Related
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!
Opera Mini has a short history (the project was started only slightly over two years ago), but, today, with the release of version 4, it has become one of the most useful, best browsers available for anything handheld.
In this review & tutorial, I provide you with a complete tutorial of installing and using this recently released browser and, in addition, I explain why you may want to prefer it to other Web browsers.
First, some screenshots taken on wildly different platforms / devices:
{
"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 Windows Mobile Pocket PC screenshot)
(QVGA Symbian S60v3 Nokia N95 screenshot)
(176*220 Windows Mobile Smartphone screenshot)
Note that note of the above screenshots use real full screen mode – hence the top and bottom bars. The last screenshot with enabled full screen mode can be seen in the following screenshot:
1.1 Why you will want to use it?
You’ll find it a god-send particularly when
you’re over a VERY slow (for example, GPRS) connection and want the fastest browsing solution, preferably with images
yours isn’t an unlimited data plan; that is, you pay big bucks for every Megabytes
you don’t want to pay for a third-party browser (they, in general, cost big bucks)
you’re a desktop Opera user (you should be – give it a try, you’ll love it, particularly if you have a notebook with a high-resolution (at least SXGA+) screen – Opera’s zoom-in features are way better than those of Internet Explorer and are only matched by Mozilla) and you want to synchronize your bookmarks with it as easily and automatically as possible
you look for an easy-to-use, non-separate, integrated RSS reader – that is, you need a Web browser that also notifies you when you surf to a page also having RSS feed
your mobile device is resource-constrained, while you’d like to keep tens of Web pages, preferably with images, open at the same time (without the need for reloading). This is where most (if not ALL) other browsers severely fail, even on high-end mobile devices packed with tens of Megabytes of free (!) RAM memory.
you want something like the minimap feature of the Nokia Web browser on newer Nokia devices, the NetFront 3.4 Technical Previews (which, being just previews, are severely restricted and lack Flash, more than 10 favorites and other goodies) on Windows Mobile or the iPhone Safari browser but usable on any platform (incl. any Windows Mobile device) – but even faster and having much less resource demands
you want something with hardware button / keypad support. Opera Mini supports them just great. If yours is a phone with the dialpad on the front of your phone, you’ll REALLY love these shortcuts because, then, you will rarely (if ever) need to use the softkeys (or, on touchscreen devices, the stylus) to navigate the menus. Using button shortcuts is WAY faster. As opposed to this, (on Windows Mobile) NetFront and Minimo doesn’t support buttons at all and (on Symbian) Nokia Web isn’t very good either. The MS Smartphone version of IEM is, shortcut button support-wise, is also definitely inferior to Opera Mini – it supports far fewer operations than Opera Mini.
In the following two sections, I compare it to the other browsers available for the two current, major mobile operating systems, Windows Mobile and Symbian. (Freely skip the one not pertaining to you.)
1.1.1 How does it compare to other Windows Mobile browsers?
While there’re quite a few Web browsers on Windows Mobile, only few of them are actually usable: the built-in Internet Explorer Mobile (preferably with a capable plug-in like PIEPlus, Spb Pocket Plus 4.x (but NOT older versions) or MultiIE), Opera Mobile and NetFront. These three browsers (and the other Web browsers and IEM plug-ins I, generally, don’t really recommend: Picsel, Thunderhawk, Minimo etc.) all have their strengths and weaknesses, on which I’ve thoroughly elaborated in my two (a separate one for Windows Mobile Pocket PC’s and Smartphones HERE and HERE, respectively) Web Browsing Bibles
1.1.2 How does it compare to other Symbian browsers?
On Symbian, there’re two other, really decent Web browsers.
Opera Mobile is available for all S60 v2 (!) and v3 devices and is pretty decent. For example, unlike its Windows Mobile counterpart, it supports in-page text searching (which is painfully missing from the WM version). It, however, doesn’t use a compression service, which means long downloading times over slow links and has pretty high memory requirements.
Nokia’s Web browser coming with all S60v3 FP1 models is also very decent: it supports in-page searching, Flash Lite, minimap view and a lot of other goodies. However, it’s decidedly slower than Opera Mini and if your phone is a Nokia N95-1 with 64M RAM only, you’ll inevitably run into the MAJOR problems caused by its taking a lot of memory.
While Opera Mini 4 allocates about 10 Mbytes of memory to itself (which is a big letdown on the N95-1), after the initial memory allocation, no more memory will be allocated and you can safely go on browsing.
1.1.3 When will you still need to stick to a traditional Web browser?
Unfortunately, there’re several areas Opera Mini doesn’t excel at. While, say, 95% of the time it works just wonderfully (no wonder I use it for most of my Web browsing on both Windows Mobile and Symbian phones) for just accessing the Web, in the remaining 5% you’ll need to “fall back” to other, traditional, non-Java-based browsers. You wi
if you need full JavaScript and/or AJAX support. Only a subset of these standards are supported (albeit still a LOT more than in Internet Explorer Mobile, Thunderhawk or Picsel!). See THIS for more info if interested.
These browsers will inevitably be invoked when you make Opera Mini download a file (this, however, doesn’t mean you will need to stick to using these browsers!)
As you can’t make Opera Mini the default system browser, links received in e-mails and HTML files in the local file system will still need to be browsed via these browsers – unless (if it’s a remote Web page, not a local, say, HTML file or file attachment) you paste the address of the page to the address bar of Opera Mini (OM for short).
If you need Java applet and/or Flash (Lite) support. It’s with very few pages that you do need them; for example, Handango’s Friday giveouts, requiring full Flash compliance, are one of them. And, for YouTube, you will want to use alternate methods to play, NOT direct, in-line playback. (If you do use the TCPMP plug-in under Windows Mobile, then, you will still need to use IEM.) That is, generally, it’s when you want to play some online Flash games (see THIS Flash Bible for more info if interested) that you will need to stick to a browser supporting Flash.
There are some other restrictions; for example, you absolutely MUST edit text longer than 4-5 kilobytes. Then, because of the MIDlet Manager (also abbreviated as KVM) restrictions, you’ll end up having to switch to a “real” browser – at least for the time of editing.
You need to save Web pages to the local file system and/or copy text out of them. Unfortunately, OM is completely unable to do this. Unfortunately, with current KVM’s, not even copying a URL (for example, that of the current page) to the clipboard is possible.
Again and again, speaking out of experience, a casual user will very rarely need to switch back to these browsers and, after finding out how easy Opera Mini is to use, how quick it is to load pages and operate and how wonderfully low system requirements it has, he or she will want to stick with Opera Mobile.
1.2 Installation
(Note that this section only contains WM5+ Windows Mobile Pocket PC screenshots showing the MIDlet manager Jbed. As I recommend Jbed the most and I do urge you to install Jbed on your phone too, I didn’t bother including screenshots / instructions on installing OM under other MIDlet managers. Similarly, I don’t give you Symbian screenshots either – installing and running OM is done in a very similar way as under WM.)
1.2.1 Installing a MIDlet Manager
If you have a Windows Mobile device with at least WM5 as the operating system (sorry, previous operating systems aren’t supported – not even WM2003SE, let alone even older OS’es) and it’s not the latest models (for example, the Kaiser / Mda Vario III / Tilt) of HTC, then, you will want to download the Jbed MIDlet Manager HERE. If you do this on your desktop computer, transfer the CAB file to your handset and click / activate it from File Explorer (or any other explorer tool like Total Commander). Just install it (it’ll be installed in the main memory) and you’re set – you can go on installing Opera Mini itself.
Jbed will run on ALL Pocket PC’s and Smartphones running at least WM5. If you have an earlier operating system, check out the “Platform compatibility” section (with three rows corresponding to non-phone-enabled Pocket PC’s, Pocket PC Phone Edition and MS Smartphones in turn) in the main MIDlet Bible chart for download links; then, you’ll want to use either TAO Intent or IBM J9. Of the two, I’d prefer the former, but that’s only me.
