We've been waiting for this day ever since Opera first announced its Opera Mobile 9.5 web browser back in February. Today, it's out for a beta 1 launch. In other words, it'll be buggy but likely far more useful than the browser already installed on your touchscreen-based (PocketPC) WinMo professional phone. The initial release includes support for double-tap zoom, landscape flip, off-line page save, tab-like browsing, auto-URL complete, and a Google-search bar to name just a few of the 9.5 features. More functionality will be added later including Google Gears and support for Flash video on WinMo and Symbian devices. CNET already has the hands-on video review up for your pickings. Better yet, download and install for yourself and tell us what you think in the comments below.

Update: PhoneArena has chimed-in with a video hands-on of its own. Check it after the break.

Read -- Opera Mobile 9.5 beta 1
Read -- CNET first look

Tired of waiting for your favorite bowling enthusiast website to finally release its long-awaited mobile optimized version? Yeah, we hear that -- but if a new IBM research project ever sees the light of day, maybe we can just fix that glitch ourselves. "Highlight" is a Firefox-based plug-in that allows end users to script common tasks on sites and boil them down to super simple mini-sites that are more easily digested on mobile browsers, at which point the new sites are copied up to a proxy server that would theoretically be hosted by IBM or another company. There could be some resistance from sites that aren't so keen on having their content re-hosted somewhere outside of their control, but it sounds like IBM is ready to push forward with the project if it generates enough interest. [Warning: PDF link]

[Via textually.org and PC World]

Get your browsin' finger in championship condition, because it's about that time -- if UIQ's your weapon of choice, anyhow. The first beta of Digia's @Web finger-controlled browser for UIQ handsets has now been delivered as promised, though free registration is required on the company's site to get hooked up. If you have a chance to check it, do let us know how it goes, won't you?

[Via All About Symbian]

It'll be a fabulous day when a cellphone-friendly version of Firefox finally lands, and judging by the video and details in the read link down there, that day is getting ever closer. Granted, this whole thing is being dubbed a "concept" for now, but we're definitely digging where it's headed. We're warning you, there's a boatload of information just one click away, but if you fear your eyes just can't handle it, peep the video after the break.

If there are two words that are music to the ears of anyone looking to browse websites effectively on their phone, they've gotta be "WebKit" and "finger control." S60 Touch is moving Nokia squarely in that direction, and the other half of the Symbian puzzle, UIQ, is getting some love now as well. Digia is preparing its @Web browser, which claims to allow effective finger-based control of its WebKit-based browser -- though we're not lighting the fireworks and popping the champagne just yet since the effectiveness of finger control varies widely from implementation to implementation, and @Web's public beta won't be ready until some time later this month. Stay tuned, G900 owners (and G702 hopefuls).

[Via PHONE Magazine]

Janky image aside -- there are so many perspective problems in that pic it makes us feel woozy -- Makayama's TouchBrowser does seem to bring the goods when it comes to scrollable web browsing on Windows Mobile. Featuring both mobile and desktop views, a full screen keyboard, and judging by the YouTube vid they've posted -- see it after the break -- it looks grand. The software supports all Pocket PCs with VGA or QVGA screens -- except Treo and Windows Mobile Classic devices. So if your touchscreen isn't getting quite enough touching and flicking, for only $15 this may offer up a small bit of joy.

Got Android and lack lovely browsing experience? No worries, Opera mini is coming here to help. Opera's Chris Mills explains that rather than start from scratch they've used the existing code base and binary package with a wrapper that converts the Java ME API calls to Android API calls -- think translator. Of course, this has all only been run in software so far, though we just know now that it's hitting the wild, you can be sure that people playing with early hardware are going to be all over this. We love Opera Mini and are pretty stoked about Android, too, so you go gents, make us proud.

[Via PhoneScoop]

We're not sure what money there is to be made in the mobile browser game at this point -- especially with giants like Opera and Firefox throwing their hats fully into the ring -- but that's not really our problem, now, is it? TeaShark borrows the same basic concept as Opera Mini, offering full-fledged desktop style browsing while requiring nothing more than Java MIDP 2.0 support to get the job done. It also supports tabs, two levels of zoom, and an integrated RSS reader -- in other words, just about everything a modern mobile browser's gotta have to survive. If you give it a go, drop us a line and let us know what you think, k?

[Via Phone Scoop]

Lots of happy Windows Mobile users pinging the old Engadget tip jar tonight as the Skyfire seeds its first beta release of the browser. It's v0.5, and while we didn't get our download today, we'll be keeping a close eye on this one.

It's really early along, but the Firefox peeps are taking their first baby steps to try to flesh out exactly what Mobile Firefox is going to look like, and they'd like to know what you think. Mockups posted to Mozilla's wiki talk about the main display, history and bookmark displays, and tabbing functionality in great detail, noting differences in operation between standard and touchscreen devices (which are further subdivided between those that have QWERTY keyboards and those that do not). Though you can put aside any hope of getting an early build onto your own device, the team has posted XUL / Javascript code that'll run in Firefox on your PC and give you a partly functional idea of what's going on.

[Via Mobility Site and Mozilla Links]

Opera Mini gets the lion's share of the attention among third-party browsers for Windows Mobile, but there are other contenders out there looking for a share of users' hearts and minds. Replacement browsers probably wouldn't be such a vibrant category on the platform if it weren't for Pocket Internet Explorer's utter ineptitude in its current iteration, but hey, it is what it is -- we're just happy that devs are out there coding up much better stuff (Microsoft included). Anyhoo, ACCESS has just taken the Technical Preview of its NetFront 3.4 release for Windows Mobile to the public with a couple awesome features in tow like visual bookmarks and full-page preview. NetFront powers the browsers on a number of phones from Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and others, and we've generally found it to be good stuff; anyone give 3.4 a shot yet?

[Via jkOnTheRun and Brighthand]

Update: Turns out 3.4's been doing its thing for quite some time now; ACCESS has simply extended the expiration date through to February 29 of next year. Thanks, commenters!

Seems like these cats are on a nice, predictable annual schedule, yeah? Just a little under a year after the release of Opera Mini 3, version 4 has gone gold following several months in beta. It seems that Opera's big focus for this version has been to make Mini seem more like a full-fledged desktop browser, shoehorning in features like a true mouse pointer, landscape mode (to give sites that 4:3 feel), and zoom capability. It's free and it's available now, so we might recommend you give it a shot before you spend even another moment hobbling along on whatever two-bit integrated browser -- if you can even call it a browser -- that you're using now, k?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

First, the good news: Mozilla has officially announces plans to "rock" the mobile web. Now, the bad: the true, legitimate Mobile Firefox (as opposed to the hackery that is Minimo) won't come until after Firefox 3 is released. Mozilla's Mike Schroepfer has detailed where the organization's headed with its mobile initiatives in a blog post this week, noting that Mozilla 2 will see mobile devices be promoted to tier 1 -- a move that means architectural decisions about the platform will be made specifically with handsets in mind. Although he says Minimo provided tons of valuable info on how Mozilla can be adapted to the small screen, it's being basically abandoned in favor of the true Mobile Firefox, a browser that'll take advantage of the heavyweight processors and storage afforded by modern phones. Opera Mini, get ready (finally) for some serious competition.

[Via mocoNews]