Comments on: NetFront 3.5 First Impressions

By: Mick

Mick — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:59:30 +0000

I downlaoded the CAB file, but it tells me that it’s “not a valad Windows CE Setup file”

Does it work for Dell Axim X50v?

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:00:15 +0000

Hi Haesslich,

As I know Flash is already supported on Netfront 3.4. I believe the final version of 3.5 will contain Flash as well.

By: Haesslich

Haesslich — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:34:09 +0000

I’m running this on an Axim x51v, Jenn – it works bloody fast with WM5, and is a far sight faster than Netfront 3.3 ever was, and is better than 3.4 is at scrolling across pages. My only complaint so far is that it doesn’t have Flash support, so I can’t test it with other sites like YouTube… but I will say that it moves well.

One other annoyance is that you don’t have Soft Key access, or Bookmark access, in Full Screen Mode. You have to switch to ‘Normal View’ to get that going, so if it’s not in your history… you’ll have to either enter the page manually, or else type in the first few letters of the URL and hope that NF 3.5 pulls up the right link.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:49:28 +0000

Thanks, Steve! I appreciate all the links :-)

I enjoyed that Advantage piece and liked how you concluded that while it’s not really a UMPC (in Microsoft and/or x86 terms), it’s YOUR UMPC. Because that’s what it all boils down to in the end, really: what’s right for YOU. Mobile technology is general is all about personal choice for me, so the so-called “perfect” device just varies from person to person.

Thanks again for the overview. I think I’ll give NetFront a spin on the Tilt.

By: Haesslich

Haesslich — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:32:25 +0000

Trying it out now. I can’t wait for Opera 9.5 to show up myself, even if I know it’ll cost me an arm and a leg again to upgrade. Opera tends to crash, and I’ve been using the NetFront 3.4 TP… which is far, far faster than 3.3 was. And they’ve already jumped to 3.5.

I wonder if they’ll deploy this on the PSP and other Sony or Sony Ericsson devices soon?

By: Steve Laser

Steve Laser — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:47:51 +0000

Jenn, you rule! Thanks for the Opera advice. By the way, I linked several of your excellent articles here:
http://mobilitysite.com/2008/01/the-ultimate-umpc-is-not-a-umpc/

By: Jenn

Jenn — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:28:52 +0000

Nice post, Steve.

It looks like you’re using the default view mode in Opera. If you select”desktop computer” under the “identify as” setting, you won’t ever have to look at mobile versions of sites again! Desktop mode isn’t well suited for browsing on QVGA screens, but it’s not too bad on the Advantage’s VGA display. Opera Mobile 9.5 and Skyfire should give that assessment a huge boost, so they can’t be released soon enough for me.

Thanks for sharing your initial thoughts on NetFront. What device did you test it on? I thought it was the Advantage, but the screenshots are all 360 x 480. I think I’ll stick with Opera 8.65 on my Advantage until 9.5, Skyfire, and maybe Firefox Mobile are released. :-)