Note that you can ONLY use this MIDlet manager if and only if your locale is set to a language using Western characters: Spain, France, Finland, you got it. (This doesn’t only cover Western languages; for example, Estonian only uses letters already present in some other Western languages. That is, while Estonian is an East-European language / locale, it’ll still work.) If, on the other hand, you have a, say, Slavonic locale (for example, Slovak), Jbed will NOT work. If your locale is Russian, then, you will want to check out THIS file instead; linked from HERE. Note that the latter MIGHT work with other East-European locales; I haven’t tested this myself.
Also note that if you have a non-phone WM5+ Pocket PC (for example, a Dell Axim x50(v) (with the WM5 upgrade) /x51(v) etc.), you will also need to download THIS file and unZIP its contents to \Windows on your Pocket PC.
1.2.2 Installing Opera Mini itself
If you’d like to download the browser onto your desktop computer and, then, transfer it to your phone, go to THIS page and click the opera-mini-advanced.jar link (I don’t provide a direct link to the latter as it always changes, as newer and newer builds are released). A JAR file will be downloaded. Transfer it to your PDA via ActiveSync, a memory card, a wireless connection, the WinCE File System plug-in of Total Commander etc., fire up Pocket File Explorer on your phone and click it. It’ll initiate the install process.
If, on the other hand, you’d like to do this on your phone, enter the address http://mini.opera.com/ into any of your Web browser on your phone (screenshot HERE) , scroll down and click “Try the new Opera Mini 4” link. This will take you to the page http://mini.opera.com/?rel=4, where you only need to click “Download high memory version”. Then, the installation will start – just like with the offline process outlined in above.
It’s pretty easy to install Opera Mini. You’ll just need to answer OK, Yes and Continue. For example, when you’re presented THIS screen (asking you whether OM should be put in the root folder or any subfolder), THIS and THIS question to to launch it. During the process, you’ll see other dialogs; for example, THIS showing the compilation process.
Now that you’ve launched the app, keep answering OK / Yes / Accept as can be seen in THIS screen. On the next screen, you’ll (again) press OK (the “Yes, but ask me next session” will be selected by default; it’s perfectly OK with us). After this, answer Yes to the next question too and, then, activate Accept to accept the license agreement.
Upon the first execution, after you click a link (and, therefore, initiate a network connection) you’ll need to press at least one button several times until the progress bar is full. You can do this with any button if you have numeric buttons; do this with the D-pad (any directions) if you don’t.
1.3 Usage
After this, you’ll find using OM pretty straightforward by using the two WM5 softkeys (or the touch screen). I’m pretty sure you’ll find it easy to use.
Note that in the review of the previous beta3, I’ve already spent a LOT of time explaining how link synchronization and managing RSS feeds work. Please do refer to the article for a complete overview of both these techniques.
Users new to OM will surely notice that entering text is done differently than using regular Web browsers. Now, if you click (move the focus to and press the Action button on it) a text input field / area, you won’t be able to do an “in-line” edit, but you’ll be taken to a separate and, in most cases, full screen text editor. Jbed’s text editor is one of the best (for comparison: TAO Intent’s (a well-known, widely used KVM) editor has severe restrictions: it doesn’t support copy/paste operations), but keep in mind that it (as with ALL the other KVM’s on Windows Mobile and some KVM’s on Symbian) can’t edit texts larger than some 4 kilobytes.
Note that after exiting (Menu / Exit) or shutting down (with an external task manager tool or by resetting the device) OM, you will need to go to Start / Programs and select the Esmertec Jbed icon (highlighted HERE) and click (or, press Launch while it’s selected) “Opera Mini” inside. Note that if you’re a somewhat more advanced user, you can easily invoke OM4 without starting Esmertec Jbed first (that is, you save some screen taps / button presses) by following my remarks in the “Direct, system-level links (shortcuts) to MIDlets” row of the main chart of the MIDlet Bible.
Under newer Symbian versions, you need to basically do the same as above. The difference is that these newer Symbian versions (as opposed to, say, the MIDlet Manager on the S60v1 N-Gage) puts a direct link to OM into Applications (example screenshot HERE); that is, you don’t need to create these links yourself.
1.4 Changes since beta 3
In addition to some, mostly “dumbphone” (that is, not Symbian / Windows Mobile-related) bug fixes, there is some welcome news for touch screen users.
First, you may already have noticed how complicated it is to reorganize the favorites list on the mobile phone. You repeatedly need to select Manage / Move up (or, down) to move a given favorite up or down, which involves a lot of work (and there’re no sorting capabilities built-in). Of course, if you have access to a desktop Opera browser, you can quickly do this stuff by either quick sorting (Sort / View by … in the context menu) or mouse-based drag and drop.
Now, if you have a touchscreen-based device (for example, a Pocket PC), you can, with the stylus, just highlight a favorite (as you would do when using the traditional way of reorganizing them) and, then, keeping the stylus down, drag it to its new position (note that this will not be animated – that is, you’ll only see the favorite moving after you’re lifted up the stylus from the touchscreen).
In addition, there’s another goodie you might want to know: now, keeping down the stylus on a Web page results in the context menu to be shown. The context menu slightly varies on the markup you’ve invoked it on:
links have a "Link" submenu, allowing for opening the link either with or without images (and also getting its address) as can be seen in HERE
images have a “Open Image” shortcut, which, in addition to showing the image in a new window, also let for downloading and saving it
the page itself (no links / images) “only” have the mobile view switch, reloading and information shortcuts
This context menu is also accessible by pressing “1” on the keypad - or, of course, emulating the keypress on the on-screen software input panel or, finally, assigned to a hardware button. This all has been thoroughly explained in the MIDlet Button Bible – make sure you DO read it because it’ll REALLY ease your life and increase your productivity.
Note that this all has also been (shortly) mentioned HERE.
The home screen also has some new links; for example, the brand new "GameJump" taking you to some freely available Java MIDlet games directly downloadable to your phone. They aren't particularly good; that is, don't expect anything like Gameloft or I-Play-like (see the links to the best Java MIDlet game developers at the end of MIDlet Bible!). I've tested three of these games on my N95: Arcade Park 1 (compared to the native PPC version, REALLY weak), CS Garfield (pretty OK but there're much better, albeit commercial bowling titles for Windows Mobile) and Spin Blocks (not worth bothering on devices with QVGA or larger screen because it uses 176*220). All in all, there's no free lunch; however, you may still want to look around for some games.
1.5 Frequently asked questions / misconceptions
1.5.1 Proxy servers and Opera Mini 4
Some people state (see for example THIS and THIS) the final version of OM4 doesn’t work with proxy servers any more, unlike with earlier OM4 beta builds. I’ve thoroughly tested this and found out that they do work assuming you explicitly switch the network access mode from Socket to HTTP (Menu / Tools / Settings / Network protocol).
1.5.2 Lack of code signing and the consequences
As you may already have noticed, Opera Mini is unsigned. This, unfortunately, means (depending on the actual KVM used and the operator restrictions / customizations) nagging screens when trying to access the Net. With Windows Mobile, you can “hack” the most widely used KVM’s, including the highly recommended Jbed. With Symbian, where the situation can be worse - again, depending on what additional restrictions are added by your mobile operator. Of course, you can always de-brand your device as is explained at, say, HERE.
You may also want to read THIS post (in THIS, pretty instructive thread) on why OM4 isn’t signed by default. (In a nutshell: the high price of the Verisign root certificate would have forced the developers of OM to make their browser commercial.)
I hope someone will be able to come up with a signed version of OM4 that works on at least Windows Mobile (with Jbed at least) and / or Symbian phones.
1.6 Recommended links
Please DO read the articles linked above; most importantly, the MIDlet Bible. It explains a LOT you might not ever have thought of. You will find it REALLY useful. If you do want to use Opera Mini to its full potential, you MUST read it and all the related tutorials (for example, the one on button handling, which is of extreme importance with OM4).
Big Thank You
Thank you for the complete article. I read a lot of your articles in Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine , and its good to read it here to.
