cmaines:

I still don't have full functionality back for PIE after deleting Opera. I tried both manually editing the registry and importing the registry changes mentioned earlier, but double-clicking on my stored .htm and .html pages still dump me into a blank File Explorer window rather than opening up in PIE. What else can I do?

where do you edit the registry on the device? help

I use the registry editor that came with Resco Explorer (www.resco.net)

So far i liek the browser loaded fine and seems to run well have not had any of the problems ive seen listed. My only problem is with email attachment downloads from web based email. they do not retain their extensions and open as html with alot fo code ahs anyone else had this problem

So far i like the browser. I have not had any of the problems others are having. I am using a sprint ppc6700 . my only problem is with attachments from web based email . when i open or dnload them thsy do not retain their extenions. but end upas html. and open with alot of code . Has anyone else encountered this?

Thought this had been reported before but....having problems getting fit to width to work in landscape mode
Ipaq hx 4700--2003se

No HTTP Upload function :-(

Surfing is a little slow compared to Pocket IE, and I'm not referring to the internet speed.. it's the application

(I have a Dell Axim x50, WM2003SE/520Mhz)

I think there should be a way to change font size into the gui, and not only the full page zoom. Currently many sites, if viewed without the "fit to screen" option, present way too large fonts on VGA devices, and pages do not look good (see, for example, http://www.microsoft.com or http://www.amazon.com).

Couldn't get the download to work from the CE IE browser, so did a desktop download. Got installed without issues. 5 min. into using Opera:

http://news.com.com/2060-10808_3-0.html?tag=nefd.bl

Trying to read news.com, this link reliably/repeatedly cause Opera WM2003 to exit completely. It restarted fine with the usual prompts. Interesting.

Axim X50v/624MHz

Better than minimoz, but needs work.

Originally posted by CSZ:

No HTTP Upload function :-(

Actually, the HTTP part is implemented nicely...it just doesn't (for me) call up a file browser when you click choose. You can still type paths to files on your device and then upload them.

My ASUS Mypal 710 (Windows WM2003 v4) installed without any problems. However "Landscape" does nothing when selected. I tried with all options such as fullscreen, etc. It is a fast and powerful browser, but landscape mode is so much better on most PPC's. Please try and fix this

In addition to MSN Spaces, I would like to report that opera (for PPC 2003) keeps crashing while browsing http://www.wow.europe.com/en/

Opera is orders of magnitude faster than PIE on my X51v.

Seems a lot of the people here having problems are using WM2003.

On WM2005 it works flawlessly and makes a lot of unbrowsable pages on PIE, browsable again.

Keep up the good work!

I'm trying to put Opera Mini onto my new PPC-6700, when I go to the site from the device directly it tells me that my phone doesn't support Java, and when I try to download it from the website I'm unable to install it to the device (mainly because I'm not 100% sure how to do this) I have done a search on these forums and I know people have gotten it to work, I just can't figure out how, any help would be much appreciated!

hi. i'm using "Opera 8.50 for Windows Mobile BETA (1616)". it's greate. but i can't find how to display one needed image on web-page ('load image' is off) without turning 'load image' on? please, advise! thanks in advance.

Hi all at opera and thx for bringing us this great piece of software

I have been reading through all the good remarks and questions about your beta version. Some of my suggestions are redundant but I think these things are really important (hence my ranting...).

• I really think an installation/setup is required for this software, where you can specify .ini settings and default rendering mode, or why not an admin mode/console to give complete control?
  
• I would like to see an .ini setting that completely removes the navbar (and not only shrinks it).
  
• An option in the .ini file for full screen mode as default (I think this is crucial).
  
• And PLEASE some setting to toggle the default rendering mode.
  
• Is there anyway to get the same function as in PIE when you use the tel: tag the phone dials the number specified??
  
• .. And finally please include a close/kill button (yes.. it’s against the mobile guidelines.. yada yada..)
  

