Our good friends at Karenclassic, landed a beta test unit of CR-48 Chrome netbook and she gives her first impressions on the device. Enjoy and hit the jump for more

Today, I heard the UPS truck drive up, the thud of a package on the porch, and wondered: Is this something I ordered from Amazon or could it be the ever elusive CR48 Google Chrome OS notebook? I’d signed up several days ago to participate in this Google pilot and hoped against hope I’d be picked.

Well, I got lucky! Thank you, Santa… er, Google!

Here are some initial impressions — I’ll post a follow up after I’ve used it more -

Set-up:

• Physical set-up: Open box, slap on the battery, plug it in, turn it on. Easy!
• OS/Software Set-up: Set-up wizard started out easy, but came to a screeching halt when my WIFI password kept getting rejected. Not sure if it’s due to my router being set to WPA2 security, the special characters in my looooong password (!), or if I just flat out kept typing it wrong. I finally got the WIFI password entered and accepted, and moved forward with the set-up wizard. It was a little nerve wracking at that point since the set-up sequence requires Internet connection to be enabled or you cannot continue.
• Password entry tip: Clicking on the tiny icon next to the password field will change the password display from ***** to the actual characters you’re typing in.
• 3G Connection Set-up: When I first tried to activate the Verizon 3G connection, I kept getting a web page error stating some page elements were not secure. Thankfully, a few minutes later an update notification was pushed to the browser (little orange ball next to wrench in browser toolbar). After that firmware update installed and CR48 restarted, I was able to successfully complete the 3G connection set — 100MB free monthly from Verizon for 24 months.
• Fun fact for Chrome Canary users: The Chrome browser in Chrome OS supports side (as well as top) tabs.
• Embarrassing fact: When I signed up for the CR48 pilot program, I expected it to be a fairly routine beta program where the hardware would be shipped, tested by user, then sent back. From what I can tell, Google is shipping the CR48 to beta testers to keep. Very cool! As a Portland, OR store used to advertise, “Free is a very good price!”

More Here

Via Gizmodo

Opera released the latest version of their Opera Mini-“Opera Mini 5 Beta” browser for Android smart phones yesterday. Opera is know for have a speedy browser on desktop. Practically I think its the fastest on the market ( seriously though, what do I know). Today we will take a good look at the browser and put it through some paces. Ease of use? How fast is the browser? Is it a worthy replacement to the Stock Android Browser. These and more, are some of the thing we will be looking at in the review

Video Review

Pros

• Fast browsing experience( much faster than Stock browser on Android 1.5 & 1.6)
• Opera link ( Ability to transfer you bookmarks & setting from your Opera  Desktop browser to your mobile browser)
• Clean Accessible layout
• Detailed history page

Cons

• Each time you fresh start/launch the app it has to load
• Can eat up memory ( especially on G1)

Notes

App can be used on Android 1.5 and up

Settings and Menus

Tab Browsing and Download Management

Renders Full Pages

Conclusion

The Opera Mini5 browser provides a better browsing experience, than what you would receive from your stock Android browser. Its fast smooth and user friendly.  Though I would like to see less of a loading process each time you start up the app. It has now become my standard browser and I think its definitely worth using