If you check out
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2002Jul/bpd20020722015517.htm
Apparently, the 9290 does not have the Opera browser. Is this a joke of some sort, or are Nokia really trying to shoot themselves in the foot.
According to the Nokia website the 9290 comes with 20Mb of Applications memory, more than the 9210i, so I don't get it.
Can someone just confirm that the 9210i does come with Opera, incase I've been imagining it !
Zuber
I'm almost certain this is incorrect. The 9290 and 9210i both have Opera. However the browser is rebranded by Nokia to the extent its actually quite difficult to tell that it is Opera. I may of course be wrong, but even if I am it is possible to get Opera on the 9290.
On a similar note the reason Opera was not released for the 9210 was a strategic decision by Nokia and had nothing to do with Opera.
Sounds good, and I hope you are right. Looking at the Opera support forum (news://news.opera.no/opera.epoc), I'm not so sure.
Unless Opera with Java is in actual ROM memory, I suspect you would run into the dreaded out of memory problems that you do with it on the 9210(not i) when dealing with large pages or 2 pages at once.
Zuber
I may be wrong of course, but it would suprise me a lot, if it hasn't been included.
It does sound a little ominous I have to admit. I'm sure its on the 9210I - can anyone with that machine confirm it?
Rafe
Update: I've been able to confirm that at least some 9290's are shipping with the old Browser. They shoudn't be (old ROM's maybe?). That said you can still install Opera, but if i were you and you have a 9290 sans Opera you should complain.
Rafe,
Is there some reason why you haven't posted your update to the PDA Geek thread?
I'd add your comment myself but did not want to quote you if for some reason you did not want to be.
Andy
Great site, great forum, guys. Thanks for the help in getting to the bottom of this. I am Thomas Brady([email protected]), and I wrote the item at PDAGeek.com.
I am a proud, new owner of a Nokia 9290 Communicator; at least I was until I noticed the absence of the Opera Browser and the MP3 player promised in Press Releases.
I am almost certain that the browser included with my 9290 is NOT Opera. If it is a rebranded Opera browser, what would be a telltale sign?
Do any of you have any ideas about the MP3 player?
Where can I find firmware update? I can't seem to find any!
Hi Thomas,
Firmware upgrades have to be done by a Nokia center.
A quick check for Opera, is to do with the "mouse" pointer.
With the browser open, try Ctrl Q a few times. If it switches between pointer on and off, you have the old browser. There is also a menu option to do the same.
If you have "Opera" the cursor is always on unless you press the Ctrl key (only disapears while it is pressed). Also, moving the cursor to the edge of the screen results in the screen scrolling (for oversize pages).
There are loads of other things, but I've actually sold my 9210 to buy either a SonyEricsson P800 or a 9210i (for the browser in ROM).
I'm sure someone else can give you a few more identifiers.
Zuber
There's one way to identify Opera that I'm almost certain will work (although I can't try it being completely 92x0less)...
Type opera:about or opera:history - they should bring up about and history screen respectively - if not its probably not Opera. The reason I said it might be rebranded is that is what I was told by someone at Opera. Nokia for some reason changed Menu and some option from the beat to the release, and liscenced it so they can do almost as they like (the reason opera isn't appearing on the 9210 (officially) is due to Nokia and commerical reasons).
As for the MP3 Player I suspect what they meant at the time was in reference to the Real One Player which was supposedly going to do MP3. There are third party software available Mp3Go and MMP (first expensive & slick; second cehaper - a little less slick). One's on Handnago, the other is from http://www.psiloc.com/
However (and I bet you won't want to hear this...) there's not a lot of point in listening to MP3's on the 9290 because it only has mono capabilities. That means it wont sound great. Actually using WAV files for making up song playlists is more popular because you can get cheaper wav players, use the built in player and not lose anything in terms of space (providing you put the WAV through the multimedia converter and get it encoded properly).
The thing is most 92x0 users dont get it to play MP3's they want a serious power user machine and while yes it would be nice to play MP3's most people who really want this functionality have a dedicated Mp3 Player. Basically it seems to mean Nokia US has done some questionable marketing. The MP3 thing especially is I expect done to lure Americans who expect that function on their PDA (dare I say it because there's more users who get their device to be cool, rather than to use it).. OK maybe that's a bit unfair 😉 but I hope you see my point.
Firmware updates are done by Nokia service points (why - a firmware update is a major undertaking, and definetely easy to mess up on - quality control for network stability is my best guess). Check you current firmware - There are two methods for checking which firmware you have. Either you can check the control panel applet 'About' which includes this information. Alternatively on the phone side of the Communicator type in '*#0000#'; then press OK, the firmware version will then pop up. (from http://www.allabouter6.com/communicator/guide/guide02.php by work in progress 92x0 guide). The latest firmware is 4.13 I think(!)
Hope some of this helps,
Rafe
I agree that many Americans buy "gadgets" for their "cool factor" rather than their utility. I don't, though.
I have used a Sharp Digital Organizer(the cheap ones from the late eighties), Royal DaVinci, Handspring Visor, Compaq Aero 2180, Compaq iPaq 3650, Handspring Visor Prism with VisorPhone, Compaq iPaq 3750, AudioVox Maestro, and finally settled on the Nokia 9290. Those were all machines I used daily. The Pocket PCs were nice and powerful, but were not good PIM-centric PDAs.
