Opera 9.5 Not So Great After All?

Since Opera 9.5 Beta has been released to the public, some users have changed their tune regarding how excellent the browser is.

For example, MSmobiles is now reporting that Opera 9.5 is “an unusable piece of junk” after previously reporting here (Regarding the version included on the Touch Diamond) that:

Opera Mobile 9.5 is one of the best mobile browsers in the world and clearly thanks to the embedding in the device in pre-installed version the integration is much better. Nonetheless we still recommend Opera Mobile 9.5 to users of Windows Mobile phones!

If you’ve managed to install the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta on your device, you may notice that it is completely unusable without using the touchscreen. Users who have gotten the browser to install on their WM Standard/Smartphone devices (which do not have touchscreens) may have found this to be significantly frustrating. One of the major selling points of Windows Mobile (beginning with Windows Mobile 5) was its ability to be used extensively with hardware keys for highly efficient usability (as shown in pocketnow’s usability speed tests). Unfortunately, Opera has ignored this important usability interface convention of Windows Mobile in favor of mimicking the iPhone Safari browser interface and inheriting its problems.

MSmobiles lists some other problems associated with the Opera Mobile 9.5 browser as well. One problem that has been frustrating for me on the Touch Diamond was how Opera takes over as the default browser. The public beta version still does this, but now has a check box in the settings to remove that association.

Have you installed Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta? Have you noticed any frustrating usability problems or bugs?

[via pocketnow]