Related
Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash is very commonly used on the Web. There’re a lot of, for example, games utilizing this format. Actually, you can't even use a lot of sites without built-in Flash support. In addition, as Flash content can be very nice to play with (for example, there’re a lot of cool Flash games also running on the Pocket PC - you will definitely want to check out the Games section over at, for example, KillSomeTime.com, Arcade Pod and Flash Magazine (the latter is more of a news portal) to see what Flash is capable of, leisure-wise), I’ve decided to write a fully-fledged review and tutorial of everything Flash-related.
Please note that I not only scrutinize the existing solutions, but also publish never-before-published tweaks for greatly enhancing the usability of one of the players, Bryht, particularly on WM5 devices.
1. Flash-capable players
1.1 The Macromedia (Adobe) Flash Plug-in
The free Macromedia (Adobe) Flash Plug-in, apart from a one-week period of becoming commercial, has always been the best choice for playing Flash contents on Pocket PC’s. It’s by far the most compatible and fastest player on our PDA’s and, with third-party add-on tools (which will later be introduced), it’s also the most versatile and usable one. It’s definitely better than either the built-in Flash support in NetFront or early Flash players like PocketSpark (see later).
1.1.1 Getting it
There have been several Macromedia Flash plug-in versions for the Pocket PC, of which version 7, released early April 2006, is the most up-to-date and, therefore, recommended. You will want to download this version unless you have a pre-WM2003 device. Also note that, much as some (very few) Pocket PC’s (their list can be found here) have been shipped with the plug-in in the ROM, they’re all version 6 at most and, therefore, may be needed to be upgraded to version 7 (make sure you only try to do the upgrade if the device has at least WM2003 - the Toshiba Genio series is Pocket PC 2002 only and, therefore, can’t run version 7 of the plug-in).
There aren’t many differences between version 7 and version 6 - it’s with very few of the available Flash animations (for example, Heli Attack 3) that don’t work under version 6. Version 7 will be a must for WM5 users, however - it has much better WM5 compliance/stability than version 6, which worked quite unreliably under WM5.
This application, contrary to the popular belief, can and will be installed to non-built-in storage; that is, for example, a storage card - as with all the previous versions.
Note that if you have a Pocket PC 2002 device, download version 6 instead (version 7 is no longer PPC2k2-compliant). Alternate download here; the CAB file itself can be found here.
If you have a Pocket PC 2000 MIPS/SH3 device, download version 4/5 linked from this or this page (I’ve also made them available here in one RAR file. The MIPS CAB file can be found here). I really recommend the user comments in the latter page. It is in French; therefore, if you don’t speak the language, make Babelfish translate it.
I’d like to thank torgamm at PocketPCFreeware, akheron at AximSite and dlangton at PPCT for helping me to find the PPC2k-compliant plug-in versions.
1.1.2 Macromedia Flash plug-in and PPC Web browser compliance
Note that, regardless of the version, the Macromedia plug-in can only be used with the built-in Pocket Internet Explorer / Internet Explorer Mobile to access online Flash content. Other Pocket PC web browsers, except for NetFront and its (compared to the Macromedia Flash plug-in, pretty inferior) built-in Flash support, do not support Flash and all. This means you won’t be able to play any Flash animations in Opera 8.5 beta 2, Opera Mini, Minimo (also see this explanation of the lack of Flash support in Minimo from the author of Minimo himself) and Thunderhawk.
1.2 Flash player applications not depending on the MacroMedia plug-in
In addition to the MacroMedia plug-in, there are three completely independent applications to render Flash contents.
1.2.1 PocketSpark beta2 by Conduits
This free player is, unfortunately, almost useless - it’s really old (year 2000) and isn’t compatible with almost anything. Not recommended at all.
(Also see this (for info on other players too) and this threads.)
1.2.2 NetFront 3.2
NetFront is a well-known alternate browser. Unfortunately, version 3.2 - the most up-to-date version to have Flash support - is pretty inferior to the currently available version 3.3 previews. The latter don’t have Flash support as yet; so, you’ll need to stick to NetFront 3.2. This may be pretty problematic, particularly on WM5 devices because NetFront 3.2 isn’t WM5-compliant. What is more, its WM2003SE VGA support is pretty bad too.
Its built-in Flash player isn’t as good as that of the Macromedia plug-in. Much as it has some strengths over it (it’s able to play local contents without additional tools or HTML hacking), it’s definitely slower, less compatible and supports external/on-screen keyboards far worse.
1.2.3 Beta Macromedia Flash
This is also a free player and is pretty good. It supports the operating system Landscape mode flawlessly (unlike, say, FlashAssist), which is very good news for WM2003SE+ users. Also, it is compatible with the native VGA mode. While it's only using low resolution in the standard SE VGA mode, with forcing, it can be made use the high resolution even there. Also, it centers the animation in the middle of the screen. Also, it's very easy to install - you just copy the main executable EXE file to anywhere on your Pocket PC, reassociate the .swf file extension to it and, after that, clicking a .swf file will automatically invoke the player. Also, it has the standard Flash context menu-based 100% zoom-in capabilities and you can scroll (drag) the Flash window in this mode like, say, Bryht and PflashP.
It also has problems: there are no button assignment capabilities; you can't change the built-in Macromedia 6 plug-in to anything else (to version 7 - again, as very few Flash animations require Flash 7, this isn't that big a problem; the probable incompatibility with WM5 may be a bigger one).
If these aren't a problem, however, you will really want to give it a try, especially if you have a WM2003SE device (where the Macromedia 6 incompatibilities aren't a problem and there's Landscape support built into the operating system, making Bryht less necessary).
A mini-tutorial on making it work: download the installer from the above page; execute it (you can safely cancel the setup when the execution is transferred to the well-known ActiveSync dialog to avoid anything useless - the installer has a lot of useless demos and similar stuff in addition to the executable file of the player itself - to be installed on your Pocket PC; you can also do the installation while no PDA is connected to your desktop computer. Then, next time you cradle your PDA, you will only need to cancel the auto-installation.
Now, go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\App\ and step into Tutorials.CAB. (If you have Total Commander on your desktop Windows computer, just press Enter while the cursor is on the CAB file.) Extract TUTORI~2.001 from the CAB file (with Total Commander, just Copy (F5) to a directory) and rename it to have an .exe extension. The name can be anything - it's the extension that counts. Now, transfer it to anywhere on your PDA and make sure you associate the .swf file extension to the application.
A big thanks goes to dlangton in the PPCT forums for pointing me towards this hidden gem!
2. Saving and Playing Local (offline) Flash Files
Flash is pretty similar to, say, Java applets and, most importantly, Java midlets (the mainstream form of distributing mostly games for "dumb" mobile phones and, in cases, even Symbian smartphones) in that they can be executed both remotely (in a Web page) and locally (without having to have an active Internet connection), after you’ve downloaded them onto your PDA (of course, midlets are downloaded only once - so, no re-download will occur. Applets will be fetched again and again if they can’t be found in the local browser cache). This means that you can save Flash applications onto your PDA and, then, just use/play them when you want to even if you don’t have any kind of Internet connection. It’s much easier than initiating an Internet connection, revisiting the given Web page and playing the game from there.
By itself, the Macromedia plug-in is unable to run local Flash files (while the independent NetFront and PocketSpark can). There’re several solutions to this problem: either creating a local HTML stub referring to the downloaded Flash (.SWF) file, which you can just click on to be invoked by Pocket Internet Explorer / Internet Explorer Mobile or use third-party tools to run them. The latter can have additional advantages (for example, the really useful keymapping and full-screen modes without using full-screen PIE plug-ins under pre-WM5 operating system), while the former is free.
First, however, let’s take a look at how you can save Flash content to be reused later without having to connect to the Net. By default, saving Flash content is not supported by most browsers.
2.1 Finding and Saving Flash Animations for Offline Use
To save Flash animations onto your desktop computer (and, then, transferring them to your PDA) without installing third-party applications, do the following. If you’re using Internet Explorer on your Windows XP desktop, you can just go to c:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\ and do a generic search for *.swf files. Use for example Total Commander for this; in it, while staying in the c:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\ directory, press Alt-F7 and enter *.swf in the Search for: text input field as can be seen in this screenshot.
Also, you can refine your search (if there’re a lot of hits) by clicking the Advanced tab, and, after enabling it, filling for example "2 minutes" in the "Not older than" text input field as can be seen in here.
The situation is the same with all browsers that use some kind of cache in the file system: you’ll surely find *.swf files in the cache. As far as alternate (non-Internet Explorer) desktop browsers are concerned, there is some information on saving Flash animations from Firefox here. Note that as long as the given browser has a cache with readable contents (and does support Flash - that is, it’ll download Flash animations), you’ll be able to find SWF files in there. That is, you can save Flash stuff under even the rarest, but Flash-capable browsers too. This also stands for looking around in the cache of, say, Pocket Internet Explorer on the Pocket PC itself. You may want to see for example the article Downloading binary files off the Web on the Pocket PC - tips and tricks (alternatives: PPCT, AximSite, PPC Magazine, FirstLoox, BrightHand) for more information on doing this on the PDA.
If you still find all this far too awkward, you can give a try to third-party applications; for example, the now-free Flash Catcher 2.6 by justDo Software, which integrates quite seamlessly into the desktop Internet Explorer and offers a simple way of saving your favorite Flash animations with a mere mouse click (see this and this screenshots on how saving can be activated). Note that it won’t be able to save some Flash animations (with them, just looking into the browser cache and searching for new SWF files manually will suffice) and may leave its old icons on the screen. You will only be able to get rid of them by shutting down and, then, restarting all Internet Explorer instances.
There’re several other solutions as well, but, in general, I’ve found Flash Catcher the best (and, after all, it’s free), not taking into account the problems outlined above. For example, I’ve never managed to make Save Flash 3.0 by Pilot Group (15-day trial) work. I haven't even been able to set it up properly because it has a homepage in really- really bad English I could not understand with the images all missing.
2.2 Creating HTML stubs
Generally, you don’t need to have any commercial third-party tools to execute local, offline Flash files on your PDA with your Macromedia plug-in. The following HTML file, put in the same directory as the SWF to be played, will suffice:
Please note that, due to the restrictions of the forum engine, I had to put the code snippet on an external server. It can be found here .
where change "Gold-Miner.swf" to the SWF file you want to invoke and the width/ height properties to the preferred size of the file (it’ll, however, be overridden by the system, so, there’s no need to be precise. In most cases, you can leave it at that).
Note that this HTML file will work in the desktop Internet Explorer too. You, then, can even remove the width/ height properties and the html/body opening/closing tags. Remember, however, that these should never be removed from the Pocket PC version.
Note that the HTML stubs other sources recommend (see for example this and this threads) are far more complicated than mine. This is not needed - if you use my stubs to link in SWF files, everything will work OK and you’ll end up having to edit much smaller, easier-to-adminster stub files.
After you’ve finished creating a HTML stub for all your Flash animations (one HTML stub for each SWF file), you can play them in your Macromedia plug-in by just clicking them in your Pocket PC File Explorer - assuming the file associations point to your Pocket Internet Explorer / Internet Explorer Mobile and not to, say, Opera beta or NetFront. If the latter is the case, read this article on restoring these associations.
If you, however, would like to prefer using third-party apps which, in cases, greatly enhance the Macromedia plug-in, check out the following section.
2.3 Stand-alone apps based on the Macromedia plug-in
These applications all require the Macromedia plug-in to be installed. This means you must install not only these applications, but also the Macromedia plug-in (any version will do). You’ll need to download and install the latter separately.
2.3.1 Bryht Flash Player 2.0 by Bryht
This player is, in my opinion, the best, most capable, most game-friendly Flash player for the Pocket PC. It has a lot of unrivalled capabilities like button mapping (which is painfully missing from all the alternatives) and even desktop-based Powerpoint slide conversion. See for example this PocketNow review on the capabilities of the application. In here, I only elaborate on the hardware button mapping feature, particularly because of the additional, never-before-published information on quickly changing user-defined button mapping schemes and my hacks to make the button mapping WM5-compliant. Also, as there’re several builds of version 2.0, I also elaborate on the differences between them and the way of recognizing the actual build.
Note that you must configure the player if you have a VGA device; then, choose the GrayVGA skin in File/Skin Options. Note that it’s been created for native VGA mode; it’s only there that the GUI will be OK; in SE VGA, most parts of the buttons and the volume control won’t be visible. This is an unfortunate step back from the earlier 2.0 builds (see section 2.3.1.2 below).
2.3.1.1 Hardware button mapping
As has already been pointed out, the Bryht player has an option of freely redefining hardware keys - assigning any key on a full keyboard to any Pocket PC hardware button / D-pad direction (see File/Button Options). None of the other players support this essential feature - essential because about half of the available Flash games depend on other keys than the traditional D-pad arrows: for example, in the platform game Heli Attack 3, it’s with some alphanumeric keys that the player must control the game; in Bomberman In the land of the Pumpkin V3, you need to drop a bomb with the Delete key on the keyboard etc. (Don’t forget Flash games have been created with desktop players in mind - this is why most Flash authors assume players all have a full keyboard.)
Unfortunately, D-pad directions (none of the four) can’t be redefined on WM5 devices (it works just O.K. on pre-WM5 devices) because of the fundamental difference between WM5 and previous OS’es, as far as touchscreen-less operation is concerned: instead of just registering the new D-pad direction, the system will just traverse the focus to the following GUI item if you press the D-Pad into any direction. Until this is fixed by the Bryht folks, you can still redefine your D-pad directions by directly editing the Registry. If you thoroughly read the hardware button-related information in my below-linked GBA article and are willing to play with the Registry for some time, this will become really easy after some time, however.
Also note that there is no way of saving/restoring user-created button mappings to quickly change button layouts between game starts. There’re some predefined layouts, however; for example, if you choose Restore Default for Game in File/Button Options, the button layout will map the desktop keyboard cursor keys to the D-pad directions (the default is just moving the active area around the screen estate, which is preferable when just viewing Flash movies), which will work with most games.
Fortunately, this can be really easily helped if you aren’t afraid of modifying the Registry or, at least, importing pre-created registry files. Bryht stores the button mapping information at [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bryhtflash\keyMapping]. An example of its content:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bryhtflash]
"keyMapping"="195=131073;194=131078;193=131077;40=65;38=68;37=87;39=83;"
If you’ve already read my article on Gameboy Advance emulators for the Pocket PC, you already know that the values 37...40 in here stand for the D-pad directions, while the values starting with 193 stand for the non-D-pad hardware buttons. If you’re into any kind of programming, you’ll also easily see (by recognizing the keycodes of some control keys and the ASCII codes of the characters A/D/S/W) that the above configuration stands for D-pad directions assigned to the A/D/S/W keys (the keys the above-mentioned Heli Attack 3 uses to control the main character).
2.3.1.2 Downloads/versions
As far as the available versions are concerned, note that the standard and the Pocket PC 2003 versions are exactly the same - I don’t know why they’re listed as separate downloads.
It should also be pointed out that there were older (2004) builds of version 2.0. The current version of 2.0 has internal filedates of 2005; earlier builds are from year 2004 and have no VGA support. For example, this is the new version on a VGA device, in standard SE mode and this is the old. In this test, I only discuss/review/refer to the latest, currently available version. Make sure you upgrade to it if you still have the old one. The main difference between the two is that the old version has a BryhtFlash.exe of under 500 kbytes and an early-2004 filedate, while the newer version has a 518-kbyte file dated at 03/03/2005.
2.3.2 Pocket Flash Player (PFlashP) v2.0.0
While not sporting advanced setting capabilities like the really useful button mapping of Bryht (the player of my choice), this stand-alone Flash player may still be useful if you don’t want to spend that much money on your player - it’s definitely cheaper than Bryht.
One of its other advantages is that it automatically shifts the Flash animation upwards if you enable the SIP (because you need to enter something on it), unlike Bryht. This means in some cases you won’t be able to use the latter (unless you run it in a non-full screen mode), while PFlashP will remain perfectly usable.
As it is able to display the Flash context menu, it can also use full zooming in, which makes big flash animations that require zooming (for example, the Caliva or the Tanks Flash applications - see URL's and explanations in Chapter 4) in order for the text to be fully readable.
Unfortunately, it also has definite drawbacks, compared to Bryht. One of them is the inability of the player to provide real full screen mode in either Portrait or Landscape - the taskbar will always be visible and it’s only the command bar that will be hidden (along with the SIP icons). The other is that it’s unable to center the animation in the available screen estate - it’ll always be on the left if the animation isn’t able to fill in the entire screen area as can be seen in this screenshot. This can be really distracting. (The author has promised to look into the problem in the meantime.)
Also, if you only have a WM2003 device, PFlashP, unlike Bryht, won’t offer you Landscape capabilities as it entirely relies on the operating system’s orientation change capabilities. This is why the "Landscape" checkbox is inactive in this WM2003 screenshot. This is, of course, a non-issue on WM2003SE+ devices.
It is the only one player that requires Microsoft's free Compact Framework 2 (CF2). CF2, while it, by default, is installed into main memory (no matter what installation target you give it), taking up some 5 Mbytes of precious built-in storage. This, however, can be helped by relocating almost the entire CF2 to a memory card. Please read this article (alternatives AximSite, BrightHand, FirstLoox, MobilitySite, PPCT) for more information on this. Note that if you choose to use the just-released beta of CF2 SP1, you won't need to do any relocation if you instruct the installer to install into an alternative medium.
Note that the author of this app is the well-known author of Tweaks2k2, ctitanic. A big thanks to him for providing me with the full version for testing purposes.
2.3.3 FlashAssist 1.3 by AntMobile
The main advantage of this application is that it’s PPC2k/PPC2k2 compatible (unlike PFlashP and, as far as PPC2k is concerned, Bryth). For WM2003+ users this isn’t an advantage, naturally.
Its main disadvantages are the lack of built-in full-screen Landscape support, which would be highly useful under all pre-WM2003SE operating systems, unlike with the two previously reviewed players. What is more, it doesn’t support the native, built-in operating system-level Landscape mode of WM2003SE+ either - that is, you won’t be able to make use of the available screen estate with a lot of (Landscape) Flash animations.
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this application - the lack of any kind of (let alone full-screen) Landscape support is too big a problem in most cases.
2.3.4 Macromedia Flash Player for Cassiopeia by myCasio
(Note that the CAB file itself can be downloaded here)
This player is only meant for MIPS-based Cassiopeia devices. There isn’t much in the player: for example, no Landscape support and no keymapping. However, it’s free.
(Thanks goes to akheron at AximSite and torgamm at PocketPCFreeware for pointing me to this player!)
3. Main Feature and Test Results Comparison Chart
This comparison chart contains most comparison and feature information. As a well-written feature/test chart makes it possible to greatly reduce the sheer size of this article (but not its content of information!), most of the information present in here hasn’t been elaborated on / mentioned in the previous sections. This means this chart should be scrutinized thoroughly. Also make sure you follow the screenshot links if you’d like to see actual screenshots demonstrating the (lack of the) given feature.
Please note that, due to the restrictions of the forum engine, I had to put the comparison chart on an external server. It can be found here .
4. Real-world Compatibility and Speed Tests with Several Games, a Movie and a fully-fledged Student App
I’ve tested the reviewed applications with several Flash games, a Flash video and a Flash student application. The latter is available here (main homepage here); to log in, enter the ccdemo/ccisthebest demo login/password pair. (Some demo screenshots of this are here, here and here).
Note that I’ve made these SWF files available here so that you don’t need to fetch them one-by-one in order to be tested if you want to re-run my tests. I’ve, of course, provided URL’s to the original source too.
Please note that, due to the restrictions of the forum engine, I had to put the comparison chart on an external server. It can be found here .
5. Verdict
5.1 If you have a WM2003+ device...
it’s the best to stick to the Macromedia 7 plug-in and a third-party Macromedia-based player on top of it.
If you are seriously into playing Flash animations on your Pocket PC and need real (!) full screen support even in Landscape mode and a centered Flash area (and not one on the left), Bryht 2.0 is the only way to go.
Much as PFlashP 2.0 is considerably cheaper, the lack of the ability of centering the Flash animation on the screen may be distracting. File association support is also lacking. Otherwise, you may want to have a look at it if you, for some reason, don’t like the Bryht player. The lack of built-in Landscape mode won't be a problem in operating systems starting with WM2003SE either; if you have a PDA with a previous OS, you'll want to stick with Bryht and its built-in Landscape mode.
You can also give a try to the free Microsoft player, particularly if Macromedia 6-compliance is sufficient. As it doesn't have built-in Landscape support (but it does support the operating system's Landscape orientation), it's mostly recommended for WM2003SE users. WM5 users may run into compatibility problems because of the Macromedia 6-based engine, though.
FlashAssist 1.3 is definitely not recommended - it’s just useless in system-level Landscape mode. Much as it has real full screen mode in Portrait, WM2003SE+ users wanting to use the Landscape to use the full screen area should avoid it. Again, it’s Bryht 2.0 that only excels in this respect.
The Flash support in NetFront 3.2 is really disappointing: it's only in very few cases that it's better than Macromedia-based solutions. I don't recommend it, particularly if you have a WM5 device - NetFront 3.2 is not compatible with WM5. Hope Version 3.3 will have a better Flash engine.
Finally, Pocket Spark is useless and is incompatible with almost everything (after all, it's based on over six-year-old code).
5.2 If you have a Pocket PC 2002 device...
get the Macromedia 6 plug-in and the Bryht player.
5.3 If you have a slow Pocket PC 2000 MIPS/SH3 device...
it’s the best to forget Flash animations - very-very few animations (for example, the great, highly recommended game Johnny Rocketfingers) will run OK because of the lack of pure computing speed. If you still need to run Flash stuff, get the Macromedia 4/5 plug-in and, if you have a MIPS Cassiopeia device, Macromedia Flash Player for Cassiopeia.
6. Note that...
1. Strictly with WM2003SE (previous / later operating system versions don’t have this problem), you will inevitably run into the Press OK to continue loading the content of this page" message like in this screenshot.
You can’t really help this without using third-party, commercial apps. Please see this article for more info on all this.
2. You can't play Shockwave content with the Flash player. This means the excellent titles at ShockWave.com and generic gamer sites like the above-linked arcadepod.com (which, for example, hosts the Shockwave Player 10.1-based great 3D RPG game, Sherwood MMORPG). Remember this if you can't run a given application/game.
Waouh ! Great guide !
Thanks for this howto !
Thanks to dlangton in the PPCT forums, I’ve been pointed to a not widely known full-screen, offline-capable, MacroMedia 6-based solution from Microsoft initially contained by one of their demo applications.
I’ve accordingly updated the roundup.
Also, there’re some other, minor changes concerning, for example, the full zoom-in of PFlashP.
Seeing as this thread has no replies in about 3 years, is there another thread that has more up-to-date info? I'm looking for the best way to play local (swf) flash files on my T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro 2. Please let me know if Bryht is still the way to go (and where the latest version can be found, as bryht.com seems to be down), or if there is a newer and/or better alternative. Thanx in advance, everyone!
"Beta Macromedia Flash" from Microsoft no longer available...
I have been looking for a smoother way to play my FlashGadgets for testing purposes, as they do not play smoothly some times on my pocket pc, and I wanted to test this program. If anyone has this program in CAB form, or as a standalone EXE, please post it, I wish to see if there is any big difference in using it for playback instead of BryhtFlash 2.0.
Regards,
Macromedia Flash Player Beta???
Where to get this software? I know that software is dead but if anyone have this software could I get link?
Thanks!
Many of you may have already heard of Texas Instruments’ excellent calculators; most importantly, the (currently) top-of-the line TI-89/92 and, for high school students, the most recommended TI-84 series.
