Opera Mini 4 Beta Now Available

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Tuesday, June 19, 2007 9:29:51 AM

Opera Software today released Opera Mini 4 beta, codenamed Dimension, a sneak preview of the latest version of Opera's Web browser for all mobile phones including the Palm Treo. Opera Mini 4 beta is a complete redesign of its browser with a new overview mode that allows people to browse their favorite Web sites, just like they would on a PC. Opera Mini 4 beta also features a new zoom, based on a feature introduced for Nintendo Wii browser. When zooming, Opera Mini dives into the page and then snaps to the content so scrolling is smooth while accessing the desired section immediately. Opera also claims significant speed improvements.

Opera MiniOpera Mini for Palm OS requires you have the Palm Java Micro Environment installed. To download Opera Mini 4.0 Beta, visit www.operamini.com/beta.

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Nice, but not for us

Gazpacho @ 6/19/2007 12:46:44 PM # Q
The too crappy IBM Java VM makes it impossible for OM4 to work properly on PalmOS Treo's.

I'm happy to be proven wring though.

http://foleocentral.blogspot.com

FoleoCentral is the news, opinions & review blog about the Palm Foleo Mobile Companion

RE: Nice, but not for us
Gazpacho @ 6/19/2007 12:47:13 PM # Q
... wrong, that is.

http://foleocentral.blogspot.com

FoleoCentral is the news, opinions & review blog about the Palm Foleo Mobile Companion
RE: Nice, but not for us
palmato @ 6/19/2007 1:48:18 PM # Q
On my tx it does work but only for a while. It looks promising although very unstable.


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Java VM is a pain.

dagwud @ 6/19/2007 4:14:29 PM # Q
I'd like for this to work. But I hate the fact that the Java VM causes other programs to crash or not load at all. For example, some Astraware games won't load on my TX if the VM is installed.

As I play Alchemy more than I browse the web, Opera's gotta go. Unfortunately.

--
PalmPilot Pro (1997) -> III (1998) -> Vx (1999) -> m500 (2001) -> m515 (2002) -> Tx (2007)

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Any Java Developers on here? Why only the larger font sizes?

jeffhoward001 @ 6/19/2007 5:32:22 PM # Q
I don't understand why the font sizes are all the default font size or larger. Is there a pretty large technical hurdle in the JVM that makes smaller font sizes extremely difficult? I did some research on the web and found some classes for implementing custom fonts (and I assume sizes) within the IBM Web Sphere JVM. Can anyone with PalmOS / IBM WS JVM / Java experience shed light on this?

(I made a post on the Opera forums, and simply recieved an "Our custom small font doesn't work on the IBM JVM". Which I'm sure is true, but not a very detailed answer...)

Tungsten T --> Palm TX --> Foleo-mini??(like an LD-II with a small attached keyboard??)

RE: Any Java Developers on here? Why only the larger font sizes?
cervezas @ 6/19/2007 6:45:02 PM # Q
The problem is that Palm and IBM just don't work together any more the way they used to when the J9 (WebSphere) VM for Palm OS was first being developed. IBM was one of the first Palm OS licensees and Palm used to be very active with them in the Java Community Process. At one time there was even going to be a specific J2ME profile with capabilities designed for more powerful PDAs, and I believe Palm was a leader in the working group for coming up with that spec. The "PDA Profile" never came to be, Palm dropped out of the Java Community Process, and some time ago IBM stopped doing much of anything with their WebSphere Java environment for Palm OS. No other JVM vendor that I know of has developed a decent JVM for Palm OS.

The best Java environment for Palm OS (and Windows Mobile) is SuperWaba, which doesn't use Sun's Java class libraries, but uses the Java language and tools. It has some advantages (and one or two disadvantages) compared to Sun Java ME, but it hasn't been used much for developing consumer applications. Mostly custom business apps, for which it provides a basic SQL database engine, web service APIs, and lots of other goodies that enterprise software developers appreciate. Too bad Opera wasn't written to run against the SuperWaba class libraries, as there would be no problem with custom font support there, and they would find there a free, open source VM that they could fix themselves if they found a bug.


David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

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Opera practically conceals the need for JVM

CompeauFawkes @ 6/20/2007 10:21:29 PM # Q
I was amazed after linking over to the Opera site just how difficult they made it for 'common folks' to discover that they would need to install a Java Virtual Machine!

Nowhere in the top layer of information or FAQs is this information shared with the hapless 'victim' who visits the site excited to partake of their technology for Palm OS Treos. They certainly don't provide a link anywhere I could find directly to the actual Java install required, though one would expect them to go far beyond this and actually provide an install option which includes this as well as information about the (massive) amount of RAM required by this memory hog (over 2.5MB if memory serves correctly)... good grief...I hope they didn't waste much time tweaking this little 'write once, run anywhere' version!

AND...Woe unto those who do pursue the IBM Websphere installation from 2005 era and have it go pear-shaped on them on their Treo.

Yes, Those developers who decide that Java is 'just such a cool platform' to deliver apps to Palm OS device owners need to have their heads examined.

JMO of course... :)

__
Mike Compeau

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