Browsing the Internet is one of those things that can be a major draw for people looking to purchase a smartphone, but can be rather hit or miss due to the lack of quality mobile web browsers. For my money, having a choice between which browser you use in different situations can be a deal breaker. Luckily, Windows Mobile has more browser choices than many of its competitors.

Opera has been in the mobile browser game as long as anyone and their browsers are among the best. Opera Mini 5 Beta 2 is the latest and greatest from Opera’s Mini product. Traditionally a Java based application; Opera announced today that Opera Mini 5 is available as a native Windows Mobile application. There are technical reasons why having a native application is preferable over a Java based version. The bottom line is that a native Windows Mobile application should offer better performance, stability, and compatibility across a large array of devices.

My first impression with Opera Mini 5 is that it is FAST, though the rendering engine isn’t perfect. Mini 5 uses server side rendering; meaning that when you request a web page, a server somewhere actually downloads the files and formats it and compresses it before sending it along to your device. This method keeps your data usage to a minimum and doesn’t require as much processing power on your device. The Mini 5 UI is also very similar to what we’ve been playing with on the Opera Mobile 10 betas, which I consider a very clean and usable interface.

More information on the features you can expect from Opera Mini are available from Opera’s site. To download the application, point your mobile browser to http://m.opera.com/next/mini.

Resco, creator of several quality applications for Windows Mobile including Resco Photo Manager and Contact Manager, has announced in our forums that the Beta 3 version of Resco Explorer 2010 has been released.

Resco Explorer is a File Manager that is packed with features. Explorer offers a number of tools to improve navigation such as touch optimization, search functionality, and favorites. Advanced file features such as FTP, Network Browsing, and encryption are some of the more complex functionality you can expect to find in Explorer.

If you like to have total control over your files, hit up Resco (or preferably our Software Store) for the full lowdown on what Resco Explorer offers you. To play with the beta version, visit the thread our forums.

Just in time for the holidays comes a small update to the rapidly evolving Opera Mobile 10 browser (see earlier hands on video and review here).

This new update contains the following fixes/additions:

• Support for auto-rotation
• Support for right-to-left rendering of web content
• Quicker launch, up to 70% faster on some phone models
• Nicer shortcut icon for WM 6.5 (requires device reboot after install)
• A few stability fixes
• Several other minor bug fixes

Download here.

[MobileTechWorld via PPCGeeks]

Microsoft is certainly challenging Google in many areas recently, and services like Bing, MyPhone and Mesh show they can do it, too.

One big push for them in 2010 will be the new version of Microsoft Office.  The mobile version of course is a free beta download in the Marketplace but the less-talked about Web version is now in closed-beta testing as well.

This web version will also be viewable for many types of smartphones, not just Windows Mobile.  However, only Windows Mobile (and Symbian?),officially, will have editing capabilities, whereas the web-based version is view-only.  The phones/browsers that will work with the web version are the following:

• IE on Windows Mobile 5/6/6.1/6.5
• Safari4 on iPhone 3G/S
• BlackBerry 4.x and newer versions
• Nokia S60
• NetFront 3.4, 3.5 and newer versions
• Opera Mobile 8.65 and newer versions
• Openwave 6.2, 7.0 and newer versions

This is certainly an interesting  play by Microsoft to greatly expand their Office suite, which is one of the few areas that most agree upon is actually a really good product. The challenge to Google should be obvious, though we suppose they too could beef up and selectively favor Android devices.  There are other exceptions too.  For instance, this is primarily for enterprise right now, not consumers and SharePoint is required on the back end for this to work.

Finally, the bigger picture needs to be looked at here: make no mistake, Microsoft sees cloud computing as the future. Windows Mobile 7 will play a major role in this change and today's apps e.g. MyPhone, Mesh, Marketplace, Office, Skydrive and even web-based Recite are all the tips of this iceberg.

[via ZDNet]

Opera Mobile 10 (see our video hands-on and full review) has hit the beta 2 stage of its life. Here's what's improved, via the Opera Moble Blog:

• Opera Link.
• Download manager.
• Improved UI for finger touch.
• You can now manage search engines.
• Remembers page position and zoom state.
• Column snapping on touch.
• Better memory management.
• Fix for mobile view crash.
• Start page available from touch menu.
• Clear cache setting.
• Asks whether to set as default browser.
• Fix for startup crash (on some devices due to encoding in imported bookmarks).
• Shortcut support.
• Other minor bug fixes.

That enough for a beta 2 release? We're definitely happy to see better memory management -- that was our chief complaint of the early beta. And for what its worth, we're now getting 99 out of 100 on the Acid3 test, down a point from the first release. But as this is still a beta release, there are bugs. Peep a list of them after the break. Now, what about you guys? This latest release of Opera Mobile 10 working for you? Grab it here.

Read the rest of this entry »

You've seen the announcement and the video tour of Opera Mobile 10 Beta. Now we'll sit down with the mobile browser on Windows Mobile see what we like, what we don't and what we feel is missing.

Let's skip to the chase on this one so follow the break to see some screen shots along with our observations on Opera Mobile 10 Beta.

Read the rest of this entry »

OK, folks, here it is: The Opera Mobile 10 beta. For a beta release, however, it's pretty darn complete and could well serve as your daily mobile browser. Not convinced? Peep the video after the break as we put it through its paces, and put it up against the iPhone 3G's Safari browser.

Read the rest of this entry »

It's been quite some time since Resco has updated their Radio program (see earlier review), so it's no surprise to see them set their sights on giving it an overhaul.

So far, not too much has changed as can be seen below.  There is still a limited selection of stations (you can manually import Shoutcast) and no way to search for new stations, in that regard, Kinoma Play is still easier with full Shoutcast integration.  List of changes so far:

• Touch optimized list of radios (All Stations)
• Letter bar for easier navigation in Categories
• Icon for stream quality visualization

Still, if you just want a streaming radio app, Resco Radio is a beaut with its simplicity and speed (plus you can record streams, natch).  It's running smooth on the my Touch Pro 2, so go and give it a shot and give the Resco team some feedback!

So over the last few days you may have heard about Opera releasing their latest beta of Opera Mini, version 5 — which of course is different from Opera Mobile.  The former relies on Java and renders on a server (like Skyfire), whereas the latter runs natively on Windows Mobile and runs direct to the web.

It's been 2 years since version 4 came out, so it makes sense for an overhaul. 

There seems to be a hardcore following of Opera Mini out there though, so we just took it for a spin.  Our thoughts?  Yeah, it's pretty darn good.  In fact, you can really feels how Opera is aiming to merge both Mini and Mobile into one — the graphics in Mini look more and more like Mobile and Mobile 9.7 beta is getting Mini's server-based rendering in the guise of "Turbo Mode".

If you already have Java installed, then just hop here to download the Opera Mini 5 update.  Have no idea about any of this stuff but just want to try it? Boxer112 cab'd it up for us, which you can download from your favorite file host  or grab it from ppcgeeks. Just run the .cab and bam, you'll have an Opera Mini 5, Start menu icon and Java installed.  Easy!

See the full press release here on Opera Mini 5

For all you AIM users out there, the Windows Mobile beta client just turned 2.0. Here's what you get in the update:

• Introduction of "Lifestream." You can get AIM activities like status updates, include Twitter and Facebook updates. YouTube and Delicious are supported, too.
• The "Me" tab. Lets you know when someone comments on your update or if they "like" it, just like Facebook does.
• Some bug fixes.

Download the CAB file here, or click here to send it to your phone.