I really like this software because of the rendering techniques used - I love the approach to show the pages as they are not the "fit to screen ¤%&/" and of course how opera handles JavaScript ssl/tls and css I must say this is quite the achievement. Hats of to you guys and gals

Originally posted by darkrom:

My ASUS Mypal 710 (Windows WM2003 v4) installed without any problems. However "Landscape" does nothing when selected. I tried with all options such as fullscreen, etc. It is a fast and powerful browser, but landscape mode is so much better on most PPC's. Please try and fix this

Landscape feature is only working on WM2003SE and above, just because it is supported by the system. WM2003 users have to use a 3rd party software or try to get a ROM update.

Really need an "open in background" option on the context menu!

+1

i need opera for smartphone,that can download files.
i love smartphone.
maybe i need waiting.

I use Opera 8.5 beta on my Qtek 9000 mobile. But the back button dosent work in Opera, what can could be the problem?

Will there come an free version of Opera for Pocket PC 2003 - when it's out of beta?

My device is QTEK S110 with 2003SE.

My major issues (aside from occasional crashing) are related to apparently non-standard UI elements used by Opera which aren't working well with some other programs.

First of all, I can't enter the underscore sign with any input method apart from the standard Keyboard. If I use any other keyboard program, input stops when I press underscore. This is very annoying because Keyboard doesn't support Russian. Example programs that don't work: LEng Keyboard, Resco Keyboard Pro, PenReader.

Second, for entering large amount of text I use an excellent program called Spb Full Screen Keyboard. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone with a device not having a hardware QWERTY keyboard. However, this program doesn't work with Opera. Because of this problem, I have to use PIE to post to forums or when using webmail. That's about 80% of my mobile browsing.

Opera works OK on Starcom 6600 with Verizon and is a very fast browser on an EVDO connection.

I have had some memory management problems, but as long as I do not use too many programs at the same time things generally work OK. Wierd thing is that I have plenty of memory available, but maybe the program needs a certain part of the memory address space? For example, one time I could not start the bluetooth software (dll could not load, not enough memory)

It would be great to have an exit feature so that the user could actually close the browser, not just put it in the background.

Overall it is very good, but stability and memory issues need to be addressed.

First of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart. The best browser out there now works on all my computers, and the small-screen rendering is beautiful

The only issue I have is that it seems to break the Dell switcher bar. By break, I mean its applications list empties, and the 'exit all program' and 'exit current program' options are greyed out. I'm not sure, but I think this might be caused by the presence of the colon ':' character in the title bar (separating the window number from the page title). This is really more dell's problem than yours, but you might consider trying to change that to a '-' just to see what happens.

Thanks.

~Theyranos
Axim x51v, WM5.

Originally posted by mckman:

It would be great to have an exit feature so that the user could actually close the browser, not just put it in the background.

Exit Opera with STRG + Q

Hi,

Opera has done a great effort, and I hope it evolves into something I can buy one day...

BUT! I would have to see them respond to a few little usability things (NOT a lot of coding to do!!) if I were to buy the program.

An example is SPACEBAR MUST SCROLL BY PAGE! Especially on my 6700, it is insane to have that big spacebar sitting there and be unable to use it. Also, the screen is small enough & the edges high enough that scrolling w/the on-screen scrollbar is miserable. (Note: the joystick does not scroll by pages even w/the option set).

Believe it or not, a couple years ago I really wanted to switch to the desktop Opera, but lack of SPACEBAR SCROLLING was one of the things I just could not tolerate! I still cringe as I recall hitting the spacebar and nothing happening on the screen

So PLEASE pay attention to users' little UI recommendations like these! If I downloaded Opera's beta will I be on an update list?

Waiting on the development of Opera and Netfront...

Aaron

The developers are reading your feedback, and will definitely take user comments into serious consideration.

I have downloaded the CAB file for Opera 8.5b several times now but everytime I try to install it on my Dell Axim x51v it just hangs with the spinning wheel thing (sorry I don't know what it's called) and I have to do a soft reset. Even after the reset my Axim behaves funny until I delete everything to do with Opera such as folders that it appears to have created even though the install didn't work/complete.
Any thoughts as to what I am doing wrong and how I can get the install to work?

Can be installed but not started on Loox720. As this is my first installment, I don't know if previous versions work.