Wonder if anyone can help me... I am trying to setup a direct link to run opera mini on my 6800 instead of having to go in through jbed every time... However it always says it cannot find the s0_ . I've looked in the appdb folder and the only thing in there is s0_... however there are no .Jar files. It has JAH and others in there... I tried installing it via the website via PIE and also via the direct download then activesync.
http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/ppc-...ed-includes-info-new-java-midlet-manager.html
that's the directions I was following for setting up the direct link... however I guess perhaps Opera has changed the way the file is installed? I tried installing the other version of Java that comes on the Mogul (I have an alltel 6800) and it actually has a .jar file in it's appdb folder. However instead of being in windows, it is in the program files folder.
So... Anyone have any ideas on how to get direct links working with Jbed and opera mini4 final?
In the meantime, I’ve managed to make Opera Mini the system-level browser capable of opening remote links from OTHER, local applications (for example, Messaging). This is what many-many people sought for and now – it’s possible. That is, it’s one of the greatest hacks of all times and, as you’ve guessed, REALLY enhances the usability of Opera Mini. It works on both Pocket PC’s and Smartphones.
Article cross-posted to PPCT, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, XDA-Developers - 3, FirstLoox, BrightHand, HowardForums, SPT, MoDaCo, Opera Mini forums.
Another Software Provider, just like Skype, did not support O2 XDA Flame.
Skype does not work on my Flame.
So for Opera Mini, which should I download?
CWKJ said:
Another Software Provider, just like Skype, did not support O2 XDA Flame.
Skype does not work on my Flame.
So for Opera Mini, which should I download?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the generic advanced version
Thanks. I will try the Opera Mini 4 Generic Version.
drgibson said:
Wonder if anyone can help me... I am trying to setup a direct link to run opera mini on my 6800 instead of having to go in through jbed every time... However it always says it cannot find the s0_ . I've looked in the appdb folder and the only thing in there is s0_... however there are no .Jar files. It has JAH and others in there... I tried installing it via the website via PIE and also via the direct download then activesync.
http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/ppc-...ed-includes-info-new-java-midlet-manager.html
that's the directions I was following for setting up the direct link... however I guess perhaps Opera has changed the way the file is installed? I tried installing the other version of Java that comes on the Mogul (I have an alltel 6800) and it actually has a .jar file in it's appdb folder. However instead of being in windows, it is in the program files folder.
So... Anyone have any ideas on how to get direct links working with Jbed and opera mini4 final?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have exactly the same issue!! Someone help, please
chillaxtodamax said:
I have exactly the same issue!! Someone help, please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it doesn't work with the factory, ROM-based MIDlet Manager, install the Jbed version I've linked to. It will surely work - it has worked with everyone.
CWKJ said:
Another Software Provider, just like Skype, did not support O2 XDA Flame.
Skype does not work on my Flame.
So for Opera Mini, which should I download?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Skype is working on my Flame.
may have missed it, but is there an option to get rid of the yes no grey screen everytime you click to go to a new page? using a kasier
fil said:
may have missed it, but is there an option to get rid of the yes no grey screen everytime you click to go to a new page? using a kasier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
install Jbed
Menneisyys said:
install Jbed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cheers, took a bit of fidling but, wow! seems to change the layout a bit, bit all the better!
Im sure im just being thick, but i have installed opera via my phone following the instructions on the first page. This worked fine, but after closing both opera and ie, i cant find where opera has downloaded to! There is no opera icon in my programs and i cant find it anywhere in file explorer. Am i being completely stupid of have i overlooked something. any help is apreciated thanks.
Oh btw im using a kaiser.
oweng23 said:
Im sure im just being thick, but i have installed opera via my phone following the instructions on the first page. This worked fine, but after closing both opera and ie, i cant find where opera has downloaded to! There is no opera icon in my programs and i cant find it anywhere in file explorer. Am i being completely stupid of have i overlooked something. any help is apreciated thanks.
Oh btw im using a kaiser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's inside "Esmertec Jbed"
OMInvokeAndPasteScript.mscr
Unfortunately, I had to hard reset and for the longest I was hoping that would not have to do that because I had Jbed and OPM with copy paste invoke working flawlessly. Thanks Menn!
Now, I am up and running again. I don't need to login each session and I have a shortcut setup to my IE browser button. What I need help on (maybe I had a brainfart) how do I get the invoke paste script running again?
When I click a link in an email, mortscript launches OPM quickly but that is it. The link is not being pasted in the url field subsequently not taking me the site that was hotlinked. I've tried your original script and the new copy option script , I have tried both WM5 and WM6 on my WM6 device. I have even tried s0_ and s1_ changes but I don't think the latter has anything to do with the paste action. Does anyone have any input?
The script works fine for the clipboard and IE.
unorthodoxx said:
Unfortunately, I had to hard reset and for the longest I was hoping that would not have to do that because I had Jbed and OPM with copy paste invoke working flawlessly. Thanks Menn!
Now, I am up and running again. I don't need to login each session and I have a shortcut setup to my IE browser button. What I need help on (maybe I had a brainfart) how do I get the invoke paste script running again?
When I click a link in an email, mortscript launches OPM quickly but that is it. The link is not being pasted in the url field subsequently not taking me the site that was hotlinked. I've tried your original script and the new copy option script , I have tried both WM5 and WM6 on my WM6 device. I have even tried s0_ and s1_ changes but I don't think the latter has anything to do with the paste action. Does anyone have any input?
The script works fine for the clipboard and IE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no prob, I'll publish a new version today (mostly written for some SP uses not having a clipboard at all) that doesn't use the clipboard but emulates keyboard typing.
Menneisyys said:
no prob, I'll publish a new version today (mostly written for some SP uses not having a clipboard at all) that doesn't use the clipboard but emulates keyboard typing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I like the clipboard version. Allows me to share links with others. I would like to see all features available. OPM, IE and Clipboard functioning.
The new 4.1 beta of Opera Mini has just been released with TONS of new features. Get it at http://www.operamini.com/beta/ . Features include:
* Download and upload files directly in Opera Mini (wowz! UPLOAD!)
* Save pages for offline browsing (another WOWZ!)
* Autocompletion when entering addresses directly
* Find in page (WOOOOOOWZ!)
* Increased server speed during the last months
* Signed versions of Opera Mini (good news too)
Don't forget to download the latest, 3.1 version of Jbed (reviewed & linked to HERE at the bottom.)
(BTW, some of you have asked what I've been working on because I've been quite quiet. I'm
working on my Digital TV Bible, after having read dozens of related books and tons of online documents (I'll post a detailed review of them too)
I need to do some real work too
I'll make another W3C conference speech this month (on multiplatform mobile browsers) and need to update my related Windows Mobile / Symbian / BlackBerry stuff
All in all, I've been pretty busy
Opera Mini 4.1: FULL multiplatform tutorial & review
I don’t need to introduce Opera Mini for any serious mobile device user – it’s been one of the best browsers ever since the release of version 4.0 with all its goodies like favorite synchronization and full layout mode, the latter being excellent on (W)VGA Pocket PC’s and high-resolution Symbian devices like the Nokia E90. Note that I’ve written a review & full comparison to other browsers HERE – please DO read it if you don’t know what Opera Mini is or how it compares to other browsers, in which cases you might want to prefer it to native, fully-fledged browsers like Opera Mobile. Also, make sure you read my two Web Browsing Bibles, linked from the OM4 article, for additional info & comparisons. Finally, note that the linked article only discusses version 4.0; 4.1 is even better and more featureful.
The just-released 4.1 beta takes things even further and implements a lot of long asked-for functionalities. It’s REALLY worth upgrading; note that it can coexist with older versions (including 4.0) on the same handset. That is, if you, for some reason, find it useless, you can easily switch back to the older version without having to reinstall / reconfigure anything.
1.1 Availability; which version to go for?
Navigate to http://mini.opera.com/beta either with your phone’s WAP browser or, if you have Opera on your desktop, with it:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41DownloadPage.png
(mobile browser)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41DesktopOperaDL.png
(Opera on the desktop)
and select any of the upper three links. On the next screen,
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41Deploy1.png
just press the left softkey (Continue); then, unless you want to put it in a self-created category, just click OK while it’s on root:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41Deploy2.png
On the following dialog,
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41Deploy3.png
just press OK; do the same on the one that follows:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41Deploy4.png
The file will be compiled and you can start it right away by answering Yes on the final screen:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41Deploy6.png
After this, everything is done in the already-known way: accepting the license, pressing buttons for generating a pseudo-random sentence etc.
