Opera on Blackberry: disappointment

I’ve been using Opera Mini 4.1 on my Blackberry for a couple of weeks now, and it’s a great browser, with support for plenty of advanced browser features, fantastic mobile-enhanced page rendering and a transparent proxy solution that makes 2.5G browsing bearable.

But the browser suffers from its lack of integration with its host operating system. In short, it doesn’t integrate with the Blackberry:

• It doesn’t support Blackberry page navigation shortcut conventions.
• It doesn’t allow Cut-and-Paste operations from the Blackberry’s clipboard.
• It doesn’t use the Blackberry’s text input conventions.
• It can’t be set as the Blackberry’s defautl browser.

In short, it feels like a foreigner within the fairly consistent software ecosystem that is the Blackberry’s strength.