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Opera Mini Mobile Browser Officially Released
worb writes "The tiny mobile browser Opera Mini was officially released worldwide today. Opera is known for its PC and mobile browsers, but even the cell phone version Opera require more memory than most phones today are capable of. Opera Mini works by passing pages through Opera's servers to strip them down before they are displayed on the phone. Also, the Register has a story on how this actually means that Opera now offers a reason not to buy a smartphone, a market Opera currently has a strong foothold in."
Screenshots here:m l
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=13423
Interesting discussion here about how good Opera Mini really is or it is not:
http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008770.ht
From the article:
To support the service, Opera has implemented more than 100 new servers, says Christen Krogh, vice president of engineering for Opera. He was reluctant to be more specific but he says they run Linux and are massively parallel and massively redundant.
Now that's HOT.
Opera Mini works by passing pages through Opera's servers to strip them down before they are displayed on the phone.
So does this mean that we can finally see pictures of Jessica Simpson and Seven of Nine naked?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
What are you talking about? I have the Motorola Linux feature-phone E680i running Opera 7 (Motorola's linux smartphones are not true smartphones because the SDK is not given away to developers to write native apps for the phone -- a crucial part of a smartphone platform), and I have also installed Opera Mini 1.2 just fine. It works fine.
So when can I get opera for my Pocket PC? Or any other decent browser for that matter.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
"...today offers a reason not to buy a smart phone."
Um, no. This is, in fact, the best reason to buy a smart phone yet. Non-smartphones typically save money by having little ram, little flash memory, and slow processors, this makes them cheap and great on batteries. Even with on-the-fly-proxy-html-rewriting surfing the modern broad-band oriented Internet can be a painful experience.
I have a SideKick II (which has Danger's very good html/image compressing proxies behind it), a Nokia 6682 (good Edge GSM phone), and a Treo 650. All of which can download a typical webpage before a SonyEricson T610 can run the most trivial of Java apps. Each of the phones has features I like, but when I need a data device I reach unhesitatingly for the Treo. 320x320 pixels and 300 Mhz beats both proxy-compression and Edge for overall web use for no other reason than more pixels and a more processor make the navigating the received page so much faster. It's also worth noting that now that T-Mobile has rolled out it's Edge network, multi-timeslot downloads are working with the Treo, so in well-covered areas it's twice as fast (~44kbits/s) as a typical GPRS download rate (~22kbits/s). In addition, the Treo has enough processor to play highframe rate videos (TCPMP), makes good use of 2gb SD cards, and has a good OpenSource SSH client (tuSSH).
In short, if you really want to surf from your phone, spend the extra bucks and get a smartphone, or 1000 minutes of use from now you'll wish you had.
I wonder if Opera Mini will also have the ability to handle RSS feeds something like the regular Opera 8.51 does. I'm running it now on my knoppix remaster, and I have several RSS feeds, (including slashdot), and I think it's cool how the little feed download popup in the lower right hand corner of the screen works. Every so often it pops up and shows the download of more stories from the various feeds. Even on dialup, it loads from scratch in less than a minute, sometimes over 180 stories! Then maintains the feed lists with the updates. On a mobile device, do you suppose Opera Mini will have some sort of sound to notify of updated feed lists? Also, the way Opera handles the feeds is superior to Firefox, which only shows the titles of the stories in the bookmarks toolbar folder, in the drop down box. Opera gives you the summary of the story when you click on it, sometimes several lines long, enough for you to decide whether or not you want to click on the main link provided, and go to the actual web page for that item. Opera provides a quick and bandwidth-conserving way of scanning a lot of news items and articles very quickly. Opera Mini might be able to do this also for the mobile devices.
Rapidweather's Linux Screenshots.
Uh, I thought that was how AvantGo worked, too. Not flamebait, just asking why this is considered amazing.
"Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on
...it lets me get FP anytime, anywhere. In fact, I'm posting this with it right now...
Using opera mini, excellent :>
I've been using this for a whole week..(it was given to sprint users for Vision Phones from a link they provided on 1/13)
= 87456&highlight=opera+mini
http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t
O-Mini seems to pass all comm through thier servers in real time. It slices most full window pages into 30 slices. It does the same on large, wider-then-tall images.
Actually I love it so far.. I just hope they keep it free...
Also check out Google Maps for mobile:
http://www.google.com/glm/index.html
And Orb (stream MUCHO from home computer):
http://www.orb.com/what_is_orb/
Any idea when the new version of Opera Maxi (i.e. normal Opera) will be coming out? 9 has been in beta for a long time, and I'd like to see Gmail work right for once.
Opera Mini, just like Google Local for Mobile, is a J2ME app. Hopefully they'll both have a BREW version soon.
