Wii’s Opera Browser: new, improved, and works on Youtube

With today’s gaming consoles and handhelds trying to be more than just devices for well, gaming, it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of trial and error happening, as far as the ability to easily surf the Internet is concerned. Clunky interfaces, poor connectivity, slow loading times, and horrible incompatibility with popular sites are but some of the pitfalls that most recent efforts have fallen victim to.

Things may be changing, however, with the Nintendo Wii’s recent update of its trial Internet Channel to the fully-loaded Opera Browser – and despite the bad reputation Opera’s gotten with the Nintendo DS, it’s been pretty smooth sailing for the little console that could, as Mike Jackson of ComputerandVideogames.com reports. For your reading convenience, we’ve taken the liberty of compiling a list of the features.

• Wiimote Control. Use your Wiimote as a pointer to click on links, images, what-have-you.
• Intuitive “keyboard” interface. Easily type out messages, posts, URLs using one of two keyboard interfaces – the standard QWERTY keyboard, or the nine-button, mobile-phone style texting pad.
• Improved website compatibility. Google, CVG, and other websites display perfectly, with no noticeable hiccups.
• Bookmark management. Bring up your bookmarks, all organized in neat thumbnail fashion, with a simple click of a button on the on-screen toolbar. Deleting or adding is just as easy.
• Improved page/image zooming. Just tap the “+” button and you can zoom in or out as much as you like, without image or text distortion.
• Flash Video enabled. Just what it says, which lets me segue neatly into the next point, which is…
• Youtube! Definitely the high point. Now you can watch, in the comfort and luxury of your own wide-screen TV, the folly of the entire human race as it’s captured and uploaded onto Youtube. Videos load pretty quickly and smoothly, a very big plus.

Of course, the new-and-improved Wii Browser is far from perfect: No USB keyboard support, no tabbed browsing, inability to play .WMV files – but it’s certainly a step up from what’s already out in the market today, and performs what it promises to do.

The Wii Browser is currently available for free download until the end of June.

With today’s gaming consoles and handhelds trying to be more than just devices for well, gaming, it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of trial and error happening, as far as the ability to easily surf the Internet is concerned. Clunky interfaces, poor connectivity, slow loading times, and horrible incompatibility with popular sites are but some of the pitfalls that most recent efforts have fallen victim to.

Things may be changing, however, with the Nintendo Wii’s recent update of its trial Internet Channel to the fully-loaded Opera Browser – and despite the bad reputation Opera’s gotten with the Nintendo DS, it’s been pretty smooth sailing for the little console that could, as Mike Jackson of ComputerandVideogames.com reports. For your reading convenience, we’ve taken the liberty of compiling a list of the features.

• Wiimote Control. Use your Wiimote as a pointer to click on links, images, what-have-you.
• Intuitive “keyboard” interface. Easily type out messages, posts, URLs using one of two keyboard interfaces – the standard QWERTY keyboard, or the nine-button, mobile-phone style texting pad.
• Improved website compatibility. Google, CVG, and other websites display perfectly, with no noticeable hiccups.
• Bookmark management. Bring up your bookmarks, all organized in neat thumbnail fashion, with a simple click of a button on the on-screen toolbar. Deleting or adding is just as easy.
• Improved page/image zooming. Just tap the “+” button and you can zoom in or out as much as you like, without image or text distortion.
• Flash Video enabled. Just what it says, which lets me segue neatly into the next point, which is…
• Youtube! Definitely the high point. Now you can watch, in the comfort and luxury of your own wide-screen TV, the folly of the entire human race as it’s captured and uploaded onto Youtube. Videos load pretty quickly and smoothly, a very big plus.

Of course, the new-and-improved Wii Browser is far from perfect: No USB keyboard support, no tabbed browsing, inability to play .WMV files – but it’s certainly a step up from what’s already out in the market today, and performs what it promises to do.

The Wii Browser is currently available for free download until the end of June.