The reason is that Java programs run in a sandbox environment, they are ‘protected’ from the evil system (actually, it’s the other way around, but..) and are not allowed to do potentially dangerous things like writing files to the flash filesystem.

Even on phones where it is possible to save (and read) files from java, you usually have to have the applet signed by your provider to write files, which means that it has to be pre-installed on the phone, or at least provided by your provider.

1) If you already have Opera Mini installed, trying to download the End Zone version is confusing because it looks like you’re installing the same thing over again. I kind of assumed it would be a separate Java app than Opera Mini, but really what it does is install itself over your current version. Not only that, but the version number is exactly the same. So after I told it “no” a couple of times, I finally did allow the phone to “reinstall” Opera Mini.. and that got me End Zone.

2) As for usability - it works just like Opera, so that’s good. But one thing I’ve noticed is that every once in a while (I believe whenever the WiFi connection is momentarily dropped), I get a black screen. I can hit the “back” button on my phone to go back one page and click the link again, but it’s *very* annoying when I am on, say, LiveJournal, and I had a large paragraph typed out on my keypad. I haven’t found a way to go “foward” with Opera Mini. So I lost all my text. (I know, I know. I shouldn’t have been typing so much into the phone. But really I was just testing it out. It was the first time I had browsed LJ with the phone.)

3) On the plus side, I have noticed that Opera Mini is much faster than IE on my SDA.

4) On the down side, whenever I try to download a file (such as an mp3 I want to set as a ringtone), Opera Mini launches IE to do the actual download. I am not sure if this is by design or what. (It does warn me that it needs to launch IE and asks for my permission.)

That’s all for now.