By default Opera identifies itself as "Internet Explorer" and some webmasters incorrectly use this information to determine which web browsers are more commonly used.
If you're a big fan of Opera, like we are (and it's already standard at some of the companies we regularly deal with too), you can actually cast an implied vote by setting the default to "Opera" in the settings:
1. "Tools" menu
2. "Preferences" item
3. "Advanced" tab
4. "Network" option (on the left-hand side)
5. "Browser identification" pull-down menu
And if you find a web site that lectures you on which web browser they think you should use, then send a friendly message to the sales department (don't bother the webmaster because given their attitude they'll probably just ignore you and not bother to let the sales people know) telling them that you were interested in their product but since you can use Opera to browse their web site that you'll just have to find the needed information somewhere else.
The Lumber Cartel, local 42 (Canadian branch)
British Columbia, Canada
By default Opera identifies itself as "Internet Explorer" and some webmasters incorrectly use this information to determine which web browsers are more commonly used.
If you're a big fan of Opera, like we are (and it's already standard at some of the companies we regularly deal with too), you can actually cast an implied vote by setting the default to "Opera" in the settings:
1. "Tools" menu
2. "Preferences" item
3. "Advanced" tab
4. "Network" option (on the left-hand side)
5. "Browser identification" pull-down menu
And if you find a web site that lectures you on which web browser they think you should use, then send a friendly message to the sales department (don't bother the webmaster because given their attitude they'll probably just ignore you and not bother to let the sales people know) telling them that you were interested in their product but since you can't use Opera to browse their web site that you'll just have to find the needed information somewhere else.
The Lumber Cartel, local 42 (Canadian branch)
British Columbia, Canada
my g5 iPod I bought off of e-bay with three matrix movies and 18000 mp3s?
This is a little bit off topic, but I'm sure many of you have the same question. I have an EDGE enabled phone. Will this download at EDGE Speeds or just at GRPS. I know its a stupid question, but I'm a little confused.
So, does this mean that if Opera desperatly needs some more cache, they'll start logging the pages they strip and sell off the logs to the highest bidder? What about DOJ requests for folks checking out pr0n on their mobile phone?
Is this liability that Opera really wants to take on?
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
The fact that Opera Mini passes all the traffic through their servers makes me kinda nervous. Moreover, they store cookies on server as well.
OK, I don't think Opera is evil and spies on my email, but I wouldn't use it to access my bank account for instance.
I thought the best reason not to buy a smartphone was having to try and read websites on a 1.5" screen. I suppose if you enjoy something like that, it's all well and good, but I can't even put up with reading text messages. At least they're only a few words long.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
To narrow it down more what about sony-ericsson users on O2? hopefully its just my phone (the s700i, damn thing is the buggiest phone ive ever owned!) Cheers Maquis196
Bceause when you look at a mirror, your eyes are turned 180 degrees from the orientation they would be in if you were looking straight at someone.
Le français vous intéresse?
I wonder whether it can be viewed in Landscape mode on, say a PPC-6700 smartphone. The screenshots displayed text layout much better than IE...which will minimize expensive scrolling /. in the company bathroom stall.
If you think
Finally - A browser that actually works on the ROKR - I haven't been able to hit gmail on a cell since upgrading phones - until now.
I always thought Opera for desktops should have been free, but this - I'd have gladly paid $30-$40 bucks for it.
Well it loads on my blackberry 8700, and runs and loads webpages, but not very well, slow as hell and images have horrible compression... text goes missing, and i am unable to load the menu... heh... hopefully they release a BB friendly version :)
Tell that to Bodström. :D
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
So this service has the ability to capture copies of everything that users are viewing.
That would be really useful in the war against porn^H^H^H^HTerror.
I have been using Opera Mini on my Nokia 6230 for about a month now. It runs very quickly, much better than the built in browser on my particular phone. I have found only rare pages that don't work properly. I use HTML gmail, without a problem, and many other full sites work great. You can still look at the mobile versions of sites, and they work even more quickly than the mobile versions in the built-in browser. Supports cookies and SSL without a problem. It's great when you want to go to a site without argument of what your phone can and can not do.
It has a nice front page that helps you quickly return to sites you looked at in the last session, your top bookmarks, and jsut sites you'd like to see on the front page. It also has a very complete options menu, for the standard browser options.
Only one problem: it doesn't support the required technologies to properly support AJAX. It's becoming more and more necessary, and it's a shame that you can't use the dynamic gmail and dynamic custom Google front page. I'm sure they'll get it worked out soon. I'm not sure if it's the javascript, the XML, or the HTTPRequest object, but it just doesn't work. It may even be a DHTML issue.
Conclusion: Try this browser if you have a java phone, you'll love it.