These calculators can be much more powerful than native Windows Mobile calculators
They are free (as opposed to some commercial Windows Mobile calculators), assuming, of course, you have the original device
while there are some excellent unit conversion apps for Windows Mobile (for example, Burr Oak Software's Conversions In Hand, Fann Software's ConverterCE Pro or TranCreative's MxConverter Comprehensive Edition for Pocket PC), the built-in unit conversion capabilities of these calculators are excellent (example screenshot HERE (accessible after pressing 2nd + 3 on a TI-89) and HERE)
may already be well-known to you if you’ve actively been using them in real life (no need to learn the interface of a new calculator software – you can just go on with your already well-known one)
have GREAT third-party software add-on support (as far as the newer models, manufactured in the last 14-15 years, are concerned)
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
This means it might be far more advantageous to check them out instead of trying to find a native Windows Mobile implementation. In this review, I scrutinize all the available solutions, going back in time. That is, at first, I review the most up-to-date emulators and, then, go back in time to discuss emulators of other (less powerful / capable) calculators. This means the first part of the review will be of interest to anyone wanting to get some decent calculator software or just doesn’t want to keep her or his calculator around when the Windows Mobile handheld is capable of doing (almost) the same. Latter chapters of this roundup will mostly please people like me – that is, classic for example LED calculators, which have long been dwarfed with more recent models.
Please also consult the linked-in Wiki pages on the original calculators themselves. Here, I will only elaborate on stuff directly connected to Windows Mobile-based emulation and the like – that is, stuff completely missing from the original Wiki articles. You may also want to follow ticalc.org’s calculator pages.
Before embarking on listing the available (with special emphasis on current) models, let me point out that higher model / series number doesn’t correspond to being newer. That is, for example, the TI-84 series, while considerably newer than the TI-89 series, have a lower number. Also worth mentioning is the fact that TI has several (graphing) models, all targeted to different market segment. For example, a high school student doesn’t necessarily need derivation / integration capabilities (dunno if high schools in the States do teach these subjects for regular high school students – here in Europe, these are only taught in specialized high schools) – it’d be an overkill for her or him to pay extra for a calculator that offers these advanced capabilities. That is, instead of the most advanced (and expensive) TI-89/92/V200 series, a high school student will most probably want to get a cheaper TI-84 Plus (SE) (or, if she or he is cost conscious, their direct, compatible predecessor, the TI-83 (Plus)).
Let me also mention that this tutorial is
the first in the row of my forthcoming series on Windows Mobile calculators. In the following installment, I’ll discuss the emulators existing for HP’s calculators and, then, the native calculator programs
as usual, widely needed. The official manual of the best desktop Windows emulator, VTI, is very hard for a beginner to understand, and the same stands for the official TI-89 manual. In addition, the Windows Mobile version has absolutely no documentation / tips / descriptions of in what way it’s different from the desktop version. That is, this tutorial is undoubtedly the best tutorial available for TI-89 newbies wanting to get up to speed as soon as possible without having to read hundreds of TI-89 manual pages.
So, the current (and future) TI calculator models are as follows. (Note that the Comparison & Feature Chart also has a quick summary of these devices, along with a lot of information.) Also note that, in general, TI uses the “Plus” to refer to the second edition of a given model (except for the TI-84 Plus, which doesn’t have a non-Plus device). “Silver Edition” (abbreviated as SE; not to be mistaken for “Second Edition”!) and “Titanium” generally refers to the third (and, therefore, most advanced) model in a given series. That is, always try to get a SE / Titanium model if possible.
1.1 TI-Nspire
This model hasn’t been released yet; therefore, no emulators exist (let alone Windows Mobile ones).
1.2 TI-84 Plus (Silver Edition)
These two, pretty new (released in 2004) and, according to the poll HERE, most popular TI series high school calculator (in the poll, the TI-89 was placed second; don't forget, though, that the TI-84 series is aimed at high school students, while the TI-89's are aimed at more serious university students or graduated folks) models (the enhanced versions of the TI-83 Plus (Silver Edition)) are still not emulated under WM (or, for that matter, the desktop Windows) either. Not that it’d be a problem – after all, these models don’t have any advanced functionality compared to their predecessor (the TI-83 Plus), “only” a faster CP and more RAM / ROM.
1.3 Voyage 200 (also V200 and Voyage 200 PLT)
No emulators exist for WM.
1.4 TI-89 and TI-92 series
These are, after the TI-84 series, the most widely sold TI calculators. Again, don't forget that this series is the way to go (and NOT the more widely sold TI-84 series!) if you want something above the high school level. Do read the related Wiki / ticalc pages.
1.5 TI-86
This calculator (released in 1997) is partially compatible with the TI-85 (which it replaced) and is also supported by VirtualTI-89Pocket.
1.6 TI-83, Plus and Plus Silver Edition
Two of these calculators, the TI-83 and the TI-83 Plus (released in 1996 and 1999, respectively) are supported under WM; the latest (2001) model, Plus Silver Edition (which has nine times the available Flash ROM and over twice the processing speed of the Plus), isn’t.
The changes between TI-83 and the TI-83 Plus were pretty big; for example, the latter already allowed for ROM updates.
1.8 TI-85 (and THIS)
This model has been replaced by TI-86.
2.1 Getting calculator ROM’s
Both the desktop and the Windows Mobile-based emulators require the original ROM of your calculator(s) to be present. It’s easily extractable using the desktop-based ROM extraction tools (it’s also built-in into VTI, the most important desktop-based emulator). However, if you DO have the original device, you may want to choose downloading the original ROM’s right from the homepage of TI itself.
You will most probably need the TI-89 ROM download (currently, it’s “TI-89 Operating System v2.09”; click the Download icon on the center right). It’s also linked from HERE. Just put the resulting os.89u file in the home directory of your desktop / Windows Mobile version. That is, with the desktop version, just copy it into the directory you’ve uncompressed the emulator to; with the Windows Mobile version, you’ll need to copy it to <storage card name>\Program Files\VTI Pocket Emulator.
You can access the majority of the other, compatible ROM’s on TI’s other pages (see the related row in the Comparison Chart) if you really need compliance with those older and/or less capable models (if not, just stick with the 89 – it’s the best, still supported model). If you need one of the TI-82, 83 and 86 ROM’s, you can also get them from other pages; for example TheOldComputer.com’s ROM download page. Note that you will NOT want to use the TI-85 ROM in there – it won’t work (not that it would be a problem: the TI-85 is superseded by the supported & compatible TI-86). M.E.S.S., another desktop emulator for (along with several other models) the TI-81, 85 and 86 isn’t able to use this ROM either. Also note that the TI-99 also listed in the TI section is NOT a calculator ROM but that of a very old home computer, the TI-99/4A.
All ROM files must be copied to the home directory of the emulator; with both the desktop-based and the mobile one. With the TheOldComputer.com package, you’ll, naturally, need to decompress them first.
Note that you won’t need for example the TI-84 Plus ROM (also linked from the ticalc.org TI-84 Plus page) because not even the desktop VTI support the new 84 (Plus). The same stands for the latest 89-series model, the TI-89 Titanium: its ROM doesn’t work under any emulators either (it’s identified as TI-92+ by both the desktop and the WM emulator and is refused to be loaded). Finally, other current models aren’t supported either.
2.2 Emulation on Desktop Windows
You MUST learn how the emulator must be used under the desktop Windows operating system if you will ever want to import any third-party application into your Windows Mobile-based emulator or want to export your own programs typed (tapped) directly into the emulator in easily maintainable, direct exports.
The best emulator available for the desktop is Rusty Wagner’s free Virtual TI v2.5 beta 5 (linked from the main page HERE; alternate download HERE), which is compatible with TI-82, 83, 83 Plus, 85, 86 and 89.
(Note that you won’t want to download the Virtual TI-89/92(+) Emulator v1.01 Beta (it doesn't find the ROM image in the same directory) or the Virtual TI v3.0 Alpha, unless you want a TI-73 / TI-83 Plus emulator only.)
Just download the ZIP file and, after copying one (or more) ROM files in the same directory (if you don’t want to use the app to extract a ROM image from your connected calculator), start vti.exe.
A calculator image will come up (showing the face of a TI emulator, depending on the available ROM images in the home directory). If it’s the wrong emulator (you’d like to emulate another calculator by changing the ROM image) either press F12 or right-click the image and select Set calculator / ROM version as can be seen in this screenshot.
A dialog box will be shown, showing what ROM versions are available. Just select the one you’d like to use (for example, in this screenshot, I’ve selected the TI-89) and click OK.
After changing the ROM, the skin will immediately change and the calculator boot in as can be seen in here. You will want to raise the (virtual) contrast by repeatedly clicking the
("diamond") button and, then, clicking the + button. To make this faster, use the Ctrl key (it’s a shortcut for the diamond key) on your desktop keyboard while depressing + (or -, if you want to decrease the contrast) on your keyboard. BTW, the diamond key will always result in invoking the functionality printed in green on top of most buttons. The yellow 2nd button,
, (also in the top left) will do the same, but with the yellow labels (second functionality) printed on top of most buttons (note that the desktop PC keyboard uses the Alt shortcut for the 2nd button).
Now, you can start to do some serious work. If you already know how to operate a TI-89 (from now on, I only show how it can be operated; other models are, fortunately, pretty similar in operation), then, you will only need information on how files / programs can be transferred between the operating system and the emulator itself. If you’re a newbie, on the other hand, you may want to download the official TI-89/92 manual / guidebook from HERE. It’s certainly a good read, but may be a little too much for a newbie, particularly because it discusses two series at once. Therefore, for basic tasks like program transfer and starting, you may want to prefer my tutorial below, particularly because, of course, it doesn’t discuss emulation-related questions at all. (Needless to say, the documentation coming with VTI is pretty useless for a newbie. The Windows Mobile port is even worse: it has absolutely no Windows Mobile-related documentation. That is, you won’t be able to learn anywhere – except for my current article – how you can import third-party / external programs to it.)
First, let’s see how file transfer is done from the desktop PC to the emulator.
2.2.1 Desktop PC -> emulator file transfer
First, let’s get some for example games so that we can indeed try to operate the emulator! (Note that getting and deploying productivity apps – for example, math functions – is done exactly the same way. In here, I’ve chosen games to show you how excellent gaming platform these calculators are with the right coding.)
For example, download Earth Mission HERE. It’s a really nice, very fast action platformer game. After downloading, decompress earth89.zip. It’ll contain two files of interest, earth.89y and earth.89z (in addition to the French language readme file, lisez-moi.txt). Highlight them in either Windows Explorer or, for example, Total Commander and drag-and-drop them on the calculator image (make sure the virtual TI-89 is switched on - you can't transfer anything to switched-off emulator images).
During this, you shouldn’t be presented a Transfer error dialog box; if you are (most importantly because you’re run out of the, when nothing is installed in the RAM, 192 kbytes of RAM), just click Cancel and read on to find out how you can check the free RAM memory of your emulated calculator and how it can be increased.
Now, press 2nd (again, on the PC keyboard, the Alt shortcut key) and - buttons (that is, invoke VAR-LINK). You’ll see the following:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/varlink1.png
Now, let’s create a so-called “folder” (they’re just like a directory in the file system) in order to separate the game from other apps / games you’ll later upload to avoid name clashes / much better separation.
2.2.2 Creating / using folders
Using folders is particularly useful because most third-party apps, particularly games, contain several executable and/or data files, which makes browsing them REALLY hard. When correctly separated into folders, managing / browsing them becomes far easier – as with directories in a file system. (Note that only top-level directories are allowed – not nested ones! That is, you can’t, for example, create a Games main folder and, for example, an Asteroids subfolder inside it.)
To do this, still in this, VAR-LINK mode, click the F1 button (or, of course, on the keyboard) and select 5: Create Folder.
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/varlinkCrFolder.png
Enter some meaningful name for the new folder; for example, earthmis:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/varlinkCrFolder2.png
Press (click – it’s at the bottom right) Enter two times. The new folder will be created as can be seen in here.
Now, select the new files you want to move to the new folder. To do this, press (click at the top, under the screen or press the hardware key on your keyboard) F5 (All) to bring up the selection menu. Here, just select 1:Select all. All the files will be marked in the non-collapsed folders. The results will be the following:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/varlinkCrFolder5.png
Now, press F1 (Manage) and select Move. You’ll need to decide which folder to move the selected files to; as you have only one folder (in addition to MAIN), you can just choose the default (earthmis). (If you will have more than one potential target folders, you’ll be able to select them right here.)
Now, you’ll be taken back to the file list view:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/varlinkCrFolder7.png
As can be seen, the two files have been copied to the new folder.
When copied into separate folders, you must use the folder name as the prefix when starting a given program in these folders as in foldername\appname(). This will be auto-generated for you when, after doing the above tests (but NOT making the new folder the default one – this will be explained later), you press Enter on the executable file of the two (earth.ASM):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/varlinkCrFolder8.png
In this screenshot, as can be seen, the name of the executable program (earth) has been prefixed by earthmis, using the backslash character to separate the two names. To try to run the game, you can just supply the closing parenthesis and pressing Enter. Then, you’ll be presented the “earthpgm not found” error message as can be seen in here.
This is because the main executable, earth, is trying to find the related resource files in the MAIN folder (in here, there is the executable ASM file (earth.89z – note the z at the end! Z, in most cases, states for assembly programs) and one data file (earth.89y – note the y, which, mostly, states for data files). This will be a problem with ALL third-party applications / games depending on other resource files.
To combat the problem, you will need to use the setFold (folderName) command (cd (Change Directory) under MS-DOS / Windows), where folderName, as you may have already guessed, will be earthmis in our case:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/varlinkCrFolder10.png
Press Enter two times; the result of this will be changing to the new folder:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/varlinkCrFolder11.png
Now, you can reissue the earthmis\earth() command above (you can even leave the foldername and just use earth()) and the game will now start. (Note that you’ll need to start the game and control jumping with the 2nd button in the game; not, say, Enter. This is pretty understandable if you take into account that this button is pretty much in the same line as the D-pad, unlike Enter.).
There is another very important thing you MUST master: copying the files off the RAM to the flash ROM.
2.2.3 Using the built-in flash ROM to store programs / data
As with all mobile platforms, dynamic memory (RAM) is very scarce and really precious. There is only 192 kbytes of RAM in the TI-89, which fills in REALLY fast, particularly if you (try to) run games. (If you encounter problems when you try to run something, it will most likely be caused by the shortage of RAM). Therefore, you MUST master backing up your files to the built-in flash ROM of your device. There is much more flash ROM than RAM.
To do this, go back to the already-known VAR-LINK mode, select the files in RAM to be moved to flash (in the F5: All menu), press F1:Manage and select 8:Archive variable:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/desktopVITArchiveVriable1.png
The filenames will, now, be prefixed with the http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/desktopVITArchiveVriable3.png icon, which means the files are no longer in RAM:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/desktopVITArchiveVriable2.png
You can easily check whether the transfer to the flash ROM has indeed succeeded. To do this, you’ll need to use the memory applet – another very important applet you need to master with all programmable calculators so that you can see how much dynamic (program) / static (flash ROM storage) memory you still have.
2.2.4 Checking the available RAM / flash ROM size
To do this, just press 2nd + 6 (MEM). In there, look for the two numbers at the bottom right (the cursor is just below them):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/desktopVTImemsize.png
The “RAM free 195852” means you have the full (factory) available RAM at your disposal; the “Flash ROM free 631482” means some 20k of files are already in the flash ROM of the device (that is, in this case, the emulator).
Finally, let me elaborate on how you can export files from the desktop emulator to the file system of your desktop computer. If you, for example, write a program in the emulator (see Chapter 17: Programming in the official manual on how programs need to be entered in the emulator) and save it as, say, omaapp2 (as can be seen in here), you’ll need to select F3:Link and, then, 1: Send. The desktop Windows OS will present a file save dialog, where you can rename the file before saving and also select its target directory):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/062007TICalculators/desktopVTISaveProgs3.png
(Note the ‘p’ in the .89p extension. As opposed to assembly programs, which end up in z, BASIC programs created using the built-in program editor end in p. Also note that the different file extensions are also listed HERE and HERE.)
2.2.5 Other apps / games to try
As far as games are concerned, you can also give a try to Aspirin v3.0 (a small but pretty nice and indeed addictive game), CalcRogue (an interesting RPG; remember to transfer ONLY the contents of the binTI89 to the calculator, without the contents of the Titanium subdirectory), Calcwars (also see Advance Wars for the Game Boy Advance; must be started with ttstart("cwdata")) etc. There are TONS of other games in the Games subcategories of the TI-89 archive of ticalc.org (for example, here’re the assembly language (meaning fast) ones and here’re the BASIC ones (slower).
The same stands for applications / math libraries. There’re virtually thousands of such apps for example here (assembly math) and here (BASIC math). If you have the time, I REALLY recommend looking around in all the subfolders of the ticalc.org TI-89 library - it’s really worth it! There’re even (simple) Java Virtual Machines for the calculators - let alone goodies like Telnet apps or (Lynx-like) Web browsers.
In addition, you’ll want to take a look at CalcG.org. Much as, in general, it has fewer titles, it has some really interesting goodies (and an online forum – ticalc.org’s mail list archives are currently down); for example, this StarCraft article (unfortunately, without any downloads).
Finally, there are some (very few) official Flash programs on TI’s pages themselves.
Now that you know how to use the desktop version, let’s move on to the mobile port.
2.3 The Windows Mobile port
2.3.1 Getting and installing the mobile version
The mobile version, VTI Pocket Emulator v2.4, which, more or less, is a direct port of Rusty Wagner’s original on the desktop, is ported by Daniel Galano (see his personal page HERE) to Windows Mobile and is accessible HERE.
Installing it is pretty straightforward: decompress the ZIP archive and start the only EXE file inside. It’ll install the emulator through ActiveSync. As with the desktop version, you’ll need to copy the ROM(s) of the calculator(s) you’d like to use to the home directory of the emulator.
Having a dedicated installer, you can start the emulator right from the Programs, by clicking the VTI Pocket Emulator icon.
Note that you won’t want to use it in Landscape (there wouldn’t be much point in doing so as, for example, you can’t use slide-out / clamshell key/thumboards anyway) because of the major GUI bitmap problems (tested on ALL my test device, VGA and QVGA, old and new - behaved the same).
Swapping ROM’s can be done in File / Select ROM as can be seen in here. Upon swapping a ROM, the corresponding skin will also be auto-loaded as can be seen in here. (Note that skins except for that of the TI-89 are all pretty blurred.)
2.3.2 Differences between the desktop and the mobile version; problems with the latter; tips
There are some major differences between the original and the ported version. They are as follows:
The mobile version can’t load external files and can’t save programs you enter yourself / variables you’d like to be saved. This means the only way to transfer programs / data in either direction is using the <romname>.sav files (for example, with the official TI-89 upgrade ROM, os.sav) it automatically saves its state to upon exiting and restoring the state upon restarting / reloading a given ROM BIOS. That is, you WILL need to use the desktop version to transfer external apps to state saves.
Because the aspect ratio of the original calculator might be around 10:3 as opposed to the 4:3 aspect ratio of (most) Windows Mobile devices, the original button layout isn’t preserved – the uppermost three row buttons are relocated to the right of the screen, which can be pretty annoying if you’re got used to the original button layout.
It’s FAR slower than the desktop emulator, even on very fast WM devices. That is, it’s completely useless for gaming. For “traditional” uses, however, it may be OK (albeit, for example, graphing functions are REALLY slow – even the most simple ones. Just try entering graph sin(x) on a mobile device and see how slow graphing is – it’s decidedly faster on desktop devices).
Unfortunately, Windows Mobile hardware buttons can’t be used to speed up input (see the way the Alt / Ctrl keys are used on the desktop emulator to dramatically speed up invoking second/third functionality). However, built-in keyboards / the D-pad work on most devices. An exception is the HTC Universal, where attempts to use external / internal keyboards resulted in an almost immediate address error / privilege violation error. With the HTC Wizard (which also has a built-in thumbboard), I’ve encountered no similar problems. As far as the D-pad support is concerned, it’s only with the Dell Axim x51v (A12 ROM) that the D-pad didn’t work and trying to use it resulted in an immediate crash. With most (all?) of my other test devices, D-pad worked OK.
In addition to the problems outlined above, you MUST refrain from entering any data at a fast pace on the native GUI of the emulator, especially on (comparatively) slower devices. If you enter data too fast, the last entered button will be endlessly repeated upon subsequent key presses as if the last key were stuck. This (and the fact that you will need to slow down the pace you enter your data) can be pretty annoying.
2.3.3 Transferring files from / to the desktop version
As has already been pointed out, unlike on the desktop, it’s not possible to directly import an external program (data file) into the emulator, and you can’t export anything either. For example, if you select F3 / 1:Send in VAR-LINK (the way of directly exporting files / data to the file system in the target desktop), the mobile version just hangs. However, this isn’t really a problem if you do have the desktop version of the emulator on your desktop computer.
Then, all you need to do is making sure you do save the internal state of the calculator when exiting (that is, after right-clicking the skin, select the Exit and save internal state when exiting the emulator) and, then, just copy the newly created .sav state file to the Windows Mobile handheld. It’ll make use of it without any problems.
The same states for file transfers in the opposite direction. While the WM version doesn’t support selecting between exiting with and without state saving, when you exit the program, it does save the state. That is, if you need to export a program you’ve written / dataset you’ve created on your WM-based emulator, just copy over the .sav state file from the home directory of the emulator to your desktop emulator, and use the latter to export the file / data to the local file system as a non-sav, self-standing file.
All in all, if you need to import any kind of file into the mobile version, you must do this in the dekstop version and just pass on the state save (os.sav with the official TI-89 ROM) file to the mobile version.
2.4 The feature / comparison chart
As usual, I’ve created a feature / comparison chart so that you’ll have an easier time checking whether a given model is emulated under the desktop / mobile Windows, what hardware features (most importantly, screen and RAM/ROM size) it has, whether it supports CAS, where its ROM BIOS can be downloaded from etc. It’s available HERE. Don’t forget to check it out!
Note that the chart doesn’t include discontinued / superseded models: the TI-92 (1995; replaced by the TI-92 Plus (and later the Voyage 200), TI-80 (1995; replaced the much superior TI-73 and is, due to its proprietary CPU, is NOT emulated by any emulators), TI-85 (1992; replaced the superior and backwards compatible (!) TI-86), TI-81 (1990; replaced by all newer models; few additional apps because the programs needed to be entered by hand – this calculator had no linking capabilities).
Also note that TI’s official comparison chart only lists the four most current models (TI-83 Plus, TI-84 Plus, TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, TI-89 Titanium), unlike my chart.
3. What other TI emulators are available?
Not many: only the old TI-59 is emulated, which will be only of interest to retro freaks. Yeah, I loved the TI-59 back in the early 1980’s (before getting the Sharp PC-1500, which did blow out everything out of water) but, now, it’s really-really worse than any of the current TI graphing calculators.
The Windows Mobile emulator is available HERE. It, as with Daniel Galano / Rusty Wagner’s TI-8x emulator, uses a desktop installer. Note that the installer puts the direct link to the executable (when installed to the main storage, \Program Files\alainza\ TI59ce\ TI59ce.exe) to the Games folder of the traditional Programs.
Note that, much as Michu’s excellent Emupage lists MBA-Calc by Odyssey Computing, Inc. as a TI BAII PLUS emulator, it isn’t one. Odyssey Computing has two business (non-graphing) calculator titles for the desktop and handheld Windows; the newer and much more recommended BizCalc and the older MBA-Calc. These are NOT emulators.
Finally, still speaking of Michu’s Emupage, it lists another Windows Mobile version, “PocketPC v2.5 (with SkinEditor)”. It’s nothing else than the desktop VTI – that is, don’t run to download it.
