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Opera 8.5 beta 2 is out!

Even the first beta version of Opera was a real relevation for the Pocket PC community. Much as it had several bugs (particularly on pre-Windows Mobile 5 devices), it has quickly become the browser of choice for many Pocket PC users (including me), at least on Windows Mobile 5.
The new version is, speed-wise, clearly the best browser I've ever seen for the Pocket PC. It's much-much faster than the alternatives. You'll certainly love it!
The good
* The WM2003(SE) version seems to be working great: I haven't encountered the infamous Opera-is-stalled bug under pre-WM5 operating system any more. I've tested the new version of Opera with all the test pages (the search facility at http://www.europe.com/en/ - screenshot here; RedHotPawn) that make the previous version stall at once. No problems encountered so far.
This may be related to the fact that now Opera senses some Web servers' not answering – see this and this message.
A iPAQ 2210 screenshot can be seen here and here (the latter taken at 25% zoom level so that the entire chessboard is visible) – as can be seen, as opposed to b1, I could log in and play on my iPAQ 2210 as well.
* It feels much faster than beta1, which is a feat in itself because beta 1 was already much faster than any alternative browser.
* There's tab support! (See the screenshots provided for examples.)
* The bug related to not being able to display loooooong pages is fixed. It worked great with all the pages I've thrown it at; an example screenshot of Tero Lehto's blog is here.
* Much as the new version is still using custom (non-native) GUI components, one of the biggest problems, that is, the text areas hiding the last characters in each row behind the scrollbar, is fixed as can be seen in here.
* The "You have XX days left of your trial period" dialog is no longer displayed at startup.
(There must be tons of other bugfixes, as far as previous beta1 bugs are concerned; these were the ones I've explicitly tested and compared to beta1.)
The bad
* After scrolling a page with any amount (or going to a new page), you will not be able to directly tap-and-hold a link to bring up the context menu (so that you can open the link in a new tab) without the need for at least partially highlight it (or the text that contains it). Fortunately, this is a minor annoyance and you'll quickly learn how to highlight (part) the link without clicking it.
* The new version is still using custom GUI components, which makes it impossible to use any kind of common Windows keyboard shortcuts. This is a mayor annoyance to anybody using an external keyboard to enter a lot of texts and wanting to use the traditional Windows shortcuts to quickly navigate through / highlight / copy/cut/paste text in the text input components.
* On some Pocket PC's (for example, the Pocket Loox 720) the new version still uses non-proportional Courier New fonts in the address bar / in the tab titles. This is a minor annoyance, though.
* Unfortunately, the settings dialogs (screenshot 1 and 2) are as simple as in beta1. The latter, however, now has a new checkbox, " Set Opera as default browser", which makes it unnecessary to manually import a registry file (please see the articles in the Recommended links section for the registry import file I've created for beta1 to revert the default browser assignments) in order to revert back to using Pocket Internet Explorer (if you make Opera the default Web browser on your Pocket PC).
Nevertheless, the lack of detailed settings dialogs are not a problem – with manually editing (or, downloading my sample configuration files) the main configuration files of Opera, you can fine-tune it (scrollbar visibility, proxy usage, scroll behaviour etc).
* Under WM2003, Menu/Display/Landscape still doesn't rotate the viewport. Again, this would be pretty easy to implement because Opera, unlike for example the Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) plug-ins or almost all ( uBook and Mobipocket Reader being the most important exceptions) e-book readers, doesn't need to rely on the Portrait-only, underlying PIE engine. This is a minor problem though and "only" affecting WM2003 users – screen rotation works great in post-WM2003 operating systems.
* Still no advanced context menus (copy link, save image), no in-page searching etc. These are, however, only minor annoyances, which don't have a negative effect on the browsing experience itself.
* Still no " One Column" view mode like that of PIE starting with WM2003SE or the PIE plug-in PIEPlus (see this review on the latest version of latter, including a detailed comparison of the "one column" modes offered by PIE and PIEPlus). This would be very useful to maximize the usage of the available screen estate on many pages; for example, the XDA-Dev forums (example screenshot of Opera 8.5b2 rendering the latter here – as can be seen, the useful contents of the page only occupies about 65-70% of the available horizontal screen estate. With a real "One Column" mode, it'd be close to 100%).
* Still no support for system-level favourites. This would also be really easy to implement as there's nothing particular about the .url files in \Windows\Favorites – they're really-really easy to process. (I'd say a hour's work for an average C++ programmer.)
Verdict
I can only use superlatives when speaking of this application. Despite its (still) missing functionalities, its speed and compatibility is just phenomenal.
Recommended links
The following articles/tips all discuss/are all related to the previous, beta 1 version. Note that some of their contents is now that they are fixed are outdated. They may still be worth checking out - particularly the ones on manually editing the Opera configuration files. You'll find a lot of information in these articles never published by anyone else.
ESSENTIAL (NEW, UNIQUE BUGFIXES!!!) to know about the great Web browser, Opera beta! - I haven't run into the same problem with the new Opera version – yet. This doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't exist any more – therefore, if the address bar auto-completion crashes your Pocket PC with beta2 too, make sure you read this article.
Modify the default scrolling behaviour of Pocket PC Web browsers. Note that even the beta 2 of Opera uses jump-by-link by default (on all operating systems, not just WM5), as far as its D-pad navigation is concerned; you will most probably want to override this and switch to the 'scroll a page at a time' behaviour. Note that the new scroll a page feature (invokable via the Space key) only works on devices with a built-in keyboard; for example, on the HTC Wizard (screenshot of Opera running on my HTC Wizard here).
Opera 8.5 beta on WM5 - it is certainly different from the WM2003(SE) version and is working GREAT!
WM5 compliance report: the bandwidth reduction service OnSpeed works pretty good; additional Toonel information – this article will be useful for everyone that wants to configure his or her Opera to access the Web sites through a HTTP proxy.
Pocket PC version of Famous Web Browser, Opera 8.5 beta Officially Released!