-Patrick
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
Just an intersting note from Mobile Tracker http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2005/11/10/l g-vx9800-review ...Opera Mobile requires between 3 and 4 MBs of RAM. This device does not set aside that much RAM for the browser. And if it had more RAM, I am sure the included browser would run better anyway.
;-)
As for Opera Mini, its abilities are WORSE than the version of the Openwave browser included in this phone: version 6.2.3.2. Opera Mini is a very scaled-down mini-browser (even centering text doesn't work) where all the rendering is done on a special server (that Verizon does not support), so even if you had Java in the phone, it would still not work for you, and if it did, rendering quality wouldn't be as good as the included browser's.
So, if Verizon listens to their customers, their providers (OEMs) will have to move their butt and will have to use a more modern browser. Openwave has it ready for them (version 7.1 of their browser that does a whole lot more, in exchange to more RAM usage, naturally). But until consumers like you complain to Verizon, *nothing is going to change* and LG and others will STILL ship new phones with 2-year old browsers.
The power is on your cellphone to start with. Call Verizon, call Sprint, call T-Mobile, call Cingular, and let them know. And while you are at it, tell them to minimize GPRS rates too cause I just blew another $3 today.
I like where this is going. While I do think the Nokia 770 concept is really cool, rather than building stripped-down laptop/cellphone/pda hybrid thingys, why not focus on wireless dumb terminals that access larger servers to do their computing and storage? Picture this: a folding device (like a Nintendo DS or like two PSPs on a hinge) with one screen as a display, and one as a reconfigurable control pad (like the DS touchscreen maybe?) or maybe a qwerty thumbboard (dunno how good a touchscreen setting of that'll be without a stylus), with an earpiece/mic cable thing (so NOT used like a N-Gayge); then a small amount of RAM and tiny processor (about as much or a little more than a Nokia 770, a PSP or DS amount maybe?) and a cell phone/bluetooth/802.11b/g/n communications array. Then all data storage, programs, and real computing power could be accessed wirelessly (maybe Remote Access your home computer?). This would be a lot cheaper, smaller, and (depending on your computer and connectivity) more powerful. USB could allow for connecting a hard drive, external DVD player, battery, or other device. I'd buy one. Of course, wireless speeds are probably still too slow for this, but with the advent of fiber lines, cable, and bpl, along with 802.11n, this could own. I like where this is going. While I do think the Nokia 770 concept is really cool, rather than building stripped-down laptop/cellphone/pda hybrid thingys, why not focus on wireless dumb terminals that access larger servers to do their computing and storage? Picture this: a folding device (like a Nintendo DS or like two PSPs on a hinge) with one screen as a display, and one as a reconfigurable control pad (like the DS touchscreen maybe?) or maybe a qwerty thumbboard (dunno how good a touchscreen setting of that'll be without a stylus), with an earpiece/mic cable thing (so NOT used like a N-Gayge); then a small amount of RAM and tiny processor (about as much or a little more than a Nokia 770, a PSP or DS amount maybe?) and a cell phone/bluetooth/802.11b/g communications array. Then all data storage, programs, and real computing power could be accessed wirelessly (maybe Remote Access your home computer?). This would be a lot cheaper, smaller, and (depending on your computer and connectivity) more powerful. USB could allow for connecting a hard drive, external DVD player, battery, or other device. I'd buy one.
The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it. - William Gibson
I cannot get very far in the download with my WAP browser on my blackberry 7510 before it says download failed. On a side note, I have been trying to download and install 1.2 for a few days now, but I keep getting a java out of memory error on installation. I guess they did not QA for all platforms.
Mirror:
http://www.getjar.com/products/3334/OperaMini
or from your phone:
wap.getjar.com
Tis better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt --Abraham Lincoln
I just happened to read today that Google had acquired Reqwireless, which used to offer a similar proxy-based cellphone browser called WebViewer. (I used to use it; I think Opera Mini is a bit better, but WebViewer was pretty good.) Wonder if they'll release the browser under the Google name.
Of course then everyone will undoubtedly talk about how innovative Google is...
Until Opera Mini supports proxies (for T-mobile), it sucks.
I just finished installing Opera Mini on my Tungsten E2, and this is an amazingly fast browser. I've been using Blazer and there is just no comparison in performance.
The interface is minimalist and not entirely intuitive for a long time Palm user and at best it could be said to be a little errr... unpolished, but it is serviceable.
You can compare the performance between Opera and Google because they both offer WAP proxying and you can expect Opera's performance to be somewhat faster. Over all it's a sound app, and it works swimmingly on a humble E2 (despite the fact that they claim it isn't supported) so if you have a Lifedrive or Tx the performance should be outstanding.
load "$",8,1
This is just what I always wanted: A poorly written browser nobody uses on a platform nobody finds comfortable!