4. Other links of interest
Long VTI Pocket Emulator v2.4-related comments thread at ticalc.org
FreewarePPC’s and PocketPCFreewares’ comments. Note that you will want to take PocketPCFreewares’ original comments with a HUGE pile of salt as they refer to a very old version, v2.4Beta, released early 2004. Also, some of the user comments at FreewarePPC are pretty misleading – do NOT necessarily believe what you read there!
TI-89, TI-89 Titanium, TI-92+ and Voyage 200 FAQ ("Can I run this game on my calculator even though it was written for a different calculator? What is AMS (Advanced Mathematical Software)? Can I play TI-89 games on my TI-89 Titanium?")
Poll: Favorite Calculator (1st: TI-84+ (SE); 2nd: TI-89 (Ti))
All the desktop emulator software
Great write up and I will try some of the others later, for now I must admit to being that "retro freak" you mention - I miss my TI-59 since the battery pack died and the home made one fried the main board, shame as it was a great device, I will have some fun trying this out later, I still have the original program listings I created when at collage 20+ years ago - thanks for the heads up - Mike
Wow, another excellent article. I popped my cherry on a TI-82. Still have my beautiful black beast somewhere in a draw
V
Buttons Misaligned-Fixed
After some farting around, I finally got this to run on my Rhodium (Tilt2), but the buttons were not aligned properly. I correctly assumed that it was a problem with the way that my phone scaled the bitmaps that it uses to skin the emulator. I am attaching the resized the skins, but I only have a ROM for the TI89 so I have not tested the others. I suspect that the resized skins would work on all WVGA (800x480) devices. I have no idea how to create a cab file, but it should be very easy for anyone to install these. All you need to do is replace the skins on your device with the ones below. The skins should be located in \Program Files\TI Pocket Emulator\Skins. Note: If you have installed the application on a storage card, you will find the "Program Files" folder on the card.
UPDATE (06/18/2007): an updated version posted to http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2030&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 . Sorry, I don't repost it here: it'd take far too much time / energy to cut it into manageable, postable pieces. That is, the version below is the first, outdated one. Make sure you follow the link to the newer.
The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was a very popular home computer system in the eighties.
The history of the Spectrum didn't end at the official, 1990 discontinuation of the series. As with the Commodore 64 (see the review of all Windows Mobile-based C64 emulators HERE) , which still receives top-notch scene demos, the Spectrum had (and is still having!) a spectacular afterlife in the ex-Soviet states; most importantly, Belarus and Russia.
Particularly in Russia, there have been a plethora of self-manufactured ZX Spectrum-based home computers throughout the entire nineties, with a lot of fans and developers. This trend even continued to this century - currently, there is some hardware manufacturers still producing ZX Spectrum-based & compatible computers like the Pentagon and the ATM Turbo. While these models, in general, haven't really improved on the (gaming-wise, particularly weak) graphics subsystem of the original Spectrum (not taking the new low-res EGA-like mode into account), they come with plenty of memory (128k to 1M in general), good sound capabilities, IDE hard disk, CD-ROM, mouse etc.
Russia's leading role in the ZX Spectrum's surviving has also resulted in something else: a steady stream of software titles released for these ZX Spectrum-based computers. Just pay a visit to the Virtual TR-DOS main page (Wiki), which is the largest archive of the software ever released for these models. I especially recommend downloading the full app / games database (it's the Virtual TR-DOS Games & Press Base link on the main page) and browsing the database. Titles with the type "RU" are all genuine games developed by Russian developers. Titles with the type "D" are also interesting because they show what projects Russian developers have ever embarked on (but, then, either failed at or, at least, didn't deliver a final, fully working version). The dedicated demo download page is HERE. I've even posted some screenshots of a somewhat working (!) Civilization and Wolf3D-clone in the The Comparison & Feature Chart (“Chart” for short). You WILL want to check out these demos in a capable emulator (in either the desktop-based Unreal Speccy or its Windows Mobile version, UnrealSpeccyPPC) - they are really fun and clearly show these models (except for the really bad, one-colour graphics) are much-much better than anything imaginable on the original ZX Spectrum. You may also want to check out some scene demos (again, under a capable, compatible emulator); for example, the two ZX demos written by AND, author of UnrealSpeccyPPC. While, technically (mostly graphics-wise), these clones aren't as good as the Commodore 64, some demos (and genuine Russia-based) are really top-notch.
If, on the other hand, you "only" want to play old, original, commercial games written for the original ZX models and are not at all interested in advanced stuff like watching Russian demos written for somewhat more advanced Spectrum clones, you will also want to read on - you'll find all the answers in this article.
In this roundup, I present a full roundup of the Windows Mobile (both Pocket PC and MS Smartphone) emulators of the platform. As usual, I'm absolutely sure you won't find a better discussion of the subject anywhere else. And, in addition, I present you a lot of new and REALLY groundbreaking information never ever published in English - only in Russian (one of the several languages I have the honor to speak) and a very short news item in Czech. Yes, this is the FIRST roundup to report on the BEST ZX Spectrum emulator ever written, UnrealSpeccyPPC. You can be pretty much happy that I also speak Russian (along with a lot of other languages) – without my knowing the language, Windows Mobile users would have ended up being not reported on this really groundbreaking emulator, let alone being presented with a usable tutorial, which I also provide in here – probably not even in the future.
This roundup is somewhat different from the previous one discussing Commodore 64 emulators. The sole reason for this is very simple: of the five Pocket PC-capable Spectrum emulators, there is only one that should be preferred unless you need Portrait mode or an on-screen keyboard with all the original labels. With the C64 emulators, there were two strong Pocket PC contenders (PocketCommodore64 and PocketHobbit) and, of course, the Smartphone-based PocketHobbitSP2003. In the case of the Spectrum, fortunately, there is only one really recommended emulator, which greatly simplifies the discussion.
This means I put particular emphasis on the most recommended Pocket PC emulator, UnrealSpeccyPPC, unlike the other two non-disqualified titles (PocketClive and SpectrumAnyWhere), let alone the two titles (the comparatively new, but with the arrival of UnrealSpeccyPPC, already-outdated PocketSpeccy and the very old (the last version was released in 1999), Handheld PC-specific SinclairSpectrumEmulator), which I haven't included in the Chart . Of course, as far as the MS Smartphone platform is concerned, I also put particular emphasis on the most recommended MS Smartphone emulator, FuseSP. This, of course, doesn't mean I completely ignore the two non-disqualified Pocket PC-specific titles (PocketClive and SpectrumAnyWhere) either - I've very thoroughly compared them to the rest in the Chart . It's just that, in the textual tutorial below, I don't elaborate on how you can for example load programs. In the Chart, you'll find most of the needed information though.
First, let's elaborate on whether it's at all worth emulating ZX Spectrum (or, of course, one of its more advanced, Russian clones).
1.1 Is Windows Mobile-based Spectrum emulation worth the trouble at all?
While, technically, the ZX Spectrum has FAR inferior gaming capabilities compared to the most important, direct competitor of the model, the Commodore 64, in certain cases (not taking into the account of emulating post-Soviet games / hardware), it may still be worth preferring to emulate other platforms.
First, there are several games not released for other platforms or, when released at all, these titles are not possible to get. For example, should you want to play the classic game Pssst, you WILL need Spectrum emulation (unless you play the Flash remake). Also, there are some other well-known titles not existing on many other platforms; for example, Lords of Midnight and Doomdark's Revenge. These two, excellent titles only existed on two other platforms (C64 and the Amstrad CPC); therefore, should you be unable to find for example a copy of the C64 / CPC version, you may end up having to play the Spectrum one.
Furthermore, as opposed to, say, emulating the Amstrad CPC or the Commodore Amiga, the Spectrum is emulated without major glitches and on even very slow Pocket PC's and MS Smartphones. While it's impossible to play most Amiga games on even the fastest Windows Mobile devices without stuttering sound, ZX Spectrum games run on even on lowest-end, 7-year-old models without problems. This also includes today's TI OMAP-based Pocket PC and Smartphone models, of course.
Supporting low-end hardware, fortunately, also means support for even low-end, low-resolution (176*220) MS Smartphones. As the Smartphone platform has way fewer games than its big brother, the Pocket PC, emulation becomes even more important. While, fortunately, there are some really excellent gaming console emulators for MS Smartphones (even 176*220 ones) - for example, Masterall's emulator masterpieces and SmartGear, home computers are generally not emulated on the platform (that is, there are no for example Atari ST or Amiga emulators for the MS Smartphone). The lack of (home computer) emulators and native games makes it very important for any MS Smartphone user to have access to a plethora of ZX Spectrum games, which are, as has already been pointed out, perfectly emulated even on low-end, cheap mobiles.
1.1.1 When to stick to emulating another platform?
Of course, not all titles should be played in a Spectrum emulator. For example, when a particular title also exist for the Nintendo NES, the SNES, NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine), the Sega Master System (SMS), Genesis / Mega Drive or Game Gear, going for these emulators may turn out to be a better choice. (Please do click the links for the complete rundown of the Windows Mobile emulation possibilities. Also make sure you follow the other, for example Commodore 64 / Amiga / Atari ST / Amstrad CPC / IBM PC links to emulating home computers.) With the exception of SNES, the emulators of these systems are also very low-end handheld-friendly and the games, in general, are at least as good as on the Spectrum (and, in MOST cases, technically MUCH better, with much more advanced graphics and/or music).
As a rule of thumb, if you plan to play a given title but would like to get the best gaming experience, go to Wikipedia, look up the given title and check out what other platforms it has been ported to (it’s listed in the text box on the right, in the “Platform(s)” row). In general, you can safely ignore the Commodore Amiga (as long as you want sound) ports. If there is an Atari ST port (another, more advanced home computer with excellent Windows Mobile emulation capabilities), you may want to check it out; as is the case with most C64, NES, SNES, SMS, PC Engine, Genesis and Game Gear ports. Most of these games / ROM's are available on the Web. In my past articles, I've explained how you can find these titles and what you will need to play them on your Windows Mobile device.
The same stands for games that have a native Windows Mobile interpreter; for example, Magnetic Scrolls titles. Speaking of these excellent games, unfortunately, the ZX Spectrum versions have no pictures at all - as opposed to even the C64 version. Therefore, in no way should you use a Spectrum emulator to enjoy these games – unless you don’t need images, that is.
1.2 Downloading C64 games / apps / demos off the Web
All emulators are common in that they, generally, read standardized file formats. If you're new to Spectrum emulation, you need to know about tape and snapshot images (and, if you would like to access the mostly post-Soviet TR-DOS titles, disk files). All emulators handle both tape and snapshot formats; UnrealSpeccyPPC, THE most recommended emulator, also handles disk images.
The main source of original (non-post-Soviet) Spectrum games and other titles is worldofspectrum.org. It at least lists all the available games. Note that, should it not contain the tape images of a given title because of (C) reasons, you will need to Google around. It’s by doing the same that I've found a source of R-Type, for example. Also, the Virtual TR-DOS main page has almost all old titles; I'd, however, prefer worldofspectrum.org to it because it has a lot of other, great information (game manuals, links to original articles / tips), unless you look for something not available in the latter or, of course, post-Soviet titles.
(Note that, still speaking of worldofspectrum.org, it has a pretty good and up-to-date emulator lists, also with WinCE (PPC) and Smartphone sections. The former still doesn’t list UnrealSpeccyPPC.)
As far as scene demos are concerned, your best friend will be zxdemo.org. It contains a generic, international (not just post-Soviet) overview of the scene, albeit, sometimes, it also contains weird stuff like this article, which, it seems, mistakes Finland for a post-Soviet country ("Q. How active is the demo scene in the UK? A. Well, on the Spectrum there's just a few of us keeping it all together. Over here the Spectrum scene is more focused on the whole retro gaming thing. As far as the wider scene goes, there are a couple of groups, but we're not really as active as other places like Finland. It does make you wonder - do they teach kids C at kindergarten or something?" FYI: it's not for the ZX Spectrum demoscene that Finland is famous for. In this regard, the two ex-Soviet, Russian-speaking countries are WAY ahead of Finland.) The direct Spectrum demo / tune downloads are HERE.
1.3 Using the emulators
After you've downloaded the games you'd like to play (demos you want to watch etc.) and installed the emulator, start the latter. Note that as none of the current emulators support archived files, you will need to decompress the files before transferring them to your handheld.
The target directory is very important as it's only one title, the (otherwise) most recommended UnrealSpeccyPPC, that is capable of loading Spectrum titles from anywhere in the file system. This is particularly true when used together with Mad Programmer's File Dialog Changer in order to be able to navigate to any directory, and not just the root and the direct subfolders of the root, as is the case with WM5+. Please see my earlier articles on how FDC should be installed and used.
The other emulators (including the only one native MS Smartphone emulator, FuseSP) all require the files to be put in a specific directory so that the emulator can find them. They are, in all cases, either the home directory of the emulator or a subdirectory of it. This also means you MUST install the emulators on a storage card if you want to avoid your built-in storage to be overcrowded with Spectrum files.
Please see the "File dialog?" row in the Chart for more information on what these directories are.
1.3.1 Loading programs into the emulators
The two (main) types of available media also means vastly different methods of loading them.
1.3.1.1 Snapshot files
First, with "snapshot" files (files that, effectively, contain a full print of the memory & full state of a computer), you just click them and they're immediately (without having to wait anything) loaded.
The advantage of this approach is immediate loading. The disadvantage is the lack of boot screens (which you may want to see - at least once. Some of them, for example, that of Rainbow Islands, is pretty cool) and the comparatively big size (as the entire RAM is saved - even with programs that are way smaller in size).
You can recognize a snapshot file by its extension: SLT, SP, SNA or Z80; the latter two being the most common.
1.3.1.1.1 Snapshot file loading in UnrealSpeccyPPC
To load a snapshot file in UnrealSpeccyPPC (the recommended emulator for the Pocket PC), after starting the emulator, click the large Open File button at the top (screenshot here; note that, as with all my all screenshots, I traverse the focus to the button / GUI item you need to activate so that it is easily recognizable). Note that, after loading something, its label will change to the full path + file name of the currently attached file as can also be seen in HERE. After this, click the file to load and, then, click Start at the bottom left (later, when you exit back to this screen to, say, make some changes in the settings, this button will be renamed to Resume). The execution will immediately be transferred to the given title.
1.3.1.1.2 Snapshot file loading in FuseSP
Conversely, to do the same in FuseSP (the recommended emulator for the MS Smartphone), after loading the emulator, go to Menu (right softkey) / 1 Load Snapshot; in the Select Snapshot GUI list control, select the one you'd like to load (pressing Action will result in being presented a full, vertical list of all the available ones to greatly speed up the selection; just press the Action button again to select a title from this view.). Then, just press Done (left softkey); you'll be taken right into the emulator, running the just-loaded title.
1.3.1.2 Tape files
Loading tape files are a bit different because they, by default, aren't auto-started in the Pocket PC emulators (including UnrealSpeccyPPC); it's only on the MS Smartphone where they are auto-loaded by default (which can be disabled).
Tape files have the file extension TAP, TZX (and CSW with UnrealSpeccyPPC). Compared to snapshot images, they are, in cases, MUCH slower to load but more closely mimic the actual tape loading experience, with some emulators (UnrealSpeccyPPCis one of theml FuseSP isn't), even exactly the same visual (border coloring) and audio (beeps) effects. In addition, you'll always see the infamous loader (title) screens not possible with snapshot-based games.
1.3.1.2.1 Tape file loading in UnrealSpeccyPPC
To load a tape file in UnrealSpeccyPPC, do exactly the same as you did with loading the snapshot file: that is, click the large Open File button and select the file. Now, however, before clicking Start, make sure you set the drop-down menu between the Open File and the "Reset" button to BASIC 48 (if it's a program compatible with the 48k Spectrum and not requiring a Spectrum 128). After this, instead of the Start (Resume) button you used with the snapshot images, you will need to press Reset (so that the previous program, if present, is removed from the emulator).
Now, you'll be taken to the BASIC prompt of the emulator, which resets itself. After bringing up the on-screen keyboard (click the keyboard icon at the bottom right corner), just click "J". This will result in "LOAD" to be inserted in the command row. Now, press the somewhat smaller "S" in the lower right area of the on-screen keyboard (it, then, becomes red showing it’s in effect) and press " (Symbol Shifted character of the P key). Repeat the same so that you see the command
LOAD ""
on the screen. Now, press the Enter key - it's just under the already-used P key; it's denoted by a ^ character. The tape loading process will start.
Should you make an error during this, just click the small "c" in the lower left corner of the keyboard and, then, click '0' (zero). This will delete a character (or a full command) backwards. Remember to click "c" again if you want to delete more than one character.
1.3.1.2.1.1 Disk file loading in UnrealSpeccyPPC
Finally, loading disk files (in UnrealSpeccyPPC only) is even more different. Start with the usual Open File / selection screen and press Reset. (You will, as opposed to the Tape loading screen, NOT need to set the operating system to something else than TR-DOS!)
You'll be presented a directory list on a green background. Using the 6/7/8/9 buttons on the on-screen keyboard, position the mouse cursor on top of the item you'd like to load so that it is highlighted. (With most, say, Virtual TR-DOS or contemporary, post-Soviet disk images / demos / games, there's only programs in the image and, therefore, you'll only see one image in there.) After this, click 0 (fire) - the given program will be loaded and started.
1.3.1.2.2 Tape file loading in FuseSP
To load a tape file in FuseSP, in the “UI mode”, select Menu / 2 Load Tape and do the same as previously, with snapshot images – that is, select the file to load. Note that you should NOT untick the “Auto load” checkbox. Should you untick it, you would need to, after manually resetting the emulator (Menu / 6 Reset), manually enter LOAD””. This would be pretty problematic – if you don’t have a built-in full thumbboard, the only way of doing this is assigning all the used letters and signs (L, O, A, D, “) to a hardware / phonepad button, one by one and, then, pressing them. As is also pointed out elsewhere in this roundup, this is what makes it (almost) impossible to issue any long(er) custom commands in FuseSP.
1.3.2 Other features / settings
1.3.2.1 Turbo mode
UnrealSpeccyPPC allows for a "turbo" mode in addition to the "100% speed" one. The former will allow for, on current, fast Windows Mobile devices, much (in cases even 1500% of the original Spectrum speed) faster program execution.
Enabling turbo mode also greatly speeds up tape loading. However, it, as with the C64 emulator PocketHobbit, it also results in most importantly character input problems: with enabled turbo mode, you won't even be able to enter almost anything because of the doubled characters. Also, games will be unnecessarily fast.
This means you will only want to enable turbo mode during, say, lengthy tape loading sessions. To do this, just press Application button 4 on your Pocket PC. You will also see the FPS value, continuously displayed in the lower left corner of the screen, to be increased (and the sound muted).
1.3.2.2 Buttons
Better emulators also let for redefining buttons. This is essential when dealing with non-Kempston joystick emulation and on the MS Smartphone platform, where you need to assign original alphanumeric letters to the phonepad / control buttons of the device so that you can use the given letters / numbers at all (assuming your Smartphone doesn't have a built-in keyboard).
1.3.2.2.1 Buttons in UnrealSpeccyPPC
To make any (additional) button assignments in UnrealSpeccyPPC, as is also pointed out in the "Joystick: supported keyboard layouts " row of the Chart, you'll need to click Advanced Settings, tap-and-hold the functionality you’d like to assign and select Assign. (If you no longer need the previous assignment(s) of a button, just select Empty in the same menu.)
You can also manually edit the action_map.ini file in the home directory of the emulator. Make sure you convert the file back to the LF-only (Unix-style) format from the DOS/Windows-specific, CR+LF format, should you use a Windows-based editor also putting CR's at the end of each line. Note that it's quite unlikely you'll need to modify existing button assignments as the built-in, pre-defined ones cover most games.
1.3.2.2.2 Buttons in FuseSP
With the MS Smartphone-based FuseSP, the situation is wildly different. This emulator, unlike PocketHobbitSP2003 (the C64 emulator for the MS Smartphone), doesn't let for arbitrary character input. That is, unfortunately, unlike with PocketHobbitSP2003, you can't just use the phonepad in the traditional text input way.
While the default character mapping, that is, numerals (and the most widely used other control characters: Enter (Talk), Space (hang up)) are assigned to the phone buttons (including the volume up/down keys, the Power button and the two softbuttons), and these assignments generally work great in most games (where you need to use the numerals 1, 2, 3 etc. to select at least a joystick mode), you may need to assign other characters to a specific button so that you can enter other types of characters.
If you encounter situations like this, go to the main screen (by pressing the Back or the Home key while in the main emulation window; this is what the README.txt coming with the emulator calls "UI Mode", as opposed to the in-emulation "Spectrum mode"), invoke the main menu (right soft key), select "5 Define Keys", select a hardware button (for example, Left Softkey) to assign the given original key to, press the Action button to quickly bring up the selection list, select the new assigned key (for example, in here, “A”) and press Done (left softkey). The assignment will change.
Incidentally, this menu can seem a bit complicated at first because, in addition to the plain character assignment operations, it's also here that you can en/disable Kempston emulation (enabled by default) and mirror the D-pad directions to the phone keys so that you can not only control the game via the D-pad, but also with the phonepad buttons 2/8/4/6 for down / up / left / right. If you don't need the latter functionality (because you exclusively use the D-pad to control your player) but would prefer to be able to assign more functionalities / more original keys to the available (few) hardware buttons, you can safely untick the "Mirror Joystick on Keys" checkbox in here, which is enabled by default.)
Also, again, note that it's in here, at the top (with the "Kempston Joystick" checkbox, that you can disable the Kempston emulation. Should a given game not support Kempston, you'll need to untick this checkbox and, right below the checkbox, make sure you correctly assign the four directions (and the Action button) to real, original keys. These assignments, naturally, aren't editable while Kempston emulation is enabled (after all, Kempston isn't character input emulation-based). However, after disabling Kempston, you can freely edit them, should their default value (the traditional Sinclair interface) be useless.
Note that, fortunately, the key binding / assignment settings are separately saved for each game. This is highly useful because games tend to use different button assignments and continuously redefining them can prove really annoying.
Finally, note that, in FuseSP, you can explicitly (it’s disabled by default) enable the use of external, built-in key/thumbboard, as is the case with UnrealSpeccyPPC, where, in order to make built-in keyboards work, you must select the “Keyboard + cursor” control scheme in BUTTONS. To do this, go to Menu / 4 Options and tick “Device has full keyboard”. Note that it will NOT work correctly with the HTC Vox / S710 slide-out keyboard – the numerals will be used instead of the alphabetic keys, only letting some keys to be accessed. Users of non-sliding, Landscape keyboards, on the other hand, reported success with their keyboards.
1.3.2.3 Joysticks
Traditionally, the Spectrum had a wildly different approach to controlling games than the Commodore 64 or most other home computers designed & manufactured after 1982. The Spectrum not having a built-in joystick port, the user needs to use the keyboard for control. By default, the keys 5 (left), 6 (down),7 (up) and 8 (right) are used to direction control in many games (and, of course, in the BASIC too) and, in general, 0 to fire. You can control a lot of games with this scheme; for example, Harrier Attack! and Pssst, just to name a few.
However, this keyboard-based control was really awkward, which were helped in two ways.
First, other blocks of buttons, more closely representing the four directions and separated to the left and right sides of the keyboard, have been used by some games. The most important of these assignment is the QAOPM scheme, where Q is used for left, O for down, P for up, A for right. For firing, traditionally, two keys were used: either M or the space. Should you encounter a game supporting these buttons instead of the standard 5/6/7/8 ones, you will want to reassign the D-pad directions to use these buttons. Note that, with UnrealSpeccyPPC, where there are several pre-defined control schemes (and you can also create your own ones), you will only need to select the one you need in the BUTTONS tab in Advanced Options. If there's no pre-defined schema for a given game, you'll want to edit action_map.ini by conveniently copying an already-defined block of button assignments, giving it a meaningful name (in the first, preset= attribute) and make the necessary changes. After storing the file and restarting the emulator, the new schema will be visible and selectable. Alternatively, you can also do the same from inside the emulator – with somewhat more effort & clicks.
