Wii Browser in April

Mr E

Just read this on IGN.... the improvements sound great. Can't wait to see them in practice.

Nintendo has announced the final version of its Wii browser will be available for download in April, along with several improvements to make the console's web surfing experience better.

A free test version of Opera's browser has been available since last December. After receiving feedback about the demo from console owners, Nintendo has made a number of changes to the finished product. Currently the list of improvements includes:

- Improved zooming and scrolling
- An improved zoomed font
- Shortened startup times
- Quicker access to 'favourites'
- An ability to erase the toolbar
- Buttons that instantly type common preset letters, such as 'www' or '.com'

This new browser is going to be free for Wii owners to download until the end of June. After then, users who haven't already downloaded the Opera browser can go to the Wii Shop Channel to download it for 500 Wii Points.

Retr0gamer

Would have liked a tabbing function ala Firefox but other than that it fixes basically everything that was wrong with the beta.

Star Lord

I hope it has a few plugins installed to allow viewing of movie files online without having to you-tube them or stream them into a flash interface.

Basq

Retr0gamer wrote:

Would have liked a tabbing function ala Firefox

Temporarily, use www.wiiminder.com for tabbed browsing.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

a keyboard/mouse would be nice

Basq

Oh.. and forgot to mention kudos to Opera. Those features are all very high-priority:

- Improved zooming and scrolling (zooming is diabolical on the beta)
- An improved zoomed font (as above)
- Shortened startup times (christ.. the wait is intolerable)
- Quicker access to 'favourites' (never really noticed this)
- An ability to erase the toolbar (good news for Kawa / The Orb users)
- Buttons that instantly type common preset letters, such as 'www' or '.com' (isn't this already in it with the predictive text? )

Glazun

- Improved zooming and scrolling - hadnt noticed it.. o_O I need a bigger tv.
- An improved zoomed font - hmm.. nice.
- Shortened startup times - wasnt that slow, was it?
- Quicker access to 'favourites' - but.. teh button is right there. o_O its fast.
- An ability to erase the toolbar - good for youtube.
- Buttons that instantly type common preset letters, such as 'www' or '.com' ~ it already does this.. maybe it does it better..

Tabs would've been so freaking awesome though. Keyboard support too.. I know its a incredibly stupid idea to some, but i would like a keyboard.

jimmycrackcorm

I sincerely hope that they improve the video streaming over flash for orb use. It's crap compared to orb on a lower spec pda.

johngorman365

While you're waiting check out:

http://www.wiisearch.tv

You get actual decent predictive text (based on Google suggest I think) + www. .com etc built in + you can search all the major search engines

slayerking

Heres a video of the Wii browser final version.
It looks pretty good.
link

Kanney

Aboot time.

Star Lord

The final version looks pretty damn good actually! I like the multi-zoom and the varying scroll speed!