Archive for: opera
- November 23, 2010 7:13 am
Fans of the Norwegian-based Opera browser have something new to play with today. Version 11 beta 1 has officially hit the interwebs. Besides the obvious speed increase, the biggest feature currently on the table is Extensions. Yes, other browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and more recently Safari, all already make use of Extensions or “Plugins” — basically mini programs/scripts that run in the browser.
One other intriguing feature that Opera is debuting with Opera 11 beta 1 is Tab Stacking. The name is pretty self explanatory. You put one tab on top of another.
Fancy a look? Hop inside for a demo video…
I never thought I’d utter the words, “Microsoft’s IEx is faster than Chrome, Opera, and on par with Firefox. Such things just don’t sound right in a world where we constantly mock Microsoft for their sub standard browser offering. But the IE9 preview is changing those past misconceptions.
When thrown head to head with Firefox 3.7 and latest version of Chrome and Opera, IE9 actually topped all but Firefox in pure HTML5 speed. That’s pretty huge considering the web is racing towards HTML5 as the next go-to standard of standards.
Of course, you have to keep in mind the history of each browser as well. Microsoft IE9 may eventually top everyone when it’s officially released, but look at how often Microsoft actually upgrades their browsers. While Chrome, Opera, and Firefox can be measured in months between upgrades, Microsoft can stretch the time between major upgrades by years.
They may be the fastest now, but that will all change come 4-5 months down the line when everyone else in the browser party picks up and moves on, leaving IE9 to wallow in self pity and irrelevance once again.
With that, hop inside and check out a video showing the four browsers dukin’ it out…
A few weeks back, the Google Chrome team released a video showing how fast the new release of Chrome was. It was pretty clever actually, featuring speed tests using lightning, sound, and even potatoes. In the spirit of competition, Opera would like you to know that they too have a speedy browser. Except their video is a bit more of a parody than a quote on quote, “real” speed test. But it’s freakin’ hilarious.
Have a good laugh after taking the plunge…
iPhone/iPod Touch users who spend a pretty good minute on the web, today is a day to remember, for it is the day in which Opera submitted their iPhone version of Opera Mini to the App Store. The reason for the whole show is simply because, there’s a fair chance that the ever so intelligent and common sense filled (/sarcasm) App Store approvers will reject the app. The reasoning if Apple does in fact do so isn’t anything new. They’ll simply label it as “duplicating functionality” of an app already present on the iPhone (made by Apple).
Personally I feel a bit of competition in the form of “duplicate apps” is a god send. I guess a little choice is too much. Oh well. If things go south the legitimate route, Opera can always make an even bigger statement by putting Opera Mini up on Cydia for download. That would turn some heads and piss off Apple no less.
How Apple handles this will be pretty big either way. If they accept Opera Mini, it will be a monumental change from previous claims of “duplicate functionality” and the ensuing rejections that followed. If they deny it, well, the App Store will be dead to me. Denying a clearly helpful, useful, and all around great app just because they don’t want any competition with their in-house apps is bullshit.
BGR
Well, it seems that the Windows Web Browser Choice Screen mandated by the European Union to splash on all versions of Windows is working great! According to the latest data from Opera, one of the options given on the main choice screen, their downloads across European Countries has skyrocketed! Opera says it’s “dramatic uptake on downloads.”
They are telling us that their download rates have doubled since this browser download and activation pop-up was initiated. In some countries their downloads have tripled. Giving the EU Windows users a choice has only been going on for a couple weeks now, but will continue well into May for current Windows users, and will be standard for at least 5 years on all new users.
I think this was a great idea, from working on peoples computers and going to their homes and talking to them about what they use their cpus for, I know that they are unaware of different options out there, not only for browsers. There is so much available that the standard user might not know about, and this was a great way to spread the knowledge better web browsing. I think this should be a standard on all computers, in Europe as well as the States!
Opera Press Release
- February 16, 2010 8:54 am
Besides world hunger, rampant diseases, and a good chunk of the world ready to slit the others’ throat, the most obvious thing that we need at this point is another app store. While Apple’s App Store certainly has it’s fair share of problems — as does the Android Market, RIM’s App World, Windows Marketplace, Nokia’s Ovi Store, and Palm’s App Catalog to name the most prominent and relevant — it seems someone else thinks they can do us consumers better. Except this time, the person launching the app store is somewhat of a surprise — Ericsson.
No, not that Ericsson (Sony Ericsson — the company that makes beautiful cellphones), but Ericsson, a mobile infrastructure supplier. The Swedish company is partnering with Opera Software in launching an already 30,000 strong app store titled “eStore”. At first glance, I’m left wondering exactly why an infrastructure supplier is jumping into the consumer software front. Hell, even second and third passes have me still doing a double take and scratching my head.
If you can manage to stop your double-take dilemma for a few minutes, you’ll come to realize that money is again at the root for this new venture. There is some incentive to be had though. Instead of a single OS or device specific market, the eStore is geared towards the mobile sphere as a whole. Of course, when such lofty and large goals are set, it usually detracts from the overall end user experience since most apps aren’t optimized to their full potential as to retain compatibility across multiple devices/platforms.
If it were just Ericsson launching the eStore, I’d strongly caution against getting too wrapped up in their ventures. Opera’s inclusion however does provide some hope. Opera has a pretty good track record for support, execution, and flat out awesome applications. If you’re still caught up on how well an infrastructure supplier can do on the consumer software front, just look at it this way: the “Ericsson eStore” is really no more than an Opera mobile app portal with Ericsson’s logo slapped on it for good taste. Make you feel any better?
The things money will do…
Is anyone out there interested in this Opera-rebranded-to-Ericsson “eStore” or are you plenty happy with your current offerings?
