7 posts tagged “opera mini”

...and reading listening between the lines.

Excuse the pun but I think Ewan at SMStextnews has done a stirling job covering 3's pre-pre-Xmas preview (all handsets and devices are out a good while before Santa has made final judgement '08 stylie)  If anyone wants the run down on what's coming up, I recommend going there.  I didn't Qik anything or take photos (I was going to ask nicely but forgot!)

Usually I'm useless at the smaller things, the minor details, that kinda thing but having a good read through of the press pack and remembering (another thing I'm not all that good at!) what was said yesterday I can think of a bunch of things that I don't think I've seen reported anywhere else or, if they are, I can add a bit more info to:

• In the Autumn, 3 will start transcoding websites for all handsets - making them look like they normally look on a PC.  How will this work exactly?  I'm not quite sure - there's a variety of different ways this can be achieved.  Many of us are doing something similar at the moment... using the excellent Opera Mini.
  
• Mobile push-email will be on all 3's handsets in future - It'll simultaneously work with numerous email accounts, won't be a huge battery drain (due to some amazing trickery, well I was impressed!) and is unlimited on any internet package (they start at £2.50 p/m)
• Email attachments will be downloadable, won't come out of the user's internet allowance - I presume there'll be some fair-use thing in the small print, otherwise I'll be having mp3 mixes emailed to myself!
  
• 3 really like their Nokia E71 - I can't stress that enough.  They're happy to have RIM on board with their BlackBerry Bold and everything, but they're smitten with their exclusive white paint-job E71.  It's kinda weird as my love is for the Bold, not the E71.
• Bold, 3 in one device?*  Yes, the BlackBerry Bold has all the usual fruitiness plus some 3 on top.  It won't, however, clean and condition your smalls.  The one on display was a vanilla Bold, the 3-ified version isn't ready yet.  The Bold will be, if I understand correctly, a unique effort for 3 due to the way RIM's devices work (most stuff going in and out of a Blackberry is via RIM's servers**)
• Upcoming USB modems will not be Linux-friendly - I got the impression that 3 understand the ever-increasing importance of Linux sub-notebooks (note the Mini-Note) but that Huawei don't.  Whatever the case may be it's a huge oversight in my opinion as the smaller and cheaper the laptop, the more important cheap mobile internet is ...and laptops are cheaper without Windows!
• Nice new UI for dongles on Windows - Connection, account and usage all there in dashboard-stylie, nice and clear and now looking fit for the 21st Century
  
• HSDPA router on display - they've not decided whether to go with it or not.  The one I saw doesn't actually have 3G built-in, it accepts a USB dongle instead.  It's also mains powered, so no WiFi hotspot on the go.
  
• The new Skypephone is noticeably heavier than it's predecessor and... my own view is that it doesn't look or feel as good.  The screen is bigger and better, I liked the menus and they did a good job with Facebook but... those keys and the shiny back.  Horrible.  That's more personal taste than fact, of course.  The keys however, might pose a problem for anyone that likes Skype chatting or texting lots.  Only available in black.  White not gonna happen, people didn't like the original in white.  They weren't 100% certain but they believed it would be usable in the US (as a normal phone, the Skype part will, like the original, only work in countries where 3 have sister networks.)
• There was talk of pink devices in the future - I don't know any female that likes pink consumer electronics, I don't know any blokes that like (or will admit to liking) 'em either.  And the Skypephone wasn't well received in white.  What are 3 considering bringing out in pink?  Damned if I can remember (this is what happens when I don't do Brain Training everyday!)
• They're happy to get Samsung on board at last! - Not touched on this yet so throwing it at the end.
  

Thanks to the folk at 3 and Sam at 3mobilebuzz for the invite.  They treat bloggers, both big and small, the same as they treat the mainstream journos.  Which is nice.

*I tried but failed to come up with a Bold 3-in-1 pun that would make sense, that was the best I could do!
**I won't pretend to be an expert on BlackBerrys.  Hell, I've only just learnt that the second 'B' in the name is capitalised and that the plural of BlackBerry isn't BlackBerries - it's BlackBerrys.

I've been laptop-less (sounds like some crazy beach somewhere, but I digress...) for a week now.  Seeing as my first and only laptop was the ASUS Eee PC and that I've only had it since early December it's strange how I've become so attached to it.