Note that the 4.1 beta page linked from operamini.com, http://www.operamini.com/beta/, doesn’t contain the signed versions, only the unsigned ones. Therefore, if you only have Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer on your desktop, make sure you download the file from inside your Web browser on your handheld. The only exception is BlackBerry, where there isn’t a separate version on the only-handheld or desktop Opera page; then, you can safely download the ZIP file from http://www.operamini.com/beta/ with any desktop browser and use the BB Desktop Manager to quickly install it on your BlackBerry.
If you have a Windows Mobile device with Jbed 3.1, any of the signed versions will do. Note that some people state you need to go for the all-certificate version; that’s not true with Jbed 3.1. Make sure you DO download a signed version and not the unsigned one so that you can easily (without any hacking) can get rid of the security prompts.
Note that, should you still not have Jbed 3.1, read the second section of THIS for more info & the download links.
1.2 What’s new?
1.2.1 Custom text input field
With the new URL input field, address autocompletion works just great:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41AddressAutocomplete.png
Note that
1, unlike with Opera Mobile 9.5 (and just like any other browser, including pre-9.5 versions of Opera Mobile), the titles of these pages aren’t displayed, only the URL’s
2, copy / paste doesn’t work. If you do need it (and you do have a compatible JVM – it’s only the non-recommended TAO that isn’t), you’ll need to switch to the regular, native JVM URL editor by pressing Delete (right softkey, shouldn’t you have a device with a built-in hardware back key like MS Smartphones) once and, then, go down to highlight "Insert Symbol":
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/om4insertsymblhighlight.png
Then, just press Action on it to get into the traditional URL input field, with the traditional menus.
3, textual input may be problematic on keyboards with combined numeric and alphabetical keys; for example, on the HTC Vox. In there, the numeric keys will always be considered as keypad numeric buttons; that is, they’ll input a for 1, d for button 2 etc. However, as they’re treated EXACTLY the same way as keypad buttons, you can still input any character or (with long-pressing) number with them. You’ll need to know the latter for numeric input with devices that have a separate numeric row (like the HTC Universal).
4, the Input Address field being new also results in the old system-level browser invocation script not working any more. To fix this,
either switch off the new direct input by just unticking the, by default, enabled "Direct address input" checkbox in Tools / Settings:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41disabledirinut.png
or, alternatively, go for a modification of the current script version available HERE. (Incidentally, note that, now, there’s a full C++ implementation of the invocation script HERE. It’s still not compatible with 4.1 unless you untick "Direct address input" as explained above.)
1.2.2 Signing
First in Opera Mini’s lifetime, it comes signed. What does this mean? When deployed under a capable, compatible JVM (for example, Jbed 3.1), it’ll, upon trying to access the Net / the local file system for saving pages / downloading / uploading files, it’ll prompt you for permission:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41PermissPrompt1.png
(reading the file system)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41PermissPrompt1W.png
(writing the file system)
In there, you’ll notice a (compared to the unsigned case) new "always, don’t ask again" menu item (I’ve highlighted it in the following screenshot):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41PermissPrompt2.png
Make sure you do select this before pressing OK. This will make sure you won’t ever need to answer this question any more.
Upon trying to saving pages, it even prompts you to switch to the signed version, should you still have a non-signed one:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41PromptForSignedVersion.png
The link indeed takes you to a tutorial:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41PromptForSignedVersion2.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41PromptForSignedVersion3.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41PromptForSignedVersion4.png
(as can clearly be seen, there is not a single word on Windows Mobile. Note that the tutorial is also directly available HERE)
1.2.3 Page Saving
The new page saving feature allows for saving the current page, along with all its resources (images), to a file. The file is in the native (condensed HTML in textual mode + JPEG images) format of Opera Mini currently not readable by other applications. Should you still need some of the contents for copy/paste operations, you can still directly copy from the file with a text viewer. This also means this also allows for some kind of rudimentary copy/paste functionality if you use an external file viewer like that of Resco File Explorer. Then, based on the (latest) timestamp of the saved page (the saved pages have cryptic filenames; however, you can easily recognize them based both of their timestamp in the file system and their header, which contains the title of the page), you view it and look for the info you wanted to copy to clipboard (and, from there, to, say, Notes or Word Mobile). As you can see, it’s in no way so easy than, say, copying and straightforward than copying the full / the visible textual contents of the page into a text input field, where a user could already highlight anything and copy to the clipboard (unless she uses TAO Intent), though. Hope the Opera coders also implement this, otherwise, very simple-to-code feature.
Note that the page saving target dialog is only displayed once (upon the first page saving attempt) and is pretty much far away from being pretty and/or intuitional (and, of course, it has missing functionality present in, say, the standard OS file save dialog like creating subdirectories) but it still does the job. Just select the directory you’d like to save your pages to. Again, remember this can’t be changed later so select a directory with sufficiently large free storage.
First, you’ll need to select the storage type you’d like to save your pages to. In the following screenshot, I’ve selected Storage Card:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41SaveTarget1.png
After pressing Action, you’ll be shown the directories in there. You can select any of them (and, then, iteratively, any of its subdirectories etc.). Just press Select (left softkey) on the directory you’d like to save your stuff in. For example, in the following screenshot, I’ve stayed on Storage Card when pressing the key; this means it’ll store the pages in the root of the card:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41SaveTarget2.png
(note that, as the storage card roots can only have up to 128 files, this isn’t the best thing to do unless you’re absolutely sure you only want to save some pages.)
Finally, you’ll be prompted a "Page saved." message:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41SaveTarget3.png
Get rid of it with the Action button.
After this, all the saved pages will be listed in Tools / Saved Pages (and the latest three on the startpage):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41StartpageSavedPageList.png
A VGA screenshot with more than one saved page:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41ListOfSavedPages.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/OM41ListOfSavedPagesVGA.png
1.2.4 Finding text in pages
Tools / Find in page implements something I’ve been asking for years: in-page text search. It not only iterates over all the occurrences of the searched-for word (see the "Next" left softkey), but also conveniently highlights all the occurrences. In the following screenshot, you can see the results of searching for the word "Opera" in the Opera Mini forums:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/41FindInPagesOpera.png
1.2.5 In-app file up/download
A lot of users have been asking the Opera folks for allowing for in-browser download and, even more importantly, upload.
1.2.5.1 Download
In-browser downloading, for Windows Mobile users, isn’t that important. It’s probably mostly MS Smartphone users that will find this useful because, as has also been explained in my MS Smartphone Web Browsing Bible (see section 1.1.1 Fixing the binary file download problem), the built-in Internet Explorer Mobile only downloads certain types of files. For Symbian users with, say, a Nokia N95 with a pre-20 firmware version, it’s more so because Symbian often killed Opera Mini when loading up Nokia Web for handling the download. This isn’t an issue with the new firmware version any more, of course – neither is with N95 8GB, N95-3, N82 or the soon-to-come, new, DVB-H enabled N-series models.)
Note that, while file system access is supported in the latest and most recommended Jbed 3.1, this isn’t necessarily the case with other MIDlet Managers. Therefore, you’re strongly recommended to upgrade to Jbed 3.1.
The new in-Opera download looks like this:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/MP3Download1.png
If you select Save As, you’ll be presented the usual file selector; here, I instruct it to save the contents on the storage card:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/MP3Download2.png
Then, the download will start:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/MP3Download3.png
If, instead of Save As, you select Open:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/MP3Download4.png
you’ll be taken to IE:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/MP3Download5.png
which downloads the file:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/MP3Download6.png
Unfortunately, if you go for in-process download, you can’t do anything else during downloading – as is the case with regular page loading. That is, you end up staring at the download screen. If you absolutely hate this and/or the download takes too much time (for example, during fetching a looooooong MP3), go for downloading within Internet Explorer Mobile and switching back to Opera Mini for browsing. You can safely do this: IEM will just download the file in the background without problems. (Unless, of course, you haven’t registered the file type with the system. Then, you’ll need to stick strictly with the built-in downloader of OM4.1.)
