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Category Archives: Opera Mini Tips and Tricks
How To Hide the Opera Mini Virtual Keypad On Samsung, LG and Other Touchcreen Phones
When the Java ME version of the Opera Mini Browser is running on many touch screen phones, an unnecessary virtual keypad appears at the bottom of the screen (image above left). The keypad wastes space, looks ugly and isn't needed with touch aware apps like Opera Mini. The keypad is not part of Opera Mini. It's something your phone adds because it doesn't recognize that Opera Mini is optimized for touch
Here are several ways to get rid of the virtual keypad so your Opera Mini looks like the right hand image above.
I. By using the phone's menu
Some phones have a menu option for getting rid of the keypad. I've only seen it on Samsungs but it may be an option on other brands as well.
- Open the folder or menu where you launch Opera Mini. On my Samsung Wave it's called "Games and more".
- Look for and tap a button named "Options", "Menu" or something similar or has an icon that looks like a menu, stack of papers or three dots. On the Wave it's the middle button with the three dots in the left hand screenshot below.
- In the Options menu (image below, center) look for and tap a button labeled "Use virtual keypad"
- On the next screen tap the check mark next to Opera Mini (image below, right) to remove it and then tap the Save button. Now launch Opera Mini and the virtual keypad should be gone
If your phone doesn't have a menu option to remove the keypad continue reading to see if Opera Mini has a fix for your phone.
II. By using an official version of Mini customized for your phone to remove the virtual keypad.
If Opera recognizes and officially supports your phone it should deliver a modified version of Opera Mini that contains code telling your phone to remove the keypad. Opera can only recognize your phone if you download Mini from m.opera.com using the phone's built in browser. If you download Opera Mini from an unofficial source or downloaded it with your PC and copied to the phone using Bluetooth or a cable you have a generic version that's not optimised for your phone.
If you download Mini from m.opera.com with your phone's built-in browser and you still get the virtual keypad, let Opera know so they can fix it in a future release. File a bug report at mini.bugs.opera.com. Also visit people.opera.com/forsberg/detect/ with your phone's built-in browser and fill in the form listing the phone make and model.
If you still have the virtual keypad after downloading from m.opera.com with your phone browser and you don't want to wait for Opera to get around to fixing it, which can take months, it's fairly easy to fix it yourself. Read on for instructions.
III. By modifying the Opera Mini jad file to remove the virtual keypad
You will need a PC, some patience and the ability to follow directions in order to modify Opera Mini. If you lack any of those or want someone else to do the work, skip to the end of this post for a link to an already modified version of Opera Mini.
Obtain an official copy of the Opera Mini jad file. You can download the unsigned versions of Opera Mini directlty to your PC from www.opera.com/mobile/download/versions/
The trouble with unsigned apps is that on most phones you will get annoying pop-up messages asking you to allow Opera Mini to connect. On some phones you only get one pop-up when you first start Opera Mini but on others you get pop-ups every time you click a link which makes Opera Mini almost unusable. A few phones won't allow unsigned apps to connect at all.
There are many ways to download signed versions of Opera Mini to your PC but the easiest is to use the Opera Desktop browser which is available for Windows, Mac OSx and Linux. Download and install it from www.opera.com/browser/ Then:
- Launch the Opera PC browser
- Go to m.opera.com using the Opera PC browser
- Click "Other Download Options"
- Click "Select Code-Signing Certificate" under "Options for Opera Mini 6.5:" (or under "Options for Opera Mini 4.4:" if you prefer that version)
- Click "All Certificates" (works on most phones. If it doesn't on yours try repeating this process with one of the other signed options)
- Click "Download Opera Mini 6.5" and save the file (named mini.jad) somewhere you can find it later
- Open the downloaded mini.jad with a text editor or Windows Wordpad
- Scroll to the bottom of the file and paste in the following lines:
MIDlet-Touch-Support: True
UseNativeTextButtons: hide
ReverseSoftkeys: hide
UseNativeCommands: hide
Upload the file to Dropbox.com or another file sharing service that is easy to use in your phone browser. Click here to get a free 2GB Dropbox account (by using this referral link I get an extra 250 MB of storage in my Dropbox which I thank you for).
