page up/down using left/right d-pad keys: the one most important feature (to me) in opera mini 4 (and earlier), and the main reason i switched from the S60 browser. might also be the main reason i stay with mini4 instead of going to mini5. Not applicable to touch devices.
performance improvement: didn't notice much of a difference. in fact, when loading a page, i can't start navigating the page (with arrow keys on the E71), but was able to in mini4. in that sense it's a downgrade for me because i have to wait longer.
new UI layout: this has obviously been optimized for finger touch with the thumbnail shortcuts and larger menus. looks great on the 5800xm, i do like it. BUT, not on the E71. i prefer the old text layout and small menu tucked in the corner, which "loads" faster without all the fancy transitions.
font rendering: for some reason, i think mini4 looked better. mini5 is ok, but some bold fonts are not. better on the 5800xm than E71 though.
multi tab: probably the only major "new thing" for me. nice to have, but i've been so used to shortcut keys (on E71) to go forward and back through the pages, it's easier and faster for me to do that than to go through the menu with extra clicks to create/navigate to other tabs. but again, works better and useful addition for the 5800xm.
shortcut keys: they are combination of 2 key presses, e.g. ## to forward a page and ** to change window size. sometimes i don't remember all the shortcuts. in mini4, i can just press # or * one time, and after a brief pause it'll pop up a list of shortcuts as a guide. that's gone in mini5. it's so useful for forgetful people like me! Not applicable to touch.
conclusion: i'll use opera mini 5 beta on 5800xm but stick to opera mini 4 on my E71.
and thanks for the support :) i felt i was swimming against the tide when everyone else seem to be praising it to no end -- focusing on the "exciting new features" and neglecting that they removed some of the nice old features. (i think that sometimes twitter is just a big echo chamber). yes it does look nice on S60 v5 devices, and i might use it sometimes on my 5800xm, but it's not for my beloved E71 until some of the fundamental issues are solved.
@cybette You mean you have found some other use for Twitter than as a giant echo-chamber?
Oh, and thanks for posting this, saves me the effort of downloading as it sounds like the new interface is designed for higher resolution touch screens :(
well, sometimes i do get news from twitter that we don't get here... although discussions about the news is another matter. i miss those days when Jaiku was the go-to place for latest happenings and how some channels would be so busy during certain events... and if i didn't check Jaiku for half a day, i couldn't catch up!
otoh, i do get deafened by the echo chamber. yes, i get news, but i get the same one over and over and over again. retweets anyone? it's all over the place (ok, i'm guilty of it too). but that's because of the lack of threads. so we have retweets for twitter an redents for identi.ca. did we ever have rejaikus? Nope, because there's no need for them. if i see some interesting topic i just jump in the thread and start discussing about it. no need to search around to figure out what has been said or who said what. sure, occasionally we have a few threads going on the same topic, but it's not as scattered or echo-y as twitter.
once we achieve critical mass back in jaiku, i'm so ready to throw a "farewell to twitter" party.
as for opera mini, check out stefan's post here for some screen shots to see what i'm talking about. i also read in the comments that now we can use 2 and 8 keys for page up/down. ok, good to have that option, but it's much more convenient to just keep my thumb on the d-pad instead of having to reach down and aim for the 2 and 8 (requires a bit more concentration on the E71!)
Something I either can't find, or am appalled that they've taken it out... My Opera login. One of the main uses I had for Opera Mini was to bookmark things I wanted to read later on a proper computer. and to keep my bookmarks (and speed-dial) the same even after a firmware upgrade/Opera Mini reinstall/upgrade.