It's also very important to notice action_map.ini assigns the <AutoFire> functionality to the TSOFT1 button; that is, the left WM5+ softkey. As this button may be missing on some upgraded / native WM5 devices (for example, the Dell Axim x50/x51 series and the non-phone HP iPAQ's) and, of course, ALL devices prior to WM5, you will want to redefine it to use, say, the second application button (APP2).
The second, additional hardware-based approach, was adding joystick interfaces in the extension (interface) ports. These interfaces allowed for plugging in the, then, already (except for the IBM PC, which went its own, analogue controller way) industry-standard 9-pin digital joysticks pioneered by the hugely successful Atari 2600 gaming console.
Two main standards (meaning to different hardware joystick interfaces) exists: that of Kempston and Sinclair. The former doesn't map any keyboard buttons but use its own; the latter does button mapping (which is exactly the same as with the traditional key-based buttons, except for the direction "left", which is, instead of key 5, is mapped to key 9.
In general, hardware joystick-aware games support both joystick interfaces, except for the earliest ones, which may only support Kempston only (the earliest interface to hit the market – it was only later that Sinclair released a joystick-enabled interface, ZX Interface II, to the public). Make sure you look for joystick setup questions at the beginning of games so that you can select the most optimal solution not resulting in your having to switch joystick assignment schemes.
1.3.2.4 Changing screen orientation; image downscaling issues
As opposed to C64 emulators, all Pocket PC emulators have one wired-in (either Landscape or Portrait, but not both) screen orientation. It's only the Smartphone-based FuseSP that supports switching between the two orientations using either the # button (in "Spectrum" mode) or Menu / Options / Screen orientation.
In addition, as opposed to the Smartphone C64 emulator PocketHobbitSP2003, FuseSP supports full-screen stretching on QVGA devices in Portrait mode, which is really-really useful in making use of the entire screen estate. Make sure you look for the option "Stretched Portrait" in Menu / Options / Screen orientation (or, while pressing # to switch screen orientations / modes, select the one that fully stretches the image vertically).
Note that, in the default Portrait mode, as the width of the physical Pocket PC (or QVGA MS Smartphone) screen is 240 (with low-res MS Smartphone screens, 176) pixels, while the original screen width of the Spectrum is 256 pixels, shrinking (read: dropping some pixel columns) must be done to fit the original screen into the available screen estate. It's worth pointing out that PocketClive, the only Pocket PC-based emulator (not counting in the not recommended, Russian, TRD-only, GUI-less PocketSpeccy) to use the Portrait emulation, not only supports shrinking, but also, to avoid the (ugly) consequences of it (completely dropped columns)
Finally, it's worth pointing out that FuseSP applies a VERY clever method at dropping lines as it uses some interpolation to render the missing info of the dropped columns in the neighboring columns. This results in the vastly enhanced and eye-friendlies, albeit a bit blurry representation in QVGA mode. On 176*220 screens, of course, this can't really help the situation.
Now that we've quickly reviewed the issues common to Spectrum emulation on Windows Mobile, let's see what emulators there are and how they compare to each other. In the following two chapters, I introduce Pocket PC and MS Smartphone emulators.
2. Pocket PC (Windows Mobile 6 Professional / Classic) emulators
2.1 UnrealSpeccyPPC 1.02
This new, excellent and, outside the ex-Soviet region, absolutely unknown emulator is by far the best Spectrum emulator out there, a port of the also successful and excellent Unreal Speccy. It has all the goodies one would effect from a decent emulator: auto fire, huge and, particularly on VGA devices, (almost) transparent on-screen keyboard (on QVGA devices, the buttons are considerably larger as can be seen in HERE), support for all tape / snapshot and even disk formats.
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The main discussion thread discussing this emulator is HERE (Babelfish "translation" HERE). There are some other threads at other sites; for example, THIS.
What is more, the CAB file can be installed on MS Smartphones too as can be seen in here:
(note that it was only to prove the emulator is running on a QVGA Smartphone that I’ve made the task bar displayed (via activating SPHelper). Otherwise, it’s hidden.)
While the Smartphone version is in no way flawless, you will certainly want to play a bit with it to find out its weaknesses / strengths.
2.2 PocketClive v2B
A famous (but long-abandoned) emulator is PocketClive.
The most important difference between PocketClive and the most recommended UnrealSpeccyPPC is that PocketClive uses the Portrait screen resolution and a full keyboard showing all the original labels. Unless you’re an experienced Spectrum user and you DO want to know how the BASIC commands can be accessed on the original Spectrum keyboard, you may want to give a try to this emulator. (Or, alternatively, PocketSpeccy, which uses exactly the same on-screen keyboard, but is capable of reading TR-DOS disks; that is, TRD files.)
As this emulator is NOT recommended (but not disqualified either), it’s in the Chart that you’ll find the most information on using this emulator, NOT in the first chapter (which only discusses the two recommended emulators suiting the needs of 96-97% of existing users: UnrealSpeccyPPC for the PPC and FuseSP for the Smartphone).
Not many English threads discuss this emulator. The ones that at least mention it are for example "i just played Simcity on my Be300" or THIS
and THIS AximSite threads, THIS PG, THIS (“Pocket Genesis”) and THIS (“Just Chattin' - What games are on your PPC right now? (omit none!)”) threads. In the Russian language area, the situation is MUCH better; see the following threads:
1
2
3
4
2.3 SpectrumAnyWhere 1.1
This is another also-run emulator without any really outstanding features. UnrealSpeccyPPC is orders of magnitude more featureful.
The most important fact you need to know about this emulator that it can not directly be installed on WM5+ devices. This, however, can easily be fixed with a quick hack I’ve described in the Chart. Also note that you will NOT want to use it on WM2003(SE) devices because of the on-screen keyboard coordinate offset problems.
Even fewer existing threads discuss this title; the only English thread I could find was just a mention at Xda-developers (“amiga emulator on your pocketpc”). In Russian, there aren’t many more threads either; in addition to the zx.pk.ru threads linked in the previous section, I also recommend THIS.
2.4 PocketSpeccy
This emulator is pretty new, but already discontinued emulator “only” supports ".trd" disk image files – that is, it can NOT be used with any “old”, “traditional” tape / snapshot files. It has absolutely no GUI: for example, it’s in the config.ini that you need to supply the disk to load (and all the other – not many!) parameters before starting the emulator. Pretty awkward, if you ask me.
As it’s now discontinued and superseded by UnrealSpeccyPPC, I do NOT recommend it and don’t even include in the Chart.
Should you still be interested in the emulator, check out THIS Russian language thread.
2.5 SinclairSpectrumEmulator 1.1
This Handheld PC-based emulator is really outdated (from year 1999) and is, therefore, in no way recommended. Get UnrealSpeccyPPC instead. There is just no point in bothering with it – unless you have a Handheld PC, that is. But, even then, you may want to prefer trying to hack UnrealSpeccyPPC to run on your H/PC (assuming it has an ARM(-compatible) CPU).
3. MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile 6 Standard) emulators
3.1 FuseSP 0.22
This is THE emulator you should try first if you have any MS Smartphone model. It’s pretty capable (except for the lack of direct, phonepad-based text input) and highly recommended.
Please consult Chapter 1 for usage tips and don’t forget to scrutinize the Chart for additional tips and tricks.
Related threads: “A few thoughts on useability”
FUSESP in QVGA Landscape 320*240......
ZX emulator FuseSP v0.12a with NumKeys support, I added support for number keys
3.2 PocketClive for SP 2B-0.2
Unfortunately, this emulator seems to be only running on the oldest, 2002 Smartphone version, but not on newer (SP2003+) ones. I was just unable to access any kind of menu on either my WM6 HTC Vox / s710 or WM5 HTC Oxygen / s310. That is, don’t bother.
4. The Comparison & Feature Chart
As with ALL my Comparison & Feature Charts, this one is a MUST to check out as it offers a great way of comparing the reviewed titles. It, as with my past charts, contains tons of screenshots (don’t forget to click the links), usage tips and mini-tutorials.
It’s available HERE.
The test / rows should be pretty much self-explanatory. If you at least superficially have read my past emulation-related articles (if you haven’t, do it NOW – they are just the best emulation-related articles, no wonder even Michu himself made them sticky in the official AximSite emulator forum, and many of them have also been frontpaged by several leading Windows Mobile-related sites.
That is, do yourself a favor – if you DO want to know EVERYTHING you can ever know of an emulator, do check out the chart!
Note that I haven’t listed some other, good, famous games for the Spectrum in the chart. They also run under both FuseSP and UnrealSpeccyPPC without problems.
Some examples (also see the “100 Best games” list; original version also HERE):
Deathchase
ALL OR NOTHING
STOP THE EXPRESS
HEAD OVER HEELS
THE SENTINEL
NEBULUS
Uridium
Impossible Mission
Turrican.
Article updated & cleaned up.
I`m looking for PocketCommodore64 or any other emulator that I can run on my navigation system with WinCE 6.0. Could anybody can help with working link?
Browsing the Web on MS Smartphone (WM Standard) devices & Review of Opera Mini 4 beta
UPDATE (08/17/2007): a new version is in the brand new, general Smartphone forum HERE. That is, go there to read the latest version of the article. I, however, keep this version of the original article because of the responses.
(end of update)
In my recently-published, well-known Windows Mobile Web Browsing Bible I’ve elaborated on how Pocket PC’s can be used to browse the Web. Please make sure you DO read the review even if you don’t have a Pocket PC. You will learn a LOT from there and, in addition, I do NOT elaborate on many questions like Web standards compliance or additional Opera Mini features in here. In the current review, I “only” elaborate on questions ONLY concerning the MS Smartphone platform. The only exception is the review of Opera Mini 4, which is a generic one and can be used by Pocket PC users as well.
Now, it’s time to review
how you can do the same on MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile Standard) devices (SP for short); what browsers you should use, what bugs you should be aware of etc.
the brand new and REALLY NICE, HIGHLY recommended Opera Mini 4 platform. This section will be of interest to not only SP users, but also those of the “big brother”, the Pocket PC – and, for that matter, any Java-capable mobile phone.
As you’ll see, on the SP platform, there’re far fewer really usable browsers and there are (currently) absolutely no Java and real Flash support. This, fortunately, makes one’s life far easier – generally, you only have three browsers to select from: either Opera Mobile, Opera Mini or the really promising newcomer, jB5. The two Operas are, as you may have already guessed, generally superior to the built-in Internet Explorer Mobile.
However, let’s start with the latter as it comes built into the operating system of all SP devices.
1.1 Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM)
Unfortunately, the SP version of the built-in IEM, even as of Windows Mobile 6 Standard (that is, the latest SP operating system version), is considerably inferior to the Pocket PC (PPC) version shipped with WM6. For example,
while the PPC version of IEM has received file uploading capabilities some two years ago (with the initial release of WM5), not even the latest, just-released, WM6 version of IEM is capable of the same as can be seen in HERE (showing the results of my traditional file upload test page – see the previously linked page for more info on what the screenshot should show). Note that the SP version of Opera Mobile has no problems with file uploading (1 2 3 4)
it also has major problems with some HTTP / scripting constructs never having caused any problems to the Pocket PC brother; most importantly, it has problems with posting to Smartphone Thoughts and Pocket PC Thoughts forums from IEM. (The PPC port of IEM has no problems with posting to these sites; neither do Opera Mobile and Opera Mini on the SP platform.) Interestingly, this is NOT a problem on several models (even including WM6 ones) - and, in some occasions, it even worked on my Vox. I don't know why - it probably depends on the size of the message. Also see for example Mike Temporale's posts and links in THIS thread.
it doesn’t support tabs and, as you may have guessed, none of the known, Pocket PC-only PIE / IEM enhancers (MultiIE, PIEPlus, Spb Pocket Plus, ftxPBrowser etc.) work.
just as on the Pocket PC, you can’t make use of the hardware buttons (except for the “Back” button) AND the dialpad buttons (except for the 2/4/6/8 buttons for page scrolls) of your Smartphone. In this respect, both Opera Mini and Mobile are better. Fortunately, the most common functionalities are accessible, in general, with two or three (depending on whether you start from full screen mode) key presses. Fortunately, there are some registry hacks that - at least to a certain degree - fix this, which I’ll later, in a subsequent section, elaborate on.
download-wise, it’s really different from the Pocket PC IEM: it’s only CAB files that can be downloaded (if at all – see later), nothing else. This is in stark contrast with both the PPC version and Opera Mobile on the platform, which uses the same, vastly superior download-specific code as the PPC version. You must do some manual, extensive Registry editing to fix this problem - and, even then, you will need to do this for each file type you'd like to see downloaded. I too address this issue in a later section.
Note that isn’t not only files that have no local, associated programs to operate on are refused to be downloaded, but EVERYTHING, even registered and, by default, supported file types like ZIP and PDF files (fortunately, Office files are supported if your device does contain Office Mobile – an example of an XLS file is HERE).
Some examples of these cases:
non-associated RAR files (for example THIS). Upon trying to download files like these, you get THIS error message (unlike with Opera Mobile).
PDF files with the, on the HTC Vox, associated, built-in Adobe Reader LE. An example PDF file is HERE
ZIP files, like THIS, associated with Resco File Explorer.
Furthermore, the old problem with CAB files served as of unknown type is present in this version too. For example, while THIS CAB file is server as binary and, therefore, offered for download, THIS one, which is returned as of unknown (text/plain) type, results in the well-known, useless textual representation (while Opera Mobile downloads it just fine). The CAB problem has always been a major problem with the PPC version as well, as is also explained in the Download Bible.
Note that I’ve also had downloading problems on my WM5 HTC s310 (Oxygen) upon trying to download a 2.5M Byte CAB file (the Smartphone version of Opera Mobile HERE) via an EDGE connection. No matter where I tried to store it (the device had about 10M free built-in storage), the transfer would stall at 300-600 kbytes (I’ve tried to download the file several times), while, under exactly the same circumstances (the same network coverage, the same file etc), my WM5 HTC Wizard Pocket PC downloaded the file without problems. I haven’t encountered similar problems on my WM6 HTC Vox (s710). I don’t know whether this was a temporary problem or generally a problem with WM5 SP IEM’s over slow(er) connections and large(r) binary (in this case, CAB) files. Just keep this in mind if you have similar problems.
As far as the WM6-specific fixes are concerned, the WM6 SP version of IEM, fortunately, supports iframes as can be seen in HERE. (It’s suffering from the same width problem as with the PPC version, though – even in Single column mode. This isn’t an issue on Opera Mobile and Mini.)
All in all, I do not really recommend IEM for regular Web browsing on SP’s if you don't apply the above-mentioned (and below-explained) registry hacks. Go for either Opera Mobile (which is, as far as the new, 8.65 beta is concerned, free until Oct. 1. Of course, being free until October doesn’t mean you shouldn’t support the company – do purchase for example their 8.60 version to support their continuous efforts to give us the BEST Pocket PC, Smartphone and, in my opinion, desktop Windows browsers) or the absolutely free and excellent Opera Mini.
1.1.1 Fixing the binary file download problem
The difference between the SP and the PPC version of IEM is pretty simple. While the latter doesn't require a given file type to be registered in the local Registry to be downloaded, the former does, and also requires a specific flag (the fifth "bit" in EditFlags) to be set to one.
This is why "unknown" file types like RAR or known file types that don't have the EditFlags value are refused to download. You can, fortunately, fix it. In here, I describe both the manual and the automatic, much easier way of doing this. The former includes heavy Registry editing, but might prove useful in cases you'd like to allow for downloading more file types than the automatic way offers.
1.1.1.1 Manually enabling downloding a given file type
Let's assume you want to enable ZIP file downloading. To do this, first, you have to fire up a registry editor (I recommend that of Resco - it's well worth the price).
First, as ZIP files end in .zip (that is, have the file extension 'zip'), you need to navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip to see what full name it references (it's the latter that you will, later, create a new EditFlags DWORD in). As can clearly be seen in THIS screenshot, it refers to another Registry entry, Resco_zipfile.
Go to the given extension, still under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and select Menu / 1 File / 1 New / 5 DWORD Value
enter EditFlags in the “Name” field
enter 65536 (that is, hexa 10000) in the DWORD Data field; press Done (left softkey)
now, the new entry should be visible and the ZIP download working (Similar screenshot with EXE files HERE and with PDF files HERE)
Incidentally, if you've read my past EditFlags-related remarks & explanations (for example HERE), you know the uppermost "bit" has a special download-related meaning. If it’s 1 as in HERE, the file will ONLY be downloaded to the main memory and you’re not presented the usual download screen where you can also set the target – instead, the download will start at once. That is, make double sure you don't set it to 1!
Wasit complicated? Certainly it was! Rejoice: now comes the much easier / safer, automatic way! If you're a newbie to Windows Mobile (and/or Registry editing), you will want to prefer THIS registry import file I’ve created for you. It sets the PDF, ZIP and EXE download associations. Note that the latter assumes you’ve installed Resco Explorer and PDF requires the Adobe Reader LE 2.1 (for example, the one shipped with the Vox). You will - after installing Resco Explorer, along with its Registry support - just click the file once you've transferred it to your PDA. After (re)starting IEM, the changes will be visible - and the files downloaded.
Finally, should you need support for even more (not just PDF, ZIP and EXE, but also rar, doc, mpeg, mpg, mp3 and avi) file types, you will want to check out THIS MoDaCo thread (the CAB file installer by rcperez). All you need is running the PIEPlugin.cab file (note that the Download Plugin for PIE Updated.zip file contains the same PIEPlugin.cab also separately downloadable file) linked in the first post. You won't even need to have a Registry Editor. (Note that there are some, similar threads for only one extension type: ZIP, EXE. However, make sure you prefer rcperez's hack.)
1.1.2 Adding more functionality to the phone dialpad
MS Smartphones have something that (most) traditional Pocket PC's don't have: a phonepad: consisting of 10 numeric keys, the # and the * buttons. Knowing the most common functionality a Web browser user wants to have access to (quick scroll up/down, to the top/bottom of the page; reloading; - with multi-document browsers - switching to the previous / next tab; quickly switching between the different rendering and layout modes; quickly changing the character size / zoom percentage), many of this functionality can be quickly accessed by making use of the 12 extra buttons.
As has already been pointed out, IEM only makes use of the '2' and '8' keys by default. These two buttons can be used to do page scrolls, as opposed to the link scrolls accessible on the D-pad, combined with fast scrolling introduced in later WM5 AKU's, should you continuously depress the D-pad. You can, fortunately, assign (some) functionality to all the other remaining ten buttons.
Unfortunately, there are far fewer functions you can assign to the buttons, but even this is definitely a step forward. Let's have a complete list of the functionalities that can be accessed (note that I'll explain the numbers later, when discussing how the Registry should be modded):
Functionality (Registry values):
1 - Page Up (default under (later?) WM5 / WM6)
2 - Page Down (default under (later?) WM5 / WM6)
3 - Top of page
4 - Bottom of page
5 - Page Left in non-one column view / modes
6 - Page Right in non-one column view / modes
7 - Page FULL left in non-one column view / modes
8 - Page FULL right in non-one column view / modes
9 - Default Layout
10 - Desktop Layout
11 - One Column Layout
12 - Full Screen Toggle
13 - Show Pictures Toggle
As can clearly be seen, there're no goodies like "Refresh" in here. However, even then it's pretty much useful.
Now, let's see what these numbers are for. To understand their meaning, I elaborate on how the Registry stores the keypad button - functionality pairs.
In the Registry, it's the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\ KeyMaps] key that stores values (NOT subkeys!) connecting keys with functionalities. In general, it's done in the following way: the value name's the keycode and the value of the value is one of the above-listed functionalities.
The keycodes are as follows (that is, the Registry value names):
48: 0
49: 1
50: 2
51: 3
52: 4
53: 5
54: 6
55: 7
56: 8
57: 9
119: *
120: #
I've created a registry import file that assigns most the available functionality (except for "Page FULL right in non-one column view / modes"). All you need to do is importing it (with, say, Resco Registry Explorer) and (re)starting IEM. The effects will be seen at once. The registry import file is available HERE and has the following key assignment:
0: full screen (12)
1: Show Pictures Toggle (13)
2: Page Up (1)
3: top of page (3)
4: Page Left in non-one column view / modes (5)
5: Page FULL left in non-one column view / modes (7)
6: Page Right in non-one column view / modes (6)
7: default layout (9)
8: Page Down (2)
9: bottom of page (4)
*: Desktop Layout (10)
#: One Column Layout (11)
For more (not mandatory) info, also see THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS.
1.2 Opera Mobile
(a QVGA screenshot; note that, as with IEM and Opera Mini, Opera Mobile is perfectly usable on low-resolution, 176*220 Smartphones too)
Currently, this really excellent browser is even more usable on the Smartphone than on most Pocket PC (that is, Pocket PC’s without a dialpad on the face of the phone – an example of PPC models with a dialpad is the ASUS P525) because of the functionality shortcuts assigned to these buttons. As has been pointed out in the Web Browsing Bible (which is a good read even for people that don’t own a Pocket PC), currently, it’s not possible to assign any otherwise assignable functionality – for example, page up/down, jump to beginning of page etc. – to Pocket PC hardware button. The situation is entirely different with the Smartphone platform.
This is all topped with the traditional Opera Mobile strengths: speed, standards compliance, being multi-tabbed (of course, tabs aren’t displayed in the SP version; however, it’s very easy to quickly (!) switch between loaded pages), no binary download-related problems, upload support etc.
There are some minor (!) bugs with the SP version, as opposed to the PPC one. These are in no way as bad as the problems with IEM, though.
The Register can’t be browsed without zooming out and/or switching to Landscape mode on QVGA screens. This is because, for some reason, one-column mode is just hidden when browsing The Register. Screenshots: 1 2
The standard Smartphone "Back" button doesn't work in the cache setting text input field, which makes it impossible to change the value (other than adding, say, a new number in front of it, which is NOT recommended in any way for a reason I elaborate on later). The "Delete" key on built-in QWERTY keyboards (when they exist), on the other hand, do work. This is a minor problem on models with no built-in QWERTY thumb/keyboard. Tested on both the Vox (has a QWERTY keyboard) and the Oxygen (no keyboard). Note that you can always manually edit (with a file explorer tool) the Size value in the [Disk Cache] section of \Application Data\ Opera\ opera.ini if you want to change this value.
If you install Opera Mobile to a storage card, the file associations won’t work with HTML files and URL’s (for example, links in e-mails) as can be seen in HERE. The problem with PPC version 8.60 was the same; unfortunately, the registry script (see THIS article) I’ve created for the latter doesn’t help with the Smartphone version.
Has some minor problems with image handling. When the browser is presented with more than, say, 7-8 images in a page, it may not download them all (or, for that matter, any of them). Give a try to THIS page to see this in effect - on my QVGA Vox, it didn't render any images. The situation was pretty similar on the old(er) Oxygen (with other pages).
When you manually enter a URL into the "Go to" text input field on the Vox keyboard, you can't enter a string longer than the screen estate size (give a try to entering, say, the above link!) This problem can only be fixed by trying to visit the part that can still be entered and, then, returning to Action / Go to, finding the first part of the URL already entered and going on with entering the latter part(s). Dunno if this problem is caused by the OS or Opera Mobile.
If you define a HUGE cache (to bring down data usage costs), the responsiveness of the browser REALLY decreases. For example, on my Vox, I had a cache with about ~10M files (in the main storage). With that, Opera takes over a minute (!) to start and, after loading a new page (WITHOUT images!) about 10-15 seconds to flush it to the cache, during which you can't for example scroll up/down to go on reading. That is, you need to stick with the default 2M cache to get rid of these problems.
