Using Opera Mini with Blackberry 8800

It was about three months ago now that I joined the crackberry revolution and I am still very much addicted.  One thing that has continued to bug me however was the default browser.  In my case I was forced into using the default Vodafone broswer which quite simply sucked.  Sadly up until very recently Opera Mini didn't support the 8800 and while the High Memory version would work, it was full of bugs.  Thankfully, Opera now supports the 8800 and I highly recommend installing it.

I'll quickly run through the installation in a minute, but first want to address a side issue.  Most most the UK phone providers really don't want you to install this, it means you will no longer have to visit their ghastly custom start pages.  The common error being that during installation Opera tells you it cannot establish how to connect to the Internet.  Answers to these questions and more, now:

1. Point your old browser to mini.opera.com


2. Click the 'download' link.  The international version is fine.


3. Accept the warning message that says it doesn't have a signature.  Silly warning.


4. It will tell you the app has been installed.  Click ok.


5. Navigate to the Settings app, then click Advanced Options.


6. Hit the Applications button, then find Opera Mini.


7. Click the Contextual Menu button, the one left of the trackball, then hit edit permissions.


8. In permissions set everything to 'Allow.'


9. Go back the Advanced Options page and click TCP.


10. For this bit you'll need to be in front of a PC.  Go to: http://www.taniwha.org.uk/gprs.html


11. Scroll to the bottom to find a list of UK APN usernames and passwords.  Find your network, for example mine was Vodafone (contract).


12. Make a note of the APN, the username, and the password.


13. Punch in these details into the TCP settings window.


14. Fire up Opera from the Apps page.


15. Hit buttons and twiddle the trackball until the bar fills.


16. Now it will test for a network connection. 


17. With the new details filled, it should now pass with flying colours, say goodbye to horrible proprietary browsing.

Related Tags: Blackberry 8800, Opera Mini, Installation

Comments

[Jason]

Thanks for this! Very useful indeed.

QUESTION: I also have a BB8800 with Vodafone... One thing that still bugs me is the fact that the DEFAULT browser is still Vodafone Live (BB default browser)... I can't change that to OperaMini.

Do you know why? Do you know how to change it? If you could email me back that would be great. Thanks! Jason

[giles]

great blog

took me 3 mins to set up Opera on my pearl so any pearl users can use this as well.

Thankyou

[Wayne]

Thanks a million for this, this is the best advice I have found, and within 5 mins my phone is now running Opera where before all I got was connection error messages with O2 giving me the runaround.

Do you know how to pan in and out of web pages on the 8800? if not sure I will get there

Thanks again

Wayne

[owen]

You should point out that using Opera Mini like this means you get charged for data usage, which seems crazy after paying for a Blackberry unlimited data tariff. :(

A shame, because Opera is much better than the default browser, but I'm not paying £10 a month just to get emails, which is effectively what you're doing by using Opera Mini and paying extra for your data all over again.

[Andy]

Thanks for this. Managed to setup my Blackberry pearl in minutes. Gave up on looking at the Opera Mini website.

Thanks once again. Saved me a fair amount of time

[Andrew Wilson]

Many thanks. After becoming resigned to Opera not working on my 8700 I found your blog on Google. Fixed it in minutes. You made very clear and easy. A doddle.

[newbie100]

Hi, I cant seem to get Opera working on my 8800.
I am on O/s 4.2.1.90 with a O2 BES contract.

The APNs mobile.o2.co.uk with various usernames and passwords dont seem to work.

Does anyone have it working on O2 on an 8800 ?
If so, can you please post the APN ?

Thanks

[Liam]

Hey

great blog - thanks for the info

I'm on orange

i take it that data via opera will not be part of my tiny 6mb data package?

[Daniel Bower]

Hey Liam,

It depends on how you contract is setup. With Vodafone my "unlimited" plan covers all data transfer excluding my Blackberry Email which is paid for separately.

Make sure you give Orange a call before you end up with a unknown massive phone bill.

Dan

[Chris]

hey just wondered if anyone could help! im on orange's (uk)liberate tariff, they give us 30mb of data with this. I bought a blackberry pearl from a friend, I dont have any web browser showing, they wont even let me get the blackberry data plan or product note padded on my account cause this isnt the phone they have me down as using, i changed the apn but it doesnt seem to make a difference?? any ideas on what i could i do? it says data connection refused and when i turn the data off i get a lowercase gprs rather than an upper case one! thanks any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Colin]

Daniel - thanks for a hugely helpful tip on setting up Opera Mini. Works perfectly and massively faster than the browser that came with my Blackberry Curve.

Cheers, Colin

[Cyril]

Thanks a lot for the step by step instructions. It was clear and to the point. I'm delighted and I thank you!

Regards, Cyril

[Lockwoodhorne]

Great instructions! No more of that awful "walled Garden" browser!!!!

[Daniel Bower]

Thanks for all the comments. This still seems helpful months after I first posted!

[Tore Olafsson]

Hi, very usefull info, I don't understand why Opera couldn't have posted this on their own website. I just need to double check now whether or not I get double charged from O2.

[Bob]

Thanks a million...the key was in point number 15...this sorted me out...thanks once again.

[Paul]

I got my Blackberry Curve 8310 working on o2 using the 'faster' username, password and apn. When I got my bill I had been charged because I was accessing mobile.o2.co.uk and not blackberry.net. I'll try this as the new apn but have no idea of username and password.