Originally posted by ahv:

Hi

Some users have asked how they can set default browser back to IE manually.
If you don't want to full reset the device, you can try a shareware registry editor for Pocket PC, such as http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pocketpc/phmregistry.html


Opera changes the following registry keys/values:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlfile\DefaultIcon]
(Default) iexplore.exe,-1003

...

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\file\Shell\Open\Command]
(Default) iexplore.exe %1
-----------------------------

This could be added as part of a FAQ, but as I couldn't figure out where to place the FAQ, I'm posting it here for now.

I'm sorry that we haven't had much time to post replies the last two days, but you can be sure that we are reading the forums whenever we can and listening to your opinions and thoughts. Developers and QA are all informed.

Anne-Hilde

Anne-Hilde,

I installed Opera 8.5 Beta on my Cingular HTC 8125 WM5 device. After I removed it, the registry is messed up, I can't click on link in emails, they try to launch Opera, not the Pocket Internet Explorer.



If opera changed my registry, it should be able to change it back. If opera can not change it back because the OS removes it before it has a chance to restore the registry, I would recommend adding a small utility that does just that. Without this feature I wouldn't recommend to the general public to try this browser because they will have to work really hard to restore their devices to its original condition after removing Opera. Users shouldn't be required to install a registry editors and poke around in the registry... :-)

Thank you!
Doneko

Any way to share Bookmarks with Favorites? I hate to have to type all those in again.

Otherwise all is well for this version on my Treo 700W so far.

Frank

Does this happen only if you make Opera default browser,and then delete ,or even if you havent made it the default and then delete?
Personally ,I left my settings as they were even if I have to put up with the Opera nag screen

It had to be that the person clicked "Yes" for default browser. I have never selected Opera as the default and I have installed/uninstalled twice. No issues with default IE behavior.

Hi JN
Thanks ,yes,I was hoping that was the case
Cheers

I must be stupid.

I have downloaded the zip file to a folder on my PC.

I have extracted it.

Do you now want me to copy all the files, except the zip to my PDA running Mobile Windows 2003?

Assuming you do you then want me to use the File Explorer on the PDA. I cannot see an installing file. Where and what is it please.

Tony

London UK

I made the mistake of making Oopera the default browser.

The problem is that it can not be changed back to IE, because Opera can doesn't offer this option, removing Opera doesn't restore the original settings, The "PHM Registry Editor" at http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pocketpc/phmregistry.html is not downloadable, the Download link points to bad URL. I tried to get it from other places, but I am not sure which CAB should I install for my device, an honestly I don't feel comfortable if making registry changes with a 0.7 version freeware program with ho documentation and no instructions.

I am waiting for Opera to add a feature to change the registry back to it's original state.

All I would really like to know is does it support the 240x240 screen size that the Treo 700w uses.

I cannot get it save more than one bookmark. I'm using IPAQ 4700HX

Are there any plans to release this for PPC2002 also? I still have 3 of my 4 iPAQs running with that OS.
Thanks

Umtauscher

New-onset error on PPC 6700 (WM5): Opera instantly closes when I start to type a URL...

I was using opera a bunch last night without incident...Now can't type anything w/o Opera crashing. (I could've sworn I saw this reported somewhere but can't find it...)

CLUES:

• last pm I edited the ini files to scroll by page (not link), but this was working fine (THANK GOODNESS) and today after re-installing I've verified my changes no longer exist...so this almost certainly ISN'T the problem
  
• something more suspicious?: this AM I installed ADOCE (adoce-30-setup.exe) so MLO would work....also installed MortSaverPE (I've run this before with Opera though...)
  
• I have tried installing to the device (vs storage card) , but that didn't fix it either...
  

Ideas?

Thanks,
Aaron

Originally posted by ajg23:

New-onset error on PPC 6700 (WM5): Opera instantly closes when I start to type a URL...

Update: got it fixed ; thought I'd share what happened in case helpful to developers

• when used drop-down from address bar to go to another site AND switched to block recognizer, I was able to surf a bit. Before I had used the hard keyboard and MessagEase (can't live without ). After navigating without typing, I could type with block recognizer, but switch to ME and typing crashed it. However, then on restart couldn't use block recognizer either! I think this indicates the temporary success was more about the navigating before typing...
  