If there is little RAM memory left, the Smartphone dialpad keys (2, 6, 9 etc.) stop working. Instead of their default functionality, they result in reloading pages / moving elsewhere. In these situations, an error message like "Due to RAM memory shortage, the requested action couldn't be done." could be shown.
Again and again, this is more of nitpicking – Opera Mobile for the MS Smartphone still stays THE best Smartphone Web browser. For example, it still supports even saving images (in the Image mode – see the explanation in the usage chart).
Probably the only really annoying bug is the fact that, as of 8.65 beta released on 06/01/2007 and usable until October this year, it only remembers HTTP proxy servers during the first page request after starting; the other requests are directly sent to the HTTP server. To test this, give it a working (for example, at the time of writing, 82.204.47.120:8080 was one of them) proxy address in \Application Data\ Opera\ opera.ini (as is explained in the Toonel-related section) and, then, after restarting Opera, go to WhatIsMyIP.com. Upon the first invocation, you’ll see the proxy’s address as the originating address. Upon later invocations (for example, after just refreshing the page), however, it’ll switch to direct access – and the IP address it displays will also reflect this.
This, unfortunately, means currently you won’t be able to local proxy-based bandwidth usage reduction solutions like Toonel with Opera Mobile. Neither will you be able to use external proxies to either conceal your real IP or get outside of a corporate network.
1.3 Opera Mini 4.x
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
(VGA PPC screenshot running under the Intent midlet manager (hence the non-used command bar at the bottom); a QVGA Smartphone screenshot HERE)
I’ve often reported on Opera Mini, which, as of the current 4.x series beta, has become a serious contender to even native Windows Mobile Web browsers, particularly on the touch screen-less Smartphone platform, where the lacking features of Opera Mini (for example, lack of context menus or copy / paste capabilities) aren’t a problem because of the lack of the touch screen. (That is, you couldn’t use these features on IEM either – it’s only Opera Mobile, with its excellent link / image context menus even on the SP platform, that still offers a bit more functionality than Opera Mini.)
1.3.1 What’s new with the brand new, 4.x Opera Mini series?
Nokia’s having pioneered the quick zoom functionality in their excellent S60 series 3 Web browser, Windows Mobile browsers quickly followed suit: first, NetFront in the second Technical Preview of their forthcoming 3.4; then, Microsoft in their (beta-stage and still far from being finished) DeepFish.
Opera, the, in my opinion, by far the finest (give a try to their desktop browser, particularly if you have an (W)SXGA+ or (W)UXGA screen – you’ll love it!) browser developer company, soon followed suit. In addition to announcing the forthcoming Opera 9, which is a native Windows Mobile application, with similar capabilities, they have also added full page view & quick zoom capabilities to the brand new series of Opera Mini, their Java Midlet-based, small, but still VERY powerful multiplatform browser.
Just visit THIS page (the SWF file, should you want to directly download it, is HERE) and see what Opera has come up with. It’s indeed very cool, isn’t it? All this in a VERY small package (90 kbytes), with almost unmeasurable runtime (dynamic RAM) memory consumption. Compare this to the memory consumption of traditional Web browsers – yes, they consume orders of magnitude more memory. Note that there are a some other, cool videos on Opera’s homepage running the browser in reality – those videos are far more instructive than my static screenshots.
This browser, as has also been pointed out in the Web Browser Bible, runs great on Windows Mobile, on both Pocket PC’s and MS Smartphones, in both common factory-default midlet environments, the Intent (the industry standard on almost all WM5-based PPC and SP phones, except for the Esmertec-based HP iPAQ hx6915) and the Esmertec (shipped with many natively WM6 phones like the HTC Vox / S710) midlet managers.
It’s by far the best J2ME (Java midlet) browser: other Midlet-based browsers are far worse in every respect. For example, jBrowser can’t even display middle-sized pages like the PPCMag blog page, the PPCT main page as can be seen in HERE and, for smaller pages, it will never finish loading.
As has already been pointed out, the best new feature the new version offers is Zoom-in / full page view functionality. Its “let’s crunch the text into the viewable screen estate” works just great – much better than I’ve expected or what most of the other browsers do.
You’ll REALLY love the new page view functionality if you want to check out for example
THIS is the desktop rendition of the Finnish stock exchange in a tabular form. Now, let’s take a look at them in the default, pre-series 4 one-column mode:
and this is how the new, full page layout mode renders it (zoomed in):
and zoomed out, showing the entire page:
A big difference in usability and readability, isn’t it?
Of course, in most cases, if you don’t want to browse tabular data like this, you won’t necessarily need the new mode. Then, you may safely stay with the old, one-column mode.
In addition to providing a page view & zoom-in mode, the Opera folks have come out with something unprecedented in the Windows Mobile world: smart text finding. Let me show you an example with an XDA-Developers thread:
In THIS screenshot, I’ve just started browsing and, therefore, the selection frame is in the upper left corner. Now, let’s press the Down key several times (or, even better, 8 for much quicker navigation downwards). As soon as I’ve reached the body of the text, the selection was automatically (!) scrolled to the right so that no screen estate remains unused on the left side of the screen as can be seen in HERE. Pretty smart, eh?
Now, let’s press Action to read it. As can indeed be seen, the text is very intelligently flowed in a way that no horizontal scrolling is necessary. It’s also really-really superior to how most other browsers handle non-one column modes. Thumbs up Opera, you’re indeed the BEST Web browser developers out there – and this is stated by somebody that knows a LOT about Web technologies and protocols!
1.3.2 Shortcuts
Opera Mini is pretty much similar to Opera Mobile in that it makes extensive use of the phonepad (dialpad) common on all SP models (and, as has already been stated, also available on some PPC models). Unfortunately, the default hotkeys are different, which you, if you often switch between the two browsers, will find pretty inconvenient. (But, then, just edit \Application Data\ Opera\ input.ini to make it similar to the Opera Mini shortcuts. See my other, Opera Mobile-related articles on how this can be accomplished.)
Please see section 1.5 (Shortcuts) to see what shortcuts the two browsers (and, in addition, IEM) offers. They REALLY make browsing MUCH faster – it’s really worth using the dialpad to access them.
1.3.3 Bugs, annoyances in Opera Mini 4.0 beta
The new, 4.0 series being in beta state, it has some, in most cases (if you DO use a compatible Midlet environment), non fatal bugs / annoyances not present in previous versions:
Big minimal font size (as opposed to the current 3.1.* version) and (comparatively) huge gaps between rows. A lot of people have complianed about this; in my opinion, this doesn’t hamper the usability of the client.
Cookies are not necessarily kept (as opposed to the current 3.1.* version – you may end up having to logging into your account much more frequently than with the 3.x series)
You may encounter crashes on Pocket PC’s and on Smartphones running other Midlet managers than that of Esmertec. On my Vox, using the factory-shipped Esmertec midlet environment, I haven’t encountered ANY crash over the last month of active (!) usage. See for example THIS XDA-Dev thread on PPC users’ reporting shutdowns / crashes. Most (if not all) of these users use the Intent midlet manager (which, again, is also the default midlet manager on many Smartphones.)
Let me, again, emphasize that while on my brand new WM6 HTC Vox (s710), using the Esmertec Jeodek 20070115.1.1 midlet environment, I have never encountered any Opera Mini 4.0 beta crash (while having been using it at least 2-3 hours a day!), other midlet environments may behave differently. For example, the Intent midlet manager common on most WM5 Smartphones AND Pocket PC's is known to frequently crash on OpMini4 users - it did once on me too when I (quickly) tested OpMini 4 on my HTC Universal (the latter running the 10/1/7/554 / 20060502 version of the Intent manager.) Should you encounter crashes like this, consider switching to either the IBM J9 midlet manager (according to holg HERE, it works just great with Opera Mini 4) or look around in the XDA-Developers forums for help in getting the, again, stable and reliable Esmertec Midlet manager. (I don't know whether it's separately sold; I seriously doubt it.)
The full page layout takes a LOT of memory. If you stay with the one-column mode, unless you load HUGE pages (say, hundreds of kilobytes originally), you, in general, will be able to make use of all the 30 page slots without having to reload any of these pages. If you, on the other hand, switch to the original page (as opposed to the one-column one) layout view, this will be reduced to two or three concurrent pages at most, regardless of the size of the original pages. If you often switch back to already loaded, just-browsed pages and don’t want to reload them because of the time / bandwidth requirements, you will want to stick to the traditional, one-column mode.
Note that the two versions can easily co-exist with each other. That is, if the first three problems become annoying, you can just switch back to the old versions. Unfortunately, as the favorite lists aren’t shared between the two versions, favorites that you add / edit in one version won’t be visible in the other.
1.3.4 Other (non-4.x-specific) problems
There’re still some problems with Opera Mini that may be a showstopper for you.
It’s still unable to render ANY kind of italic text (see for example THIS for a more thorough elaboration and my demos showing displaying italic text is indeed possible on Smartphones, regardless of the midlet manager in use). This is a MAJOR pain the back. I’ve already contacted the Opera folks on this matter; hope they fix this problem.
Binary download support-wise (as it’s using the IEM engine to do the “dirty” stuff; that is, to download files off the Web), it’s suffering from exactly the same problems as IEM:
CAB files with text MIME type are just rendered as text (like THIS); bigger ones (like THIS 1.5M CAB file) result in an out of memory error
non-CAB files with (correct) binary MIME type (like THIS PDF file) are correctly passed to IEM. Unfortunately, as the execution is fully supervised by IEM, you won’t be able to download any of these files because of the well-known problem already outlined in the IEM section.
Finally, CAB files with the binary MIME type (like THIS) are both correctly recognized by OpMini and, then, correctly downloaded by IEM.
And, of course, the other minor annoyances / restrictions (no file upload, no any kind of access to the IEM / Opera Mobile favorites, no URL copying etc.) – you can see them all in the original Web Browser Bible.
1.3.5 Verdict
Currently, while Opera Mini 4 is at beta stage (as is also emphasized in the documents), it’s already highly recommended if you have a SP model.
1.3.6 More information
Opera Mini 4.0 wishlist thread
Opera Mini forum
1.4 jB5
(another screenshot, now with an image)
Now, this is a really promising browser! While decidedly slower than even IEM and lacks highly useful features like FastBack (upon pressing Back, rendering the page from the local memory cache and NOT downloading it again, unlike both jB5 and NetFront) and does NOT offer multiple document capabilities (unlike the two Operas), it’s (as of the current, tested version, 5.0.56) already pretty powerful (for example, it's the only Smartphone Web browser to offer in-page text search: see it in action: 1 2 3) - much more usable than, say, the next-to-useless Minimo. What is more, it's free.
As it's in beta stage and will surely receive an ever better version, I do not thoroughly review and compare its features / standards compliance to the alternatives because the info would be outdated VERY soon. I will, however, definitely review it as soon as it gets into final (or Release Candidate). Make sure you check it out and get your free copy - if you can put up with the somewhat slower page loading / scrolling speed and the lack of multi-tabs / FastBack, you may like it very much.
1.5 Additional technologies
In this section, I elaborate on the Toonel, Java applet and Flash support on Smartphones. Again and again, CHECK out the original Windows Mobile Web Browsing Bible for more info on them. In here, I only give you strictly Smartphone-related information, not generic one you might want to also know.
1.5.1 Flash
Unfortunately, unlike on the desktop, where there is a more or less solid and compatible (albeit pretty slow) official Flash implementation from Adobe (ex-Macromedia; from now on, I only refer to it as “Adobe”) itself (and the alternative, albeit a bit worse and much more CPU-hungry player integrated into NetFront), Smartphone users have always been left in the cold. Much as Adobe has been addressed several petitions (see for example THIS one at MoDaCo), the Smartphone still haven’t received a real Flash player.
There is some light on the horizon, though. Adobe is working on Flash Lite (current version: 2.1), which is already accessible HERE. (If you don’t have an account, make sure you check in “No, I will create one now” as the bottom so that you can register. Registering can be done quickly; only after that will you be able to access the downloads. Note that, should you not want unwanted Adobe mails, you don’t need to check in any of the “I’m a developer / content creator” radio buttons – you can safely set all of them to “No” instead of the default “Yes” – you’ll still be provided access for the download).
Both IEM and Opera Mobile supports this plug-in (see screenshots below). Note that it doesn’t run MOST currently available Flash animations. For example, most games out there won’t run (unlike under the Pocket PC version). Some examples of them are Bomberman and Play with fire (this is what you’ll be shown: 1 2; IEM screenshot).
Incidentally, I’ve tried to „hack“ Flash Lite (overwriting \Program Files\Adobe\ flashlite.dll with the original, “full” \Windows\ Macromedia\ flash.dll). However, the checking for being a genuine Flash Lite animation is done in another DLL (daxplayer.dll); therefore, this hack doesn’t work.
1.5.2 Toonel
Toonel, the transparent compressor proxy, is a GREAT way to save data usage costs. If you don’t have an unlimited data plan, you really should check it out by, first, reading my related article & tutorial HERE. I’ve published several articles and tips on Toonel; the just-linked one is the one to start with.
While, it seems, it’s not possible to make the native Windows Mobile version work, the Java versions does work on Smartphones.
As far as the native Windows Mobile version is concerned, according to the folks HERE (thanks for the link to the Toonel folks; it's Russian - Babel "translation" HERE), some people managed to make the native (.NET CF) version of Toonel run. I haven’t succeeded in this on either of my Oxygen or Vox.
Fortunately, the Java version works. In general, you’ll only need the (brand new) CrEme 4.12 (download the TI OMAP version of the 4.1 series if you have a TI OMAP-based Smartphone) and THIS JAR file (version 0.45 - do NOT use version 0.50!). Install CrEme (you can do this on the storage card too – then, however, you’ll need to modify the link file I give you), copy the JAR file to the root directory of your handheld (you can, actually, copy it anywhere – but, then, you’ll need to modify the link file I will give you soon) and, then, copy THIS link file to \Windows\Start Menu. Then, just click the latter to start Toonel in the background. Upon start, you should see THIS screen. If you see THIS (note the bind() failed message!), it shows Toonel is already running.
Note that the CrEme process takes quite a lot of memory (but, fortunately, little CPU time – about 1-2% - when inactive) as can be seen in HERE. Beware of this fact – the operating system may kill the CrEme (Toonel) process in the background, particularly if you start other, memory-intensive programs. Then, you will just need to restart the proxy by clicking the startup script.
As, currently, the SP version of Opera Mobile (as with old 8.60 Pocket PC builds) doesn’t have internal support for entering proxy servers, you must enter the proxy information in the config file by hand. However, as with the old PPC betas, you can easily configure the proxy server by just editing \Application Data\ Opera\ opera.ini and adding the following section:
[Proxy]
Use HTTP=1
HTTP server=127.0.0.1:8080
Enable HTTP 1.1 for proxy=1
A screenshot of the Web admin interface of the locally running Toonel on my Vox:
As can clearly be seen, there was about 80% (fourfold!) bandwidth usage saving during the active session. This alone makes Toonel really worthy if yours is not an unlimited data plan.
A quick visit to WhatIsMyIP also shows it’s through the Toonel server that you’re connected (85.25.148.242 is one of the IP’s of the Toonel servers).
It’s VERY important to remember that, currently (as of 07/10/2007), the SP version of Opera Mobile does NOT reliably support proxy servers. Therefore, if you absolutely must use Toonel (or ANY external proxy server), you MUST use IEM and forget Opera Mobile.
As IEM, as with the PPC version, also depends on the operating-system level proxy settings (unlike other browsers), you must also configure the system to access the Net differently than before. That is, do the following:
in IEM, go to Menu / 9 Tools / 3 Options / Connections, untick “Automatically detect settings” and select “Work” in the list as can be seen in HERE
in the system-level Settings, go to 6 Connections / 6 Proxy, press Action on New and create a new record as can be seen in THIS screenshot (as can be seen in HERE, just leave “Type” on “HTTP”). You can name the proxy setting anything; in here, I’ve called it ‘t’. That is, all you need to do is setting “The Internet” to “Connects from”, “Work” to “Connects to” and entering “127.0.0.1:8080” in “Proxy (nameort)”.
Note that, after this, you will need to configure your other programs also using the system-level settings to use Toonel instead of a direct connection. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to configure the built-in Messaging to use the built-in POP3 proxy support of Toonel (as opposed to the Pocket PC Messaging). Also, remember that, should you have the built-in Live (or MSN) Messenger, defining the proxy will also render them useless.
Unfortunately, it seems it’s not possible to make these programs work with a proxy defined in the above way. That is, you will need to delete the proxy every time you want to access your mail. It seems there are no other ways of disabling it - for example, setting the source / target networks to something else doesn’t work.
Again, keep in mind that you can have Toonel activated for IEM (that is, using a system-level proxy setting) AND still access your mail (both compressed, via Toonel, and uncompressed) via other, Smartphone-compliant mailer clients; for example, FlexMail. With the latter, you can safely use the compression offered by Toonel too and the mails downloaded just OK.
1.5.3 Java applets
While the IEM plug-in of the just-released CrEme 4.12 (the only Java Virtual Machine to be compatible with the Smartphone AND have an applet plug-in) can be registered, it doesn’t seem to be working, unlike on the Pocket PC.
Neither the applet-based Radar Weather test nor the local demo applet (Cube) shipped with the system work: the JVM plug-in just keeps showing "loading applet". Example screenshots: 1 2 (Vox); 3 (Oxygen).
1.6 Keyboard shortcuts
I’ve compiled a chart of the three SP Web browsers showing how a given functionality can be accessed. As can be seen, in general, Opera Mini requires the least button presses to do something (assuming IEM and Opera Mobile run in full-screen mode, which also means double initial softkey presses instead of just a single one to access something in menus only – that is, not having a direct dialpad shortcut).
Keep in mind that, if you extensively use the dialpad (for example, to directly enter the number of the menu item you’d like to activate – these numbers are shown in all menus and I also reproduce them here), you can navigate MUCH faster than using the D-pad to scroll up/down a menu.
You can find the chart here - make sure you check it out, you’ll find it REALLY useful!
2. Non-working or not recommended browsers
2.1 Thunderhawk 2.0
Unfortunately, this browser wasn’t updated for WM5. This means neither the SP2003 (1 2) nor the SP2002 version (these are the two versions available for download) can be installed on WM5/WM6 SP models. All in all, forget about it for the time being.
2.2 NetFront 3.4 Technical Preview 007
No MS Smartphone (WM6 Standard)-compliance: while the CAB installer can be installed on a WM5+ Smartphone, the main GUI isn’t displayed when you start the browser. (tested on the HTC Vox/s710 in both orientations).
2.3 Webby
Unfortunately, it doesn’t run either. While it can be installed, it refuses to run (1 2 3).
2.4 Minimo 0.2
(the latter is a 176*220 screenshot; as can be seen, only the last, Menu (…) icon is invisible; however, transferring the focus to it will also work. Too bad it turned out to be pretty unreliable on my WM5 AKU3 s310 (Oxygen)– even more so than on my QVGA Vox. For example, it didn’t even finish loading the SPT homepage as can be seen in the above screenshot.)
While it can be installed on SP’s, on this platform it’s far from perfect and, in general, useless, for the following reasons:
it has HUGE memory usage (the biggest problem with the 0.2 version on the Pocket PC platform too). After loading, it consumes about 12Mbytes and, when you load additional pages, this decreases even more, leaving little (if any) RAM memory
accessing the icons (to, for example, bring up the address bar) at the bottom can only be done using the right softkey. This, on the other hand, first, iterates through ALL the links in the page (yes, ALL of them), and only after this moves down to the bottom icons. A mouse emulator like SPHelper doesn’t help (to directly click the icons at the bottom) – Minimo just doesn’t sense the mouse clicks (that is, left softkey presses)
the browser often crashes (mostly if you run out of memory) and is generally slowish
All in all, I don’t recommend it. Also see for example THIS and THIS for more info / user opinions.
Note that the other available version, Minimo 0.16, isn’t installable on Smartphones at all.
UPDATE (later the same day):
in THIS thread, MoDaCo forum member holg posted something definitely worth reading - it, for example, explains how you can directly start Opera Mini from the alternative, by me, often-discussed midlet runner environment, the IBM J9. It also shows how external proxies can be used with this environment.
SPT frontpage
UPDATE (07/11/2007): Article heavily updated: added the two IEM Registry hack sections; added the jB5 section.
The following is the brand new section I've just added to the original article. Sorry for not reposting the entire article again - I hate slicing it into pieces so that they become under 10k in size.
1.5.1.1 Hacking REAL Flash on Smartphones
I’ve tried to "hack" Flash Lite (overwriting \Program Files\Adobe\ flashlite.dll with the original, “full” \Windows\ Macromedia\ flash.dll). However, the checking for being a genuine Flash Lite animation is done in another DLL (daxplayer.dll); therefore, this hack doesn’t work.
Fortunately, other hackers had better luck. XDA-Developers forum member jockyw2001 has managed to hack the REAL Flash player onto the SP.
(IEM playing back a YouTube video in One Column mode on the HTC Vox)
(other screenshots: Opera Mobile on the Vox doing the same in Desktop mode with 50% zoom, with the SPHelper cursor for controlling the on-screen controls; the same on my 176*220 Oxygen, with 25% zoom)
His thread is HERE (you will NOT need to read it to complete the steps below!) Note that you MUST apply the hacks on an application unlocked phone - it won't work on locked phones. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to unlock your phone (see for example THIS article for some links). Also note that the hack worked just great on both my WM6 QVGA HTC Vox (s710) and WM5 AKU3 176*220 HTC Oxygen (s310). Some people, however, reported problems with other models (see the above-linked thread). I'm pretty sure it's because they have messed up something that the plug-in doesn't work on their devices.
First, get THIS file (it's a slighlty rearranged version of jockyw2001's original. For example, I've collected the registry import files into one file and separated the files into directories named after the steps you need to do). UnRAR it with, say, WinRAR. Now, do the following:
If you've already installed Resco File Explorer (along with its registry plug-in) and at least once started the latter, copy All.reg from Step 1 - Registry import to anywhere on your SP and click it from File Explorer. It will be imported into the Registry.
Go to the root directory of your SP and to the Step 2 - Windows directory copy directory on your desktop computer. Copy the Windows directory on your SP.
Go to the Step 3 - flash6 directory on your desktop and the \Windows\Macromedia directory on your SP. Overwrite flash.dll on your SP with the one on your desktop.
Go to Step 4 - regserv and copy regsvrce.exe anywhere on your SP. From inside File Explorer (on your SP), execute it to register Flash. To do this, enter \Windows\Macromedia\flash.dll in the Full pathname... text input field (176*220 screenshot). (To make this easier (to avoid entering the path on the phonepad / keyboard of your phone), I recommend for example Pocket Controller on the desktop. If you can’t use Ctrl-V to paste to there (the case with the version 5.06 + HTC Vox combo, but NOT with the Oxygen), use ViTO’s excellent CopyPaste on the Smartphone to copy the contents of the clipboard to the input field.)
Then, just press OK and “Yes” in the confirmation dialog. After some 2-3 seconds, you’ll hear another bell. Now, start regsvrc.exe again; you’ll immediately see a confirmation (success) dialog (176*220 screenshot).
On the desktop, go to Step 5 - Flash7 and copy flash.dll to \Windows\Macromedia on your SP in order to overwrite the in step 3 copied Flash 6 version with the new, Flash 7 one.
Now you can start enjoying REAL Flash content!
The plug-in works great (additional screenshot); you’ll need a cursor emulator like SPHelper to click labels / buttons like in THIS screenshot.
Note that both IEM and Opera Mobile are able to make use of the plug-in. The two programs have somewhat different strengths and weaknesses.