Visit Dropbox with your phone browser and click the modified mini.jad link to download it on your phone.
If that didn't work or you don't have a PC or are just in a hurry, here's a link to my modified version of the signed (All Certificates) version of the Opera Mini 6.5 ,jad file:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4637247/mini.jad
Click the above link in your phone browser to install Opera Mini 6.5 with the virtual keypad disabled.
Posted in Opera Mini Tips and Tricks
Tagged Java ME, LG, Samsung, touchscreen, Virtual Keypad
1 Comment
The Engadget Demobilizer - A Bookmarklet To View Engadget's Desktop Version In Opera Mini
Engadget is my favorite source of news about all sorts of tech including mobile devices, platforms and apps. I was a little worried when AOL acquired Engadget and many of my favorite writers left. But the new crew at Engadget is great, they're delivering lots of well written and well edited breaking news stories, reviews and great photos and videos of the latest gear.
I like Engadget's mobile site at m.engadget.com too. Well actually I like it in most mobile browsers but not in the one I use most often, Opera Mini.
The problem is that when Engadget Mobile sees Opera Mini it cranks pagination up to the max for some reason. Articles that Opera Mini could easily load in their entirety are broken up into multiple tiny ones - really tiny ones. A typical Engadget item that loads as a single page in the Android or iOS browser is seven pages in Mini. That really slows reading down as Mini has about 10 seconds of latency before it starts to load any page, even a small one. On a fast connection it takes Mini about 10 seconds to load each little page when it could load the whole thing as a single page in the same ten seconds!
An easy fix would be to use the desktop version on Engadget in Opera Mini. But you can't readily do that because there's no link to the desktop version when viewing the mobile one with Opera Mini. You can reach the Engadget desktop homepage in Opera Mini at www.engadget.com/?m=false. However, getting to the desktop version of an individual post from a mobile one that you landed on by following a deep link from Twitter or an RSS reader is difficult.
So I created a bookmarklet to fix that. To use it copy the code below and save as a browser bookmark:
Whenever you land on Engadget Mobile open the bookmark and you will be transported to the full version of the same content with no pagination. The bookmarklet has been tested in Opera Mini but it should work in most browsers that support bookmarklets including recent versions of Mobile Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Palm Blazer, Opera Mobile, the Android browser since Froyo and Symbian Webkit since S60 5th ed.
If you're using a browser that doesn't support copy/paste, like Opera Mini 4 or the Symbian browser, click here and follow the instructions on that page to add the bookmarket.
Hopefully Engadget/AOL's web wizards will fix their mobile site to stop unnecessarily splitting posts for Opera Mini users. In the meantime you can use the bookmarklet.
Update: a couple of weeks after I posted this, Engadget modifier their mobile site, when viewed in Opera Mini, to include a "Desktop" link. Clicking the link takes you to the desktop version of the mobile page you were on. This bookmarklet is no longer needed, in Opera Mini, at least.
Posted in Opera Mini Tips and Tricks
Tagged Browser, Content Adaptation, Engadget, Opera Mini
4 Comments
Opera Mini Secret Codes
Opera Mini has some special commands that you enter in the address bar like a URL but without the "http://". Many of them return information that's probably only of interest to Opera's developers but a couple are actually very useful.
My favorite is config: which opens Opera Mini's Power User Settings page where you can tweak many browser settings like the timeout and whether the browser should make phone numbers clickable. See my post Opera Mini's Hidden Power User Menu for more information.
Web developers will appreciate server:source which displays the source code of the current page.
Here's a full list of all the hidden Opera Minicommands that I've discovered. I've tested these in Opera Mini 4.3 and 6 and I believe that (except as noted) they should work in all Opera Mini versions since 4.0.
config: - Open the the Power User Settings menu
server:source - Display the current page's source code
opera:cache - displays the size and URL of cached pages and images
about: - displays information about the Opera Mini server
debug: - Displays a page listing many Opera mini server and client properties. The "Host:" field tells you which Opera Mini server you are currently connected to.
