[Mark Rejhon]

Questions being asked over and over, so I'm posting a mini HOWTO for Opera Mini. I'll probably expand it a little over time, but let's start with:

• How do I download?
  A: Enter www.operamini.com into your BlackBerry Browser and download.
  .
• It does not use BlackBerry Menus properly!
  A: Upgrade to Opera Mini 4 BETA 2, it introduces a better BlackBerry menu UI
  .
• It does not use BlackBerry Trackwheel/Trackball properly!
  A: Upgrade to Opera Mini 4 BETA 2, it introduces a better BlackBerry menu UI
  .
• Full Screen Mode: How do I turn off the title/status bar?
  A: Upgrade to Opera Mini 4 BETA 2, it has a "Full Screen" mode option in its Settings
  .
• How do I Zoom out after I've Zoomed in?
  A: Press the number 5 key on your BlackBerry keyboard.
  .
• How do I Page Down / Page Up?
  A: Press the number 2 and 8 key on your BlackBerry keyboard.
  .
• How do open the context menu?
  A: Press the number 1 key on your BlackBerry keyboard. (Context menu is a "right-click" style pop-up menu).
  .
• Scrolling is terrible! How do I fix this?
  A: Don't use the trackwheel/trackball to scroll around! Use the number keys on your BlackBerry keyboard. The number 2/4/6/8 keys SCROLLS VERY FAST and it automatically 'snaps' to columns of text for easier reading. Just get used to putting your thumb on the number keys for 4-way scrolling and page up/page down.
  .
• It's time consuming to click links!
  A: Just use your trackball to point the mouse cursor and then hit Enter. Presto - easy to do.
  .
• I still prefer BlackBerry Browser Link Selection behaviour!
  A: Enable "Fit to Width" and you get page rendering more similiar to Opera 3 and BlackBerry Browser, you just use the trackwheel/trackball to select links.
  .
• I still prefer to use trackwheel to scroll!
  A: Enable "Fit to Width" and you get page rendering more similiar to Opera 3 and BlackBerry Browser, and you only need to scroll up and down.
  .
• I prefer Opera 3!
  A: Enable "Fit to Width" and you get page rendering more similiar to Opera 3, and you only need to scroll up and down.
  .
• I had animated zoom/scrolling before. How do I reenable this?
  A: Upgrading to Mini BETA 2 disables these settings. Go to Settings, and then enable "Visual Effects". This will bring back the smooth scrolling (especially useful when using the fast scrolling via the number keys on your BlackBerry keyboard). For older model BlackBerries such as model 7100, it is recommended to turn off this feature.
  .
• How do I copy and paste the URL of the current web page?
  A: Opera Mini did not include copy and paste support, but there's a method. The easiest way is to add the current page as a bookmark, then edit the bookmark. From the bookmark editor, you can then copy and paste the URL.
  .
• It crashes often with a Java exception!
  A: Upgrade your BlackBerry OS! Some users have reported much better Opera Mini stability this way, to the point where it never crashes for them. Please note, early BlackBerry OS 4.3 releases may be more unstable in some aspects than mature, newer, BlackBerry OS 4.2 releases. However, there are a lot of known instabilities in early BlackBerry OS 4.2 releases, that often causes some Java applications to crash. (BlackBerry 8700 users may wish to obtain v4.2.1.101 which was stable with Opera Mini)
  .
• Can I rotate my screen to Landscape mode on my BlackBerry?
  A: Not yet for Opera Mini 4 Beta 2. There is no screen rotation support for BlackBerries at this time. Opera says they may support this feature in a future version.
  .
• What BlackBerry models are supported? What BlackBerry OS version?
  A: OS Version 4.1 is needed. This is pre-installed on all 8XXX series BlackBerry models, including Pearl and Curve, so you are ready to go. However, if you have certain 7XXX series BlackBerry, you may be interested to know Opera Mini 4 surprisingly works reasonably well (albiet somewhat slow) on older BlackBerries, as long as they have been upgraded to OS 4.1. For example, the model 7100 and 7290's work with Opera Mini 4. As a rule of thumb, if your BlackBerry is a quadband / 32 megabyte / Bluetooth-capable model, it is recent enough to support the OS 4.1 upgrade. If your BlackBerry has only 16 megabytes or less, it will not support Opera Mini 4. To determine the OS version of your BlackBerry, go to Options->About on your BlackBerry. To download an OS upgrade for your BlackBerry, go to the sticky in "RIM Software" forum or click my FAQ link at the bottom of this post.
  .
• My Fonts are Scrambled at "Small" Font Size
  A: This is a bug when running on certain BlackBerries using Beta 2, such as 8800 with the default 4.2 OS. Try upgrading to a newer version of Opera Mini 4, such as Beta 3. If you don't want to upgrade, you can blindly fix by: Open menu, select menu item "Settings", select the first textbox in the screen, open menu, select menu item "Select", change to the second option (which represents "Medium" font size), open menu, select menu item "Select", open menu, select menu item "Save", and your problem is fixed. Now you don't have to reinstall Opera Mini!. (Note: The Small font size works great on a BlackBerry 8700 running OS 4.2.1.101 so it appears to depend on the BlackBerry)
  .
• What is the ideal configuration for Opera Mini 4 to cram maximum text on one screen?
  This puts MORE text in one screenful than BlackBerry Browser::
  1. In settings enable "Full Screen Mode".
  2. In settings choose "Small" font size
  3. In settings enable "Visual effects" (easier to track turbo scrolling this way)
  4. Now scroll using only your thumb on the "5" key, pressing the 2/4/6/8 to use TURBO SCROLLING up/left/right/down, and 5 to toggle between zoom in/out. You don't need to open a menu to zoom, and this scrolling method is faster than via trackball (scrolling via trackball is too slow). This puts twice the amount of text on the same BlackBerry screen as BlackBerry Browser can, with a very readable and nice looking antialiased font (same font as the "Use small fonts" setting in GMAIL Mobile), if you have good eyes. BlackBerry Browser doesn't let you use such a small font size, which is quite a shame, especially if you have good eyes. It also minimizes zooming, because you can read several paragraphs without needing to scroll or zoom.
  