First, IEM can't make use the up/down arrow keys; that is, if you would like to, say, play a game depending on these two directions, they will be unplayable. In these cases, you MUST use Opera Mobile. Second, as far as playing back YouTube videos is concerned, while IEM (unlike on the Pocket PC – it’s pretty strange the SP version of IEM is better in this respect) you will want to prefer Opera Mobile because it’s slightly faster at playback. You will still want to overclock your phone - if it’s a TI OMAP-based one, with OMAPClock.
Under Opera Mobile (as opposed to IEM), in the default mode, the flash plug-in size will be really tiny as can be seen in HERE. (Therefore, you’ll want to switch to Desktop mode and use a Zoom level of, on QVGA machines, in general, 50%, and, on 176*220 models, 25%) Unfortunately, you will still have problems with scrolling down / right – in the default, link scrolling mode, you will only see the top left part of the page and won’t be able to scroll anywhere (not even clicking the scrollbars with SPHelper). To fix this (and to scroll down to the Flash animation), you MUST switch to Image (scrolling) mode. With Opera Mobile, the up/down arrows do work, unlike with IEM, as can also be seen in THIS screenshot (otherwise, I couldn’t have been able to go down).
UPDATE (07/18/2007): Upon popular demand, I've added a section on installing the Flash hack on a storage card.
Again, it's available at http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&p=2084&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
1.1.3 MultiIE
The well-known Pocket PC IEM enhancer, MultiIE, is also compatible with (WM5+ only; sorry, no pre-WM5 compliance) MS Smartphones. The standard WM5 installer works on both Pocket PC’s and Smartphones. Let’s see how it compares to the Pocket PC version!
Unfortunately, it’s far inferior, feature-wise, to the Pocket PC version. Basically, you can only expect it to add multi-tab functionality.
1.1.3.1 Differences between the Pocket PC and the Smartphone version
1.1.3.1.1 Goodies missing - a generic overview
It’s fully impossible to save images in the SP version. The same stands for the excellent, additional features offered by, for example, address bar macros. They are ALL missing from the SP version, which is, more or less, only lets for multi tabs, softkey-based D-pad scroll mode and full screen switching, HTML saving and source viewing and keeping backlight on.
There are a LOT of features just not accessible in the SP version. In addition to basic functionality like the already-mentioned ability to open a link in another tab, the lack of saving images or saving full Web pages (as opposed to only saving plain HTML files without in-line images and, preferably, CSS/JS files), a whole set of other features are also missing: for example, address bar macroing, the excellent location-based services offered by the PPC version, the ability to quickly reformat a Web page through online Web compression / reformatting services like Skweezer etc. Fortunately, at least “Keep Backlight On” works.
1.1.3.1.2 Setting dialogs
Unfortunately, a lot of menu options accessible on the PPC are just not accessible in the SP version. For example, assigning shortcut buttons to MultiIE functions (PPC screenshots: 1 2) isn’t even offered by the SP version. On the Screen tab, it’s not possible to switch off the, on the Smartphone, useless (because you can’t tap them on a touchscreen-less device) corner icons (PPC SP).
1.1.3.1.3 Impossible to open a link in a new tab
While it’s available in the SP version of Opera Mobile (where you just traverse the focus to the link you’d like to open but, instead of pressing Action, press the right softkey and select “1 Open in new window”), it’s not possible to dynamically set where (in what tab) a new link should be opened to. This, of course, is also possible in the PPC version of MultiIE as can be seen in HERE.
You can surely try to redefine the default functionality in the Open link: Tap default action to, say, Open in new back window as can be seen in HERE, but it won’t work at all (and won’t stick). This means you can NOT open links in another tab in any way without opening a new tab in Menu / 9 MultiIE / 3 Open New Window and, in there, select the link you want to display in this tab.
1.1.3.2 Compared to Opera Mobile…
The inability to open a link in a new window, as has already been pointed out, is a big problem with MultiIE – as opposed to OpMob.
Switching between open tabs also requires significantly more button presses than in Opera Mobile. In the latter, you only need to press ‘2’ once to bring up the list of open tabs, where, after selecting the right one to switch to, you only need to press Action once. In MultiIE, you need to press Menu / 9 MultiIE and, if there are not more than 3 open tabs (in Portrait mode on QVGA devices; on 176*220 ones, even two open tabs will result in the same), select the tab at the top. If there’re more tabs open (QVGA screenshot with 4 tabs) or, you’re in Landscape, there will be another level of redirection (1 Windows), making it necessary to issue another keypress.
There is, however, something MultiIE is better at: saving web pages do work. Unfortunately, you can’t fine tune what should be saved – unlike in the PPC version, where not only the page HTML itself, but also all the related resources (by selecting a full save instead of the HTML-only).
1.1.3.3 Other bugs & problems
In addition to the already-mentioned ones (for example, the Open link: Tap default action settings’s not being sticky) it has several other bugs. For example, it sometimes hides the tabs (1 2) on QVGA devices (but not on 176*220 ones). This might particularly be a case with pages using frames, after maximizing one of these frames using Expand Frame (left softkey); for example, the MultiIE page itself.
The menus may be a bit messed up (but still usable) on QVGA devices because of the too large fonts. On low-res 176*220 ones, they’re OK (screenshots: 176*220: 1 2 3; QVGA: 1 2)
While the tabs can be re-displayed after a screen rotation (if the particular device supports rotating the screen – for example, the Vox does), rotating back to the original rotation will result in not using the entire screen estate. This won’t be an issue if you NEVER rotate the screen but stay in either Portrait or Landscape all the time.
As far as the options dialog screens are concerned, the “Plugin” dialog is also different: first, as it is lacking a scrollbar, you don’t see anything under Presets / Shown on open more menu on both 176*220 and QVGA Portrait phones. On QVGA Landscape ones, however, the scrollbar is displayed and you can scroll down, revealing the lowermost GUI widgets. Not that it’d be of any use: NONE of the features work in here. That is, you can’t even set the User-Agent to be used to “disguise” your browser as a full desktop Windows browser. This is also a very bad disadvantage, compared to how it behaves on the Pocket PC.
Still in this dialog, the address bar search configuration (PPC screenshots: 1 2) don’t work either: an “Option not available in alpha” is displayed.
1.1.3.4 Tips & tricks
By default, to view the source of a Web page, it tries to use \Windows\notes.exe, which doesn’t exist on any MS Smartphones.
Unfortunately (if you have a phone with a built-in keyboard – non-QWERTY phones don’t have this program!), if you redefine this link to \Windows\TextNotes.exe as can be seen in HERE, Menu / 9 MultiIE / 6(+) Page Tools / 3 View Source will not work either.
Therefore, if you have a Windows Mobile 6 Standard phone (which come with Office Mobile built-in), you’ll want to prefer Word Mobile (\Windows\pword.exe) to view the sources. To make this word, configure MultiIE to use it as the default viewer. With that, watching sources will work just fine:
1.1.3.5 Verdict
All in all, don’t expect much of the current version of MultiIE for Smartphone. It’s WAY worse, WAY harder to use and definitely more buggy than the Pocket PC version. The Smartphone version of Opera Mobile is far better thought-out (support for dialpad buttons; menu-based link / image context menu support etc., making it far easier to, for example, open a link in a new tab instead of the current one; far faster to switch tabs; allows for saving images etc.). If you, however, absolutely need to stick to IEM and do need a multitab solution for it with some goodies (for example, Opera Mobile still doesn’t support saving pages; MultiIE does; the same stands for quickly swapping between the three scrolling modes, should you want to exclusively use the D-pad for scrolling and leave the 2/8 phone buttons alone), currently, MultiIE is the only way to go.
UPDATE: Just added a new section on MultiIE in the IEM-related chapter. Worth a read!
UPDATE (10/20/2007): I've published a review of Opera Mobile 8.65 Final (PPC/SP), Picsel 1.0.5 (PPC/SP) and the brand new Spb Pocket Plus 4.0 (PPC). A new version of jb5 (PPC/SP) has been released and a brand new, albeit very simple IEM add-in Web Viewer for WM5 (PPC). Also, I’ve linked in some of my recent reviews of some new (not very important) Web browsers: TeaShark (PPC/SP) and UCWEB (PPC/SP). Finally, I've published some genuine, never-before-published tips and tricks on utilizing the Pocket PC hardware application buttons to control Opera Mini and Opera Mobile. It's a MUST for any serious Pocket PC user - you'll LOVE my new tips & tricks. See THIS. Cross-posted to: PPCT, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, SPT, MoDaCo.
UPDATE (11/12/2007): the final version of Opera Mini 4 has been released. I've written a VERY thorough tutorial on installing and using it; it's available HERE; cross-posted to PPCT, AximSite, XDA-Developers -1, XDA-Developers -2, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums - 1, HowardForums - 2, SPT, MoDaCo, official Opera Mini forum. Note that it also links in my brand new MIDlet Bible, which will be a god-send anyone wanting to run this EXCELLENT browser on his or her handset.
Menneisyys said:
Step 1 - Registry import to anywhere on your SP and click it from File Explorer. It will be imported into the Registry.
[*]Go to the root directory of your SP and to the Step 2 - Windows directory copy directory on your desktop computer. Copy the Windows directory on your SP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
REF: STEP2...
When I try to copy my WINDOWS folder from SP to Desktop, I get error: "Cannot copy index: There has been a sharing violation. The source or destination file may be in use." This error is while copying from "Content IE5" I feel I didn't understand that instruction correctly. There are 1136 objects in Windows folder on route.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
markanthonypr said:
REF: STEP2...
When I try to copy my WINDOWS folder from SP to Desktop, I get error: "Cannot copy index: There has been a sharing violation. The source or destination file may be in use." This error is while copying from "Content IE5" I feel I didn't understand that instruction correctly. There are 1136 objects in Windows folder on route.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you want to copy from there? To copy the local cache?
Menneisyys said:
Why do you want to copy from there? To copy the local cache?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Menneisyys, Thank you for your reply. I made reference to Step#2 of your post#9 on this thread in regards to installing/hacking Real Flash in order to view YouTube videos. While it is true that YouTube now has a mobile version, I still can't see the videos with their mobile version. Its why I was trying to follow your instructions to install Real Flash.
markanthonypr said:
Hello Menneisyys, Thank you for your reply. I made reference to Step#2 of your post#9 on this thread in regards to installing/hacking Real Flash in order to view YouTube videos. While it is true that YouTube now has a mobile version, I still can't see the videos with their mobile version. Its why I was trying to follow your instructions to install Real Flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OIC.
"Go to the root directory of your SP and to the Step 2 - Windows directory copy directory on your desktop computer. Copy the Windows directory on your SP."
This means you need to copy from the desktop to the phone, not vica versa.
(sorry for the misunderstanding - 1. my mother tongue isn't English 2. given that I write a *lot* (much more than anyone else) of Bibles /articles on Windows Mobile, I have very little time to actually double-check my articles before submitting them)
ERROR!
Menneisyys said:
The following is the brand new section I've just added to the original article. Sorry for not reposting the entire article again - I hate slicing it into pieces so that they become under 10k in size.
1.5.1.1 Hacking REAL Flash on Smartphones
I’ve tried to "hack" Flash Lite (overwriting \Program Files\Adobe\ flashlite.dll with the original, “full” \Windows\ Macromedia\ flash.dll). However, the checking for being a genuine Flash Lite animation is done in another DLL (daxplayer.dll); therefore, this hack doesn’t work.
Fortunately, other hackers had better luck. XDA-Developers forum member jockyw2001 has managed to hack the REAL Flash player onto the SP.
(IEM playing back a YouTube video in One Column mode on the HTC Vox)
(other screenshots: Opera Mobile on the Vox doing the same in Desktop mode with 50% zoom, with the SPHelper cursor for controlling the on-screen controls; the same on my 176*220 Oxygen, with 25% zoom)
His thread is HERE (you will NOT need to read it to complete the steps below!) Note that you MUST apply the hacks on an application unlocked phone - it won't work on locked phones. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to unlock your phone (see for example THIS article for some links). Also note that the hack worked just great on both my WM6 QVGA HTC Vox (s710) and WM5 AKU3 176*220 HTC Oxygen (s310). Some people, however, reported problems with other models (see the above-linked thread). I'm pretty sure it's because they have messed up something that the plug-in doesn't work on their devices.
First, get THIS file (it's a slighlty rearranged version of jockyw2001's original. For example, I've collected the registry import files into one file and separated the files into directories named after the steps you need to do). UnRAR it with, say, WinRAR. Now, do the following:
If you've already installed Resco File Explorer (along with its registry plug-in) and at least once started the latter, copy All.reg from Step 1 - Registry import to anywhere on your SP and click it from File Explorer. It will be imported into the Registry.
Go to the root directory of your SP and to the Step 2 - Windows directory copy directory on your desktop computer. Copy the Windows directory on your SP.
Go to the Step 3 - flash6 directory on your desktop and the \Windows\Macromedia directory on your SP. Overwrite flash.dll on your SP with the one on your desktop.
Go to Step 4 - regserv and copy regsvrce.exe anywhere on your SP. From inside File Explorer (on your SP), execute it to register Flash. To do this, enter \Windows\Macromedia\flash.dll in the Full pathname... text input field (176*220 screenshot). (To make this easier (to avoid entering the path on the phonepad / keyboard of your phone), I recommend for example Pocket Controller on the desktop. If you can’t use Ctrl-V to paste to there (the case with the version 5.06 + HTC Vox combo, but NOT with the Oxygen), use ViTO’s excellent CopyPaste on the Smartphone to copy the contents of the clipboard to the input field.)
Then, just press OK and “Yes” in the confirmation dialog. After some 2-3 seconds, you’ll hear another bell. Now, start regsvrc.exe again; you’ll immediately see a confirmation (success) dialog (176*220 screenshot).
On the desktop, go to Step 5 - Flash7 and copy flash.dll to \Windows\Macromedia on your SP in order to overwrite the in step 3 copied Flash 6 version with the new, Flash 7 one.
Now you can start enjoying REAL Flash content!
The plug-in works great (additional screenshot); you’ll need a cursor emulator like SPHelper to click labels / buttons like in THIS screenshot.
Note that both IEM and Opera Mobile are able to make use of the plug-in. The two programs have somewhat different strengths and weaknesses.
First, IEM can't make use the up/down arrow keys; that is, if you would like to, say, play a game depending on these two directions, they will be unplayable. In these cases, you MUST use Opera Mobile. Second, as far as playing back YouTube videos is concerned, while IEM (unlike on the Pocket PC – it’s pretty strange the SP version of IEM is better in this respect) you will want to prefer Opera Mobile because it’s slightly faster at playback. You will still want to overclock your phone - if it’s a TI OMAP-based one, with OMAPClock.
Under Opera Mobile (as opposed to IEM), in the default mode, the flash plug-in size will be really tiny as can be seen in HERE. (Therefore, you’ll want to switch to Desktop mode and use a Zoom level of, on QVGA machines, in general, 50%, and, on 176*220 models, 25%) Unfortunately, you will still have problems with scrolling down / right – in the default, link scrolling mode, you will only see the top left part of the page and won’t be able to scroll anywhere (not even clicking the scrollbars with SPHelper). To fix this (and to scroll down to the Flash animation), you MUST switch to Image (scrolling) mode. With Opera Mobile, the up/down arrows do work, unlike with IEM, as can also be seen in THIS screenshot (otherwise, I couldn’t have been able to go down).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest flash player.
...meaning NOT working.
Is this smartphone only?
Still no flash solution!
In my recently-published, well-known Windows Mobile Web Browsing Bible I’ve elaborated on how Pocket PC’s can be used to browse the Web. Please make sure you DO read the review even if you don’t have a Pocket PC. You will learn a LOT from there and, in addition, I do NOT elaborate on many questions like Web standards compliance or additional Opera Mini features in here. In the current review, I “only” elaborate on questions ONLY concerning the MS Smartphone platform. The only exception is the review of Opera Mini 4, which is a generic one and can be used by Pocket PC users as well. Finally, in addition, as so many times in the past, I present you some genuine Registry hacks fixing annoyances / bugs in both IEM and Opera Mobile never before published.
Now, it’s time to review
how you can do the same on MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile Standard) devices (SP for short); what browsers you should use, what bugs you should be aware of etc.
the brand new and REALLY NICE, HIGHLY recommended Opera Mini 4 platform. This section will be of interest to not only SP users, but also those of the “big brother”, the Pocket PC – and, for that matter, any Java-capable mobile phone.
As you’ll see, on the SP platform, there’re far fewer really usable browsers and there are (currently, before NSIcom fixes the bugs with the current CrEme version) absolutely no Java and, if you don't apply the Flash "hack", real Flash support. This, fortunately, makes one’s life far easier – generally, you only have four browsers to select from: IEM, Opera Mobile, Opera Mini or the really promising newcomer, jB5. The two Operas are, as you may have already guessed, generally superior to the built-in Internet Explorer Mobile.
However, let’s start with the latter as it comes built into the operating system of all SP devices.
1.1 Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM)
Unfortunately, the SP version of the built-in IEM, even as of Windows Mobile 6 Standard (that is, the latest SP operating system version), is considerably inferior to the Pocket PC (PPC) version shipped with WM6. For example,
while the PPC version of IEM has received file uploading capabilities some two years ago (with the initial release of WM5), not even the latest, just-released, WM6 version of IEM is capable of the same as can be seen in HERE (showing the results of my traditional file upload test page – see the previously linked page for more info on what the screenshot should show). Note that the SP version of Opera Mobile has no problems with file uploading (1 2 3 4)
it also has major problems with some HTTP / scripting constructs never having caused any problems to the Pocket PC brother; most importantly, it has problems with posting to Smartphone Thoughts and Pocket PC Thoughts forums from IEM. (The PPC port of IEM has no problems with posting to these sites; neither do Opera Mobile and Opera Mini on the SP platform.) Interestingly, this is NOT a problem on several models (even including WM6 ones) - and, in some occasions, it even worked on my Vox. I don't know why - it probably depends on the size of the message. Also see for example Mike Temporale's posts and links in THIS thread.
it doesn’t support tabs and, as you may have guessed, none of the known, Pocket PC-only PIE / IEM enhancers (PIEPlus, Spb Pocket Plus, ftxPBrowser etc.) work - except for MultiIE, which only delivers a fraction of its Pocket PC features.
just as on the Pocket PC, you can’t make use of the hardware buttons (except for the “Back” button) AND the dialpad buttons (except for the 2/4/6/8 buttons for page scrolls) of your Smartphone. In this respect, both Opera Mini and Mobile are better. Fortunately, the most common functionalities are accessible, in general, with two or three (depending on whether you start from full screen mode) key presses. Fortunately, there are some registry hacks that - at least to a certain degree - fix this, which I’ll later, in a subsequent section, elaborate on.
download-wise, it’s really different from the Pocket PC IEM: it’s only CAB files that can be downloaded (if at all – see later), nothing else. This is in stark contrast with both the PPC version and Opera Mobile on the platform, which uses the same, vastly superior download-specific code as the PPC version. You must do some manual, extensive Registry editing to fix this problem - and, even then, you will need to do this for each file type you'd like to see downloaded. I too address this issue in a later section.
Note that isn’t not only files that have no local, associated programs to operate on are refused to be downloaded, but EVERYTHING, even registered and, by default, supported file types like ZIP and PDF files (fortunately, Office files are supported if your device does contain Office Mobile – an example of an XLS file is HERE).
Some examples of these cases:
non-associated RAR files (for example THIS). Upon trying to download files like these, you get THIS error message (unlike with Opera Mobile).
PDF files with the, on the HTC Vox, associated, built-in Adobe Reader LE. An example PDF file is HERE
ZIP files, like THIS, associated with Resco File Explorer.
Furthermore, the old problem with CAB files served as of unknown type is present in this version too. For example, while THIS CAB file is server as binary and, therefore, offered for download, THIS one, which is returned as of unknown (text/plain) type, results in the well-known, useless textual representation (while Opera Mobile downloads it just fine). The CAB problem has always been a major problem with the PPC version as well, as is also explained in the Download Bible.
Note that I’ve also had downloading problems on my WM5 HTC s310 (Oxygen) upon trying to download a 2.5M Byte CAB file (the Smartphone version of Opera Mobile HERE) via an EDGE connection. No matter where I tried to store it (the device had about 10M free built-in storage), the transfer would stall at 300-600 kbytes (I’ve tried to download the file several times), while, under exactly the same circumstances (the same network coverage, the same file etc), my WM5 HTC Wizard Pocket PC downloaded the file without problems. I haven’t encountered similar problems on my WM6 HTC Vox (s710). I don’t know whether this was a temporary problem or generally a problem with WM5 SP IEM’s over slow(er) connections and large(r) binary (in this case, CAB) files. Just keep this in mind if you have similar problems.
As far as the WM6-specific fixes are concerned, the WM6 SP version of IEM, fortunately, supports iframes as can be seen in HERE. (It’s suffering from the same width problem as with the PPC version, though – even in Single column mode. This isn’t an issue on Opera Mobile and Mini.)
All in all, I do not really recommend IEM for regular Web browsing on SP’s if you don't apply the above-mentioned (and below-explained) registry hacks. Go for either Opera Mobile (which is, as far as the new, 8.65 beta is concerned, free until Oct. 1. Of course, being free until October doesn’t mean you shouldn’t support the company – do purchase for example their 8.60 version to support their continuous efforts to give us the BEST Pocket PC, Smartphone and, in my opinion, desktop Windows browsers) or the absolutely free and excellent Opera Mini.
1.1.1 Fixing the binary file download problem
The difference between the SP and the PPC version of IEM is pretty simple. While the latter doesn't require a given file type to be registered in the local Registry to be downloaded, the former does, and also requires a specific flag (the fifth "bit" in EditFlags) to be set to one.
This is why "unknown" file types like RAR or known file types that don't have the EditFlags value are refused to download. You can, fortunately, fix it. In here, I describe both the manual and the automatic, much easier way of doing this. The former includes heavy Registry editing, but might prove useful in cases you'd like to allow for downloading more file types than the automatic way offers.
1.1.1.1 Manually enabling downloading a given file type
Let's assume you want to enable ZIP file downloading. To do this, first, you have to fire up a registry editor (I recommend that of Resco - it's well worth the price).
First, as ZIP files end in .zip (that is, have the file extension 'zip'), you need to navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip to see what full name it references (it's the latter that you will, later, create a new EditFlags DWORD in). As can clearly be seen in THIS screenshot, it refers to another Registry entry, Resco_zipfile.
Go to the given extension, still under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and select Menu / 1 File / 1 New / 5 DWORD Value
enter EditFlags in the “Name” field
enter 65536 (that is, hexa 10000) in the DWORD Data field; press Done (left softkey)
now, the new entry should be visible and the ZIP download working (Similar screenshot with EXE files HERE and with PDF files HERE)
Incidentally, if you've read my past EditFlags-related remarks & explanations (for example HERE), you know the uppermost "bit" has a special download-related meaning. If it’s 1 as in HERE, the file will ONLY be downloaded to the main memory and you’re not presented the usual download screen where you can also set the target – instead, the download will start at once. That is, make double sure you don't set it to 1!
Was it complicated? Certainly it was! Rejoice: now comes the much easier / safer, automatic way! If you're a newbie to Windows Mobile (and/or Registry editing), you will want to prefer THIS registry import file I’ve created for you. It sets the PDF, ZIP and EXE download associations. Note that the latter assumes you’ve installed Resco Explorer and PDF requires the Adobe Reader LE 2.1 (for example, the one shipped with the Vox). You will - after installing Resco Explorer, along with its Registry support - just click the file once you've transferred it to your PDA. After (re)starting IEM, the changes will be visible - and the files downloaded.