Now, come on. We've had Internet Explorer for years now.
PS: I've just tried Opera Mini on an old POS Nokia phone and it worked flawlessly. I'm floored; kudos to the Opera crew!
...I'd like to see something like this for "normal" desktop useage, a service that would automagically make a "lite" version of web pages. So many sites *don't* have that. I detest "busy" sites. I don't want to keep up with dozens of add ons and extensions and stuff like that with a browser. I want text, some smallish tasteful images, and that's about it, and I want fast downloads and smooth easy page renderings. I don't want flash, animations, sheets with no style, broken this and active that and scripted buggishness and sites that need AJAX cleanser because they are so filthy with extraneous crap.. it's stoopid.
There's no *true* reason that people have to have a fast broadband connection, a new computer, and every plug in under the sun just to view the web, other than this "they" guy can make it complicated so they go ahead and do that. Bah! Blinkenlights busy bugware has ruint the web.
That claim is about as false as saying that the web stats are wrong because by default Internet Explorer identifies itself as Mozilla.
Here is an example of a User-Agent string that Opera sends when it "identifies itself as Internet Explorer":
Notice that even though it resembles an IE User-Agent string, it's still obvious that it came from Opera. Every log analyzer is smart enough to interpret the User-Agent string by looking for "Opera" first, then "MSIE", then "Mozilla".
Setting it to "identify as Opera" or "identify as Mozilla" just changes the string to
You can think of it as a protest against the silly mimicry trend that Microsoft started when they made IE's User-Agent string resemble Mozilla's. But pragmatically, letting the User-Agent string be configurable achieves nothing. The stats show that Opera has a small market share, and the stats are correct regardless of how you tell Opera to identify itself. I wish Opera hadn't included this silly feature. Just let this myth die. Put your efforts into converting your friends, not the webmasters.
At least they showed the good sense not to call it Operetta.
Making gadgets do more and more things is neato and all, but I can't get excited about surfing the web or watching videos on a 1-1/2 inch screen. It would be like riding a motorcycle with 4-inch tires -- good for about 5 minutes of novelty, then give me back my Harley.
/like I have a Harley
I just installed it and played for a while. This is about 19 steps up from the browser that came with my Sony Ericsson S700i...fast, smooth, and ACTUALLY USABLE as a browser! I can surf pron on my phone!
It launches faster than my built-in browser, too, although I cant use the internet button to launch Opera Mini. I wish I could change the default browser.
My only complaint: the function keys (save bookmark, etc) are not exactly intuitive. Saving a bookmark is # 7; it is not in the More context menu, so you actually have to remember the various key combos.
One more complaint...my provider charges 25 centavos per KB. I ran thru 200 pesos (3.50 USD) in 3 minutes. There ain't price competition in the Philippines.
I am a long-time user of Opera on Windows. I have stopped using it most of the time because of incompatibility with my common websites. Opera Mini makes me want to start using the full-size browser again.
i installed on my Motorola E1000 3G but it failed to connect. I went to the help page on Opera website but it didn't have any kind of support for the Motorolla. Now i can't surf the net for pr0n while i'm waiting for the bus.. damn it!
These are taken from my Nokia 6670 (in turn copied from my old 7650), you'll have to work out where to enter them on your phone. This access point works for me with Netfront, Opera Mini, Opera 6 and 8(.0/.5) and the piss poor Nokia browser. I've transferred these details to a Sony Ericson K750i(?), and Opera Mini worked there too. I've never been charged for GPRS use in the ~3 years I've been with O2.
The only problem I have had is that I couldn't get my three mounth subscription to Operas compressing proxy to work with Opera 8.
Connection Name: O2 Mobile Web
Data Bearer: GPRS
Access point name: mobile.o2.co.uk
Username: O2web
Password: pass
Advanced-
Phone IP: Automatic
Proxy server address:193.113.200.195
Port: 8080
"We believe in respect for our users". "We believe in privacy" - http://www.opera.com/company/vision/
I can believe that their statement is true. They say they support open standards and they do (Opera helps W3C and WHATWG), they say they dislike patents and they haven't patented anything they've invented. Opera seems to be quite honest company.
I've been using it this morning and it's much better than my phone's built in browser. They seemed to have actually taken usablity into account. (I didn't realize that a phone app could be this nice.)
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Not to be alarmist, but the question remains, what're they planning to do with those browsing histories?
Nothing more than every single isp on the planet has the capability of doing if they chose (you do know that your isp can track your browsing history right? Transparent proxies or simply logging http requests that come down the wire).
That's pretty cool. I need to buy me a nice PDA. I'd love to have Opera running on it as well. That and Firefox... but I wouldn't know which to use more. Same way for me on my Mac; I switch between Safari and Firefox.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher