Surf the Net on the PDA with Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta

Update 9 November 2008: Recently, using Google Reader on Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 1 has been slow, very slow and unresponsive. It took ages for the page to render and to star or share anything. :(

Ever since Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 1 (note: looking at the general web address, this link will not be valid for Opera Mobile 9.5 beta when a new version of Opera Mobile comes out) was released, my 2+ years old Windows Mobile 5 PDA was given a new life. Before I installed the beta, I totally hated using the PDA for any web surfing because the Internet Explorer that came with it totally sucks.

I tried Google Reader with Internet Explorer and I got the mobile version of Reader which was bad, but at that time, I suppose all mobile browsers would link to the mobile version. It does not support any form of scripting, not even Java! This means I can only visit websites that belong to years ago!

I realised that I cannot hope for desktop web browsing with the PDA (my PDA resolution is only 320 x 200 vs a typical desktop resolution of 1,024 x 768) so after awhile, I gave up and only used the PDA for notes taking and some Nintendo Gameboy emulation. Then I heard of Opera Mobile and I downloaded the then version 8 to test out. It was much better than the mobile version of Internet Explorer but still lacks the actual feel of desktop browsing that most of us became familiar with but it did let me visit websites pretending to be a desktop. The browsing was painstakingly slow, though, if I utilise that mode.

Now, with 9.5 beta, I can totally surf the net with the PDA and get the actual desktop type of web page. It can default to load a full view of the web page and I can zoom in to the portion I want by double tapping on the area. The text are formatted based on the width of the PDA so I don't need to do any horizontal scrolling.

Some cons: The response time can be slow at times. For example, I might need to click a link a few times to get it loading. It also hanged on my quite a few times. Also, at the moment, 9.5 beta doesn't support Flash so sites like Youtube is out of the question. Maybe there are some plugins available but I am not that inclined to look for it. Besides, if I need Flash, it would be better on a monitor.

With Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, I can almost use my PDA as an internet tablet, just like the Nokia N7xx or N8xx series. ALMOST because the PDA's got a small screen and it's really not geared up for hardcore net surfing. It is ok for a relaxing surf in front of the TV, though. ;)

Note: All are based on my views on my PDA only. Other devices, especially those more advanced ones will vary greatly.