Finally, should you need support for even more (not just PDF, ZIP and EXE, but also rar, doc, mpeg, mpg, mp3 and avi) file types, you will want to check out THIS MoDaCo thread (the CAB file installer by rcperez). All you need is running the PIEPlugin.cab file (note that the Download Plugin for PIE Updated.zip file contains the same PIEPlugin.cab also separately downloadable file) linked in the first post. You won't even need to have a Registry Editor. (Note that there are some, similar threads for only one extension type: ZIP, EXE. However, make sure you prefer rcperez's hack.) Note that you may want to stick with my registry import scripts if you don't want the pre-WM6 scripts to mess up for example the PDF associations (as it creates its own PDF file type registry record and forces the old association to be removed), making it impossible to load a PDF document by just clicking it from File Explorer.
1.1.2 Adding more functionality to the phone dialpad
MS Smartphones have something that (most) traditional Pocket PC's don't have: a phonepad: consisting of 10 numeric keys, the # and the * buttons. Knowing the most common functionality a Web browser user wants to have access to (quick scroll up/down, to the top/bottom of the page; reloading; - with multi-document browsers - switching to the previous / next tab; quickly switching between the different rendering and layout modes; quickly changing the character size / zoom percentage), many of this functionality can be quickly accessed by making use of the 12 extra buttons.
As has already been pointed out, IEM only makes use of the '2' and '8' keys by default. These two buttons can be used to do page scrolls, as opposed to the link scrolls accessible on the D-pad, combined with fast scrolling introduced in later WM5 AKU's, should you continuously depress the D-pad. You can, fortunately, assign (some) functionality to all the other remaining ten buttons.
Unfortunately, there are far fewer functions you can assign to the buttons, but even this is definitely a step forward. Let's have a complete list of the functionalities that can be accessed (note that I'll explain the numbers later, when discussing how the Registry should be modded):
Functionality (Registry values):
1 - Page Up (default under (later?) WM5 / WM6)
2 - Page Down (default under (later?) WM5 / WM6)
3 - Top of page
4 - Bottom of page
5 - Page Left in non-one column view / modes
6 - Page Right in non-one column view / modes
7 - Page FULL left in non-one column view / modes
8 - Page FULL right in non-one column view / modes
9 - Default Layout
10 - Desktop Layout
11 - One Column Layout
12 - Full Screen Toggle
13 - Show Pictures Toggle
As can clearly be seen, there're no goodies like "Refresh" in here. However, even then it's pretty much useful.
Now, let's see what these numbers are for. To understand their meaning, I elaborate on how the Registry stores the keypad button - functionality pairs.
In the Registry, it's the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\ KeyMaps] key that stores values (NOT subkeys!) connecting keys with functionalities. In general, it's done in the following way: the value name's the keycode and the value of the value is one of the above-listed functionalities.
The keycodes are as follows (that is, the Registry value names):
48: 0
49: 1
50: 2
51: 3
52: 4
53: 5
54: 6
55: 7
56: 8
57: 9
119: *
120: #
I've created a registry import file that assigns most the available functionality (except for "Page FULL right in non-one column view / modes"). All you need to do is importing it (with, say, Resco Registry Explorer) and (re)starting IEM. The effects will be seen at once. The registry import file is available HERE and has the following key assignment:
0: full screen (12)
1: Show Pictures Toggle (13)
2: Page Up (1)
3: top of page (3)
4: Page Left in non-one column view / modes (5)
5: Page FULL left in non-one column view / modes (7)
6: Page Right in non-one column view / modes (6)
7: default layout (9)
8: Page Down (2)
9: bottom of page (4)
*: Desktop Layout (10)
#: One Column Layout (11)
For more (not mandatory) info, also see THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS.
1.1.3 MultiIE
The well-known Pocket PC IEM enhancer, MultiIE, is also compatible with (WM5+ only; sorry, no pre-WM5 compliance) MS Smartphones. The standard WM5 installer works on both Pocket PC’s and Smartphones. Let’s see how it compares to the Pocket PC version!
Unfortunately, it’s far inferior, feature-wise, to the Pocket PC version. Basically, you can only expect it to add multi-tab functionality.
1.1.3.1 Differences between the Pocket PC and the Smartphone version
1.1.3.1.1 Goodies missing - a generic overview
It’s fully impossible to save images in the SP version. The same stands for the excellent, additional features offered by, for example, address bar macros. They are ALL missing from the SP version, which is, more or less, only lets for multi tabs, softkey-based D-pad scroll mode and full screen switching, HTML saving and source viewing and keeping backlight on.
There are a LOT of features just not accessible in the SP version. In addition to basic functionality like the already-mentioned ability to open a link in another tab, the lack of saving images or saving full Web pages (as opposed to only saving plain HTML files without in-line images and, preferably, CSS/JS files), a whole set of other features are also missing: for example, address bar macroing, the excellent location-based services offered by the PPC version, the ability to quickly reformat a Web page through online Web compression / reformatting services like Skweezer etc. Fortunately, at least “Keep Backlight On” works.
1.1.3.1.2 Setting dialogs
Unfortunately, a lot of menu options accessible on the PPC are just not accessible in the SP version. For example, assigning shortcut buttons to MultiIE functions (PPC screenshots: 1 2) isn’t even offered by the SP version. On the Screen tab, it’s not possible to switch off the, on the Smartphone, useless (because you can’t tap them on a touchscreen-less device) corner icons (PPC SP).
1.1.3.1.3 Impossible to open a link in a new tab
While it’s available in the SP version of Opera Mobile (where you just traverse the focus to the link you’d like to open but, instead of pressing Action, press the right softkey and select “1 Open in new window”), it’s not possible to dynamically set where (in what tab) a new link should be opened to. This, of course, is also possible in the PPC version of MultiIE as can be seen in HERE.
You can surely try to redefine the default functionality in the Open link: Tap default action to, say, Open in new back window as can be seen in HERE, but it won’t work at all (and won’t stick). This means you can NOT open links in another tab in any way without opening a new tab in Menu / 9 MultiIE / 3 Open New Window and, in there, select the link you want to display in this tab.
1.1.3.2 Compared to Opera Mobile…
The inability to open a link in a new window, as has already been pointed out, is a big problem with MultiIE – as opposed to OpMob.
Switching between open tabs also requires significantly more button presses than in Opera Mobile. In the latter, you only need to press ‘2’ once to bring up the list of open tabs, where, after selecting the right one to switch to, you only need to press Action once. In MultiIE, you need to press Menu / 9 MultiIE and, if there are not more than 3 open tabs (in Portrait mode on QVGA devices; on 176*220 ones, even two open tabs will result in the same), select the tab at the top. If there’re more tabs open (QVGA screenshot with 4 tabs) or, you’re in Landscape, there will be another level of redirection (1 Windows), making it necessary to issue another keypress.
There is, however, something MultiIE is better at: saving web pages do work. Unfortunately, you can’t fine tune what should be saved – unlike in the PPC version, where not only the page HTML itself, but also all the related resources (by selecting a full save instead of the HTML-only).
1.1.3.3 Other bugs & problems
In addition to the already-mentioned ones (for example, the Open link: Tap default action settings’s not being sticky) it has several other bugs. For example, it sometimes hides the tabs (1 2) on QVGA devices (but not on 176*220 ones). This might particularly be a case with pages using frames, after maximizing one of these frames using Expand Frame (left softkey); for example, the MultiIE page itself.
The menus may be a bit messed up (but still usable) on QVGA devices because of the too large fonts. On low-res 176*220 ones, they’re OK (screenshots: 176*220: 1 2 3; QVGA: 1 2)
While the tabs can be re-displayed after a screen rotation (if the particular device supports rotating the screen – for example, the Vox does), rotating back to the original rotation will result in not using the entire screen estate. This won’t be an issue if you NEVER rotate the screen but stay in either Portrait or Landscape all the time.
As far as the options dialog screens are concerned, the “Plugin” dialog is also different: first, as it is lacking a scrollbar, you don’t see anything under Presets / Shown on open more menu on both 176*220 and QVGA Portrait phones. On QVGA Landscape ones, however, the scrollbar is displayed and you can scroll down, revealing the lowermost GUI widgets. Not that it’d be of any use: NONE of the features work in here. That is, you can’t even set the User-Agent to be used to “disguise” your browser as a full desktop Windows browser. This is also a very bad disadvantage, compared to how it behaves on the Pocket PC.
Still in this dialog, the address bar search configuration (PPC screenshots: 1 2) don’t work either: an “Option not available in alpha” is displayed.
1.1.3.4 Tips & tricks
By default, to view the source of a Web page, it tries to use \Windows\notes.exe, which doesn’t exist on any MS Smartphones.
Unfortunately (if you have a phone with a built-in keyboard – non-QWERTY phones don’t have this program!), if you redefine this link to \Windows\TextNotes.exe as can be seen in HERE, Menu / 9 MultiIE / 6(+) Page Tools / 3 View Source will not work either.
Therefore, if you have a Windows Mobile 6 Standard phone (which come with Office Mobile built-in), you’ll want to prefer Word Mobile (\Windows\pword.exe) to view the sources. To make this word, configure MultiIE to use it as the default viewer. With that, watching sources will work just fine:
1.1.3.5 Verdict
All in all, don’t expect much of the current version of MultiIE for Smartphone. It’s WAY worse, WAY harder to use and definitely more buggy than the Pocket PC version. The Smartphone version of Opera Mobile is far better thought-out (support for dialpad buttons; menu-based link / image context menu support etc., making it far easier to, for example, open a link in a new tab instead of the current one; far faster to switch tabs; allows for saving images etc.). If you, however, absolutely need to stick to IEM and do need a multitab solution for it with some goodies (for example, Opera Mobile still doesn’t support saving pages; MultiIE does; the same stands for quickly swapping between the three scrolling modes, should you want to exclusively use the D-pad for scrolling and leave the 2/8 phone buttons alone), currently, MultiIE is the only way to go.
1.2 Opera Mobile
(a QVGA screenshot; note that, as with IEM and Opera Mini, Opera Mobile is perfectly usable on low-resolution, 176*220 Smartphones too)
Currently, this really excellent browser is even more usable on the Smartphone than on most Pocket PC (that is, Pocket PC’s without a dialpad on the face of the phone – an example of PPC models with a dialpad is the ASUS P525) because of the functionality shortcuts assigned to these buttons. As has been pointed out in the Web Browsing Bible (which is a good read even for people that don’t own a Pocket PC), currently, it’s not possible to assign any otherwise assignable functionality – for example, page up/down, jump to beginning of page etc. – to Pocket PC hardware button. The situation is entirely different with the Smartphone platform.
This is all topped with the traditional Opera Mobile strengths: speed, standards compliance, being multi-tabbed (of course, tabs aren’t displayed in the SP version; however, it’s very easy to quickly (!) switch between loaded pages), no binary download-related problems, upload support etc.
There are some minor (!) bugs with the SP version, as opposed to the PPC one. These are in no way as bad as the problems with IEM, though.
The standard Smartphone "Back" button doesn't work in the cache setting text input field, which makes it impossible to change the value (other than adding, say, a new number in front of it, which is NOT recommended in any way for a reason I elaborate on later). The "Delete" key on built-in QWERTY keyboards (when they exist), on the other hand, do work. This is a minor problem on models with no built-in QWERTY thumb/keyboard. Tested on both the Vox (has a QWERTY keyboard) and the Oxygen (no keyboard). Note that you can always manually edit (with a file explorer tool) the Size value in the [Disk Cache] section of \Application Data\ Opera\ opera.ini if you want to change this value.
If your device runs WM6 (but NOT a previous operating systems - it's working just great on my WM5 AKU3 HTC Oxygen / s310!) and you want to use Opera Mobile as the default browser to, say, open links arriving in e-mails, the file associations won’t work with these URL’s as can be seen in HERE. The problem with the old PPC version 8.60 was the same, but the explanation and solution was completely different; this is why the old registry script (see THIS article) I’ve created for the latter doesn’t help with the Smartphone version.
Fortunately, after playing with the new, WM6 Registry, I pinpointed the problem and was able to come up with a real fix (yes, I was the first to fix this bug!). Just import THIS registry file (if you've installed Opera in the main storage; if it's on the storage card, use THIS instead) and voila: everything will be OK. (Just for the record: under WM6, as opposed to earlier operating systems (where this key didn't exist at all and the system used the traditional http association), HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ Shell\ Rai\ : DEFBROWSER \ 1 must contain the full executable path of the default browser, as opposed to its name (without the path) only. Two screenshots showing this, with the new contents (assuming Opera is installed in the main storage): 1 2.)
It's very important that this fix should also be used on the Pocket PC platform if you have WM6!
(Note that, after my finding out the trick above, I've been told other people (for example, John Burn HERE) have also been succeeded in finding the solution for the problem. I really ask eveyone to publish their fixes not only in one, model-specific forum not really visited by non-owners of the same model, but also in generic ones. Generic ones include, for example, the forum of Opera Mobile: after having found out the fix, the first thing I've done was posting an announcement in there so that all Opera Mobile users are notified. This way, everyone suffering from the bug notices the fix being available right away and noone tries to reinvent the wheel. I belonged to the latter category: it took me about half an hour to find the fix. Should I have known of the fix already being existing, I wouldn't have wasted time on finding what the problem is caused by.)
Has some minor problems with image handling. When the browser is presented with more than, say, 7-8 images in a page, it may not download them all (or, for that matter, any of them). Give a try to THIS page to see this in effect - on my QVGA Vox, it didn't render any images. The situation was pretty similar on the old(er) Oxygen (with other pages). Note that a forced reload the page, in general (but not always!), helps.
When you manually enter a URL into the "Go to" text input field on the Vox keyboard, you can't enter a string longer than the screen estate size (give a try to entering, say, the above link!) This problem can only be fixed by trying to visit the part that can still be entered and, then, returning to Action / Go to, finding the first part of the URL already entered and going on with entering the latter part(s). Dunno if this problem is caused by the OS or Opera Mobile.
If you define a HUGE cache (to bring down data usage costs), the responsiveness of the browser REALLY decreases. For example, on my Vox, I had a cache with about ~10M files (in the main storage). With that, Opera takes over a minute (!) to start and, after loading a new page (WITHOUT images!) about 10-15 seconds to flush it to the cache, during which you can't for example scroll up/down to go on reading. That is, you need to stick with the default 2M cache to get rid of these problems.
If there is little RAM memory left, the Smartphone dialpad keys (2, 6, 9 etc.) stop working. Instead of their default functionality, they result in reloading pages / moving elsewhere. In these situations, an error message like "Due to RAM memory shortage, the requested action couldn't be done." could be shown.
Again and again, this is more of nitpicking – Opera Mobile for the MS Smartphone still stays THE best Smartphone Web browser. For example, it still supports even saving images (in the Image mode – see the explanation in the usage chart).
Probably the only really annoying bug is the fact that, as of 8.65 beta released on 06/01/2007 and usable until October this year, it only remembers HTTP proxy servers during the first page request after starting; the other requests are directly sent to the HTTP server. To test this, give it a working (for example, at the time of writing, 82.204.47.120:8080 was one of them) proxy address in \Application Data\ Opera\ opera.ini (as is explained in the Toonel-related section) and, then, after restarting Opera, go to WhatIsMyIP.com. Upon the first invocation, you’ll see the proxy’s address as the originating address. Upon later invocations (for example, after just refreshing the page), however, it’ll switch to direct access – and the IP address it displays will also reflect this.
This, unfortunately, means currently you won’t be able to local proxy-based bandwidth usage reduction solutions like Toonel with Opera Mobile. Neither will you be able to use external proxies to either conceal your real IP or get outside of a corporate network.
Note that some of the rendering bugs common with the PPC version are here; for example, the Register bug. The Register (in the examples, I show examples of THIS article) can’t be browsed without zooming out and/or switching to Landscape mode on QVGA screens. This is, of course, using the fit to screen mode (as opposed to the Desktop mode) when browsing The Register. Screenshots: 1 2; a 176*220 screenshot HERE. The Pocket PC version has the similar problem (QVGA screenshot).
In addition to the subtle differences like the image scrolling mode (to allow for saving images on the Smartphone), there is another notable difference between the SP and the PPC version of Opera Mobile 8.65. The PPC version has three display modes as can also be seen in HERE: Desktop, Fit to screen and Single column. Of these, efectively, only two (desktop view and, in general, one-column view) is used on QVGA devices (it’s only on VGA models that there is a real “Fit to screen” mode), but all the three are listed. If you select Fit to screen on a QVGA device, it will, effectively, show everything in one-column mode only (that is, the columns of will be kept). This is clearly visible in THIS screenshot. The only difference between the two modes, on a QVGA PPC, is that if you use your device in the Landscape orientation, then, if you stick to the Single column mode, it will only use 240 pixels of the sligltly less than 320 pixels of the horizontal screen estate. This means you will want to exclusively use Fit to screen on a QVGA Pocket PC. (Again, VGA Pocket PC's are entirely different. Compare the above screenshot to THIS, showing the effect of Fit to screen in landscape mode. As can be seen, there is no unused screen estate, as opposed to the Single column mode.)
The SP version, on the other hand, only has two modes: Desktop and Fit to screen as can be seen in HERE (QVGA screenshot) and HERE (176*220 screenshot). They, however, work exactly the same as the QVGA Pocket PC version, regardless of whether you select Fit to screen or Single column on the latter. Effectively, Fit to screen, Landscape screen estate usage-wise, is the same as the same Fit to screen on the PPC, which can clearly be seen in THIS QVGA SP screenshot, showing THIS MoDaCo Smartphone forum. As can be seen, it uses the entire horizontal screen estate, just like the PPC version in the, on QVGA devices, preferable Fit to Screen mode.
Two other screenshots of the same MoDaCo forum: 176*220 SP, QVGA SP Portrait (the latter being exactly the same on QVGA PPC.)
Note that there will be exceptions from this "everything is displayed as one-column only" rule: not all webpages will be rendered as one-column. For example, one example of this is THIS Finnish stock exchange page, which is rendered as a two-dimensional table on both PPC's and SP's, using even the Single column mode on the former.
To show what happens with this page, I've made several screenshots:
QVGA SP in Portrait (the same in Landscape)
176*220 SP (in, of course, Portrait only) - yes, as can be seen, even in this really low-resolution model the chart is two-dimensional. Note that the "Opera Mobile for Smartphone doesn't load all the images" bug is certainly visible in this screenshot - it didn't load the images (of which only the "Image" placeholder is visible) not after a forced reloading, unlike with the QVGA SP version, which did load them after a forced reload (but not when first accessing the page).
QVGA PPC Fit to screen and PPC One column mode
Again, as can be seen, ALL the tested devices (QVGA and 176*220 SP's and a QVGA PPC in BOTH the Fit to screen and Single column modes) rendered the chart using real, two-dimensional fit to screen mode and did NOT try to force each column into its own row.
1.3 Opera Mini 4.x
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
(VGA PPC screenshot running under the Intent midlet manager (hence the non-used command bar at the bottom); a QVGA Smartphone screenshot HERE)
I’ve often reported on Opera Mini, which, as of the current 4.x series beta, has become a serious contender to even native Windows Mobile Web browsers, particularly on the touch screen-less Smartphone platform, where the lacking features of Opera Mini (for example, lack of context menus or copy / paste capabilities) aren’t a problem because of the lack of the touch screen. (That is, you couldn’t use these features on IEM either – it’s only Opera Mobile, with its excellent link / image context menus even on the SP platform, that still offers a bit more functionality than Opera Mini.)
Should you want to know how Opera Mini can be deployed in current midlet managers (the article explains the IBM J9 and the Intent Tao case; the Esmertec case is really-really similar), you will want to read the related section HERE, in the “A step-by-step Tutorial on setting up Opera Mini” section. Note that the direct link takes you to version 3; to get the version 4 beta, you will want to follow the instructions HERE.
1.3.1 What’s new with the brand new, 4.x Opera Mini series?
Nokia’s having pioneered the quick zoom functionality in their excellent S60 series 3 Web browser, Windows Mobile browsers quickly followed suit: first, NetFront in the second Technical Preview of their forthcoming 3.4; then, Microsoft in their (beta-stage and still far from being finished) DeepFish.
Opera, the, in my opinion, by far the finest (give a try to their desktop browser, particularly if you have an (W)SXGA+ or (W)UXGA screen – you’ll love it!) browser developer company, soon followed suit. In addition to announcing the forthcoming Opera 9, which is a native Windows Mobile application, with similar capabilities, they have also added full page view & quick zoom capabilities to the brand new series of Opera Mini, their Java Midlet-based, small, but still VERY powerful multiplatform browser.
Just visit THIS page (the SWF file, should you want to directly download it, is HERE) and see what Opera has come up with. It’s indeed very cool, isn’t it? All this in a VERY small package (90 kbytes), with almost unmeasurable runtime (dynamic RAM) memory consumption. Compare this to the memory consumption of traditional Web browsers – yes, they consume orders of magnitude more memory. Note that there are a some other, cool videos on Opera’s homepage running the browser in reality – those videos are far more instructive than my static screenshots.
This browser, as has also been pointed out in the Web Browser Bible, runs great on Windows Mobile, on both Pocket PC’s and MS Smartphones, in both common factory-default midlet environments, the Intent (the industry standard on almost all WM5-based PPC and SP phones, except for the Esmertec-based HP iPAQ hx6915) and the Esmertec (shipped with many natively WM6 phones like the HTC Vox / S710) midlet managers.
It’s by far the best J2ME (Java midlet) browser: other Midlet-based browsers are far worse in every respect. For example, jBrowser can’t even display middle-sized pages like the PPCMag blog page, the PPCT main page as can be seen in HERE and, for smaller pages, it will never finish loading.
As has already been pointed out, the best new feature the new version offers is Zoom-in / full page view functionality. Its “let’s crunch the text into the viewable screen estate” works just great – much better than I’ve expected or what most of the other browsers do.
You’ll REALLY love the new page view functionality if you want to check out for example
THIS is the desktop rendition of the Finnish stock exchange in a tabular form. Now, let’s take a look at them in the default, pre-series 4 one-column mode:
and this is how the new, full page layout mode renders it (zoomed in):
and zoomed out, showing the entire page:
A big difference in usability and readability, isn’t it?
Of course, in most cases, if you don’t want to browse tabular data like this, you won’t necessarily need the new mode. Then, you may safely stay with the old, one-column mode.
In addition to providing a page view & zoom-in mode, the Opera folks have come out with something unprecedented in the Windows Mobile world: smart text finding. Let me show you an example with an XDA-Developers thread:
In THIS screenshot, I’ve just started browsing and, therefore, the selection frame is in the upper left corner. Now, let’s press the Down key several times (or, even better, 8 for much quicker navigation downwards). As soon as I’ve reached the body of the text, the selection was automatically (!) scrolled to the right so that no screen estate remains unused on the left side of the screen as can be seen in HERE. Pretty smart, eh?
Now, let’s press Action to read it. As can indeed be seen, the text is very intelligently flowed in a way that no horizontal scrolling is necessary. It’s also really-really superior to how most other browsers handle non-one column modes. Thumbs up Opera, you’re indeed the BEST Web browser developers out there – and this is stated by somebody that knows a LOT about Web technologies and protocols!
1.3.2 Shortcuts
Opera Mini is pretty much similar to Opera Mobile in that it makes extensive use of the phonepad (dialpad) common on all SP models (and, as has already been stated, also available on some PPC models). Unfortunately, the default hotkeys are different, which you, if you often switch between the two browsers, will find pretty inconvenient. (But, then, just edit \Application Data\ Opera\ input.ini to make it similar to the Opera Mini shortcuts. See my other, Opera Mobile-related articles on how this can be accomplished.)
Please see section 1.5 (Shortcuts) to see what shortcuts the two browsers (and, in addition, IEM) offers. They REALLY make browsing MUCH faster – it’s really worth using the dialpad to access them.
