Tech Phone

Opera Software has unveiled Opera Mobile 9.7 beta for Windows Mobile, a new and improved version of its popular browser for smartphones.

The 9.7 beta release of Opera Mobile comes with Opera Turbo technology, providing server-accelerated rendering, and reducing “the amount of data that needs to be downloaded by up to 80 percent” – thus speeding up data transfers.

Opera Mobile 9.7 beta also includes the Opera Presto 2.2 rendering engine (used for the desktop version of Opera too), which should help display webpages on your handset up to 25% faster.

Furthermore, Opera Mobile 9.7 beta features the add-on Opera Widgets manager and Opera Widgets SDK.

Opera has steadily been gaining ground and market share in the mobile browsing arena for some time now. To continue the path and keep building on their success they’ve just released 9.7 Beta for Windows Mobile devices. Some issues with the Beta have already been noted:

• Opera Turbo in Opera Mobile is still a preview-feature;
  - Downloads don’t work while Opera Turbo is enabled.
  - Some settings (such as toggle on/off images) do not apply when Opera Turbo is enabled.
• On older WM 5.0 Devices with 480×800 resolution, switching between portrait and landscape may cause display errors. This is due to lack of support for this resolution in early versions of Microsoft ’s driver.
• Some input method editors are known not to work well with Opera because they do not comply with Microsoft’s SIP and/or IME standard. When such an editor is detected by Opera, Opera will use a known (default) input method instead. An exception is EzInput v1.5, where the phone keypad and compact QUERTY, ABC mode doesn’t work, but the rest of the modes work fine. We recommend upgrading to EzInput v2.0 to avoid this.
• Only support for FlashLite 3.x. No Flash plugin included.

With that said, 9.7 still looks like a highly recommended download for anyone running a Win-Mo device. You may have noticed in the points above that this build is the first to set ‘Opera Turbo’ technology into action… which, in a nutshell should speed up your browsing experience. The technology sends pages to Opera’s servers where they are compressed and sent back to your device at a fraction of the original size. Cool.

A widget manager add-on is also available with the Beta, and must be installed after you install Opera 9.7 (that is, if you want it to work!). Some known issues/points on the widget manager from Opera:

• The Widget manager is an add-on to the browser, so the browser must be installed in order for the widget manager to work.
• We recommend disabling Opera Turbo in the browser when using the widget manager.
• Rotating widgets does not work properly. Portrait mode should be used when running widgets.
• Widgets + Plugins (Flash & Gears) don’t work.
• Clicking internal links in a widget will launch the browser.
• Twitter widget might have login problems on first run. If this happens, just close the Twitter widget (X) and open it again.

Looks like a solid build, and although there are many known issues… that’s what the beta is for, right? You can check out all of the details and download for yourself over at Opera.

Opera Software announced that Virgin Mobile USA will begin distributing their popular Opera Mini web browser on some of Virgin’s handsets. This service will be available on eight Virgin Mobile USA handsets including the Slash from Samsung, and the Arc, Shuttle and Super Slice. Dubbed as Opera Mini 4.2, it will gives prepaid customers more ways to optimize their mobile experience. Customers can take advantage of these new included services by signing up for any monthly or prepaid data pack plan ranging from $5 for 5MB of data on prepaid plans to $10 for 50 MB of data on a monthly plan.
Opera Mini 4.2 offers a richer mobile Internet access experience using Opera Software’s data compression technology while providing a desktop-like browser experience.

Opera Software and Virgin Mobile USA form partnership

Additional features included in the Opera Mini 4.2 release include:

* Personalization through customized skins
* Optional bookmark synching with a personal computer or another mobile device with installation of the Opera browser product
* Notes and speed dial available from Opera Broswer
* Ability to view pages in landscape mode on select devices
* Scrolling short cuts

Opera Mobile 9.7 features Opera Turbo, Opera’s breakthrough compression technology, along with the company’s latest Presto 2.2 rendering engine (also used in Opera 10 desktop) and full support for dynamic Web technologies such as Ajax and Flash (for accessing popular sites like Facebook and YouTube).
At next week’s CTIA Wireless Show, Opera Software will be announcing the new Opera Mobile 9.7 server-accelerated browser for smartphones and mobile devices. To learn more, check out the Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo demo video to the right.
In today’s tough business climate where customer expectations are ever-increasing, Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo can help carriers reduce network congestion while helping mobile device manufacturers bring increased speed and a more rich Web browsing experience to their customer and users.
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For carriers specifically, Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo provides a more consistent and compelling full Internet experience by compressing data up to 80%, thus reducing unwanted traffic and congestion and allowing users to access the Web regardless of network limitations.