Torch Mobile Iris Browser v1.1.3 for Windows Mobile 5/6 (Updated 02/25/09)

There are many surprises waiting inside, including support for the Flash Lite ActiveX control, big performance gains, reduced memory usage, preliminary RSS and SVG support, the highest Acid3 score of any shipping mobile browser, and HTC accelerometer support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Source: http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/?p=18
Download Link: http://www.torchmobile.com/download/ (You're only required to provide a name and email address for download)
If you've tried it before, give it another chance as they've been making improvements. I would best describe this browser as what Fennic beta/alpha should have been.
It's based on the WebKit rendering engine (same engine used by Safari and iPhone browsers). It's a later version of WebKit since it gets further in the ACID 3 test (100/100) than the release versions of those browsers, and much further than any other Windows Mobile browser. So it's a good choice for those heavy CSS/Javascript web pages.
For the full feature look here:
http://www.torchmobile.com/products/iris.html
Here's a video of Iris in action on Windows Mobile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpX5JZWtu-g
Here are my observations:
Pros:
Free
Fairly fast
Very standards compliant (100/100) on Acid 3 tests
Native support for HTC Touch Pro/Diamond accelerometers
Direct, doesn't go through a proxy like Opera Mini or Skyfire (which is good if you're paranoid about security/proxy availability)
Tabs
Can simulate a mouse cursor in "Mouse Cursor" mode
Downloading support, though did silently crash once when trying to download Google Maps cab
Cons:
Can't figure out how to copy/paste text.
No text reflow/reformat on zoom-in like Opera Mini and certain versions of Opera Mobile 9.5
Extremely basic UI, every function has to be accesed through menus which gets kind of clunky
Zooming is clunky, zooming in more than one level/accessing the URL bar requires you to go through the menu system
Getting Flash Content to Display:
(From PPCGeek's member Torx)
Install Juggalo Flash CAB (attached) into main memory (if you don't already have Flash Lite 3.1 installed).
Unzip NPFL3ppc.zip (attached) and copy NPFL3ppcdll into the \Program files\Iris Broswer\plugins folder.
Restart Iris, and Flash content will be replaced with a black box and play button. Press the play button to play the Flash content!
Note: YouTube videos seem to display, but not play, other embedded Flash content works.
Additional Notes
Reports of some HTC Touch Pro (aka Fuze) and Diamond phones freezing. They believe this is due to a driver bug on the phone and they are working on a workaround. Please check their blog for updates.
http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/
Tip: Tap and hold link to go to visit links and give focus to certain form fields (checkboxes/textboxes).
Changelog
v1.1.3 (Updated 02/23/2009) - Touch Pro (Fuze), Diamond Users (maybe) Rejoice! It appears that while this fixes the problem for some users, it doesn’t fix it for all. We’re continuing to search for the problem and will post another update soon.
Other fixes/changes include:
Plugin (like FlashLite) interaction fixes
Animated GIF fixes
Re-activation of an optimization for some JavaScript intensive sites
Many editing bugs are fixed (yes, you can blog with it again!)
All known and reported crashes are fixed
Improved memory management for large images
Minor canvas improvements
Performance improvements, including 12% faster JavaScript
Source: http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/?p=20
v1.1.2 (Updated 02/20/2009) - Contains numerous fixes including one for low-resolution devices, several crashes, text shadow, some potential Touch Pro / Diamond freezes, and problems with some iPhone libraries.
Finally, we’ve done a lot of work to make sure we’re really one of the most compliant, precise, and high-quality rendering mobile browsers. We now score 100/100 on Acid3 with only a couple of minor rendering glitches. Those happen to be related to fonts, where we deliberately cut some corners for better performance. It’s not likely we will eliminate those glitches anytime soon. Iris Browser is also highly compatible with the popular iPhone websites, making it a great alternative for those who prefer other devices. We think the approach we’ve taken strikes a great balance between performance and functionality, and we’re just getting started!
Source: http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/?p=19
v1.1.1 (Updated 02/17/2009) - Fixes some reported problems with the Diamond/Touch Pro (check the comments section of the blog entry above for more information).
Source: http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/?p=18#comment-71