  .

This should allow you to give Opera Mini 4 a fair chance.
For example, you can configure OPERA MINI 4 behave more like OPERA MINI 3 if you prefer to.

[Mark Rejhon]

If you have new tips for Opera Mini 4, please post in this thread. We'd like to hear them!

[akosnitzky]

I have more of a question than a comment. Any tips to reading or posting to forums that do not use the technology that BBF uses? I notice in some cases, this version, although the best for this purpose, does not load some of the text. Probably something to do with the Java.

[BBFreak]

Great resource Mark. I look foward to adding some of my hints shortly unless someone beats me to them. I am having a few problems with the Beta 2 but mainly it's the Java error and cookies not saving.

[Smoketilichoke12]

i luv u ive been looking how to zoom out

[LunarFalcon]

Does opera's new landscape feature work on a BB?

[Mark Rejhon]

I've added four more items to this FAQ:
- How do open the context menu?
- Can I rotate my screen to Landscape mode on my BlackBerry?
- What BlackBerry OS version is needed?
- My Fonts are Scrambled at "Small" Font Size

[thunder33cat]

Thanks... this was really helpful, Mark.

[BBFreak]

Any word on a fix to the cookie issue?

Kinda frustrating but after I upgraded my OS, I haven't had any Exceptions errors...yet!

[Lowrider]

Great write up, Mark, thx.

[mishycupcakes]

Tried it a few months ago, and I hated it...

Downloaded it again a few days ago, and now I love it! It makes surfing the internet so much easier ^_^

[uto_kkw]

Opera Mini 4 Beta doesn't support Traditional/Simplified Chinese character display. The former version, say 3.1, did support. Will next release support such characters?

[grandad]

I was struggling to get Opera Mini to work on my BB Curve (8300) on the Orange UK network - downloaded it and went through the setup process but at the end it always reported "Unable to connect to the Internet, please see operamini.com/help or contact your service provider".

I have now managed to get it to work by changing some of the phone settings:-

Options > Advanced Options > TCP
Set APN:orangeinternet
No requirement for Username/Password

Hope that helps someone.

[kjaslow]

This post caused me to re-evaluate Opera after deciding the previous version did not give any advantages over the Blackberry browser. I'm really liking this version.