1.3.3 Bugs, annoyances in Opera Mini 4.0 beta
The new, 4.0 series being in beta state, it has some, in most cases (if you DO use a compatible Midlet environment), non fatal bugs / annoyances not present in previous versions:
Big minimal font size (as opposed to the current 3.1.* version) and (comparatively) huge gaps between rows. A lot of people have complained about this; in my opinion, this doesn’t hamper the usability of the client.
Cookies are not necessarily kept (as opposed to the current 3.1.* version – you may end up having to logging into your account much more frequently than with the 3.x series)
You may encounter crashes on Pocket PC’s and on Smartphones running other Midlet managers than that of Esmertec. On my Vox, using the factory-shipped Esmertec midlet environment, I haven’t encountered ANY crash over the last month of active (!) usage. See for example THIS XDA-Dev thread on PPC users’ reporting shutdowns / crashes. Most (if not all) of these users use the Intent midlet manager (which, again, is also the default midlet manager on many Smartphones.)
Let me, again, emphasize that while on my brand new WM6 HTC Vox (s710), using the Esmertec Jeodek 20070115.1.1 midlet environment, I have never encountered any Opera Mini 4.0 beta crash (while having been using it at least 2-3 hours a day!), other midlet environments may behave differently. For example, the Intent midlet manager common on most WM5 Smartphones AND Pocket PC's is known to frequently crash on OpMini4 users - it did once on me too when I (quickly) tested OpMini 4 on my HTC Universal (the latter running the 10/1/7/554 / 20060502 version of the Intent manager.) Should you encounter crashes like this, consider switching to either the IBM J9 midlet manager (according to holg HERE, it works just great with Opera Mini 4) or look around in the XDA-Developers forums for help in getting the, again, stable and reliable Esmertec Midlet manager. (I don't know whether it's separately sold; I seriously doubt it.)
The full page layout takes a LOT of memory. If you stay with the one-column mode, unless you load HUGE pages (say, hundreds of kilobytes originally), you, in general, will be able to make use of all the 30 page slots without having to reload any of these pages. If you, on the other hand, switch to the original page (as opposed to the one-column one) layout view, this will be reduced to two or three concurrent pages at most, regardless of the size of the original pages. If you often switch back to already loaded, just-browsed pages and don’t want to reload them because of the time / bandwidth requirements, you will want to stick to the traditional, one-column mode.
Note that the two versions can easily co-exist with each other. That is, if the first three problems become annoying, you can just switch back to the old versions. Unfortunately, as the favorite lists aren’t shared between the two versions, favorites that you add / edit in one version won’t be visible in the other.
1.3.4 Other (non-4.x-specific) problems
There’re still some problems with Opera Mini that may be a showstopper for you.
It’s still unable to render ANY kind of italic text (see for example THIS for a more thorough elaboration and my demos showing displaying italic text is indeed possible on Smartphones, regardless of the midlet manager in use). This is a MAJOR pain the back. I’ve already contacted the Opera folks on this matter; hope they fix this problem.
Binary download support-wise (as it’s using the IEM engine to do the “dirty” stuff; that is, to download files off the Web), it’s suffering from exactly the same problems as IEM:
CAB files with text MIME type are just rendered as text (like THIS); bigger ones (like THIS 1.5M CAB file) result in an out of memory error
non-CAB files with (correct) binary MIME type (like THIS PDF file) are correctly passed to IEM. Unfortunately, as the execution is fully supervised by IEM, you won’t be able to download any of these files because of the well-known problem already outlined in the IEM section.
Finally, CAB files with the binary MIME type (like THIS) are both correctly recognized by OpMini and, then, correctly downloaded by IEM.
And, of course, the other minor annoyances / restrictions (no file upload, no any kind of access to the IEM / Opera Mobile favorites, no URL copying etc.) – you can see them all in the original Web Browser Bible.
1.3.5 Verdict
Currently, while Opera Mini 4 is at beta stage (as is also emphasized in the documents), it’s already highly recommended if you have a SP model.
1.3.6 More information
Opera Mini 4.0 wishlist thread
Opera Mini forum
1.4 jB5
(another screenshot, now with an image)
Now, this is a really promising browser! While decidedly slower than even IEM and lacks highly useful features like FastBack (upon pressing Back, rendering the page from the local memory cache and NOT downloading it again, unlike both jB5 and NetFront) and does NOT offer multiple document capabilities (unlike the two Operas), it’s (as of the current, tested version, 5.0.56) already pretty powerful (for example, it's the only Smartphone Web browser to offer page saving (which is, incidentally, implicitly possible with Opera Mobile if you're ready to find the given file in the cache) and in-page text search: see it in action: 1 2 3) - much more usable than, say, the next-to-useless Minimo. What is more, it's free.
As it's in beta stage and will surely receive an ever better version, I do not thoroughly review and compare its features / standards compliance to the alternatives because the info would be outdated VERY soon. I will, however, definitely review it as soon as it gets into final (or Release Candidate). Make sure you check it out and get your free copy - if you can put up with the somewhat slower page loading / scrolling speed and the lack of multi-tabs / FastBack, you may like it very much.
1.5 Additional technologies
In this section, I elaborate on the Toonel, Java applet and Flash support on Smartphones. Again and again, CHECK out the original Windows Mobile Web Browsing Bible for more info on them. In here, I only give you strictly Smartphone-related information, not generic one you might want to also know.
1.5.1 Flash
Unfortunately, unlike on the desktop, where there is a more or less solid and compatible (albeit pretty slow) official Flash implementation from Adobe (ex-Macromedia; from now on, I only refer to it as “Adobe”) itself (and the alternative, albeit a bit worse and much more CPU-hungry player integrated into NetFront), Smartphone users have always been left in the cold. Much as Adobe has been addressed several petitions (see for example THIS one at MoDaCo), the Smartphone still haven’t received a real Flash player.
There is some light on the horizon, though. Adobe is working on Flash Lite (current version: 2.1), which is already accessible HERE. (If you don’t have an account, make sure you check in “No, I will create one now” as the bottom so that you can register. Registering can be done quickly; only after that will you be able to access the downloads. Note that, should you not want unwanted Adobe mails, you don’t need to check in any of the “I’m a developer / content creator” radio buttons – you can safely set all of them to “No” instead of the default “Yes” – you’ll still be provided access for the download).
Both IEM and Opera Mobile supports this plug-in (see screenshots below). Note that it doesn’t run MOST currently available Flash animations. For example, most games out there won’t run (unlike under the Pocket PC version). Some examples of them are Bomberman and Play with fire (this is what you’ll be shown: 1 2; IEM screenshot).
1.5.1.1 Hacking REAL Flash on Smartphones
I’ve tried to "hack" Flash Lite (overwriting \Program Files\Adobe\ flashlite.dll with the original, “full” \Windows\ Macromedia\ flash.dll). However, the checking for being a genuine Flash Lite animation is done in another DLL (daxplayer.dll); therefore, this hack doesn’t work.
Fortunately, other hackers had better luck. XDA-Developers forum member jockyw2001 has managed to hack the REAL Flash player onto the SP.
(IEM playing back a YouTube video in One Column mode on the HTC Vox)
(other screenshots: Opera Mobile on the Vox doing the same in Desktop mode with 50% zoom, with the SPHelper cursor for controlling the on-screen controls; the same on my 176*220 Oxygen, with 25% zoom)
His thread is HERE (you will NOT need to read it to complete the steps below!) Note that you MUST apply the hacks on an application unlocked phone - it won't work on locked phones. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to unlock your phone (see for example THIS article for some links). Also note that the hack worked just great on both my WM6 QVGA HTC Vox (s710) and WM5 AKU3 176*220 HTC Oxygen (s310). Some people, however, reported problems with other models (see the above-linked thread). I'm pretty sure it's because they have messed up something that the plug-in doesn't work on their devices.
First, get THIS file (it's a slightly rearranged version of jockyw2001's original. For example, I've collected the registry import files into one file and separated the files into directories named after the steps you need to do). UnRAR it with, say, WinRAR. Now, do the following:
If you've already installed Resco File Explorer (along with its registry plug-in) and at least once started the latter, copy All.reg from Step 1 - Registry import to anywhere on your SP and click it from File Explorer. It will be imported into the Registry.
Go to the root directory of your SP and to the Step 2 - Windows directory copy directory on your desktop computer. Copy the Windows directory on your SP.
Go to the Step 3 - flash6 directory on your desktop and the \Windows\Macromedia directory on your SP. Overwrite flash.dll on your SP with the one on your desktop.
Go to Step 4 - regserv and copy regsvrce.exe anywhere on your SP. From inside File Explorer (on your SP), execute it to register Flash. To do this, enter \Windows\Macromedia\flash.dll in the Full pathname... text input field (176*220 screenshot). (To make this easier (to avoid entering the path on the phonepad / keyboard of your phone), I recommend for example Pocket Controller on the desktop. If you can’t use Ctrl-V to paste to there (the case with the version 5.06 + HTC Vox combo, but NOT with the Oxygen), use ViTO’s excellent CopyPaste on the Smartphone to copy the contents of the clipboard to the input field.)
Then, just press OK and “Yes” in the confirmation dialog. After some 2-3 seconds, you’ll hear another bell. Now, start regsvrc.exe again; you’ll immediately see a confirmation (success) dialog (176*220 screenshot).
On the desktop, go to Step 5 - Flash7 and copy flash.dll to \Windows\Macromedia on your SP in order to overwrite the in step 3 copied Flash 6 version with the new, Flash 7 one.
Now you can start enjoying REAL Flash content!
Note that the above tutorial explains how you can install Flash in the main storage. Should you want to install Flash on your storage card (to save 1.5 Mbytes of main storage, which is a real must on Smartphones with less than 128M built-in Flash ROM), do the following (it's pretty much the same as with the previous case, except for the registry file you'll need to import and the paths you need to use; I used the bold typeface to emphasize the differences):
import THIS registry file (it's NOT the same as Step 1 - Registry import\All.reg! Do NOT import the latter!)
Go to the \Windows directory of your SP and to the Step 2 - Windows directory copy\Windows directory on your desktop computer. Copy everything BUT the Macromedia subdirectory to your SP (that is, do NOT copy the latter, only the AppMgr subdirectory and the two files, Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX.unload and nmsrapix.dll, in \Windows.)
On your SP, change the current directory to your storage card - that is, it should be \Storage Card. Create a subdirectory named Windows there and copy the Macromedia subdirectory in there (so that, finally, flash.dll will be under \Storage Card\Windows\Macromedia)
Go to the Step 3 - flash6 directory on your desktop and the \Storage Card\Windows\Macromedia directory on your SP. Overwrite flash.dll on your SP with the one on your desktop.
Go to Step 4 - regserv and copy regsvrce.exe anywhere on your SP. From inside File Explorer (on your SP), execute it to register Flash. To do this, enter \Storage Card\Windows\Macromedia\flash.dll in the Full pathname... text input field and go on as explained in the main storage-centric tutorial.
On the desktop, go to Step 5 - Flash7 and copy flash.dll to \Storage Card\Windows\Macromedia on your SP in order to overwrite the in step 3 copied Flash 6 version with the new, Flash 7 one.
The plug-in works great (additional screenshot); you’ll need a cursor emulator like SPHelper to click labels / buttons like in THIS screenshot.
Note that both IEM and Opera Mobile are able to make use of the plug-in. The two programs have somewhat different strengths and weaknesses.
First, IEM can't make use the up/down arrow keys; that is, if you would like to, say, play a game depending on these two directions, they will be unplayable. In these cases, you MUST use Opera Mobile. Second, as far as playing back YouTube videos is concerned, while IEM (unlike on the Pocket PC – it’s pretty strange the SP version of IEM is better in this respect) you will want to prefer Opera Mobile because it’s slightly faster at playback. You will still want to overclock your phone - if it’s a TI OMAP-based one, with OMAPClock.
Under Opera Mobile (as opposed to IEM), in the default mode, the flash plug-in size will be really tiny as can be seen in HERE. (Therefore, you’ll want to switch to Desktop mode and use a Zoom level of, on QVGA machines, in general, 50%, and, on 176*220 models, 25%) Unfortunately, you will still have problems with scrolling down / right – in the default, link scrolling mode, you will only see the top left part of the page and won’t be able to scroll anywhere (not even clicking the scrollbars with SPHelper). To fix this (and to scroll down to the Flash animation), you MUST switch to Image (scrolling) mode. With Opera Mobile, the up/down arrows do work, unlike with IEM, as can also be seen in THIS screenshot (otherwise, I couldn’t have been able to go down).
1.5.2 Toonel
Toonel, the transparent compressor proxy, is a GREAT way to save data usage costs. If you don’t have an unlimited data plan, you really should check it out by, first, reading my related article & tutorial HERE. I’ve published several articles and tips on Toonel; the just-linked one is the one to start with.
While, it seems, it’s not possible to make the native Windows Mobile version work, the Java versions does work on Smartphones.
As far as the native Windows Mobile version is concerned, according to the folks HERE (thanks for the link to the Toonel folks; it's Russian - Babel "translation" HERE), some people managed to make the native (.NET CF) version of Toonel run. I haven’t succeeded in this on either of my Oxygen or Vox.
Fortunately, the Java version works. In general, you’ll only need the (brand new) CrEme 4.12 (download the TI OMAP version of the 4.1 series if you have a TI OMAP-based Smartphone) and THIS JAR file (version 0.45 - do NOT use version 0.50!). Install CrEme (you can do this on the storage card too – then, however, you’ll need to modify the link file I give you), copy the JAR file to the root directory of your handheld (you can, actually, copy it anywhere – but, then, you’ll need to modify the link file I will give you soon) and, then, copy THIS link file to \Windows\Start Menu. Then, just click the latter to start Toonel in the background. Upon start, you should see THIS screen. If you see THIS (note the bind() failed message!), it shows Toonel is already running.
Note that the CrEme process takes quite a lot of memory (but, fortunately, little CPU time – about 1-2% - when inactive) as can be seen in HERE. Beware of this fact – the operating system may kill the CrEme (Toonel) process in the background, particularly if you start other, memory-intensive programs. Then, you will just need to restart the proxy by clicking the startup script.
As, currently, the SP version of Opera Mobile (as with old 8.60 Pocket PC builds) doesn’t have internal support for entering proxy servers, you must enter the proxy information in the config file by hand. However, as with the old PPC betas, you can easily configure the proxy server by just editing \Application Data\ Opera\ opera.ini and adding the following section:
[Proxy]
Use HTTP=1
HTTP server=127.0.0.1:8080
Enable HTTP 1.1 for proxy=1
A screenshot of the Web admin interface of the locally running Toonel on my Vox:
As can clearly be seen, there was about 80% (fourfold!) bandwidth usage saving during the active session. This alone makes Toonel really worthy if yours is not an unlimited data plan.
A quick visit to WhatIsMyIP also shows it’s through the Toonel server that you’re connected (85.25.148.242 is one of the IP’s of the Toonel servers).
It’s VERY important to remember that, currently (as of 07/10/2007), the SP version of Opera Mobile does NOT reliably support proxy servers. Therefore, if you absolutely must use Toonel (or ANY external proxy server), you MUST use IEM and forget Opera Mobile.
As IEM, as with the PPC version, also depends on the operating-system level proxy settings (unlike other browsers), you must also configure the system to access the Net differently than before. That is, do the following:
in IEM, go to Menu / 9 Tools / 3 Options / Connections, untick “Automatically detect settings” and select “Work” in the list as can be seen in HERE
in the system-level Settings, go to 6 Connections / 6 Proxy, press Action on New and create a new record as can be seen in THIS screenshot (as can be seen in HERE, just leave “Type” on “HTTP”). You can name the proxy setting anything; in here, I’ve called it ‘t’. That is, all you need to do is setting “The Internet” to “Connects from”, “Work” to “Connects to” and entering “127.0.0.1:8080” in “Proxy (nameort)”.
Note that, after this, you will need to configure your other programs also using the system-level settings to use Toonel instead of a direct connection. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to configure the built-in Messaging to use the built-in POP3 proxy support of Toonel (as opposed to the Pocket PC Messaging). Also, remember that, should you have the built-in Live (or MSN) Messenger, defining the proxy will also render them useless.
Unfortunately, it seems it’s not possible to make these programs work with a proxy defined in the above way. That is, you will need to delete the proxy every time you want to access your mail. It seems there are no other ways of disabling it - for example, setting the source / target networks to something else doesn’t work.
Again, keep in mind that you can have Toonel activated for IEM (that is, using a system-level proxy setting) AND still access your mail (both compressed, via Toonel, and uncompressed) via other, Smartphone-compliant mailer clients; for example, FlexMail. With the latter, you can safely use the compression offered by Toonel too and the mails downloaded just OK.
1.5.3 Java applets
While the IEM plug-in of the just-released CrEme 4.12 (the only Java Virtual Machine to be compatible with the Smartphone AND have an applet plug-in) can be registered, it doesn’t seem to be working, unlike on the Pocket PC.
Neither the applet-based Radar Weather test nor the local demo applet (Cube) shipped with the system work: the JVM plug-in just keeps showing "loading applet". Example screenshots: 1 2 (Vox); 3 (Oxygen).
1.6 Keyboard shortcuts
I’ve compiled a chart of the three SP Web browsers showing how a given functionality can be accessed. As can be seen, in general, Opera Mini requires the least button presses to do something (assuming IEM and Opera Mobile run in full-screen mode, which also means double initial softkey presses instead of just a single one to access something in menus only – that is, not having a direct dialpad shortcut).
Keep in mind that, if you extensively use the dialpad (for example, to directly enter the number of the menu item you’d like to activate – these numbers are shown in all menus and I also reproduce them here), you can navigate MUCH faster than using the D-pad to scroll up/down a menu.
You can find the chart here - make sure you check it out, you’ll find it REALLY useful!
2. Non-working or not recommended browsers
2.1 Thunderhawk 2.0
Unfortunately, this browser wasn’t updated for WM5. This means neither the SP2003 (1 2) nor the SP2002 version (these are the two versions available for download) can be installed on WM5/WM6 SP models. All in all, forget about it for the time being.
2.2 NetFront 3.4 Technical Preview 008
NetFront is a well-known browser, which, as of the Technical Preview (TP) versions of the forthcoming, 3.4 version, also received (still a bit flaky) Smartphone support. (No, don’t expect version 3.3, the currently avaailable non-preview, commercial version to run on the Smartphone – it can’t be installed).
(a 176*220 screenshot; the same device scrolling through a stock exchange list in Normal (desktop) display (rendering) mode)
(Note that most of these are all non-full screen screenshots. I used them to prove the screenshots have indeed been taken on a Smartphone. In reality, especially on 176*220 devices, you will want to stick to full screen mode to maximize the screen estate available for browsing).
Note that, currently, the last TP version is 008. You will, however, want to prefer the earlier, 007 version (see review HERE) accessible for example HERE because version 008 is far more restrictive and the two versions have the same expiration date.
The main difference between the PPC and the SP version is that you can’t navigate to the address bar of the latter using any keys (or any menu). This means you must use a cursor emulator like SPHelper to click the address bar; that is, to transfer the focus there.
It’s very important that, after you load the program, it’s only the command bar (the two softkeys) that will change, nothing else, as can be seen in HERE. To bring up the standard Netfront GUI (with the address bar), you will need to navigate to Menu / View / Full Screen. It’s then that you will be presented the standard NF GUI and start working / browsing via, say, going to Menu / File / Bookmark (or Operation / 6 Bookmark) or, with SPHelper (or any other cursor emulator), activating the address bar.
Note that while you can’t navigate to the tabs (if you do open more than one tabs) using the D-pad, you can easily access them via Menu / 1 Window for both switching to and closing.
Unfortunately, the restrictions of the PPC version also apply here; most importantly, the inability to redefine keys / buttons to quickly access any kind of functionality. This is especially annoying with the Smartphone version, where you have tons of easily accessible buttons, which are heavily used by all major, highly-recommended Web browsers (Opera Mobile, IEM (particularly after hacking the Registry) and Opera Mini but not jB5 as yet). In here, you can’t even use page scroll using the touchpad. In addition, not even the Smartphone “back” button works (which does work in both Opera Mobile and IEM) to quickly return to the previous page.
Interestingly, while there certainly is Flash support on the Smartphone (example screenshot HERE), YouTube, as opposed to the PPC version, doesn’t work. Remember that you need to activate Flash manually and also remember that it will chew through your battery if you navigate to any Flash-enabled web page – yes, it’s still very weak, battery usage-wise. The Access folks should immediately look into this problem.
All in all, while it’s certainly usable, it’s, on the Smartphone platform, not as convenient (and battery-friendly, for example, Flash-wise) as Opera Mobile or IEM. Only use it if you REALLY want to stick to NetFront and you can put up with the restrictions (not directly accessible address bar, sub-par Flash support etc).
2.3 Webby
Unfortunately, it doesn’t run either. While it can be installed, it refuses to run (1 2 3).
2.4 Minimo 0.2
(the latter is a 176*220 screenshot; as can be seen, only the last, Menu (…) icon is invisible; however, transferring the focus to it will also work. Too bad it turned out to be pretty unreliable on my WM5 AKU3 s310 (Oxygen)– even more so than on my QVGA Vox. For example, it didn’t even finish loading the SPT homepage as can be seen in the above screenshot.)
While it can be installed on SP’s, on this platform it’s far from perfect and, in general, useless, for the following reasons:
it has HUGE memory usage (the biggest problem with the 0.2 version on the Pocket PC platform too). After loading, it consumes about 12Mbytes and, when you load additional pages, this decreases even more, leaving little (if any) RAM memory
accessing the icons (to, for example, bring up the address bar) at the bottom can only be done using the right softkey. This, on the other hand, first, iterates through ALL the links in the page (yes, ALL of them), and only after this moves down to the bottom icons. A mouse emulator like SPHelper doesn’t help (to directly click the icons at the bottom) – Minimo just doesn’t sense the mouse clicks (that is, left softkey presses)
the browser often crashes (mostly if you run out of memory) and is generally slowish
All in all, I don’t recommend it. Also see for example THIS and THIS for more info / user opinions.
Note that the other available version, Minimo 0.16, isn’t installable on Smartphones at all.
UPDATE (later the same day):
in THIS thread, MoDaCo forum member holg posted something definitely worth reading - it, for example, explains how you can directly start Opera Mini from the alternative, by me, often-discussed midlet runner environment, the IBM J9. It also shows how external proxies can be used with this environment.
SPT frontpage
Cross-posted to: PPCT, SPT, MoDaCo, AximSite, XDA-Developers, BrightHand, FirstLoox, HowardForums.
UPDATE (08/31/2007) : Opera Mini 4 beta 2 out; the FULL review has been posted to these forums: PPCT, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2 FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, SPT, MoDaCo, Opera Mini forums.
UPDATE (10/20/2007): I've published a review of Opera Mobile 8.65 Final (PPC/SP), Picsel 1.0.5 (PPC/SP) and the brand new Spb Pocket Plus 4.0 (PPC). A new version of jb5 (PPC/SP) has been released and a brand new, albeit very simple IEM add-in Web Viewer for WM5 (PPC). Also, I’ve linked in some of my recent reviews of some new (not very important) Web browsers: TeaShark (PPC/SP) and UCWEB (PPC/SP). Finally, I've published some genuine, never-before-published tips and tricks on utilizing the Pocket PC hardware application buttons to control Opera Mini and Opera Mobile. It's a MUST for any serious Pocket PC user - you'll LOVE my new tips & tricks. See THIS. Cross-posted to: PPCT, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, SPT, MoDaCo.
Skyfire browser for WM6.1
Nice rundown on browsers but why is Skyfire not covered here? I just loaded it onto my Samsung Jack and it seems to be pretty good (better than IEM).
Would have liked to know how Skyfire compared to Opera and other browsers. fyi