[ollywompus]

Hey all, I have just installed Opera Mini on my 8100, and thought I'd give some tips to the forums to avoid frustration. Some of these may apply to all blackberries, but as I didn't use Opera Mini on my 7105t that much, I'm not sure.

First off, to install point your bb browser at http://mini.opera.com. It will tell you it doesn't know what device you are using, but just scroll down and select the high memory option and it will install just fine.

In order to connect, as with other blackberries, you have to setup your APN. On T-Mobile, for example (which is most people on 8100 obviously), you need to setup wap.voicestream.com. Go to Options->Advanced Options->TCP and enter that into the 'APN' field. This is a prerequisite for the browser to work.

When you are using Opera, there are a couple of quirks that I wanted to point out:

1.) You can't select by pressing the center of the trackball as you normall would. Rather non-intuitive, but that's the price for Opera Mini being so universal. Instead, when you are on a link, or a check box or something, and you want to select it, press the key.

2.) The Menu button appears to be directly over your send key: but instead, you need to use the 'qw' key to get into the menu. The menu key (to the left of the scroll ball) will also bring up a contextual menu, where you can select, go back, or close.

3.) Similarly, the 'op' button can be used for the right hand softkey, which is labeled 'back'.

These should help you navigate with a minimum of frustration. Like I said, not that intuitive compared to what a typical blackberry user is used to, but until there is a more blackberry specific HTML browser released, it's still a great browsing experience.

Cheers!

-olly

[GrantMethePower]

What makes this browser better than the blackberry browser? Thanks

[ejmccartin]

I liked it better on my 7100t. it formatted the pages better for me but on the 8100 the BB browser seems to do just fine. besides I can't get opera to work

[rYno]

I could never get opera mini to work on my 7100t so I may give this a whirl but I'm not a huge fan of opera to begin with. But if firefox made one... i'd be aaaalll over it!

[TechLifter]

Hopefully, I'm not the only one, but I don't even seem to have the option of downloading the "High Memory Version" as explained in the instructions of the first post. I can't seem to get mini at all.

Can someone please post step by step, specific instructions, if they have the time and inclination? I'd like to try it out, but I'm just frustrated at this point and likely missing something obvious.

(On T-Mobile)

[GrantMethePower]

I don't see the "high memory version" either

[cdd543]

Just use the downloader. I dloaded the one for the 7130e and it works great. Speed isn't much different, but it will get you to some sites that the bb browser will not. Google news was about 10 sec. faster with opera. Many times bb browser(I have it in IE emulation) wil direct you to the wap version of a site when opera will not. Handy to have both imho. Slight edge to opera, but keystrokes are a bit different until they come out with a version with native support.

[Roscoe]

On my 8700 it does a network test and says that I don't have a working network connection. (Google maps and the default browser works fine). I put wap.voicestream.com in the APN location but that did not change anything.

[ejmccartin]

Originally Posted by Roscoe

On my 8700 it does a network test and says that I don't have a working network connection. (Google maps and the default browser works fine). I put wap.voicestream.com in the APN location but that did not change anything.

Same for me. Can't figure why. I loved Opera on my 7100t but it just won't go on the 8100.

Anyone out there have any ideas? ...please.

[nita]

I had no problems downloading Opera Mini OTA. I found the high memory version at the bottom of the page.

[mrubin1]

i finally got it to work! the key was entering the APN as wap.voicestream.com BEFORE trying to visit mini.opera.com. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS THREAD!

[ejmccartin]

Originally Posted by mrubin1

i finally got it to work! the key was entering the APN as wap.voicestream.com BEFORE trying to visit mini.opera.com. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS THREAD!

I'll give it a whirl and let you know.

Edit: nope didn't work for me. I deleted opera and checked my APN then reinstalled. no go. any other ideas?

Edit: just found my error. typo in APN. thanks.

[lordstimpy]

I finally got it installed. I went and downloaded and unziped it on my PC, then used the Blackberry Desktop manager and installed it.

[nita]

Originally Posted by ejmccartin

I'll give it a whirl and let you know.

Edit: nope didn't work for me. I deleted opera and checked my APN then reinstalled. no go. any other ideas?

Edit: just found my error. typo in APN. thanks.

Glad it worked out for ya!!!

[plakius]

i got it ... hmmm ... i don't like it ... i personally think that the original browser works better

[HaTaX]

Well, the built in browser doesn't display all the webpages out there. I use opera for my bank's website. And also for pages that aren't formatted for mobile devices. I do like how you can press QW and get a full screen view in the normal browser though.

[stockfire]

This helped me a lot, I was confused, thanks!

[ejmccartin]

and after everything I went thru to get it to work (read: finding and fixing my own mistakes ) I think I like the BB browser more. go figure...

[somarpro]

Originally Posted by HaTaX

Well, the built in browser doesn't display all the webpages out there. I use opera for my bank's website. And also for pages that aren't formatted for mobile devices. I do like how you can press QW and get a full screen view in the normal browser though.

I feel the same way and I do the same thing. I do believe the normal browser is a lot better than the one on my 7290.

[richardhurst]

i have a unlocked pearl and am using my vodafone sim in. have downloaded opera and typed wap.voicestream.com in the apn field and left username and password blank (if thats correct), but it still says i do not have a working network connection. any help please????