Let’s Go To The Opera
Oct 10th, 2007 by Tariq Bamadhaj
And do much more. With Opera for Windows Mobile Pocket PC, you can do so much more with your browser. It puts the default Internet Explorer to shame. I guess the only advantage IE has over Opera is the fact that it’s free. But don’t let the USD$24 price tag set you back. Here’s why you’ll want to get one:
Grab And Scroll
Ever wanted to surf the web but using your stylus was too troublesome on the train ride to work? Or even if it was convenient, wouldn’t one hand surfing be so much better? With Grab and Scroll, you can do just that. You just tap on the screen and move your thumb (or finger) downwards to scroll down or upward to scroll up. It even does left and right scrolling. And when you need to tap on that hyperlink, it just works. You can’t copy text in this mode but that’s a small issue. With Grab and Scroll, my mobile surfing experience has increased manyfolds.
Tabbed Browsing
This would be one of the more distinct features between IE and Opera. You can open multiple tabs, just like the browser on your desktop/laptop. While you can do that with IE and add-on packs, the function comes with your Opera for Windows Mobile. I seldom use this feature as I prefer to focus on one site while I am mobile surfing but I am sure there are other users out there who would find this very useful.
Landscape or Portrait?
Sometimes a website is best viewed in Landscape. But your device is in portrait mode. What do you do? It used to be that you had to go to Start > Settings > System > Display just to change the orientation and when you were done, repeat the steps to get back your preferred Portrait mode. Or you use Opera’s built-in shortcut for Landscape mode. With just a few taps (and all within the Opera window), you can easily switch between Portrait and Landscape and back to Portrait (when you are done).
Share The Link Love
Sometimes you visit a site and you want your friends to check it out. But you are now having a great time surfing with one hand, thanks to Opera’s Grand and Scroll function. Do you have to take the stylus out just to let your friends know about the cool site you are visiting? Not really (unless you choose of course). Just tap and hold on the link and you are given the option to send the link as an SMS, MMS or email. It even opens up the appropriate software for you to get it done, all without having to take out your stylus and tapping at hard to reach areas.
There are loads more of other functions that you might find useful such as Bidi support (I have no idea what that is), Plugin API (Netscape) and even a Popup Handler. Sadly, not everybody can enjoy this great mobile browser at the moment 
No English? No Opera
At the moment, there seems to be some issues running Opera 8.65 with Non-English devices. They are working on it and a new build should be out shortly. In the mean time, you can continue to use Opera 8.60.
Summary
Pros:
- Grab and Scroll.
- Support for Marcromedia Flash 7 for Pocket PC.
- Native Tabbed Browsing support.
- Default Desktop mode.
Cons:
- Bug with non-English based devices.
- Pricey?
Conclusion
I’ll say that Opera for Windows Mobile Pocket PC 8.65 is one the best softwares you can and should spend money on. It’s pros far outweigh the cons. If you are an avid surfer using your PDA, this software is definitely for you. If you are not, this software might just make you one.
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Opera is the best browser on PC, PPC and other mobile phones, far better than IE or PIE.
I’m having a really good experience with Esmertec Jbed runing Opera mini on my PPC, the pages can be fully open in the screen and we just select the area we want to read or view in detail, it’s very fast and easy to use
Hi PJMDS
I tried using Opera Mini beta 4 and it works great too. Took me a while to get used to it because the pictures were appearing so small and I did not know I had to select it. Surprisingly it does not suffer from Java slowdown.
i just wanted to share what BIDI SUPPORT is :
Some writing systems of the world, notably the Arabic (including variants such as Perso-Arabic or Nasta’liq) and Hebrew scripts, are written in a form known as right-to-left (RTL), in which writing begins at the right-hand side of a page and concludes at the left-hand side. This is different from the left-to-right (LTR) direction in which languages using the Latin alphabet (such as English) are written. When LTR text is mixed with RTL in the same paragraph, each type of text should be written in its own direction, which is known as bi-directional text. This can get rather complex when multiple levels of quotation are used.
Many computer programs fail to display bi-directional text correctly. For example, the Hebrew name Sarah (שרה) should be spelled shin (ש) resh (ר) heh (ה) from right to left. Some Web browsers may display the Hebrew text in this article in the opposite direction.
There are very few scripts that can be written in either direction. Such was the case with Egyptian hieroglyphics, where the signs had a distinct “head” that faced the beginning of a line and “tail” that faced the end. Chinese can also be written in either direction, especially in signs (but the orientation of the individual characters is never changed).
Another variety of writing style, called boustrophedon, was used in some ancient Greek inscriptions, Tuareg, and Hungarian runes. This method of writing alternates direction on each successive line.
Bidirectional script support is the capability of a computer system to correctly display bi-directional text. The term is often shortened to the jargon term BiDi or bidi.
Hi phreaker18
Glad to see you back in the comments
You sure know your way around these terms. Thanks for shedding light on this. I can see now why this is important to many of the users using Opera.