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OpenTable is a great way to make a reservation at a restaurant without having to speak to anyone. Their website is easy to use thanks in part to the drop down menus. So when it was time for OpenTable to release their mobile site we're glad they kept to the same, easy to use interface.

We tested the mobile site on Pocket Internet Explorer, Skyfire and iPhone's Safari and had no problems using the site on any of these browsers.

The mobile version is very straight forward. Pick a city, a restaurant, a date and time to make your reservation. And while it's quick and to the point the mobile version lacks any type of reviews or recommendations if you need a little help choosing a place to eat.

What would make this service even better would be the integration with sites like Yelp. Read a review of a restaurant and if it interest you, click on an OpenTable link to make the reservation right on the spot.

Still, given the lack of any reviews or recommended of places to try, the site is still a fun way to make a reservation while on the go.

Continue reading What to expect from Mozilla's mobile Firefox web browser

• Support for device and ROM upgrades
• Smartphone version
• A file-black-list for files to ignore

Spb Backup 2.0 is compatible with Windows Mobile 2003 and newer devices with VGA and QVGA screens. There's a 5 day free trial available, but a full license will set you back $24.95. Current users can upgrade for $9.95. If you purchased Spb Backup in the last 90 days, you can upgrade for free.

For a long time, NetFront was the reigning champ of Windows Mobile and PocketPC web browsers. While Pocket Internet Explorer comes standard with most Windows Mobile phones and PDAs, the browser renders pages slowly, lacks support for tabs, and doesn't handle AJAX very well. NetFront does all of those things and more. And if it weren't for the introduction of Opera Mobile a few years ago, which has the same features plus speedier page rendering, we would still heartily be recommending NetFront.

But ACCESS, the company behind the NetFront browser is working hard to keep up with Opera. This week ACCESS released the second concept version (or beta) of NetFront 3.5 for Windows Mobile. When the final version is released you'll have to pay for this browser, but while it's in beta, it's free and definitely worth checking out. Here's a short list of updates in the latest version:

• Improved CPU usage
• AutoCruise function has been removed
• Faster page rendering
• Faster page zooming
• Faster scrolling
• Faster switching between rendering modes (landscape or portrait, single column or desktop style)

The beta will expire on August 31, 2008. Note that you should install NetFront to your device's main memory, not to a storage card or you may experience some stability issues.

It's been a few months since Opera announced the company was working on a version of Opera 9.5 for Windows Mobile devices. And while Opera has historically been kind enough to offer public beta versions of their commercial software for download, Opera Mobile 9.5 has been pretty elusive so far. But ZDNet's Matt Miller managed to get his hands on a Windows Mobile device with Opera 9.5 preloaded, and suffice it to say he's pretty impressed. Here are some of the highlights from his review:

• Smooth scrolling and panning with your finger (no stylus needed)
• Context-sensitive zooming
• Tabbed browsing (this has been available in every version of Opera Mobile that we're aware of)
• Save pages for offline viewing
• Quick page rendering
• Flash Lite 3 support
• Supports text selection, copy, and paste
• Password manager
• Save or send web images

There were some problems. Miller says he could open Google Docs spreadsheets for viewing, but not Word documents. This isn't surprising, since Opera's desktop browser has had compatibility issues with Google Docs and other Google services for a long time.

No word on when Opera will be ready to release Opera Mobile 9.5 for general use. It looks like you may be able to get purchase a phone with the software preinstalled in the not too distant future. But what we're really waiting for is the day when you can download the software and install it on any device. Opera Mobile 8.65 currently has a $24 price tag. We're assuming Opera 9.5 will eventually be available for $30 or less.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Microsoft has updates its Live Search for Windows Mobile software, adding four new features:

• 4 day weather forecasts
• Search the web from the Live Search software without opening a web browser first
• View maps and locations shared by other Virtual Earth users
• Take addresses from your contact list and see where your friends are on a map

You can download the Live Search software by visiting m.live.com on your mobile device. If you don't want to download anything, you can still use the web-based Windows Live search engine, but the Live Search application is pretty slick and much faster than the web interface at loading maps and satellite imagery.

[via MobileCrunch]

Gigabyte has released a new touch-friendly interface for Windows Mobile phones. While the Smart Touch UI is designed to run on Gigabyte's GSmart line of phones, an unofficial version of the software has been leaked and you can download it and install it on pretty much any Windows Mobile 5.0/6 device.

It's hard not to compare the Smart Touch interface to the Apple iPhone interface. Applications can be luanched by pressing large square-ish buttons, and you navigate the interface by dragging your finger across the screen. But Smart Touch does have a few innovative features up its sleeve.

When you first load the UI, you'll see just 4 icons on the bottom of the screen. But you can find more by moving your finger along the bottom of the screen to find 16 in all, including one square that you press to add new items to your menu. You can also customize your menu by dragging and dropping icons across the screen. You can easily flip back and forth between the Smart Touch interface and the default Windows Mobile UI by hitting the Today icon. To switch back, just hit the Smart Touch icon on your today screen.

You can check out a video of Smart Touch in action after the jump.

[via the::unwired and SolSie]

Continue reading Gigabyte's GSmart Touch UI for Windows Mobile available for everyone

1. While the demonstration shows a user zooming in and out of pictures by "pinching" the screen, our guess is that the device, which doesn't recognize multi-touch is actually just detecting the motion of one finger.
2. The program launcher interface is pretty, but at least once in the video, we're pretty sure we caught the producers stopping and restarting the video to make it look like an application actually started up more quickly.