Opera 8.5 beta for Windows Mobile Pocket PC

[Tim]

"Opera 8.5 Pocket PC beta version is based on the same core as the Opera 8.5 desktop browser and brings the full internet to mobile Pocket PCs.
The version is available for both WM 2003 and WM 5.0."
Features
*Open URL with auto-complete
*Zoom
*Download
*Multiple Windows
*Navigation and history
*Bookmarks
*Landscape/Portrait Mode
*Full screen/ Fit to screen
*Pop-up handler
*Pad-lock icon on secure sites
*User preferences
*Context menu"
It is now available for all Pocket PCs! Download it and try it out today!
Download now [Opera 8.5 beta]...

Press release:
Good call: Opera Mobile Web Browser Now Available in Beta for Windows Mobile Pocket PC
Oslo, Norway - January 18, 2006
Opera Software, world leader in browser technologies, today released the much anticipated Opera Mobile 8.5 Web browser for Windows Mobile Pocket PC (PPC). Opera 8.5 beta runs on Windows Mobile 2003 and 5.0, offering Opera's full and fast Web surfing experience on the full range of Windows Mobile Pocket PC devices.
"Ever since we released Opera 8 for Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone in June 2005, people have been asking for Opera for their Pocket PCs," says Christen Krogh, VP Engineering, Opera Software. "We are very pleased to offer the latest version of Opera Mobile to Pocket PC owners, so they may finally have a proper Web experience on their devices."
"Opera Mobile 8.5 for Pocket PC offers unmatched speed and usability, which is why we included it on our latest Sharp W- ZERO3 flagship device for the advanced Japanese market" says Tadasu Tsuchihashi, Executive director, Willcom INC. "Thanks to Opera Mobile's unique rendering technology the Web surfing experience on Pocket PC devices is now remarkably close to that of a PC."
Opera 8.5 for Windows Mobile Pocket PC supports all major Web standards, including CSS2, DOM 2 and JavaScript, and offers a fast, secure and user-friendly Internet experience unlike any other on these devices. Based on Opera's latest core code, Opera 8.5 for Windows Mobile Pocket PC includes Opera's rendering technology that dynamically reformats Web pages to fit the width of any screen size.
Availability
Opera Mobile 8.5 beta for Windows Mobile Pocket PC (2003/5.0) is available as a download from Opera for Windows Mobile, Pocket PC.
About Opera Software ASA
Opera Software ASA is an industry leader in the development of Web browser technology, targeting the desktop, mobile, PDA, home media and vertical markets. Partners include companies such as IBM, Nokia, Sony, Motorola, Adobe, Macromedia, Symbian, Sony Ericsson, Kyocera, Sharp, Motorola Metroworks, MontaVista Software, BenQ, Sendo and AMD. The Opera browser has received international recognition from users, industry experts and media for being faster, smaller and more standards-compliant than other browsers.
Opera's browser technology is cross-platform and modular, and currently available on the following operating systems: Windows, Windows Mobile, Linux, Mac OS, Symbian OS, BREW, QNX, TRON, FreeBSD, Solaris and Mediahighway. The Opera browser is also available as a Java-based (J2ME) browser solution called Opera Mini™ for the world's 700 million Java-enabled mobile phones.
Opera Software ASA is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with development centers in Linkoping and Gothenburg, Sweden. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at www.opera.com.

[Brad Isaac]

Tim, you beat me to the post on this one. I've been looking forward to Opera for PPC for a long time and the beta is out today!

[JDTagish]

I had to try it, but I'm sorry to say it isn't working well for me. I open it, and navigate to a page, click on a link and the program closes completely for no apparent reason.
No harm, no foul on a beta I suppose, but I really hope they will get the bugs out soon...from what I could see, it was fairly quick, and looked way better than PIE.

[Brad Isaac]

What I've found is it seems to use some of the same resources as PIE. So if you had run PIE before running Opera you'll see stuff like that. -and vice versa. If you haven't deleted it yet, I'd soft reset and try it again.

[JDTagish]

I hadn't had PIE running before I tried it, for a couple of days, but that was my first instinct as well, to soft reset and try again, which I did before I posted.
I'm not sure what the issue is...and I checked their forum right away to see if anyone had noticed the same thing. I think I'll wait a couple of days and check back, after more people have had a chance to try it out, and see if they have the same issue.
I'm off to VA for a few days tomorrow, for my nieces 6th birthday party, so I probably won't be on much until I get back on Tuesday night.

[Bruanor]

Greetings all, long time no post Anyway, have to say, extremly happy to finally have a more robust, fairly stable browser on ppc. I've tried most if not all the other previous alternatives, Netfront (too slow) Thunderhawk (not free, clunky) and Minimo (just too young), and I have to say I'm extremly impressed with Opera. I'm used to ahving to be in SE_vga mode to view sites in PIE, but even in QVGA mode, Opera uses the full resolution... nice touch...
One change that I would like to see is tabbed over multiple windo browsing. ppc isn't exactly the easiest in which to switch apps/windows around. Overall tho, nice css support, javascript seems to work well, I only ran into one bug with forms while trying to log into my on-line banking where some fields didn't display. But, we are still dealing with beta, so some slack is required.
Its a very promising start thoand I will Definetly be purchasing this once it hits final version.
Thats my 2c....and greetings to Tim, glad to see someone keep this great site going!
Bru...