Thanks for the update
I've been using Iris for awhile and I'm very happy with it. I'm eager to see what improvements they've made.

wow, this is really a nice update.
I was using 1.0.6 and though it was nice (using iphone optimized versions ) it was a bit buggy. this new version is a lot better!

Bump for v1.1.2 update, and instructions on how to get flash to work.

Have a look at Zinio with Iris
If you don't know, Zinio.com is a site where you buy and view digital magazine subscriptions. Doesn't usually work with WM. Meh. But . . browse there with Iris, look under Zinio Labs, and tap IPhone. You now can read a bunch of FREE magazines on your phone, zooming and panning at will. I could not believe the selection. I could'nt look at these for free on the PC even, but if they think you have a JeebusPhone, they throw free stuff at you.
Anyway, Ithought it was cool, and hope you will too.
Webkit FTW!

TalynOne said:
Source: http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/?p=18
Install Juggalo Flash CAB (attached) into main memory (if you don't already have Flash Lite 3.1 installed).
Unzip NPFL3ppc.zip (attached) and copy NPFL3ppcdll into the \Program files\Iris Broswer\plugins folder.
Restart Iris, and Flash content will be replaced with a black box and play button. Press the play button to play the Flash content!
Note: YouTube videos seem to display, but not play, other embedded Flash content works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are these attached flash cabs?

v1.1.3 released
v 1.1.3 is now released.
Source: http://www.torchmobile.com/blog/?p=20
Fixes include:
* Plugin (like FlashLite) interaction fixes
* Animated GIF fixes
* Re-activation of an optimization for some JavaScript intensive sites
* Many editing bugs are fixed (yes, you can blog with it again!)
* All known and reported crashes are fixed
* Improved memory management for large images
* Minor canvas improvements
* Performance improvements, including 12% faster JavaScript
And some fixes for Touch Pro/Diamond users.
Seems like there's still some bugs there, but it's improving with every release. At least it's quite usable these days.

Thanks willl, OP updated.

TalynOne said:
Thanks willl, OP updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool! I've also linked to your thread from my latest Web browsing article (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=485315 )

They've just posted a new "Under The Hood" post on their blog for anyone who's interested.
They posted some interesting benchmark results using SunSpider:
* Access NetFront 3.5 2388.7s
* Opera Mobile 9.5 (built-in) 219.0s
* Pocket IE (built-in) Unable to complete
* Iris Browser 1.1.2 115.0s
That said, benchmarks run by vendors sources should always be taken with a grain of salt!