1.2.5.2 Upload
With Jukka "Yucca" Korpela’s excellent article & tester suite File input (or "upload") in HTML forms:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/FileUpload2.png
Then, the usual Opera file handler will be shown (not that of the OS). Let’s upload some text file:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/FileUpload3.png
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/FileUpload4.png
and the results are as expected:
http://www.winmobiletech.com/042008OM41/FileUpload5.png
(note that it the (later?) 4.0 series it is rendered as can be seen in HERE but, of course, the "Choose" file chooser couldn’t be activated)
In this regard, Opera Mini (along with the commercial (!) Opera Mobile and [the, currently, severely crippled Technical Preview] NetFront) is the only browser to support file upload on the MS Smartphone platform. Let me point out that the built-in Internet Explorer Mobile (still) doesn’t support upload.
2. What’s still missing / problematic?
Now, in addition to direct copy/paste of textual contents, I only miss navigating (switching back) to any already-downloaded page while loading a new one. You can only navigate on the current page while fetching a new page but can’t use, say, #5 to quickly bring up the list of currently open pages and quickly switch to another page. There isn’t a "download page in background" feature either, which would be able for allowing this. This can be a nuisance, particularly on inherently sloooooooooow platforms like the current crop of BlackBerries.
Also, on Pocket PC devices with a built-in keyboard could benefit from some similar keyboard layout than on BlackBerries. On the latter, you can use the (wide and easy-to-reach) Space button to scroll a page down. I wish you could do the same on Windows Mobile devices. (In there, you still must use the "8" button, which is pretty much out of reach in two-hand, "bedtime" operation.)
The problem of "flashing", non-displayed pictures, particularly with pages heavily loaded with them, is still present.
Finally, the lack of italic support is (still) a big pain in the back. I don’t understand why the Opera folks don’t implement this (must be related to the additional storage the custom, smallest character set would require with added italic support, I don’t know – if that’s the problem, at least non-smallest characters should have this support) – after all, ALL major KVM’s do support rendering text in italics. (See my related tests in my MIDlet Bible.)
3. BlackBerry
The BlackBerry version doesn’t support signed versions; that is, as has already been pointed out, you MUST go with the unsigned one. I haven’t encountered any problems with it; page saving / loading, the new address autocomplete etc. all worked just great. I haven’t encountered the common bug with all OM 4.0 versions: that is, the BlackBerry (at least my T-Mo branded 8800) completely locking up upon loading pages. However, this doesn’t mean these bugs have been fixed: I "only" played with the new version on my BB for two or three hours and the aforementioned bug only turns up, say, once a day or two days, assuming actively using OM for at least 2-3 hours a day.
4. Symbian
I’ve also (quickly) tested the new (unsigned) version on my Nokia N95 v20. I haven’t really run into problems so far; neither have my fellow N95 users in the Opera Mini forum. I’ll later report on whether Opera Mini 4.1 still exhibits the well-known, but, fortunately, pretty rare problem of completely locking up the handset, which, as with the BlackBerry, can only be fixed by removing and reinserting the battery.
UPDATE (later the same day):
1. MoDaCo frontpage
2. note that the above-recommended Jbed 3.1 is NOT compatible with WM5 (or with even older operating system versions), only WM6. If you're still on WM5, use the old, "Cloudyfa" 2.1 version instead; or look around at XDA-Devs, where, according to THIS post, the 20080222 version of 3.1 is WM5-compatible.
i don't like the fact that opera mini is java.. which requires to launch java first before launching opera...that only makes the browser startup slower.. i can get to a website much faster with PIE because it launches faster.. sure it has a bunch of cool features but i guess im the only one that dislikes the fact that it's java emulated..
i'll wait for the REAL mobile opera version.
wow this new version of opera mini is great. i love the url input method. file download works great too. works perfectly on the kaiser. in fact im writting from it right now. go opera!
one thing-- the shortcuts method cooked up in the midlet bible doesnt work anymore. ill look into this at a later date. could be as simple as removing the old opera mini.
tft said:
i don't like the fact that opera mini is java.. which requires to launch java first before launching opera...that only makes the browser startup slower.. i can get to a website much faster with PIE because it launches faster.. sure it has a bunch of cool features but i guess im the only one that dislikes the fact that it's java emulated..
i'll wait for the REAL mobile opera version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read my 4.0 review - there, I've elaborated on crating shortcuts to OM so that you can avoid having to start up Jbed first.
UPDATE (04/05/2008):
1. I’ve tested the above (in the previous update) mentioned Jbed Java 3.1 20080222 (available HERE; mirrored HERE for your convenience). It runs flawlessly under WM5 (not only WM6). It supports 3D (tested with Need for speed carbon and Night Fever; neither of them run under the non-3D-capable Cloudyfa 2.1), (as usual, excellent) sound. It can’t be directly installed onto a storage card, however. (As with some older versions, it’s possible it can be hacked there, though, with some manual file copying and registry / start menu link rewriting – I haven’t tested this.)
I’ve also thoroughly tested JBed_20071119.3.1_3dMod_HeapSizeFix_v2_wm6(lovetz1) linked from THIS MoDaCo thread. As a plus, it can be directly installed on a storage card, as opposed to the version above. It, however, doesn’t support sound at all. Otherwise, it seems it’s pretty much the same as the version above – except for WM5-compliance: I haven’t tested the WM5-compliant subversion. I’d stick with the 20080222 (the first) version unless you really need every single byte in your built-in storage.
Note that neither version was able to run the s60v3 (Nokia) version of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, the latest-and-greatest real-time strategy from EA Mobile – upon loading the mission (and displaying the progress bar), it just locks up. (Needless to say, it’s working flawlessly on the Nokia N95 v20). It seems no Jbed version is compatible with this excellent game.
2. XDA-Devs user JZ SmartMort has released a very promising title making Opera Mini the system-level browser much simpler and offering a LOT of additional functionality. See his thread HERE. Note that he also posted a somewhat shorter post HERE (in THIS thread, should you also want to read the possible, future discussion of his app).
I've installed 4.1 and it looks great, However, a few points are anoying me.
When I start Opera and I type a new adres, the foll msg apear
"Untrusted application Opera Mini 4.1 wants to send or receive information from.... This will use airtime. Do you allow net access?"
Then the options to choose are:
o Yes, but ask me next time
o Yes, but ask me next session
There is no option: o Yes, dont ask me again ??
When I recall a saved page, I get the next msg "Untrusted application Opera Mini 4.1 wants to read data located on this device or removabl emedia. Do you allow read user data?
The only options are Yes or No. In the security option of Opera, there are settings about reading data. But there are only 2 options
o Ask
o Never allow
Also here, I miss the option: o Dont ask me again !
The next thing is the text input field. I have a HTC tytn (virtual and real keyboard). When I switch the option 'direct addres input' tot ON, I can only type the input via the real keyboard and not via the virtual keyboard (its dissapears).
If I can fix those items, I would be very happy.
I have reinstalled the same file and now the first 2 points are working fine !!
Leaves me to solve the text input field and the virtual keyboard...
UPDATE (04/06/2008): I have some very good news for you all.
1. Several of my readers have asked (see for example THIS) whether it’s possible to change the page save directory in Opera Mini 4.1 after you’ve set it first. Contrary to the popular belief (you must reinstall it from scratch), it’s actually very easy to do this:
a. if you have originally selected a removable storage card as the target media, you only need to remove it before trying to save any page on it. Then, you’ll be prompted an error message and, on the next page saving attempt, you’ll be offered the chance of setting the new save directory. That is, if you’ve originally given Opera Mini a storage card, you can change the save path without any need for hexediting files.
b. if you have provided it with a movable / deletable directory in the built-in storage (or, for that matter, on the storage card), just move (cut / paste) the entire directory somewhere else on your device – or on your storage card. That is, if you’ve given \My Documents to it, just cut it with the built-in File Explorer and paste it to in any other subdirectory. (Of course, you’ll need to paste the directory back once you’re ready with the – failed – page saving attempt if it’s a directory used by other apps too – like \My Documents.)
