Latest (1.04) Technical Preview of great alternative Web browser, NetFront, released!

http://www.access.co.jp/nfppc/dl_v33e.html

NetFront is a highly capable Pocket PC Web browser. Access, the developer, is continuously releasing freely downloadable and usable Technical Previews (TP) of the forthcoming version 3.3. They have just released TP version 1.04, the subject of this comparative review. You can find a review of the previous, 1.03 version here. Please note that, as the current blog entry is in no way a complete review but a comparative one (with additional tests & bug reports), you may want to read my previous articles on previous versions and alternative browsers to find out about all this browser is capable of. Changes from the previous, 1.03 version WM5 softbutton-related changes Version 1.04, unlike 1.03, uses the two-bottom WM5 interface by default; this, fortunately for many users, can be switched off. On a WM5 device, the traditional reload/stop, next/previous etc. icons can now be found in the "Operation" main menu and the old main menus, along with the new, now top-level Window, Edit and Exit for faster access, in the "Menu" menu. If you dislike two-button operation, you can switch back to the standard, in my opinion much better toolbar if you uncheck the "Activate soft key enabled menu bar" in Menu/Tools/Browser Setting/Misc (the 1.03 version of the same dialog, running on a WM5 device, is here - as you can see, there wasn't a checkbox in the previos version); by disabling it, you can continue using the standard toolbar. Changes in (Menu/)Tools/Browser Setting

1. General/Advanced Settings: there're some slight differences in the default configuration; for example, the built-in Software Input Panel (by NetFront it's referred to as "Software keyboard") doesn't automatically pop up, as opposed to previous versions, including 1.03 and all the other browsers, except for Opera. Another difference in here that the other checkbox is labeled "Window resize" instead of "Show scroll bars"; basically, it does the same as in 1.03.
2. Misc: a new checkbox, "Activate soft key enabled menu bar" is added for WM5 devices; see the previous section (WM5 softbutton-related changes) on using it.

Page context menu changes The main context menu has changed a lot from its 1.03 counterpart:

1. Full Screen is moved to here from the View menu. This is certainly a welcome change because, now, even less taps are required to switch to full screen. Unfortunately, it's still impossible to assign any kind of functionality (for example, toggling between full and normal screen) to hardware buttons, unlike in some decent Pocket Internet Explorer plug-ins – this continues to be one of the biggest complaints about NF.
2. The Window menu has been enhanced to not only offer the ability to create a new window/close the actual one, but also show all the current tabs – this is another welcome enhancement.
3. Yet another welcome addition is the "Operation" menu item in here, letting the user moving back/forward and bookmarking the given page without having to issue sometimes several taps
4. All the old menus related to viewing/rendering options (Text Size, Browsing Mode, Display Mode and Zoom) have been collected into a single View menu. The usability of this is highly questionable because switching between, say, Just/Smart-Fit Rendering and Normal display modes or Full/Text Browsing browsing modes is pretty common and should be done with the least taps possible.

Changes in the main menus As far as the main menus are concerned, the only change in the View menu (1.03 version here) is the position of the Full Screen menu item. From the File main menu (1.03 version here), the "Start Auto-Cruise" and "Offline Browse" items have been removed. The Tools menu has changed a lot too (1.03 version here); it has been reorganized, regrouped and most of the gaps removed. The two items that have been removed from the File menu have been put here. Problems

1. no hardware key/functionality assignment capabilities
2. scrollbars still can't be hidden in full screen mode
3. the context menu still has the "Page Translation" option, taking up screen/menu estate. I think it's pretty useless for most users –anyone that doesn't want to translate Japanese pages into English
4. unfortunately, version 1.04 still defaults to the non-proportional Courier New font type. This causes a problem for some PPC users – some people still think NetFront isn't able to use proportional fonts at all. That is, the first thing you do should be going to View/Advanced Settings and enable using proportional fonts by clicking Change and, then, enabling "Use proportional font". Please note that NetFront will (still) need to reboot the entire Pocket PC when you modify this setting – this is certainly a major pain in the back.
5. Still has problems with some sites (see the Bugs, test reports section below) in Full Browsing mode; Text Browsing works OK with all sites.

Bugs, test reports

1. Yahoo Mail (SSL test, high-quality JavaScript compliance test, file upload test): passed
2. IHT / game-over.net bug: failed (IHT screenshot / game-over.net screenshot).

Conclusion In my opinion, NetFront, the second best browser on WM5 (Opera, usability-wise, is simply unbeatable on WM5 because of its page loading speed), has certainly been made better in the last two months. I hope its speed will be radically enhanced, the missing functionality (hardware buttons, hiding scrollbars in fullscreen mode) implemented and the (very few) problems/bugs fixed.