Tried out iris and liked it overall. As mentioned above, the lack of text reflow is unfortunate. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is I found it difficult to click on links. Either I'm doing something wrong, or you have to press and hold for a second to click a link. If you just tap the screen quickly, as I normally do in all other browsers, it doesn't register with iris. This must have something to do with how the browser differentiates between scrolling and clicking?
In any case, I plan to keep it installed, as it's nice to be able to flawlessly access the iphone versions of sites like facebook and gmail. However, for most of my browsing, I'd rather use opera mobile, or even better, opera mini. I like speed!
-Ben

You are right. To activate a link you have to kind of press and hold for a moment. This does not bother me too much but the problem of no proper text reflow is what is preventing to make this my daily use browser. If this is sorted out I am sure this will be my primary browser.
Regards

Well, with a non-touch screen phone you have no such problems
Joking aside, they've released another new version (1.1.4).
Which includes the following changes/fixes:
* Fixes for zoom scale
* Performance improvements in various areas
* Fixes for some EUC-JP encoded sites, other encoding fixes
* JavaScript fixes for some sites
* Rendering artifacts fixed on some dynamic sites like Google Reader iPhone edition
* All reported crashes fixed (potentially also the HTC Touch Pro/Diamond freezes some users still see)
* Minor improvements to the key configuration for Smartphone Edition
* Some additional registry keys to disable or override behavior, including backlight keep-awake, animations
* Check box to disable automatic zoom to fit
* WebFonts, resulting in “pixel perfect” Acid3 rendering
Also, if you have bug reports, send them an email with reproducible steps - feedback-wm [at] torchmobile.com (replace [at] with @).

Thanks for the info
Just updated.
Initial impressions: Big improvement in page loading speed, and in response to screen taps.
Nice update

great application! thks for info, 4 updating...

v1.1.5 Update now available
Almost seems like, another day another update! At least you know they are actively developing the app. I think it's actually quite usable as is, but improvements of minor bugs/quirks is always nice.
This time it's another minor bug fixes/performance improvements.
From their blog:
Iris Browser 1.1.5 for Windows Mobile was released today. As with all 1.1.x releases, this release is focused on bug fixes and performance enhancement. Some highlights include:
* Noticeably faster scrolling
* Up to 25% improvement in page load time
* Improvements to text input
* Rendering and layout improvements
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To update your version of the browser select the Page menu > Options > Preferences
Then click on the last button that says "Check for update". It'll then check for the latest updates and if a new version is found will update you to the newest version.
The OP probably needs to be updated again

Wow, new updates are happening quite fast now.
It's up to v1.1.6 now.
# Performance improvements
* Some pages load up to 25% faster
* Scrolling performance improved
* Painting speed improved
# History fixes
# New registry flag to control the minimum and maximum zoom levels - use at your own risk!
# Zoom scheme changes based on user requests and bug reports
# Some site specific fixes
# EUC-KR support improvements
# Some hidden features
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me, at this stage the browser is quite usable/stable for most of my needs. But unsure if it'll ever be my "default" browser. I still use PIE for a few things here and there, as well as Opera Mini.

The latest version of this software (as of apr 1st) is awesome!
-mark

They really have to work on at least two things: Text flowing and easier zooming.
The way Opera 9.5 does zooming makes sense to me.. Double-tap and it zooms a bit, if you double tap-hold it seems to zoom in farther. If you double-tap when zoomed in, it zooms out. Plus there is the zoom tool on the screen, and some versions you can use the volume wheel to adjust zoom.
Zooming on Iris is painful. For me it seems like the only zooms that are useful are 50% and 100%. 50% is easy to scroll around and find stuff, but not interact or read it, and 100% is too large. Hopefully they'll sort this sort of thing out soon.
Otherwise, it seems to scroll pretty well, haven't noticed it "bounce around" like Opera does (scrolling down a page, suddenly it ZOOMS off some random direction) but the font rendering at <100% is pretty poor. Seems I can read the unzoomed text in Opera and not have to zoom in quite as far.
Launching links works fine for me, although I think they need to document how to do it somewhere. IS there documentation anywhere? In Opera I all-too-often accidentally re-zoom rather than open a link, Iris it seems to be very consistent.
So there are rough edges, but generally it works pretty decent. I haven't used it extensively yet, just looked at the rendering of a few of my own websites and such. I'll give it a 'real world' test sometime on this forum and some other complex websites.
Oh, built-in updating is nice too. Skyfire is a pain to update, although honestly I like Skyfire less and less so it's not really a big deal. I'll still probably use PIE as my default as it launches instantly and it works as a general purpose browser. But I have a mortscript which opens the current PIE URL in Opera, I'll have to update it for Iris now.