3, if, for some reason, neither of the above-listed ways works, you’ll need to do some hexediting. To do this, search for the in the name of the directory in the \Windows\appdb\s?__d?.db files with, say, Total Commander (Alt-F7) on the desktop Windows and just change this occurrence to another directory with a hexeditor. An example showing changing \My Documents to \Storage Card with a hexeditor:
{
"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"
}
Again, it’ll be FAR easier to temporarily remove / move the directory than hexediting – only do the latter if you simply can’t (temporarily) delete the directory because you’ve given it, say, \Windows or some other, undeletable directory.
2. the native C++ version of the invocation script has been updated to be compliant with 4.1. In addition, badbob001 has updated his MortScript to be compatible with 4.1 and he is also doing automatic (!!!) descriptor parsing & discovery to automatically find the current position of the OM deployment (just like the JZ SmartMort's brand new script I've reported on above), which, so far, needed to be done (once) by hand. See his updated script HERE. Both advancements are discussed HERE, starting with page 10 (post #91).
Menneisyys said:
2. the native C++ version of the invocation script has been updated to be compliant with 4.1. In addition, badbob001 has updated his MortScript to be compatible with 4.1 and he is also doing automatic (!!!) descriptor parsing & discovery to automatically find the current position of the OM deployment (just like the JZ SmartMort's brand new script I've reported on above), which, so far, needed to be done (once) by hand. See his updated script HERE. Both advancements are discussed HERE, starting with page 10 (post #91).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure if I understand this correctly. Does this make mi device able to use the virtual keyboard, even if the direct adres input is selected or does it has nothing to do with it?
Quatz said:
I am not sure if I understand this correctly. Does this make mi device able to use the virtual keyboard, even if the direct adres input is selected or does it has nothing to do with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean the SIP? You can always assign it to a HW button so that, upon a keypress, it's briught up. If this is what you meant.
Read my Button Bible for more info.
Menneisyys said:
You mean the SIP? You can always assign it to a HW button so that, upon a keypress, it's briught up. If this is what you meant.
Read my Button Bible for more info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, dont know the term SIP!
Where to find this Bible?
Quatz said:
Sorry, dont know the term SIP!
Where to find this Bible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A SIP is a software (on-screen) keyboard. SIP stands for 'Soft Input Panel'.
The Button Bible.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=337602
(Google search: "xda dev button bible".)
Thanks, this helps a lot.
I have installed HBsettup and indeed, now I can toggle the SIP on and off when i use Direct Address input.
I am very happy now with Opera Mini !!
having issues with setting up the shortcut to start OM
I have as follows:
"\windows\jbed.exe" -run s1_
OM is the only midlet installed.
also there are NO .jar files in the /windows/appDB/ folder
thanks
EDIT:
did a quick reset and everthings working excellent
Hey thanks for the share. Its really good, I am waiting for the stable version.
Apart from the intense marketing campaign of the moderator posting this thread, can someone give a brief comparison between this Opera Mini and the other Opera ("Opera Mobile"?) that runs on WM5/WM6? I don't get why I would want to run a java, stripped down browser when I can run Opera Mobile. Is it that Mini is intended for phones that can't run the full version, or should Mini be considered as a replacement for the other Operas that run on PDA phones (touchscreen phone/PDAs that run WM5/6).
Ideally an impartial perspective that isn't 5 posts long would be great
Well, so you have installed Opera Mini, you love the app but hate having to open your MIDlet manager each time you want to run it. You can't have a direct shortcut icon in your start menu or your quicklaunch bar. Here is a tutorial to fix it (step 1 works with any MIDlet, step 2 works with any shortcut)
First i have to give due credit to Menneisyys and his awesome Java MIDlet Bible, and also to bobstar_fr for his shortcut icon mod tutorial
PREREQUISITES :
- Get yourself a decent MIDlet manager, the default windows one is crap. I would advise Esmertec Java Manager which can be found here.
- Download an Icon Editor for PC, for example the 30-day trial version of ArtIcons Pro will do the job.
STEP 1 : Creating a MIDlet shortcut
This step assumes you have installed Esmertec Jeodek or Esmertek Jbed (see prerequisites)
First, locate the list position of the Java MIDlet you want to shortcut in the Jeodek/Jbed application list. If you install Jeodek/Jbed as a fresh install, and then directly install Opera Mini, just use the number "0" to refer to Opera Mini.
Warning, if you uninstalled some midlets, the application list may not start at 0 or may have gaps. This number is in fact incremented starting at 0 each time you install a new MIDlet.
Then, go to \Windows\Start menu\Programs, and create a new shortcut. In the "target" field, type this :
"\windows\jbed.exe" -run s0_
Replacing the number 0 after the "s" letter by the list position of your MIDlet as found above.
If you have Jeodek installed, you will want to replace jbed.exe with jeodek.exe
Then click on your shortcut, et voila, the MIDLet runs immediately without having to launch the manager.
All credit goes to Menneisyys
STEP 2 : Modifying the shortcut icon
So you have a nice working shortcut, but it has the default java icon instead of the MIDlet icon. If you make many shortcuts they will all share the same (ugly) icon. You may want to change this.
The bad point is that you can't directly access the icon in a .jar file. You may only use icons included in .exe or .dll files. You could extract the .png icon from the .jar file and compile it into a .dll, but this is not the goal of this tutorial.
So if you want to change the icon of your newly-created Opera Mini shortcut, you will use another icon, for example the one from Opera 8.
Find the .exe (or .dll) which contains the icon you want to use, copy it on your PC, then open it with your Icon Editor. You will see a list with all icons included in the file, along with a number. Write down this number, it's the ID of your icon and you will need it.
For example, when you open OperaWM.exe in your icon editor, you see several icons, and the one we're interested into (with the red "O") has ID number 131.
Then go back to your Start Menu shortcut, and in the target field add the following at the end of the line :
?path_to_your_exe,-icon_ID
For the above example, this would be :
?\Windows\OperaWM.exe,-131
Et voila, you now have a nice icon for your shortcut.
All credit goes to bobstar_fr
To end this tutorial, here's a few ready-made examples :
Example 1:
Shortcut for Opera mini, installed in first position in your manager, with opera icon. In the target field of your shortcut, you would write :
"\windows\jbed.exe" -run s0_ ?\Windows\OperaWM.exe,-131
Example 2:
Shortcut for SFR Messenger, installed in second position in your manager, with MSN messenger icon. In the target field of your shortcut, you would write :
"\windows\jbed.exe" -run s1_ ?\Windows\WLMMessenger.exe,-50
Thats'it, hope you will enjoy.
Great tutorial!!! I'll give it a try later tonight. I have jbed installed on storage card though (the modded version of jbed)... I wonder if that may become a problem?
owziee said:
Great tutorial!!! I'll give it a try later tonight. I have jbed installed on storage card though (the modded version of jbed)... I wonder if that may become a problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks !
No problem for having jbed installed on your storage card, just replace the "\Windows\jbed.exe" by "\Storage Card\jbed.exe" in all your shortcuts (insert subdirectory if needed).
Great tutorial, I link to it from the Bible.
Hi dude
What about link to MIDlet folders (shortcuts to folder and to any app installed inside it)?
Ciao
Menneisyys said:
Great tutorial, I link to it from the Bible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, i'm honored to get that kind of feedback from the java king of xda-devs.
@[email protected] said:
Hi dude
What about link to MIDlet folders (shortcuts to folder and to any app installed inside it)?
Ciao
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to test this to see if installing MIDlets in folders breaches the rule of incremental numbering by installation date. Will keep you updated.
JZ SmartMort v1.4 Released!
Announcing JZ SmartMort v1.4!
Now you can use JZ SmartMort to create Opera Mini and any other JBed application icon on your Start Menu!
Have a look at the screenshots of JZ SmartMort, available HERE or at SourceForge. Below are the prominent features that the software offers.