There are so many things that just can't be done on a mobile phone no matter how expensive or feature packed it is.  The Nokia N95 8GB I currently have on loan is great but it can't replace a cheap laptop.  As much as people complain about both the small display and keyboard on the Eee, they're almost as useful, practical and convenient as those found on a 'proper' computer.

You can do lots on a high-end phone and the portability factor can't be beat.  But general surfing, emailing, blogging - they all take much longer to do and the process can be fraught with difficulties.  Some websites don't display properly or have missing functionality with phone browsers, the VOX site a prime example.  Using the built-in Nokia browser the VOX website detects that I'm using a phone and sends me to their mobile

version.  VOX mobile just isn't as good as normal VOX and I have no way to tell the site I want the full version (this is unlike Google who let you choose between 'Mobile' and 'Classic').  Going to the VOX site on Opera Mini (a 3rd party browser that's really worth checking out if you haven't done so already) is at first glance a better experience.  You get the full site like you would on a normal computer, but... you can't log in!  I had to do quite a bit of fiddling around and setting changing to be able to click on the log in "button").  Once logged in via Opera Mini you can't actually post so it's kinda pointless!

Everyone's favourite mobile browser now has a BREW version - apparently.  I wouldn't care less normally but the 3 Skypephone is a BREW phone and presumably a BREW version of Opera Mini will work better than some generic java version. 

Considering how popular Opera Mini is it's a bit of a surprise that few people know how good it is for RSS feeds.  I think there's a lot of power users out there that are completely unaware of it or have just not gotten around to use it.

Just today, All About Symbian had a round up of RSS readers and failed to mention Opera Mini - but did mention Widsets!  So far only one person has replied to the article mentioning app's RSS abilities.

So why don't people know about it?  And why are those that would benefit from it most completely unaware of it? 

I loved the original Yahoo! Go.  It did what it needed to do and it would run on my phone in the background without any problems.  I could have it running whilst using maps, listening to music, even making video or taking photos.  Not a problem, it would run and be ready to use when needed.  I could even close it down altogether and my Yahoo! emails would still be sent to my phone's inbox in regular intervals.

 

 

So, what did Yahoo! do?  They decided to discontinue the original 'Go' and replace it with 'Go 2.0'.  Updates shouldn't usually be a problem, things usually improve and they take things out that don't work or aren't really neccessary.  However, Yahoo! decided in their infinite wisdom to completely redesign and do the opposite of what an update should be.  They removed the push email support and made the app so resource hungry that I can't ever realistically have it running in the background.  They also made it slower to use - it was near instant before and now it takes seemingly forever to get a response to any keypress.

 

 

What on earth possessed Yahoo!  Do they even use their own services on mobile devices?  Surely they must realise when you're out and about you want access to info quicker than when at home.

 

 

The only saving grace is oneSearch but that can be accessed via Opera Mini and other mobile browsers so really not a good enough reason to bother with Yahoo! Go 2.0 in the first place.  oneSearch, by the way, also allows you to search for flight times - I've just tried it with Ryanair and it works a treat.

 

 

BTW sorry for the formatting, I've yet to familiarise myself with all of VOX's options - hence my blog looking like a cross between a really bad free local rag and a school newspaper.

What can you do?  When your operator allows almost complete freedom, almost anything that your phone can handle!

• Podcasting (listening to news, sport, comedy, music, specialist shows for specialist interests) Nokia Podcasting and Mobilcast on 3
• Internet Radio (1000s of stations from around the world) S60 Internet Radio, Spodtronic and TunIn.FM
• Video clips and streams: YouTube, mywaves, blue apple and even live TV from around the world Canal 24 Horas (Spain)
• Maps (directions, satellite, aerial): Google Maps, Nokia Maps, Mobile GMaps and J2MEMap
• Search: Nokia Mobile Search (it's Yellow Pages in your pocket - but with maps and speed dial!)
• The Web: Opera Mini (almost the web as it was meant to be)
• Then there's email, social networks, IM, feeds, Flickr pictures straight from your phone to the web, Google Product Search and Kelkoo whilst in the shops(!) and lots more.

All the above's free to use, all you need is an all-you-can-eat plan and a suitable phone (FWIW my phone is a Nokia N73)