with adobe lite 3.1, youtube works.
video a bit choppier than my E71 (symbian s60), but still works, and audio is smooooth... this is on my treo pro, wm 6.1
THANKS!!

Quick Web browser test & comparison: latest Iris and Opera Mobile versions

I’ve quickly tested the latest, current Iris and Opera Mobile versions, 1.1.9 and 9.7b1, respectively. (The former is available HERE, the latter HERE) I’ve done so on both VGA (the IPAQ 210 and the HTC Universal) and QVGA (the HTC Wizard) devices.
Of the two, I’d definitely go with Opera Mobile as it’s definitely closer Safari (or iCab Mobile) on the iPhone. While Iris does get better and better over time, it’s still nowhere as fast and easy-to-use as Opera Mobile. Furthermore, it still has rendering problems affecting particularly QVGA users. (And, on VGA, causing pretty small character sizes, particularly in Portrait orientation. Needless to say, it’s not possible to change the character size in Iris, unlike in Opera Mobile [see Settings / Display / Minimum Font Size])
On QVGA: with some sites, no problems at all with OM; with Iris, you MUST switch to Column mode; otherwise, the text is unreadable
Some of the disadvantages of Iris 1.1.9 compared to OM 9.7:
Iris: Impossible to directly copy text from Web pages to the clipboard. In Opera Mobile, all you need to do is select the appropriate menu item from the page context menu.
Open in new tab: still not supported (while it does exist in OM’s link context menu)
Impossible to disable animations, which kinda slows down working
No plug-ins
Much slower to load pages than OM 9.7 on the HTC Wizard
No “stop page loading” icon or even menu at all
To see the rendering difference, check out the test suite pages linked from HERE (more specifically, the Formatting (first) group in the chart. Basically, Iris is still suffering from exactly the same problems as with the, back in January, tested version 1.0.16 (1.1.0 b3).

I tested Operamobile on my Universal with Tomal 6.5 and results were very slow.
I love Opera on desktop or mobile but havent found a way to make it work properly
I´ll try again...

Thanks for the topic, Menneisyys.
Anyway, to be honest, I largely prefer Iris over Opera (except in cases of needing to download something). I just like Iris' interface much better and it appears less cluttered than that of Opera Mobile.
But you know, after all this time, I'd would have to say Opera Mini is still the best mobile browser.
I stopped using it a while back after discovering Iris, but I recently decided to use it again, and I haven't been back to Iris since. I've really forgotten how good Opera Mini is. It lacks some nice extras, yes, but the interface/usability/speed is simply incredible. Text is very readable, websites are easy to navigate, and, of course, it's fast.
Even on phones with small screens, it's pretty good. Well, that is to say, it makes phones with small screens bearable.

Native Opera Mini version released and is just great!

