Hi folks!

I am working in the Opera Mini team and now I am asking you for a favour. We have made an experimental build of Opera Mini for Blackberries and now we need some feedback from end users.

Interesting points might be:
* Is it possible to install?
* Does it run?
* Any suggestions for improvments?
* Is it working with Q/W and O/P as softkeys and are users gonna get it without explicit instructions?
* How did you install Opera Mini? Did you install by downloading directly to your device or by transfering from your computer?

Things you need to know:
* Q/W and O/P work as softkeys
* Regular back-key works as fire-button

This build is eperimental so please don't spread the urls outside this forum!

To install please point your devices' browsers to http://mini.opera.com/bb/ or download the following files to your computer and transfer them manually to your device:

http://mini.opera.com/global/opera-m...vanced-int.cod
http://mini.opera.com/global/opera-m...nced-int-1.cod


Feel free to give the feedback in this thread.

Thanks for your help folks!

downloaded the hi memory version to my 7520 and it installed... just ran the GPRS/3G test and it says i have a working network connection. seems to be working. would be nice if the space bar inserted a "." for the url input screen like the bb browser but so far the first web page i went too looks good.

are there hot keeps for top of page and bottom of page?

Unfortunately Opera Mini doesn't have control over the input methods since we use the device's native URL-input method. This need to be fixed in RIM's java implementation.

There is a shortcut for jumping between top of page, bottom of page and page content if that's what you're looking for. Unfortunately shortcuts are a bit... unoptimized for Blackberries. The shortcut for jumping is # 3 which will take four keypresses

Okay. I have a 8700 and I'm getting it now.

It couldn't detect my phone model so I am trying the high memory version. Installing now. Will report back soon.

--edit--
Got it installed successfully - directly from the site.
Ran the connection test and it said I didn't have a working network connection.

I suspected this is because I have not configured the TCP/IP settings to use the wap.cingular APN. I use to have this working, but I cleared those settings from my BB. This was intentional since Cingular charges BB users for that APN. All my other browsers and Google Local use the blackberry.net APN and so don't incur additional charges outside of my BB Unlimited plan.

So I won't be able to test things further, but I'm sure others with their TCP/IP settings set up or hosted BES users would help out.

One thing that I feel will frustrate new users to no end is the fact that the scroll wheel doesn't have the same functionality as it usually does. Well the scrolling part it does, but pushing in the scroll wheel brings up the "Close" dialog box. With the other BB browsers, pushing the scroll wheel will bring up a menu list of things that could be done. Pushing the scroll wheel in on a hyperlink selects that hyperlink. This makes one handed surfing a snap.

So without explicit instructions the Q/W and O/P as hot keys are not very apparent in terms of their functionality, and the "fire" key I assume you meant the Return key.

I was able to test the original release version (which was not BB compatible) and did get to some pages and the page rendering is excellent. I did notice that loading pages was a lot slower though.

As long as you do not adapt the native BB navigation and input functions to Opera Mini, it will be useless and nobody will use it. Cause currently the navigatio is a pain. If I have an app on my BB I want to be able to use the scroll wheel, the enter key etc..

Install OTA was not possible, I uploaded the CODs to my device using javaloader.

This is a very good start for a first version for the Blackberry

I am using a model 7520 with OS 4.0.2.37. I used the OTA to download and it installed fine.

It took awhile to get used to the Q/W, O/P, Space/Enter softkeys, but within 15 mins I was used to the new navigation method. The next version should have the softkey functions built into the track wheel and menu

last night I tried going to www.idolonfox.com using the BB browser. almost unusable.

using this version of Opera Mini going to same site much better response time.

looks great for a first version

I installed it directly onto my device over the air (7290 on T-Mobile)
It runs. Had to add wap.voicestream.com to my TCP settings before it would pass the network test.
Not intuitive at all on how to use it, would need to work like other apps on the blackberry. Would've only figured out the keys by random pressing. What are the different key combinations for? Can you list what these are and what they do?

This version loaded quick on my Blackberry (I had downloaded opera mini before and it took a good 2 minutes to load)

Will mess around with it and see how it goes.

Google Local is written to use the blackberry.net APN so any BB user could use it without having to mess with any other settings. If Opera Mini could be written in this way, you open the program up to practically the entire BB user community. Otherwise you are really limiting your user base to those that are technically savvy enough and knowledgeable enough to mess with the TCP/IP and APN settings - unless of course that is your intended audience.

