Opera Mobile Browser, Reviews of Touch Pro2, New Devices

Opera Mobile 9.7 is now available as a free Beta, and this might be a good time for you to try this browser, if you haven’t already. Also this week I’ll briefly point you to more reviews of the Touch Pro2, as well as note news and reviews of new devices, including the impressive Acer F1.

Opera Mobile 9.7 Free Beta

Opera Mobile may be the most popular and powerful third-party browser for Windows Mobile devices. This new version is significant in that it adds Opera Turbo, which is, as I understand it, server-side rendering. That means that before the web page gets to the screen of your device, it goes through some re-engineering on the Opera server. The result is a big boost in speed, as the server optimizes the page for a mobile device.

You can see a video of this browser in action on the PocketNow website, including a comparison with Pocket Internet Explorer and Skyfire.

Opera 9.7 runs on Windows Mobile 5 and later devices, except that it doesn’t run on Windows Mobile Standard devices (those without a touch screen). It only works with Windows Mobile Classic and Windows Mobile Professional.

Another major feature is Opera Widgets, the ability to add small-footprint apps that grab specific web content.

Reviews of the HTC Touch Pro2

The new HTC Touch Pro2 is sure getting a lot of attention. As you know by now, it has a 3.6-inch 800x480 display, TouchFlo 3-D interface, and slideout QWERTY keyboard. You can read a detailed review on MobileTechReview, complete with photos, screen shots, and a video.

The extensive review on PhoneArena includes a 3-D interactive view. And Mobility Site offers a 26-minute “first look” video.

Other thorough reviews include PDA-247 and PocketNow, which has separate software, hardware, and unboxing videos, as well as oodles of screen shots and photos comparing the device with other smartphones. PocketNow concludes that "This is the best Windows Mobile phone that money can buy."

HTC Snap Reviewed

Although touch-screen devices get much of the attention, there’s still a real following for Windows Mobile Standard phones. Plus, they’re often cheaper.

The HTC Snap has a 2.4-inch screen, microSD expansion, 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, aGPS, Bluetooth, and a front-facing QWERTY keyboard. The Inner Circle feature lets you filter your e-mail so that you only see messages from selected persons.

PocketNow has several videos of this device: an unboxing video, a hardware tour, and a software tour. An unlocked version is available, but you’ll probably want to wait for the devices coming from Sprint and Verizon very soon.

Acer F1 Is Droolworthy

Coming in the second half of this year, the Acer F1 is the sort of device one drools over. It has a 3.8-inch, 480x800 touch screen, 1Ghz processor, a 5-megapixel camera with flash, GPS, and FM tuner. You can see a couple photos on Pocket PC Thoughts.