I have used several phones, as well, from Ericsson and Nokia, and the 9290 is a very decent phone.
Anyway, I understand their desire to not allow end-users to perform firmware updates, but it disappoints me. I have performed firmware updates on all of the organizers that have allowed me to do so. I have updated Pocket PCs and Palms for myself and friends. If you are careful, there is very little chance of ruining your unit. I suppose, though, that if your unit is ruined, it's nice to have had a lab technician do the ruining. Is this a service that will cost money? It certainly shouldn't, since I was promised Opera.
I found mention in another thread at All About ER6 of a .SIS file fore Opera installation - illegal, of course. I would not be opposed to someone e-mailing me more information about the whereabouts of this file. I know it's somewhere on aikon.ch, but I can't find it.
[email protected]
Thanks, again, everyone.
This is definitely the Nokia Browser. These tips(cursor, About screen) were suggested elsewhere, and this is definitely not Opera.
I forgot to mentino the Sharp SL-5500D. I used that one for about three months, too. That's where I met the mobile version of the Opera Browser for the first time. The desktop version was nice, but those guys know EXACTLY what makes mobile browsing work. Pocket Internet Exlporer is a DISTANT second place, and the rest of them do not deserve mention. Browsing on a Palm is worthless.
Check your mail.
Firmware upgrades should be free at your local Nokia Service Centre. Takes about 20 mins, although many ask you to leave it with them or send it to them.
Firmware updating is annoying, but this is a lot more complex than an OS patch for the Pocket PC / Palm, its the mobile telephony that is complex, and added to that is the fact is that the Symbian OS is hardly a simple beast..
Oh yeah the other thing is that the ROM is getting on for 14MB IIRC - that takes a long time to do by a serial link...
Rafe
Why does Nokia still use serial? Why not USB?
Excellent question, I suggest you ask Nokia and let us know. 😉
I think its just the fact that the 9210 was in the design pipeline from quite some time ago, as well as utilising some existing 9110 hardware.
It takes a long time getting these things to work, I get the impression getting the phone to work reliably through a PDA is harder than doing a PDA on its own. Just ask Microsoft !
Funny thing is, the latest model (7650) does not have USB either, just IR and Bluetooth. Who knows, if Bluetooth starts getting wider acceptance on PCs, it might eliminate USB altogether (from phone/PDAs).
Zuber
I suspect the original reason for using Serial only is that ER6 supported PLP transfer rather than PPP.
PLP (Psion Link Protocol) was initialy shipped inside the Series 3a, and was (at the time) a new way of allowing two disparate computers to talk. because of processor and memory overheads, Psion couldn't get PPP or SLIP running.
When the 3a came out (essentially the 9210i version of the original clamshell Organsior), PLP remained to provide compatibility. Ditto for 3a upgrade, 3c and 3mx.
Psion Series 5 project decided that PLP was still stable enough for the Series 5. Besides, they didn't have the time - lots of stuff like sorting in sheet and busy views, never made it in the S5. The S5mx had to stay on the same system.
So for the next OS release (ER6) again they had huge timescale problems. PLP was pretty stable ( :-? ) so it stayed.
The 7650 and subsequent machines wil now use PPP, given plenty of developer time there now is!
Clear?
You can find the Opera.sis file here:
http://www.aikon.ch/down/opera.sis
I didn't tell you, can't take any responsibility etc etc. blah blah blah...
Consider changing the cache to D:
Find the file \System\apps\Opera\Opera.ini edit, look [ USER PREFS ] and
insert (or change as necessary)
CACHE DISK=D
I've put up a nice thank you and ad spot for this page as a new blurb on PDAGeek.com (http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2002Jul/bpd20020724015576.htm)
One more question. Have you guys every successfully used a serial to USB converter with Windows 2000 and a 9290(9210i)? I have the ATEN USB adapter (UC232A) and it's unstable as could be. I can't stay connected long enough to copy even a 77k file :evil: .
USB Serial looks like a shaky area, at least on XP, not sure about 2000.
Check out http://allabouter6.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=841
An alternative might be USB-IR check out the last bit of the above thread.
Zuber
[quote="tqbrady"]
One more question. Have you guys every successfully used a serial to USB converter with Windows 2000 and a 9290(9210i)? I have the ATEN USB adapter (UC232A) and it's unstable as could be. I can't stay connected long enough to copy even a 77k file.[/quote]
Agin this comes down to the old rebadged PsiWin/Nokia Connect. This program uses older Windows code to address physical COM ports. USB (and IrDA ports on serial) work by creating a virtual COM port under Win95/98.
Win2000 and similar (XP, ME), while they creat Virtual COMS, use a completely different processes. So sometimes PsiWin/Nokia Connect can see the USB pretending to be a COM, and sometimes it can't.
The majority (and solution) of the problem is all down to the driver and if it has enough legacy code in it. And the only way to find out what works is to try 'em. And if it doesn't work, you'll have a tough time returning it as u/s.
Can anyone p'haps recommend specific devices of this that do work?
Sounds to me like Nokia needs to get with the times. They need to release a USB cable and new sync software. They need to take better advantage of SyncML and be the first PDA OS to Sync with Win, Lin, and Mac!!!
I know Palm can already do this, but the software that makes it possible does not come from Palm, but from third parties. Nokia is setting a fantastic example by using open industry standards like SyncML, but they need to go ahead and DO something with it. At this point, Apple will beat them to it!(http://www.apple.com/isync)