While (as of today, a month after it being demoed at MWC for the press) there still isn’t any sign of the native iPhone version of one of the best Web browsers, Opera Mini, in the AppStore, the Opera folks don’t seem to have stopped with porting their browser into other platforms. In addition to the iPhone, there’s also a brand new Windows Mobile version released just two days after my publishing my previous news report on Windows Mobile browsers. (Please see the quick review of the Java version HERE)
Downloading, installing
Download it from HERE. The installer is WM5+ only and runs just fine on the iPAQ 210 (without the SMS / Phone DLL hacks.)
Pros / cons compared to the Java version
Pros:
- Visibly faster than the Java version
- Direct text copy to the system clipboard – no need to temporarily copy the selected and, then, copied text to any native text input area, as opposed to the Java version
- For a newbie, much easier to install than the Java version. (Although, with the latter, the custom third-party distributions with a pre-bundled Jbed JVM work just fine and are very beginner-friendly.)
Cons:
- The initial Opera Link synchronization throws an exception; however, it synchronized my mobile bookmarks just OK.
- There is no custom “smallest” character size – only three of them are available. They, however, are large enough on (W)VGA devices.
- While, as a native app, it could be invoked via an extension / type association (see my earlier articles / tutorials on this), by default, Opera Mini doesn’t allow the user to explicitly set up this, unlike, say, Opera Mobile. (I don’t know if the app indeed supports being invoked together with the link – haven’t had the time to test this in the Registry. Hopefully it is.)
Note that it, just like the Java version, doesn’t support italic characters either. It has, as with the Java version, has huge, easy-to-tap-with-finger drop-down lists – unlike, for example, NetFront 4.0. (Of course, they aren’t as nice as those on the iPhone, though.)
The native version uses the system-level keyboard, not the custom one of Opera Mini. This may be disadvantageous for people wanting to have a finger-only keyboard but refusing to install a third-party, large one. Nevertheless, I don’t list this as a disadvantage as, on Windows Mobile, it has always been preferable to have a system-level keyboard than a custom one - with all the niceties (seamless auto-completion, all keys etc.) By the way, with the address input field, the traditional keyboard shortcuts for quick text highlight (Ctl-A) / copy / paste don’t work. This could be fixed in a future version – as has also been done with Opera Mobile, back in 2006.
Memory usage
HERE (the official thread dedicated to the app) some people reported much better memory usage than with the Java version. I’ve pretty thoroughly tested this with my standard test pages (see THIS and THIS; more info on the test method in my past Web browser testing-related articles). Both versions were able to load several instances of these pages. (I’ve tested this to 19 with the native version and to some 6 with the Java one. The native version takes up about 520 kbytes of memory for each loaded test page, which is about one-tenth of the figure of other Web browsers.) Unlike on the BlackBerry, where 4.0 has a tendency to quickly run out of memory and, therefore, can’t really keep many pages in-memory at the same time – at least on the BB 8800 with the latest – official – firmware version.

Backspace Problem
when i hit the backspace key while entering text, it erases everything. I wrote a long email reply and when I hit backspace lost the whole thing. Seems like a pretty serious bug. Same thing apparently happened with an early blackberry version, but they fixed it. Any work-around?

I am extremely happy that Opera decided to make Mini native (I always thought Opera Mini was the best mobile browser available), but I will wait for Opera Mini 5 to leave beta before trying it.

I wonder why you guys like the new Opera mini? It's less usable than Opera mobile 10, because it's scrolling isn't much smooth (at least on my Touch HD). And Opera mobile 10 is less usable than Opera mobile 9.7, because of less settings, no option to change default page, ugly tabs, ugly animations wasting my time, no precise vertical scrolling (I mean when I scroll down, the page moves a bit to right/left) and no instant access to my taskbar (remember 9.7 where you tap the bottom-right icon to switch from fullscreen and you instantly see adress bar AND the taskbar? not anymore here). And I could continue, Opera mobile 10 and Opera mini 5 = useless crap. Opera mobile 9.7 = best mobile browser.
EDIT: Tell me, guys, what makes you use Opera mini 5/mobile 10? I just don't find anything positive on it and I'd like to know what makes it the best browser.

ZaxXx said:
I wonder why you guys like the new Opera mini? It's less usable than Opera mobile 10, because it's scrolling isn't much smooth (at least on my Touch HD). And Opera mobile 10 is less usable than Opera mobile 9.7, because of less settings, no option to change default page, ugly tabs, ugly animations wasting my time, no precise vertical scrolling (I mean when I scroll down, the page moves a bit to right/left) and no instant access to my taskbar (remember 9.7 where you tap the bottom-right icon to switch from fullscreen and you instantly see adress bar AND the taskbar? not anymore here). And I could continue, Opera mobile 10 and Opera mini 5 = useless crap. Opera mobile 9.7 = best mobile browser.
EDIT: Tell me, guys, what makes you use Opera mini 5/mobile 10? I just don't find anything positive on it and I'd like to know what makes it the best browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I imagine many will have the same reason it's so much faster than Opera Mobile "any version"
For me even with the not so great scrolling it's so much faster to load the page i need... Has the fast dial so very page i need again very fast to choose..
Many of us also have limited data so that'll be another reason.