[Opera Press Release]
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- February 11, 2010 12:57 pm
Holla! Whoop whoop! Time to get excited. Skyfire is coming to Android!
Mobile browsing has steadily gotten better over the last several years with better hardware and software teaming up. Regardless of what OS, processor, or type of display you have, the only thing that truly matters in mobile web browsing is the browser itself. Even today, most phones have pretty craptastic apps installed called “browsers”, with some manufacturers even going as far as to brag about the “HTML” aspect. Even with “HTML”, most standard browsers suck.
Truth be told, today we have several viable options that are worth a look, or two, or three. There’s the standards such as Mobile Safari on the iPhone and Mobile Chrome on Android, but those are more dependent on the OS. Instead, more “universal” browsers that are actually worth talking about include Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, Fennec, and SkyFire.
Opera Mini is an amazingly successful mobile browser that spans across hundreds of devices and offers fast speeds in a light footprint. Opera Mobile requires more powerful hardware, but still offers an even fuller featured browsing experience while on the go if not a slightly slower pace. Fennec is the new wonder browser that debuted on the Nokia N900, with plans to move onward to Android in the not too distant future. But the real reason we’re talking about mobile browsers today is Skyfire.
Skyfire, like Opera Mini users server-side compression technology to compress each and every page you browser before it actually gets to your phone. Doing that removes a solid 60%+ from your actual device’s data stream making your wait times and data usage much less — a very good thing. It’s already been highly talked up in it’s current Windows Mobile dressing for it’s speed, rending accuracy, and overall ease of use. Best of all (to some), it is 100% fully Flash compatible. Good news for Android users, it’s coming home.
In an announcement today, Skyfire announced that they have acquired Kolbysoft — the company which makes the Android “Steel” browser — in hopes to better develop a new Android browser.
According to Skyfire’s CEO:
By adding kolbysoft’s talent to Skyfire, we’ll be able to fuse the best of Skyfire’s famed cloud-computing multimedia capabilities with the Webkit browser movement to create a better hybrid model for Android. Steel has been the most acclaimed browser in the Android Marketplace, adding features atop Webkit. Together, we’ll be able to do so much more.
Don’t go waiting in any digital line to get early news on Skyfire’s new Android development as they’re still in the early stages. Now with Kolbysoft’s talent in the Android realm however, things should pick up. One last thing worth mentioning before we leave is that the Skyfire Android browser will run atop the WebKit rendering engine already used by the stock Android browser. Some may see this as a sour point. But, if Skyfire can work their magic in conjunction with the server-side compression technology, Skyfire for Android could be even better than Fennec for Android. Well, ok. Maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself there.
Geeked?
Gizmodo > Skyfire
- February 10, 2010 7:45 am
One of the few parts of the iPhone that is generally free from any criticisms is it’s Mobile Safari browser. As far as mobile browsers go, it’s nearly perfect with blazing speed, extremely accurate rendering, and drop dead simple navigation. But you can’t please everyone with a single product. No matter how good a product is, it’s always nice to have a second or third choice. As far as third party iPhone browsers go, there aren’t too many legitimate contenders. Sure, there several 3rd party browsers now available since Apple lifted that restriction earlier last year. But these browsers aren’t as fully featured as Mobile Safari, or are slower, or less thought out in regards to navigation. This year at MWC, a real 2nd choice browser is being unveiled: Opera Mini.
If you’re not familiar with Opera Mini, it is a lightweight and highly nimble mobile browser that gets a big boost in browsing speeds thanks to server-side caching and heavy lifting. By the time the web page reaches your phone, it’s 1/10th or less the size of the original page. But it’s not only fast, it looks good and is easy to navigate as well. Just because everything adds up of Opera Mini, don’t get too excited yet — Apple still has to approve it.
Duplicating the functionality of the browser seems as if it would be a blatant rejection, yet there are other browser apps available. Of course, none are of the caliber or quality as Opera Mini. Even still, not only will it be a disservice to iPhone users if they reject Opera Mini, but also to AT&T and any cellular network admin. Opera Mini and it’s technologies take a big load off of the network and place it on their own servers. AT&T at least should be begging Apple for Opera Mini.
In the end, we really don’t have any say. As far as I’m concerned though, Opera Mini is already the best iPhone browser. Now Apple just has to approve it.
Unwired
- December 9, 2009 12:48 pm
Being on the mobile web just a few short years ago meant navigating extremely rudimentary WAP web pages and dealing with painfully slow load times. That is if you could even get a site to properly/completely load on your device. Thankfully technology doesn’t sit still and in fact runs a breakneck speed. In today’s world, we have browsers such as Mobile Safari, Mobile Chrome, SkyFire, and Opera mini to name a few. While all of the mobile browsers listed (and several unlisted) are all good in most forms, SkyFire is the contender taking the cake today. You see, that little browser that could was upgraded with a new set of numbers and freshened up feature set today. The enhancements aren’t minor ones either but are actually fairly worthwhile.
The newest SkyFire brings many features to the table such as:
- Sleeker, more finger friendly UI
- Crisper text & smoother scrolling
- Full support for higher resolution screens. Now natively supporting VGA and wVGA displays
What do you think? Worth your time? Let me remind all of you that besides the newly released features, SkyFire is the only (free) mobile browser that supports both Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight. Now, personal mileage will vary as some lesser powered phones may have a few performance issues when encountering flash/silverlight content. But I surely can’t argue with the fact that something is better than nothing.
If I were you and had a device that was able to take advantage of SkyFire, I wouldn’t hesitate even for a second. Pick up your copy of SkyFire here and get ready to question yourself as to how you ever scoured the digital web without it…
TechCrunch