Are there any shortcut keys for bringing up history an bookmarks, as well as adding bookmarks? Also, I'm finding it frustrating to deal with backing up a few pages. If I hit Esc+Esc, it closes the app, rather than backing up two pages. So, any tips along these lines would be most appreciated! Thanks.

[kjaslow]

Originally Posted by kjaslow

This post caused me to re-evaluate Opera after deciding the previous version did not give any advantages over the Blackberry browser. I'm really liking this version.

Are there any shortcut keys for bringing up history an bookmarks, as well as adding bookmarks? Also, I'm finding it frustrating to deal with backing up a few pages. If I hit Esc+Esc, it closes the app, rather than backing up two pages. So, any tips along these lines would be most appreciated! Thanks.

I'll answer myself, but pose a new question... I just installed the beta on my wife's 8100, and saw that there are some shortcut keys that come up for her that are not available on the 8800. If one presses either the # or the *, a shortcut menu comes up. These contain things like - history, top/bottom, etc. So, seems that one is expected to do #3 to toggle between top/bottom of a web page. Anyone have any ideas if this feature is going to be accessible from the 8800?

Notice that on the 8800, using the help you'll see the list of shortcuts, even though they don't seem to be accessible on this phone.

[kjaslow]

Well, why not just have a conversation with myself

I just stumbled on the shortcuts. Clearly, this feature has not yet been ported/adjusted for the 8800. To get at the two menus I mention, do Alt+Q for # and Alt+A for *. On the 8100, #3 is the toggle to go top/bottom/text begin. On the 8800, the equivalent is Alt+Q,3. Clearly too many keystrokes to be called a shortcut when selecting a menu choice is fewer keystrokes.

So, I'll adjust my question - does anyone have any scoop on whether these shortcuts will be reconfigured for the 8800?

Thanks.

[Mark Rejhon]

Originally Posted by kjaslow

If I hit Esc+Esc, it closes the app, rather than backing up two pages.

This appears to be a known issue in Opera Mini 4 -- Hopefully this is fixed by Beta 3.

It's a good idae to report this problem too in the feedback form to Opera, it's probably the main complaint I have because I have to run this software again and reload the webpage when this happens.

Glad you like this web browser a lot! I use it a lot more than BlackBerry Browser now. It's very nice and fast scrolling if I get used to using the number pad as the controller.

[Mark Rejhon]

Other tips:

- Opera Mini 4 also work on a non-BlackBerry plan on a BlackBerry using a generic data plan (i.e. Rogers $5 Moble Internet data plan). Along with Gmail Mobile and JiveTalk, this allows the use of cheap Rogers Canada plans on a BlackBerry since Rogers has very high BlackBerry plan prices, and several of us Canadians are starting to do this, for those of us who don't really need push email (no @blackberry.net)

- You can add your favourite bookmarks to the main screen of Opera Mini 4, so that you can load links more quickly.

[Mark Rejhon]

Opera Mini 4 BETA 3 is now out! Go give it a try.
(Enter http://mini.opera.com/beta in BlackBerry Browser to download)

[Mark Rejhon]

Updated FAQ with new entry, since some complain Opera Mini requires too much scrolling. Here is a fix:

• What is the ideal configuration for Opera Mini 4 to cram maximum text on one screen?
  This puts MORE text in one screenful than BlackBerry Browser::
  1. In settings enable "Full Screen Mode".
  2. In settings choose "Small" font size
  3. In settings enable "Visual effects" (easier to track turbo scrolling this way)
  4. Now scroll using only your thumb on the "5" key, pressing the 2/4/6/8 to use TURBO SCROLLING up/left/right/down, and 5 to toggle between zoom in/out. You don't need to open a menu to zoom, and this scrolling method is faster than via trackball (scrolling via trackball is too slow). This puts twice the amount of text on the same BlackBerry screen as BlackBerry Browser can, with a very readable and nice looking antialiased font (same font as the "Use small fonts" setting in GMAIL Mobile), if you have good eyes. BlackBerry Browser doesn't let you use such a small font size, which is quite a shame, especially if you have good eyes. It also minimizes zooming, because you can read several paragraphs without needing to scroll or zoom.

Also, don't forget that ZOOM can be turned off if you hate zooming -- just switch to "mobile view", then it's just a one-column layout with no horizontal scrolling.