Copy / Paste
Clipboard / URL history
Multi-browser (Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, NetFront, Skyfire, Internet Explorer)
Make any installed browser system-level, where it opens links from anywhere. Ability to have a default browser (with a special timeout in case you want to open a link with a non-default browser).
Hardware buttons - supports Pocket PCs & SmartPhones for advanced hardware button mapping.
Opera Mini - shortcut on the Start Menu, different paste & URL handling methods to accommodate different phones.
JBed - create Start Menu shortcuts for any JBed app, run JBed App directly using JZ SmartMort, troubleshoot your JBed installation.
Ability to open synced Mobile Favorites with any browser, process killing and many other interesting features.
Includes general tweaks and hacks which will keep growing
Revisions:
v1.4 *** 2008-07-07
- Created help files.
- Browser: Skyfire fully compatible now, new scan/detection with fail-over paths (if browsers references don't exist in the usual locations like the registry). If default browser timeout is set to zero, the JZ Browser prompt will be bypassed entirely.
- Opera Mini: full-screen, kill JBed option, multiple URL & pasting options.
- Lots of new options for button mapping. All known registry and link file button hacks now integrated to allow virtually any command to be called up. Also provides ability to create a CUSTOM link file from scratch.
- Changed menus to include menu-returns for easy navigation and better user friendliness. Added letters to Action menu as qwerty keyboard shortcuts.
- Phone-specific menu under JZ Settings which expands button mapping for BlackJack II (Samsung i617) CV/MediaNet buttons, as well as, AT&T Tilt (HTC Kaiser) PTT & Long-PTT buttons. More will be added.
- Creation of Start Menu shortcuts & opening of JBed applications w/o needing to open JBed first.
- 3 different methods under JZ Settings > JZ Misc. Options for opening Favorites. Save a Favorite from the JZ Browser script when you pop a link.
- Incorporated VitoCopyPaste with a timeout to return your directional pad action button back to normal.
- Various speed & optimization considerations incorporated.
- Function to deal with MortScript losing focus (e.g. when Home is pressed while Mort choice menu is running).
I would like to add two things:
1) You can limit the memory for jBed and Jeodek:
59#"\Esmertec Java\jbed.exe" -run s2_ -DFile.maxStorageSize=4M
2) Shortcut for Tao Intent:
55#"\Program Files\TAO\jmm.exe" -r"Gmail","Google","Gmail"
I'd like to add a reference to a free icon/resource editor that allows you to create your own set of icons, e.g. for reference in the JBed .lnk files.
Tool Download: http://icofx.ro/downloads.html
Online Help for library creation: http://icofx.ro/tutorials/tutorial4.html
If anyone gets the error: "could not find suite s0..." the solution might be changing the quotation... i mean the "" characters that you copy/paste or write...
Leave the entire command sequence without quotations:
\windows\jbed.exe" -run s0_
That should work!
Hi all.
Tried all above and can't figure it out, "Could not find suite..." error keeps comming
my jbed is located on sd card, path:
\Storage Card\Program Files\Esmertec\Jbed 20090217.5.1R2\jbed.exe
Could it be the jbed location?
You need to check if the suite you access also exists under this number. The numbering is not (immediately) filling gaps that are created when deleting a suite.
V3rt!g(o) said:
Hi all.
Tried all above and can't figure it out, "Could not find suite..." error keeps comming
my jbed is located on sd card, path:
\Storage Card\Program Files\Esmertec\Jbed 20090217.5.1R2\jbed.exe
Could it be the jbed location?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you ever try?
I've successful to create shortcut :
69#"\Storage Card\Program Files\Esmertec\Jbed 20090217.5.1R2\jbed.exe" -run s1_ ?\windows\ListView.exe, -1
unfortunately, I can't change the icons.
While there are very-very few new releases for Windows Mobile (almost all of the games and a lot of app/utility developers seem to have jumped ship and went straight for the iPhone), Web browsers seem to continuously receive love from app developers. At MWC (where I was also present), there have been even two major, new releases (the new Opera Mobile and BOLT).
I didn’t bother with looking up the links for my reviews of the previous Web browser versions listed. You may still want to take a look on them – just look around HERE.
Let’s start with Opera.
Opera has (lately) come out with new versions of their two browsers with largely the same interface (at least on touchscreen platforms; the non-touchscreen Opera Mini is vastly different; note that, with the new Opera Mobile beta, the touchscreen-less MS Smartphone aka Windows Mobile Standard has also received official support):
Opera Mobile 10 beta 3
It, now, also officially supports Flash Lite (up to now, this was only available through manual hacking and using unofficial versions), with an additional twist: it only shows them when they’re really needed; that is, a Flash-heavy web page won’t bring your phone to its knees. (See THIS for more info - linked from HERE)
Should you need an XDA-Devs one-tap installer with Flash Lite built-in (and a lot of other goodies like automatic rotation on some newer HTC phones with built-in accelerometers), download version 1.1 HERE (linked from HERE; official thread HERE). I’ve tested it (as with the official Opera Mobile 10b3) and found it excellent. If you need prompt support for Flash Lite, go for this distribution in the first place. Nevertheless, don’t forget that Flash Lite has pretty bad performance on everything not having an 1 GHz Snapdragon – don’t bother with, say, watching YouTube videos on a WinMo phone / PDA with a, say, 624 MHz XScale CPU. Use the alternatives – there are quite a lot – I’ve explained in my YouTube bible. Nevertheless, it can still be of great help with Flash sites otherwise not compatible with any other players (see my Flash Lite compatibility list HERE).
Opera Mini 5 beta2
The new, beta 2 version of Opera Mini 5 was released on 12/02/2009; see THIS for more info. It already supports a lot of goodies and is much-much better than the pretty much useless beta1.
There is a one-step all-in-one download package HERE, which, in addition to beta2, also has Jbed 20090216.5.1 bundled. Just start the CAB; it’ll set everything up – it’s an absolutely hassle-free install great for newbies. (On phoneless PDA’s, you will, of course, need the “dumb” Phone / SMS DLL’s for it to work.) After installing, a new Opera Mini icon will be displayed in Programs, along with the Java icon. The former can be used to even more quickly start the browser.
Note that, despite the bundled Jbed version is meant for QVGA devices (that is, it doesn’t have the necessary Registry hacks to make character sizes larger) works – with the largest chars – just great on large-screen WinMo VGA phones too. Now, on my test HP 214 VGA WinMo PDA, it’s working flawlessly (except for the still-lacking italic characters), unlike the first, barely-working beta of version 5. Even Opera Link is supported and working great. It also has a large on-screen keyboard taking up more than the bottom half of the screen, even in landscape mode, and pretty well usable with fingers on larger-screen devices.
Copying text from web pages also works great. Should you want to paste your text into an external program (e.g., Notes), do the following:
- Tap-and-hold the screen anywhere
- Select “Select Text” from the pop-up menu
- Select the text (with the stylus / your finger) you’d like to copy to the clipboard; when you finish selecting (raise the stylus / your finger from the screen), a context menu will appear. Select “Search With” from it.
- Tap-and-hold the text input field until the context menu is displayed; from it, select Fullscreen Edit.
- In the Fullscreen Edit (that is, the native text input / edit area of Jbed) mode, make sure the cursor is at the very end of the text (by default, it will be). Now, activate both Ctl and Shift on the on-screen keyboard (tap them once to change color) and, with the stylus, tap the beginning of the text. It’ll then be highlighted; now, on the on-screen keyboard, deactivate Shift and just tap C (while Ctl is still active) to copy the currently (!) selected text to the system clipboard. With this, it’ll become available for other apps, not only Opera Mini. (Note that Ctl + A, to select all text, doesn’t work; neither does the standard, stylus-based, standard text selection.)
You may ask why so many steps are needed. The answer is simple: we needed to switch to the full screen mode (native) editor because the in-app text copy didn’t make the text available for external apps, only Opera Mini itself. It was only by re-copying it from the full screen mode (native) editor that we could make it available for all the other, external apps.
