(Above) Editing Options in Opera Mobile Beta 2

There’s  a new version of  Opera Mobile 10 available for S60 3rd and 5th edition phones.  This release, dubbed “Opera 10 Beta 2 Update” adds full native editing and entry modes to in-line editing in web pages and the Opera Mobile GUI.

Previous Opera Mobile 10 releases had two edit modes; “in-line” (image, top left) where you could enter text directly into fields on the screen but were limited to using triple tap and “full-screen” which opened a separate native input mode text box at the bottom of the screen (image, top right).  The new release has completely done away with full-screen mode,  All data entry is in-line now and in-line mode includes almost the full functionality of the native S60 editor.

On my N95 this means that while entering text in any edit field I can:

• Toggle  between upper and lowercase and turn T9 on and off  by tapping  the “#’ key.
• Invoke numeric mode with a long press on the “#” key.
• Press the “pencil” key for symbol mode and to switch input language (image below, left).
• Select text for copying by holding the pencil key down and pressing the right and left arrow keys (image below, right).

(Above) Editing Options in Opera Mobile Beta 2 “Update”

According to a post by Opera’s Helene Lund Engebø on MyOpera announcing the release there are a few known issues:

• Not all input modes have a visual indicator.
• For some devices with non-latin input mode, you need to manually set the input language to English to input a web address in the address bar.
• On touch devices, the enter key does not work as an action key. For cases where an action is required (e.g. when adding a bookmark folder), we recommend using the Opera keyboard (available from advanced settings).
• Cut in context menu does not work on keypad devices.
• Some issues when using predictive input in the url field.

To which I can add one that I discovered:

• Marking text a line at a time using the up and down arrow keys while holding the pencil key no longer works in multi-line text areas.

I really miss the ability to select  text with the down key. I used that feature all the time to copy or delete large text blocks when editing Emails and forum posts and to remove session IDs, etc. from long URLs in the address bar. Marking large text blocks character by character using the right and left arrows is really slow and cumbersome.  I wish that Opera had kept the full screen edit option in place until the implementation of in-line editing was complete and issue free.

But it is a Beta and issues and omissions are to be expected. Adding full functionality to in-line editing makes the browser a lot more user friendly and marks a significant step toward the eventual full release of Opera Mobile 10.

I haven’t discovered any other changes in the update but I’m sure that there have been some bug fixes.  Both Betas of Opera Mobile 10 have been remarkably fast and stable on my N95-3.  But I know that users of other devices have not been so fortunate. Hopefully this release has fixed some of the problems I’ve been hearing about on the E71, 5800, N97 and Windows Mobile phones.

Download the Opera Mobile 10 Beta 2 Update from: www.opera.com/mobile/download (PC) or m.opera.com/next/ (mobile).

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