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Fuzzy Logic Canada gets unlimited mobile browsing – but not for iPhone
Fuzzy Logic Canada gets unlimited mobile browsing – but not for iPhone | Canada gets unlimited mobile browsing – but not for iPhone |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 04 July 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 3 One of the major criticisms of the Samsung Instinct is that the browser is nothing like the smooth Safari browser on the iPhone, browsing web pages poorly and basically not giving anyone any satisfaction. Featured Whitepaper
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Now the Instinct does indeed have Java, but it appears that Samsung left out a vital part of the Java implementation that directly affects the standard virtual keyboard Opera Mini would use for text entry, referring instead to the Instinct virtual keyboard which seems to eb difficult for Opera Software to access. Reports from Instinct users who have installed Opera Mini onto the phone anyway say that it installs just fine and actually works, but without text input you are limited to the web pages Opera Mini provides to start with, such as the BBC and other sites, but if you ever want to enter in your own web address, you’re stuck. One apparently official statement from Opera Software was highlighted by an Instinct fan site called “Instinct Bookmarks” says: “As I already mentioned, one of our guys is moving to the US. We will buy the phone, and we will look into this. As usual, we can't make any promises. There will not be a special version of Opera Mini for the Instinct, but hopefully we can implement some fixes into already existing versions. So, no promises, but we hear you guys, and we understand your frustration. " Instinct Bookmarks then lists a supposedly unofficial answer quoting an Opera Mini developer saying: “I have been able to identify an Opera Mini developer (I am not going to name names, sorry! It doesn't matter, what matters is that we get Opera Mini 4.1 working on Instinct!) on Sprint Instinct's developer forum researching Sprint's missing implementation of standard mobile Java Keyboard. Sprint says Instinct is MIDP 2.0 compliant but they left the standard keyboard implementation (that works on most phones that support Java) empty and only provided their custom keyboard widget.” An Opera Software spokesperson that I contacted told me that “We are looking into getting Opera Mini to work on the Instinct, but that it also depends upon Instinct-carrying carriers allowing the Opera Mini to work with Java on the Instinct". This seems clearly in reference to the issues listed above relating to Samsung’s implementation of Java, something that Samsung could presumably fix and issue a new firmware update for, which would be distributed via Sprint and other Instinct supporting carriers. So it does look as though Opera Software is doing what it can to get Opera Mini fully working on the Instinct but it’s not all up to them: help from the phone manufacturer (Samsung) and help from Sprint (the lead Instinct telco) would presumably be quite helpful to Opera Software. It’s certainly a shame that Samsung went with the third party browser partner that it did instead of simply using Opera Software’s already superior Opera Mini browser. So how much to buy the Instinct in Canada compared with the iPhone? Will it have any effect on Rogers and the iPhone? Continued on page 3. |
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