Installed and ran on my 8700c running on Tmobile. Not being able to use the native button on the scroll wheel makes the application difficult to use. The space bar should also trigger a page down as it does in most native BB applications.

I have to agree. I was able to load it on my 7100g via OTA, but it's not useable in its current form. Being quite comfortable with BB navigation it was maddening, and I'm an Opera fan.

After using a bit, the navigation worked pretty much like a cell phone, so not too hard to get used to that after figuring that out.

Had a question regarding secure sites. Was surfing around and when I would go to a https:// site, the browser would give this message:

"Warning The communication between your phone and this page is not secure"

Is SSL (or whatever might be used for a secure page nowadays) in place on the browser? If not, any idea on when it will be available?

Also, will there be any pdf viewing support in the future? Tried to go to a pdf page and got a message saying "Downloads not supported Ignoring 'pdf' with type 'application/pdf'".

JohanO,

Can you make .jad files for the .cod files, so that these can be more easily wirelessly downloaded? .jad files for BlackBerry are the same format as cellphone .jar files -- except the .jad file points to .cod instead of .jar for RIM applications.

Can't get a network connection. Won't connect with BES. Tried all the Cingular settings, still doesn't work.

tried the wap version of blackberryorums and couldn't get the cursor to go to the submit link when tryign to sign in

I downloaded ota on my Alltel 7250. Cant even get it to open a page.

I suppose this has to do with the same reason I cant use Ramble (I am on BIS)

Installed it on my 7130e this morning, so far, so good, the browser seems to be fast, I'll give you more feedback after I play with it a little more, good work so far

7100i, OTA downloaded the hi memory version
Works beautifully, I hope you will incorporate the blackberry functions, using the delete/back button as an enter button is hard to get used to. Nevertheless it browsed fine.

Thanks for your feedback folks!

Remember that this is a experimental build and not a finished product. All your ideas are very welcome and I will sum them up and make sure that the developers got to know how you like Opera Mini to work on your Berries.

I'll try to answer some questions:

I forget to mention that... If your device is not recognized on the download page, please point your native BB browser to http://mini.opera.com/detect and fill in the forms. By doing that you make me able to enter the device information into our database and make the server recognize that model next time. Until that you may try the Hi-memory version first. If that won't work you may try the Low-memory version...


No, the information from your device to our servers is not sent using SSL. Our servers are using SSL when communication with the webservers however and the information sent back to the device is sent as obml, Opera Binary Markup Language, so it's not clear text. If SSL is implemented in the Opera Mini client we'll let you know.


A pdf-viewer isn't possible to include in the Opera Mini client due to a lot of technical issues. However, downloading of files is a frequent request so maybe we might be able to implement that in future releases.


Well, we actually have made .cod files. If you go to http://mini.opera.com/bb with your BB-browser you vill get a jad-file containing information about both .jar- and .cod-locations. If your device is not recognized, please se the first question in this thread.


Once again, thanks for your help, and btw, please ignore the line about Regular back-key works as fire-button since that was messed up information from me ;)

Loaded high memory onto 8700c which has Cingular APN set, but is also on a BES. Network tested fine, was able to navigate the web (Yahoo, Google).

Agree with general comments above - it looks great, is fast, but the interface is very non-intuitive for Blackberry users. I will admit if felt a tad faster than either the Cingular or Blackberry browsers, but I'd need a feature or three unique to Opera to use it.

Also, it can't be set as the device's default browser. I have Cingular, Blackberry, and Internet browsers on my device (Internet appears to be Blackberry with different options set), and can set any of them to be used when I want to go to a link in an email. Opera should also be available in this list.

Good luck!

so far so good. tmobile 7100. rendering is great and speed seems better than buil in browser. the key is to incorporate the blackberry functioning as others have said. looking forward to next release.

Done as suggested and filled out the form for the 8700.

Jerry D,

What are your access point settings? I am also on Cingular and have BES. I've tried all the various Cingular and ATT settings in the threads in this forum. I just can't get Opera Mini to work.

Not really anything new to add here. I did an OTA install of the high memory version to my 8700c. I didn't have to perform any configuration but I am on a BES.