The first letter of the host is supposed to indicate which country the server is in. I believe that "r" hosts like "r02-12" are in the US. as I'm in the US and I'm usually connected to "r" hosts. I've also seen or heard of "t", "z" and "v" hosts. Anyone seen others or know where any of them are?
The following commands duplicate Opera Mini menu functions.
feed:list - Go to the Feeds page
opera:about - Displays copyright and license information for third party software used in the browser
server:reset - clears all cookies
server:refresh - refreshes the current page
o:A - goes to the start page (Opera Mini 4.n only)
o:Z - goes to your bookmarks (Opera Mini 4.n only)
I suspect that there are more of these hidden commands. If you've discovered others that are currently working, please lets all know in a comment.
How to Add Search Engines To Opera Mini 5
One thing that new users of Opera Mini seem to have trouble with is adding custom search engines. Questions about adding search engines come up all the time on the Opera Mini Forum. It's easy to understand why, the process is not hard but it's also not particularly intuitive or obvious and neither the official Opera Mini FAQ or the in-app help explain it. To fill the gap, I've created this little tutorial with images for both the touch screen (left-hand images) and non-touch screen (right-hand images)versions on Opera Mini 5. These instructions have been tested with Opera Mini 5 and 5.1 for Android and Java. I don't have a BlackBerry, Windows Mobile device or iPhone but I suspect that the process is similar in Opera Mini 5 for those platforms.
1. Go the the search site you want to add. I'm using Bing for this tutorial so I go to bing.com.
2. Find the search box on the bing.com page
3 a. For touch screen devices, do a long press on the search box. The context menu shown above left should appear. Tap "Add Search Engine"
3 b. For non-touch screen phones, position the cursor on top of the seach box and either press the "1" key or do a long press on the OK or select button. The context menu shown above right should appear. Tap "Add Search Engine"
4. The next screen (images above) lets you edit the name of the search engine before adding it. When you are done editing click or tap the button labeled "Add" or "Done".
Using Custom Search Engines
To use your new custom Bing search.
1. There is a bug in the Java version of Opera Mini 5 and 5.1 that prevents you from choosing a search engine if the "Fullscreen edit" option is enabled. You must Fullscreen edit to "Off" in the "Advanced" section of the "Settings" menu to be able to use custom search engines.
2. Bring up the search box by going to the Opera Mini Start page.
3 a. On touch screen phones, tap the search box and then tap again on the down pointing arrow in the right corner to bring up a list of available search engines. Tap the one you want to use and then enter your search query and press the "Search"button.
3 b. On non-touch screen phones, click the search box and then press the phone's "Down" key to bring up a list of available search engines. Click the one you want to use and then enter your search query and press the "Search"button.
Managing Search Engines.
Any search site that uses a GET search form (most do) should work as a custom searche in Opera Mini 5. A few search engines don't work because they use either a POST search form or a JavaScript one. Here's how to get rid of a non-working searches or ones you never use.
1. Bring up the list of search engines as if you were going to choose one to do a search.
2 a. On touch screen phones, scroll to the bottom of the list and tap "Manage Search Engines"
2 b. On non-touch screen phones, highlight the search that you want to delete or change, then click the soft key labeled "Manage".
To delete a search engine (You can not delete the default search - Google in most markets)
On touch screen phones, tap the garbage can icon next to the search you want to delete. Then tap it again to confirm.
On non-touch screen phones, click the delete option in the context menu that appears after you click the "Manage" softkey.
To edit a search engine's title or URL.
On touch screen phones, on the "Manage Search Engines" screen, tap the name of the search engine that you want to edit, make your changes and tap the "Save" button.
On non-touch screen phones, click the "Edit" option in the context menu that appears after you click the "Manage" softkey. Make your changes and press the "Save" softkey.
Custom search engines are actually very easy to add in Opera Mini one you know how. I find them really useful for doing site searches of my sites or using specialized search engines like Google's mobile website search.