For mobile device manufacturers, Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo can make for a faster, more rich browsing experience by leveraging current device capabilities and utilizing hardware resources more effectively. Opera Turbo offloads Web page rendering to Opera servers freeing up device resources. Even devices with limited hardware capabilities show improved page download rates and better overall performance.

Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo also features better standards support (100% Acid 3 test) and developer tools, hardware acceleration Open GL ES, and support for Google Gears.

In addition to Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo, Opera will be showcasing Opera Turbo on other connected devices as well as the latest version of the award-winning Opera Mini 4.2 on today’s hottest mobile devices – Sprint Instinct, Blackberry Bold, Blackberry Storm, and T-Mobile G1.

Finally, stay tuned for Opera’s latest partner announcements, and make sure to check out Opera executives at the following panels and presentations:

BRIC Conference – “The Important Role of the Mobile Internet for Developing Countries”

* Opera Presenter: Jon von Tetzchner, Founder & CEO
* When: Tuesday, March 31st @ 3:10pm
* Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall, Room N255

CTIA Wireless – “Applications & Operating Systems for Devices”

* Opera Presenter: Jon von Tetzchner, Found & CEO
* When: Thursday, April 2nd @ 3:30pm
* Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall, Room 223

CTIA Wireless – “Mobile Internet – Access to Internet is Not a Desk Job Anymore”

* Opera Presenter: Rod Hamlin, Senior Vice President, Americas
* When: Thursday, April 2nd @ 4:00pm
* Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall, Room 228

CTIA Wireless will be held from April 1st – 3rd in Las Vegas, NV. Visit Opera at Booth #6724 in Central Hall. For media inquiries, please contact Ted Miller at tmiller@opera.com tmiller[at]opera.com.

Opera Software just got stronger for two partnership.

First they announced a deal with Yahoo! to bring Opera Mini to more mobile phone users around the world. Under the agreement, Yahoo! will distribute Opera's Java ME browser via Yahoo! Mobile and also as a standalone download from Yahoo!'s mobile web sites.

In the other news, the company signed an agreement with Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) to develop a custom-made version of Opera Mini, which will be available in Vodafone markets across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The browser is particularly appealing to customers in developing countries who are likely to experience the internet for the first time through a mobile phone. As a matter of fact, in early trials conducted by Vodafone Egypt, more than 400,000 customers downloaded the product in a month.

Great news for Opera and for those users who so far haven't been able to try out Opera Mini and experience the full web on the palm (NSDQ: PALM) of their hand.

Even though it's not an actual release for the Symbian S60 5th Edition, the new version of the popular S60 file manager, Y-Browser, perfectly works on the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 5800 XpressMusic. This is not to say that the application can't be further improved — there are lot of wasted space on the screen and some commands like marking the files could be done better — it's just that it's still way much better solution than Nokia's built-in file manager app.

Anyway, aside from some stability-related bug fixes, the new version of Y-Browser also brings:

• Layout changes
• "Settings" menu is revamped
• File modified time changed from UTC to local time
• Added Command shortcut accelerators to the menu items
• Edit-Mark menu has now two additional options: Mark with wild card and inverse selection
• File association settings added
• Plug-in manager added
• Email folders shown now as well (with Mail folders plug-in)

The bare fact that Y-Browser now works with the Tube should be a reason enough for the respective owners to give it a try. On the other hand, even those using an S60 3.x edition-powered device should give Y-Browser a try, if they still haven't. The app remains free and you can grab it from here.

According to a survey of internet leaders, activists and analysts, it was discovered that the mighty little cellphone was considered to be the premiere device to be used to access the internet come 2020. This is not at all surprising news, and we won't even be shocked if it happens at a much earlier time considering how mobile phones are rapidly advancing in features and capabilities. Add the fact the internet browser developers are also ramping up their deployment of mobile phone-tweaked applications, there's no doubt that mobile phones will someday the lead the pack in internet usage.

The question on my mind is who will be the first to be able to deliver that break-through application that will finally provide the same full internet experience similar to that of a computer-based browser. While Apple maybe the leader in mobile internet browsing at the moment, I think the arrival of Mozill'a Fennec mobile internet browser next year will shake things up a bit for the better.

Those with a Nokia or Samsung phone that's running on Symbian who are looking forward to the Mobile Firefox browser may not need to wait longer than April 2009.

Based on the latest info floating around the internet, both the Mobile FireFox team and Symbian engineers are working on one together with an estimated full public release happening in April. They're likewise planning to release a basic version in February 2009 so as to probably get feedback on its performance. While versions for other platforms are also in the works, it won't be surprising at all if Symbian gets more attention than the others as Christian Sejersen, admits in his blog Symbian's superiority in the market.

In Q3 2008 Symbian had 49.8% of the total smartphone sales (and 57% in Q2) according to Gartner compared to 11.1% for Windows Mobile and 7.2% for Linux. There are a few other platforms: iPhone, RIM and Android that have or are gaining market share, where we for technical or licensing reasons can't be deployed. So in order for Mozilla to be relevant in the smartphone space we need to have a presence on the Symbian platform.

Now that we've got an ETA for Mobile FireFox for Symbain, I wonder when the Windows Mobile and Linux version will become available. Any hints or tips will greatly be appreciated.

Require additional privacy? Don't want to leave your data on the table while surfing the web on your iPhone? Lucky you, AnchorFree made its popular Hotspot Shield security solution available for free for the iPhone users. Whether you're using a 3G or WiFi, the application will keep Internet sessions 100% secure and anonymous.

Hotspot Shield for iPhone is an extension of AnchorFree's flagship security product for laptops and desktops, which is currently used by millions of people across 190 countries, an increase of more than 500% in 2008. Hotspot Shield is the world's first free consumer Virtual Private Network (VPN) that allows users to surf the web, email, conduct business, pay bills or shop online securely. Hotspot Shield for iPhone provides the same standard of security for mobile users, and works in any country where the iPhone is available.

Commenting on the announcement, AnchorFree's CEO David Gorodyansky said: "Hotspot Shield for iPhone offers a free way for savvy, security-conscious consumers to now use the iPhone securely. We've created the ultimate defense for iPhone users jumping from one 3G/Wi-Fi network to the next."

The folks from Microsoft’s Windows Mobile team might’ve read my post about the future of Fennec and realized they have to do something quick. Or not. But anyway, they’ve announced the availability of emulators and documentation for Internet Explorer Mobile 6, a new mobile web browser to watch out for in the Windows Mobile platform.

It is said that Internet Explorer Mobile 6 will be made available on new Windows Mobile devices “soon,” but it wasn’t specified how soon. Perhaps, while we’re still young, eh Microsoft? They’re promising a high-quality browsing experience with the said mobile web browser, but as always, we’ll have to see it for ourselves to believe.
The Windows Mobile team also highlighted the following new features in Internet Explorer Mobile 6:

- Improved fidelity (support for full fidelity desktop rendering)
- Layout fixes to accommodate a mobile screen (text wrap)
- Enhanced Script and AJAX support (Jscript v5.7 from Internet Explorer 8)
- Improved multimedia experience (Adobe Flash Lite 3.1 for Adobe Flash content)
- Deeper integration with search
- Enhanced cursor navigation model
- Touch and gesture support – pan support
- Multiple zoom levels
- Easy switching between mobile / desktop versions of sites by specifying UA strings.

Also, if you’re interested in test driving it (i.e. you’re a developer), you may do so with the Internet Explorer Mobile 6 emulator.

Opera Mini, our favorite non-smartphone mobile web browser, has taken one more step to going gold today. A new Opera Mini beta has been released, giving Opera’s 20 million-strong installed user-base, not to mention new users, a chance to put a desktop web browsing experience on their dumbphone.

The new Opera Mini beta boasts the return of the skinning feature and improved video performance. Perhaps more importantly, Opera has flipped the switch on a new server farm that should make for speedier mobile web browsing in the US and Asia.
Opera Mini manages to deliver a desktop-like web browsing experience on feature phones, with less processing power than their smartphone counterparts, by offloading the page-rendering process to proxy servers. Opera Mini sends all webpages through its server farms for off-handset processing. These servers render the page in full desktop-format and send along the resulting data to a mobile phone - with the user never being the wiser.

Until today, Opera’s proxy servers based in Norway, making round-trip times for webpage data a bit longer for US and Asian customers. Today, with the launch of the new server farm, Opera will look to serve fully-rendered webpages to its Opera Mini fleet with less latency and faster turnaround times.

“The number of people using Opera Mini worldwide proves that there is a
true revolution going on: people want to access all their favorite Web
sites on the mobile phone they have today,” says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO,
Opera. “We constantly focus on developing a faster and more personal
browsing experience. Opera Mini 4.2 beta is an update that takes mobile
Web browsing to the next level.”

Who says smartphones have all the web browsing fun? Grab the new Opera Mini beta today!