14 comments so far
tested it out on E71 and 5800xm.
page up/down using left/right d-pad keys: the one most important feature (to me) in opera mini 4 (and earlier), and the main reason i switched from the S60 browser. might also be the main reason i stay with mini4 instead of going to mini5. Not applicable to touch devices.
performance improvement: didn't notice much of a difference. in fact, when loading a page, i can't start navigating the page (with arrow keys on the E71), but was able to in mini4. in that sense it's a downgrade for me because i have to wait longer.
new UI layout: this has obviously been optimized for finger touch with the thumbnail shortcuts and larger menus. looks great on the 5800xm, i do like it. BUT, not on the E71. i prefer the old text layout and small menu tucked in the corner, which "loads" faster without all the fancy transitions.
font rendering: for some reason, i think mini4 looked better. mini5 is ok, but some bold fonts are not. better on the 5800xm than E71 though.
multi tab: probably the only major "new thing" for me. nice to have, but i've been so used to shortcut keys (on E71) to go forward and back through the pages, it's easier and faster for me to do that than to go through the menu with extra clicks to create/navigate to other tabs. but again, works better and useful addition for the 5800xm.
shortcut keys: they are combination of 2 key presses, e.g. ## to forward a page and ** to change window size. sometimes i don't remember all the shortcuts. in mini4, i can just press # or * one time, and after a brief pause it'll pop up a list of shortcuts as a guide. that's gone in mini5. it's so useful for forgetful people like me! Not applicable to touch.
conclusion: i'll use opera mini 5 beta on 5800xm but stick to opera mini 4 on my E71.
2 months, 1 week ago by cybette
+1
2 months, 1 week ago by edythemighty
Aye, that all sounds about right :)
2 months, 1 week ago by alexleonard
I guess this is good news for anyone with an S60 5th device -- Opera Mini on the N97 I tested last summer was almost unusable...
2 months, 1 week ago by acurrie
yeap, indeed.
2 months, 1 week ago by cybette
Thanks for test results, @cybette!
2 months, 1 week ago by map
@cybette: thanks for the review. I just install it for multi-tab but the lag made me to go back to Opera mini 4
2 months, 1 week ago by arjun
and thanks for the support :) i felt i was swimming against the tide when everyone else seem to be praising it to no end -- focusing on the "exciting new features" and neglecting that they removed some of the nice old features. (i think that sometimes twitter is just a big echo chamber). yes it does look nice on S60 v5 devices, and i might use it sometimes on my 5800xm, but it's not for my beloved E71 until some of the fundamental issues are solved.
2 months, 1 week ago by cybette
@cybette You mean you have found some other use for Twitter than as a giant echo-chamber?
Oh, and thanks for posting this, saves me the effort of downloading as it sounds like the new interface is designed for higher resolution touch screens :(
2 months, 1 week ago by ymb
well, sometimes i do get news from twitter that we don't get here... although discussions about the news is another matter. i miss those days when Jaiku was the go-to place for latest happenings and how some channels would be so busy during certain events... and if i didn't check Jaiku for half a day, i couldn't catch up!
otoh, i do get deafened by the echo chamber. yes, i get news, but i get the same one over and over and over again. retweets anyone? it's all over the place (ok, i'm guilty of it too). but that's because of the lack of threads. so we have retweets for twitter an redents for identi.ca. did we ever have rejaikus? Nope, because there's no need for them. if i see some interesting topic i just jump in the thread and start discussing about it. no need to search around to figure out what has been said or who said what. sure, occasionally we have a few threads going on the same topic, but it's not as scattered or echo-y as twitter.
once we achieve critical mass back in jaiku, i'm so ready to throw a "farewell to twitter" party.
2 months, 1 week ago by cybette
as for opera mini, check out stefan's post here for some screen shots to see what i'm talking about. i also read in the comments that now we can use 2 and 8 keys for page up/down. ok, good to have that option, but it's much more convenient to just keep my thumb on the d-pad instead of having to reach down and aim for the 2 and 8 (requires a bit more concentration on the E71!)
2 months, 1 week ago by cybette
Something I either can't find, or am appalled that they've taken it out... My Opera login. One of the main uses I had for Opera Mini was to bookmark things I wanted to read later on a proper computer. and to keep my bookmarks (and speed-dial) the same even after a firmware upgrade/Opera Mini reinstall/upgrade.
1 month, 3 weeks ago by dsample
I'm back on mini 4 until the next iteration comes out - they couldn't possibly drop those features from the final version otherwise it's a disaster!
1 month, 3 weeks ago by alexleonard
@dsample: i don't think i found that one either
@alexleonard: agreed!
1 month, 3 weeks ago by cybette