• As another test, I deleted Opera, deleted the Opera folder under Application Data, and soft-reset the device. THEN re-installed to device. --> seemed to work FINE! But when I tried to switch to MessagEase, found selecting MessagEase always brought up the DEFAULT Windows Mobile keyboard...
  
• So uninstalled/reinstalled MessagEase--> the problem initially didn't change, even in another application! But after closing Opera, I COULD launch MessagEase. Then ran Opera again and found it played fine with MessagEase again!
  

Curious possible relationship between the errors in Opera and MessagEase breaking...? Will let you know if anything else happens...

Aaron

Thank you for a program with great potential. Here are my major requests after using the program for a few days on my Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard) w/ WM5:

1. Option to move storage and downloads to memory card (this one is essential) and to increase the cache size
   
2. Option to move the scroll bar to the left side (for us lefties it is very awkward to use the right side because doing so causes our hand to cover the screen
   
3. Option to toggle single-column view, similar to IE (when my phone is in portrait mode, Opera renders most websites into a single column... but when in landscape mode it almost always seems to break the screen into 2 or 3 columns -- leaving some of the columns unacceptably narrow)
   

Thanks again, and I look foward to the improvements that will come with subsequent versions.

I'll try again.... No response to Friday's msg.


I have downloaded the zip file to a folder on my PC.

I have extracted it.

Do you now want me to copy all the files, except the zip to my PDA running Mobile Windows 2003?

Assuming you do you then want me to use the File Explorer on the PDA. I cannot see an installing file. Where and what is it please.

Tony

London UK

Hi Tony,

The file you have to download is a .cab file, it's only 1 file. Don't extract it on your desktop computer, but transfer it to your PDA en double click it.
File explorer will then extract the file and install Opera.

Maybe some program on your desktop auto-extracts the .cab file.
Another way is to download the file directly to your PDA and then double click it.
Hope this helps

Ruud

Originally posted by theyranos:

The only issue I have is that it seems to break the Dell switcher bar. By break, I mean its applications list empties, and the 'exit all program' and 'exit current program' options are greyed out. I'm not sure, but I think this might be caused by the presence of the colon ':' character in the title bar (separating the window number from the page title). This is really more dell's problem than yours, but you might consider trying to change that to a '-' just to see what happens.

Dell's Switcher Bar sucks - not just with Opera but with a lot of other apps. Get an alterative; I recommend the free Magic Button from http://www.trancreative.com/mb.aspx . I've elaborated on it at, say, http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=551&more=1

Originally posted by doneko:

I am waiting for Opera to add a feature to change the registry back to it's original state.

Get Resco Registry Editor from http://www.resco.net/pocketpc/explorer/ , install it and, after that, just click the .reg file I've provided. Its contents will be auto-imported.

Originally posted by xblackragex:

I'm trying to put Opera Mini onto my new PPC-6700, when I go to the site from the device directly it tells me that my phone doesn't support Java, and when I try to download it from the website I'm unable to install it to the device (mainly because I'm not 100% sure how to do this) I have done a search on these forums and I know people have gotten it to work, I just can't figure out how, any help would be much appreciated!

Opera Mini (you may want to read this review & tutorial on it if interested) has nothing to do with Opera. Download the "real" Opera, not Mini.

Originally posted by nirre7:

.. And finally please include a close/kill button (yes.. it’s against the mobile guidelines.. yada yada..)

Bring up the built-in on-screen keyboard, click Ctl and, then, click Q.

Originally posted by ajg23:

An example is SPACEBAR MUST SCROLL BY PAGE! Especially on my 6700, it is insane to have that big spacebar sitting there and be unable to use it. Also, the screen is small enough & the edges high enough that scrolling w/the on-screen scrollbar is miserable. (Note: the joystick does not scroll by pages even w/the option set).

Well, actually, by-page scrolling does work, but you do need to do some manual hacking to enable it. I've published a tutorial on how this must be done at http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=547&more=1 .