stylez said:
I imagine many will have the same reason it's so much faster than Opera Mobile "any version"
For me even with the not so great scrolling it's so much faster to load the page i need... Has the fast dial so very page i need again very fast to choose..
Many of us also have limited data so that'll be another reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would agree with Stylez on this....I use it for the speed

Using Opera Mini 5 Beta 2 on WM6 and loving it! Skyfire is now uninstalled
How do I make it my default browser? My RSS readers keep opening up IE.

New web browser - zetakey browser

On openmarket, looks good and is fast. Looks as though there's no flash support, but only looked at it for a few minutes.
http://www.zetakey.com/download.html

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check it out.

No double tap or pinch zoom either, but their website said open to suggestions for future releases (bombard them with flash )

This is a pretty nice browser. I just found this after SkyFire got canned on Windows Mobile. No tabs like Iris, but less clunky, nicer interface like Dorothy. This appears to be the only Webkit browser for WM (that I could find anyways) still under active development, AND it takes about half the installed space of Iris or Dorothy. As was said above, it's not exactly feature-rich, but it's my favorite new browser. Thumbs up. Maybe I'll try and get it working with the Internet tab via VJBrisk.exe etc.

I'm also in search of a webkit browser for WM 6.5, and I have tried all three: Iris, Dorothy, Zetakey
Iris is still a keeper for now, which displays the google iphone interface correctly. But the problem with Iris is the cache goes out of control - a few webpages later the cache is more than 30 mb! So I only use it for specific sites.
Dorothy looks nice so far, even though it has issues with google iphone interface. The problem is it doesn't display any non-English language, even though all other apps, including opera mini and opera mobile, do just fine.
Zetakey was suppose to be the most promising except a fatal flaw: it conflicts with QuickMenu for some unknown reason. Once Zetakey is running QuickMenu is disabled. Another problem is I can resize the font. It looks like it's sized but it's not, and the default font size is super small.
I guess the only way to get a real webkit browser on HD2 now is to go Android.

wearefree said:
(...) I guess the only way to get a real webkit browser on HD2 now is to go Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I thought about that too... dual-booting so I could have a browser with flash support and whatnot. But then I can't use OCT dang it.

I just tried to change the user agent for oepra mobile on HD2, and now most of the mobile sites will return the iphone browser interface. Some of it dosn't display correctly but at least it's better than before. I guess that is one solution.

Bumping the Zetakey threads to let people know there's a new version at Zetakey.com as of 14-Feb-2011. Webkit browser for WM that's still under development that installs into less space than Iris or Dorothy.

Zetakey Browser
Howdy All,
I've been on the lookout for a light, fast browser suitable to my unique needs. Due to Adwords for mobile not rendering on Opera and a host of other browers, I had to install Iris 1.1.9 (plus fix). Unfortunately, Iris didn't impress especially as far as the UI is concerned. I then came across Zetakey which so far ticks all the boxes. I have requested the Flash plugin and await a response and looking at editing certain features. but so far so good. And what a small footprint! I'd say give it a try.
I'm running overclocked (633) Touch HD with Blackstonehenge Rom in case you were wondering.

does it have flash

smungai said:
Howdy All,
I've been on the lookout for a light, fast browser suitable to my unique needs. Due to Adwords for mobile not rendering on Opera and a host of other browers, I had to install Iris 1.1.9 (plus fix). Unfortunately, Iris didn't impress especially as far as the UI is concerned. I then came across Zetakey which so far ticks all the boxes. I have requested the Flash plugin and await a response and looking at editing certain features. but so far so good. And what a small footprint! I'd say give it a try.
I'm running overclocked (633) Touch HD with Blackstonehenge Rom in case you were wondering.
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Are you in the right forum? This is an HD2 forum, and the CPU runs at 1Ghz stock. What would overclocked (633) mean?