NetFront 3.5 TP available for download from 11th February

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Well, it seems mobile browsers are like buses, that is 'you don't see any for ages and a whole load come along at once'. If you're not in the UK I have no idea if you've heard that before, but you get the idea. First we had Skyfire announced, then the exciting Opera Mobile 9.5 and now NetFront 3.5 Technical Preview has been announced!

Detailed at this page, the new version - like the other two browsers mentioned - looks hot, and has the considerable advantage that it's going to be the first available! NetFront have always produced a good if underrated browser, and it looks the new release could finally bring it into the public eye.

From the NetFront website...

Experience faster and smoother browsing with NetFront Browser v3.5 for Windows Mobile Concept Version. Leveraging the latest NetFront Browser core available for the Windows Mobile platform, NetFront Browser v3.5 for Windows Mobile Concept Version features improved key operation, stylus pen functionality and overall usability. The browser also features improvements in speed including first draw time, zooming speed and rendering mode selection.

New Features

• Speed Improvements
  
• Faster first draw speed
  
• Faster scrolling
  
• Faster zooming
  
• Faster rendering mode switching
  
• Swift Navi.
  
• Animated zoom
  
• PageMap
  
• Column Rendering
  

The release is timed to coincide with the start of MWC on Monday, i'll be grabbing it ASAP! How about you? Don't forget to head on over to the NetFront 3.5 page for a ton more info and a video preview!

P

[Guest Menneisyys]

Funny - they haven't even released 3.4 :) Why don't they release it first?

[Guest Menneisyys]

and has the considerable advantage that it's going to be the first available

Knowing the bugs in NetFront (for example, the sub-par Flash engine) and the rate they fix them / improve Netfront in general, I don't think Netfront will be a serious contender to Opera Mobile / Mini, even if it is released before Opera Mobile 9.5.

After all, Opera Mini, run under Jbed and particularly when you master its button shortcuts, can be the best choice for standard Web browing 95...99% of time. Why go for a much slower, much harder-to-operate (NetFront doesn't even have button shortcuts, which would make it FAR more usable - I've been asking them to implement this for three years but still nothing...), much more CPU-demanding (see the Flash engine bugs on Flash-enabled pages) than Opera Mini. That is, you ALREADY have a decent browser (OpMini 4); no need to run out to get the first browser released to the masses :)

[Guest samsul]

Knowing the bugs in NetFront (for example, the sub-par Flash engine) and the rate they fix them / improve Netfront in general, I don't think Netfront will be a serious contender to Opera Mobile / Mini, even if it is released before Opera Mobile 9.5.

After all, Opera Mini, run under Jbed and particularly when you master its button shortcuts, can be the best choice for standard Web browing 95...99% of time. Why go for a much slower, much harder-to-operate (NetFront doesn't even have button shortcuts, which would make it FAR more usable - I've been asking them to implement this for three years but still nothing...), much more CPU-demanding (see the Flash engine bugs on Flash-enabled pages) than Opera Mini. That is, you ALREADY have a decent browser (OpMini 4); no need to run out to get the first browser released to the masses :)

I agree Opera mini 4 is the best browser out there, I doubt if anything else can beat it. I use it all the time now. Can't believe how fast it is, sometimes its faster than my PC.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Available now!

https://www.access.co.jp/english/nfppc/send.php?type=4

P

[Guest James]

just beat me too it :)

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

It's really really good!

P

[Guest samsul]

It's really really good!

P

Its good but unusuable as its memory hungry - I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

[Guest wbloore]

Its good but unusuable as its memory hungry - I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

It does use 10 times more memory than PIE, but when using on my Touch Dual I still have 53% of memory available, so my phone still works great even with Netfront running in the background.

I'm not sure what phone your using, but Netfront works very fast and is fantastic. Much better than PIE and certainly better than Opera Mini. I would recommend it to everyone.

[Guest Confucious]

Just found that when it asks if you want to open alnk in a new window it actually means new tab!

Works well on my Athena and is my browser of choice at the moment.Faster and more useable than OperaMini 4.

Certainly raised the bar for Opera 9.5!

[Guest thenext1]

Unfortunately I have to disagree with Menneyysys about Opera... 8.65 is/has:

- buggy

- a memory hog

- messes up most pages' layout by completely missing font sizes on my Universal

- fails to constrain the page width into the screen width, unlike NF that does that correctly on every page I tried

- HTML, CSS, JS engines sub-par with respect to NF (look at www.gucci.com in NF and opera... sure, NF stops at the splash screen, doing the fade effect, but that's better than the pale white display of opera!! like on most of those complicated JS websites)

- bad usability: shitty joypad navigation that makes the page scrolling crazy left & right when you're only pressing the down button, because opera has this bad habit of focusing on the hyperlinks AT ALL COSTS, and it catapults the cursor on the other side of the page without you even knowing WTF has happened

- zero customization... you can't even disable the cache or set the size limit, coz it won't work! it grows over whatever limit you set! good job, Opera, you mess up things as easy as 1+1! (and yes, i'm using the latest version)

- for the "sake of memory optimization", I imagine, it unloads & reloads the images when you scroll over them, and it's a bad visual artifact... and still it's more a memory hog than netfront

- has no way to save bandwitdh or rendering speed, like a rapid render mode, that NF does

- has no enhancements like page miniature previews, thumbnail'd bookmarks

On top of that, I have to say that teh guys at Opera seem to ignore their Windows Mobile products... releases come out slowly... there was an endless beta period, whereas OM8.65 for symbian was released in a snap.

The only and one bright side of opera is that it better supports the WMP plugin.