Note that this method only works with MIDlet managers that do support copy/paste in their native text editor. Not all of them do (for example, the outdated TAO Intent couldn’t), as can also be seen in the “Text input: cut/paste?” row of THIS chart.
SkyFire 1.5
SkyFire has just come out with the new version of their excellent Web browser, SkyFire. (Press release HERE). The new version, among other things, supports high-resolution, that is, (W)VGA devices in that the text /images are no longer “blocky” or “pixelizated”, az opposed to previous versions.
I’ve thoroughly tested it on my HP iPAQ 210 and found it excellent. Even YouTube streaming went on acceptably over a 128 kbps DSL connection way-way away (in Finland). Now, I can only recommend the new version – if the lack of tabs isn’t a problem with you, you may like the new version very much. Of course, in my opinion, it isn’t better than, say, iCab Mobile (the best Web browser on the mobile Apple platforms) on an iPhone 3G S, despite what some pundits state.
NetFront 4.0 Concept Version
While Access no longer plans to offer their NetFront web browser to the general public (NetFront, officially, can only be purchased bundled with a phone), I have still tested the “concept” version (available for download HERE) of the latest, 4.0 version.
It, now, has six tabs, which is way more usable than the two of the previous concept (trial) versions. The Browser Settings has really been redesigned (most of the previous settings seem to have been completely removed). It also has a new “PC View” mode, which may be something similar to the “Desktop view” mode of Internet Explorer Mobile.
Unfortunately, unlike with the two Opera’s (both Mini and Mobile) or SkyFire, its usage is still very awkward with finger-only usage – it uses standard menus to, for example, switch to full screen mode. I’ve also continuously run into memory outage problems with large forum pages (say, with 500 posts) – NetFront has always used more memory to render Web pages than even Opera Mobile, let alone the even more memory-conscious Opera Mini.
Therefore, particularly given that the previous tree browsers are way better, quicker etc., I don’t recommend NetFront 4 at all – its days are simply over (as opposed to the “good old” PPC2k2 days, when it was the only alternative browser, along with Thunderhawk), it seems.
Bolt 1.70
This now-excellent Java-based browser has received a lot of goodies lately:
- Support for Russian has just been implemented; however, there’s no support for other non-Western languages (for example, Middle/Far-East or East-European) languages at all
- Widget support
- Copy/paste support. To make use of this, tap-and-hold the screen (or select Menu / Page Tools / Select Text) and select the text. (Note that you don’t need to make sure all of the text is inside the selection box – you can just draw a vertical line, it’ll still select all the surrounding text.) After finishing highlighting the text block, select Menu / Search (NOT Copy!). From then, do exactly the same as in the case of Opera Mini (Ctl + Shift – highlight; Ctl-C: copy to the system clipboard).
I’ve tested it, just like Opera Mini, on my HP iPAQ 210 running Jbed 20090216.5.1.
You can download Bolt from HERE.
This browser is also highly recommended – particularly if you don’t need multiple tabs (which it, unfortunately, still doesn’t support) and/or non-Western / Russian languages (Opera Mini is compatible with every language as long as you don’t use its “smallest”, custom and Western-only character set) and/or you absolutely need italic support, which Opera Mini isn’t capable of.
Firefox (Fennec) 1.0 alpha 3
I’ve also tested the latest (released in Sept 2009) alpha 3 of the official Firefox port, Fennec - which has nothing to do with the now-abandoned Minimo project. The browser is available HERE.
I’ve found the browser far from usable. In my tests done on the HP iPAQ 210, the browser always crashed (requiring a reset) after loading a page. The other, reviewed browsers didn’t exhibit this problem. Moreover, it was considerably slower than the other browsers. In a word, I in no way recommend this browser – for the time being, just stay away, there are waaaaay better browsers out there, some of them even for free. (Note that there may be different opinions on the usability of this version; see for example THIS).
netfront 4.o sucks......
i cannot even download a thing from it...
like 3.5 instead
Thanks Menneisyys!
Nice to see you around
Good old Web-Viewer v1.2.3 (30 March 2009)
Web Viewer for WM5/6
http://www.anbsoftware.co.uk/viewproduct.php?id=11
[C/P from the above webpage]
This program has been developed to give Windows Mobile users the facility to have a very useful and functional tabbed web browser. Other tabbed mobile web browsers are either bulky, slow, or not free. This program is entirely free to use and uses Pocket Internet Explorer to display the web pages.
v1.2 Features
Screenshots;
{
"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"
}
* Option to save open tabs when closing
* Rotate screen
* Clear cache and cookies buttons
* Clear cache and cookies on exit options
* Increased 'F' (file menu) size for easier access
* Web page receives focus on selecting associated tab
* Added cut, copy, and paste to address bar
* Option to hide tab when only viewing one page
* Option to turn off acquiring title of page (speeds up page loading time)
* Save options on exit: full screen, view tabs, screen rotation, etc
* Multiple language support using an editable language file. Now supports Unicode.
Features
* Tabbed Browser
* Standard Navigation Buttons (Back, Forward, Refresh, Stop)
* Open links in new tab
* Duplicate tab
* View Source (customise external viewer/editor)
* Remember closed tabs
* Remember typed URLs
* Full Screen mode
* Hide Tabs Option (to increase viewing area)
* Various Tab Options (Close, Close Others, Reload All)
Notes
This software is NOT supported on Windows Mobile for SmartPhone.
This program has been developed using Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0.7045.0, which is required to run it. Only this version will work as there are numerous bugs in previous versions, as well as this one, but this is the one that is most stable and enables the functionality to open new tabs.
Favourites are managed by Pocket Internet Explorer.
There is a known issue when navigating, the back/forward buttons do not function correctly (device dependant). For example, when you click on a link for the first time you should be allowed to "go back". However, due to bugs in Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and the device this may not register correctly that you can "go back". However, there is a workaround, which is to go to another tab and then return. This then registers correctly. Alternatively, you can use the context menu to select 'Back'.
:END
I set Web-Viewer to \Windows\Favorites\
and use iexplore.exe to handle new favorites.
Have fun with this stable (103.5 Kb) superfast tabbed browser,
Senax
Great stuff Menneisyys. Opera all the way for me.
orb3000 said:
Thanks Menneisyys!
Nice to see you around
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've been very-very busy lately...
any info about UCWEB? it's a good browser too and come in windows mobile native so no need jbed anymore
Personally, I am happy with Opera 10.0 mobile... Like it a lot!
Scott
What about XScope browser...? The first thing that comes to mind when I use it is "Firefox mobile better be damn good or else."
This browser is one of the fastest out there for Android currently (some say it actually IS the fastest). It has tabbed browsing, ability to mod theme, a new way to zoom (dbl tap and move finger) and much much much more... Oh yeah it actually has FULL screen browsing. It hides the notification bar unless you enable it and hides the address bar unless you need it too.
If no one has used it I'd write a review with a few screenshots to post in here.
Let me know.
Enndr said:
What about XScope browser...? The first thing that comes to mind when I use it is "Firefox mobile better be damn good or else."
This browser is one of the fastest out there for Android currently (some say it actually IS the fastest). It has tabbed browsing, ability to mod theme, a new way to zoom (dbl tap and move finger) and much much much more... Oh yeah it actually has FULL screen browsing. It hides the notification bar unless you enable it and hides the address bar unless you need it too.
If no one has used it I'd write a review with a few screenshots to post in here.
Let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it have a native WinMo version? I coulnd't find any track of it...
Right now its for Android only. I don't think this guy has plans to cross it over to other mobile operating systems but who knows.
Like it a lot!
good resource.
General
Hi everybody, I am a new member just joined the community
to share my knowledge with others.
opera is the best guys
General
Hi everybody, I am a new member just joined the community to share my knowledge with others. This is the best place to share our opinions. Good resource.
-annasmith
--------------------------------
Browser
Thanks to Menneisyys about the info, I'really lika opera and firefox by asianbraindotcom
:laugh: ucweb maybe:good:
---------- Post added at 08:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 AM ----------
Novice
learn :fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed:
opera is the no. 1 in my opinion
Personally, I am happy with Opera 10.0 mobile... Like it a lot!