Opera Mini on a Treo 700p

Tags: Design,  Devices,  Java ME,  Review
November 13, 2006 by Barbara

Here at the office we have a Treo 700p, with IBM Java ME loaded on it (because it actually works, in contrast with our Sun Java experiences). We were curious to compare the built-in browser with Opera Mini.

The results? It doesn't matter. Neither softkey actually worked. The end key did not work. The Home key did not work. The Menu key did not work. Power cycling the device did not work. Left and right arrows did up and down scrolling, as did the middle two application buttons.

We could not exit the application without pulling out the battery.

Oops.


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3 Comments »

  1. Up/down selects previous/next link (or scrolls a few lines if no link is shows). Left/right is page up/down to be able to scroll the page faster. It’s all by design and I think it actually says so right on the introduction page that shows up the first time you start Opera Mini.

    The “softkeys” does not work in Opera Mini since they are dedicated to the phones system and does not generate key events on the IBM J9 JVM. The workaround that probably is enabled on that device is using q for left softkey and p for right softkey, IIRC.

    But what is even more confusing is why you didn’t use the stylus to operate Opera Mini. Doesn’t the 700p have a touchscreen?

    To exit Opera Mini simply access the main menu (q, or click on “menu”) and select “exit”.

    Comment by Lunkwill — November 14, 2006 @ 2:58 pm

  2. The Treo line is designed to be operated either by stylus or by thumb. Applications use the select key and the 4-way rocker, all of which worked in Opera. Buttons on the Palm platform almost uniformly look like … buttons. A menu bar across the bottom, with its labels immediately above the unlabeled soft buttons, strongly suggests that they would work like softkeys. I haven’t tried on a MS device, but the same problem would exist there.

    So: you are correct (we even tested) that it does work. But the user experience is flawed. Flawed to the point that we could not figure it out. Now that we have the trick, it is easier (but largely inaccessible using the thumb because it is at the bottom of the screen). We can use Opera Mini normally, except the cognitive dissonance.

    There are several workarounds, including making the buttons look like buttons or putting the menu bar at the top for the Palm. Either would eliminate the problem and make the browser work more like other Palm apps.

    Comment by Barbara — November 14, 2006 @ 10:27 pm

  3. Great to hear you got it working!

    Yes the missing key events from the softkeys on Palm devices are a problem when it comes to adapting MIDlets to Palm devices. I guess this would wreck even more havoc in MIDlets that does not have a working stylus UI as an alternative?

    By the way, if you are using the stylus, note that you can scroll the page by grabbing hold to something that isn’t clickable and simply drag the page up or down. That is one of my favorite ways of scrolling in Opera Mini. =)

    My suspicion is that the softkeys works on Windows Mobile, they have their own set of other quirks instead.

    Comment by Lunkwill — November 15, 2006 @ 1:19 am

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