This version definitely runs much better than when I had previously tried Opera Mini. I'd like to use it more but the cell phone style shortcuts really make this very difficult to use intuitively. I definitely agree that following the conventions below would make it seamless for users to switch over:

Scroll up/down with wheel
Menu accessed via wheel click
When typing URL's space is interpreted as .
R - Refresh
T - Top of page
U - Full screen off/on
P - Page (current) address
A - Add bookmark
F - Find
G - Go To (enter URL)
H - Home
K - Bookmarks
L - Link address
B - Bottom of page
Space - Page down
Enter - Enter (usually to select a link)
Escape key - Back/Exit (previous page)

Maybe I don't know how to do this, but if there is one thing you could add is a way to hide the browser and go to other functions on the BB without closing the browser. Is there a hide feature?

Seems to work well...the only thing is, it won't let me into www.blackberryforums.com......it says that I have typed an incorrect password...or words to that effect. I thought it may be capitalising the first letter, so I changed my password so it started with a number, but no joy :(

@rjw3000
You can do it as you would with any other BB app...hold down alt and click the back button underneath the scrollwheel.

Cheers
Ventmore

Overall, I am pretty impressed with the Opera Mini program. It's very fast at loading pages, sites look better on it, and you don't have to wait forever to go back to a previous page (a HUGE plus). I also like the fact that you can enter an address right on the first page, and also do a google search.

What I don't like are the controls. The only option the trackwheel gives you is "close", which is unacceptable. If there were more options, such as "back, forward, refresh, stop, go to (url), etc, it would be a huge plus.

You currently have to press ONE for menu, and P for back/cancel. And to select anything within those menus, you have to press the same cooresponding keys. It is something to get used to, but using the trackwheel so so so much easier for us crackberry addicts. ;) If you press it by accident, you could easily select "close", which is pretty bad if you ask me. :p

Also, it would be great if more bookmarks could be listed on the homepage. One doesn't like having to click "more bookmarks" to be able to select more bookmarks. Us crackberry addicts are used to using the trackwheel to scroll down very long pages just to select our bookmarks instead of having to press the enter key on "more bookmarks" and then selecting it, and then pressing the enter key again.

More support for "myspace" would be great too, because it does the same thing the regular browser does (says I have new comments, messages, picture comments, events, etc etc). BUT, at least when I click on INBOX, I can actually view my inbox without getting an unexpected error, which is a step above the regular browser; I just got an error not matter what I clicked on.

Thanks for making this program. It's very good, but PLEASE, for the love of everything that is good, fix those issues!

Joseph

I downloaded the hi-memory versionand it works significanlty better than the initial low memory release. Once you get used to the navigation, it works great!!!

I have the 7130 and it is great. I like that I am able to get into www.vzwpix.com but cannot view any of the pictures in it. I cannot scroll over it. pages load extremely faster. Like everyone else says better buttons. Keep up the good work.

Lastly once done is opera going to make us buy the finished version?

Go here for keys

http://help.opera.com/operamini/1.2/...tml#navigating

After looking at those I really like browser

is there a list of what keys do what?

So far so good in my testing. Everything that has been said above about navigation is the same way I feel. I like that you are able to view banking sites on here which I am not able to do on the regular BB browser but it would be great to access the sites through a secure connection.

ok, so I type in a site like myspace. how do I go to that site qw op back trackwheel nothing works? is there a enter button

Just click the track wheel and select ok.

cyclops,

are you on BES?

I'm on BES, and was able to download over-the-air using the "Blackberry Browser", cingular browser and internet browser did not work. The navigation is really awkward but i liked that yahoo actually looked like yahoo. I was able to login to myspace, however it said I had new messages/comments/birthdays/event invites basically every notice you can get, it said I had even though there were no messages etc. The same thing happens when using the browser that comes with blackberry.

So far, so good. It installed nicely, but I would have liked to have seen something about it being available for the Blackberry on the website. I have an 8700 and it didn't recognize the phone, so I had to manually select High Memory.

Also, I'm using a Blackberry, why can't I have my options on my scroll wheel? It doesn't make sense to not utilize one of the best features of the Blackberry.

Other than that, it's about time something slick looking came along for the BB!

Thanks

Yes I'm on a BES

so far so good on my 7130

Installed on my 7290. Works ok for now.

Works quite well here also used OTA for install no troubles.
Like others have trouble using the softkeys instead of the track wheel.
7520 Telus

Works great for me. The track wheel works also.

Blackberry 1705t