Tag Archive for 'Opera'

Opera adding Google Gears support to mobile browser

Published by Stuart Houghton on May 30, 2008 in Applications and Mobile internet. 0 Comments

opera-mobile.jpgAccording to many pundits on these here interwebs, Web Apps like Google Docs, Writely and Backpack will soon be the dominant platform - rendering your choice of operating system irrelevant. All you will need to do some work is an internet connection.

And there’s the rub.  What happens when your ISP decides to do some maintenance or you find yourself somewhere with no wifi or 3G signal?

Google Gears is an attempt to build a platform for running web apps while offline by using a simple, local webserver running on your device.  It’s still in beta (what isn’t?), but several web apps now support it.

What has been lacking to date is cross-platform support for mobile devices.  Windows Mobile 5 & 6 are supported, but the mobile Internet Explorer is lacking in a few key areas such as adequate CSS support.

Opera has just announced that the next version of both its desktop and mobile browser will offer full Gears support. The free (java) Opera Mini isn’t up to hosting a Gears app yet, but the non-free Opera Mobile 9.5 will be able to run Gears on both WinMo and Symbian phones

via IntoMobile



Opera mini browser ported to Android

Published by Stuart Houghton on April 11, 2008 in Applications. 0 Comments

opera-logo.jpegOpera has announced an experimental port of its Opera Mini mobile browser to Google’s Android  platform.

The Android version runs in an emulated Java ME session and still has a few small issues, although that’s perhaps understandable when you consider there is no actual Android hardware available to test it on.

This could be a great move for Opera.  Symbian, the iPhone and Windows Mobile  each have well established browsers with big user bases.  While it would see natural to expect the open source Firefox browser to take pole position on Android, the mobile Firefox is dragging its feet a bit and the developers seem to be focusing on the Windows Mobile platform for their initial release.

Opera mini is a very capable Java browser - certainly its better than the default Symbian and WinMo efforts - the problem Opera have always had is in persuading users to leave their comfort zone and try somethng unfamiliar.

With Android offering virgin territory, could this be Opera’s big chance?



Teashark - beta WebKit Browser with a silly name

Published by Stuart Houghton on April 1, 2008 in Applications and Mobile internet. 0 Comments

cnnzoom.JPGTeashark looks like an attempt to take on the formidable Opera Mini for the title of best java mobile web browser.

Unlike Opera’s proprietary rendering engine, though, Teashark uses the open source WebKit engine to process web pages. WebKit has a reputation for standards-compliance and speed (the most recent version scored a perfect 100% on the Acid 3 browser test suite) and is most famously used to power Apple’s Safari browser.

Teashark uses a similar proxy approach to Opera - page requests are pre-processed by a central server and optimised for a mobile screen. Pages are cached to speed up any future access.

The beta supports tabbed browsing, smart text selection with phone number recognition (always useful on a phone, that) and a two-level zoom that divides pages up into sections for easy navigation.

As this is an early beta, the app doesn’t work properly with Blackberry, Palm and Windows Mobile implementations of Java.
Now if they could just do something about that name..



Opera mobile 9.5 preview video

Published by Stuart Houghton on February 6, 2008 in Announcements and Mobile internet. 0 Comments

Just when the upcoming SkyFire seemed to have the mobile browser vapourware market all sewn up, Opera have released a preview video of Opera Mobile 9.5 - and very impressive it looks, too.

The new version brings greatly improved rendering speeds (the video takes great delight in showing how quickly Opera renders the Guardian home page compared to Internet Explorer - accompanied by suitably ponderous music).

Also new is a full-screen display with a hidden GUI activated by tapping a transparent area, smooth zooming and panning across large pages and the ability to send bits of web pages via SMS and MMS.



SkyFire - brilliant browser rumours

Published by Stuart Houghton on January 30, 2008 in Applications and Mobile video. 0 Comments

Californian developers SkyFire are running a private beta of a new mobile web browser that they claim will offer a ‘desktop’ browsing experience with full AJAX and Flash support.

Details are sketchy at the moment - the private beta is US-only and even there SkyFire are being pretty tight-fisted with the invites - but the browser seems to work a little like Opera Mobile, using a proxy server to compress and optimise pages to better suit a small screen and slow connection.

SkyFire currently works only on selected Windows Mobile devices, but full Windows Mobile and Symbian support is promised.

As soon as Pocket Picks can get it’s eager mitts on a copy we will give you a full review but until then, check out this demo video:



Sony announces 2007 Content Awards Winners

Published by Chris Leonard on December 20, 2007 in Applications, Biz & Tech, Games, Mobile internet, Music and Other stuff. 0 Comments

seca-2007.jpgSony Ericsson has announced what it thinks are the best content and applications of the year in its Sony Ericsson Content Awards 2007.

Announcing the winners on a special micro-site, the manufacturer has announced the best third-party apps and content available for its mobile phones, split into five categories.

Each was judged by a panel of industry professionals considering ease-of-use, entertainment, innovation, functionality and audio performance.

Without further ado, the winners:

Gaming: RealNetworks’ Mobile Games Studio Mr Goodliving – Playman Extreme Running

Imaging: BitCycle – Pull Face Image Manipulator

Productive Mobility: Opera – Opera Mini 4.0

Music & Audio: Gracenote – Track ID

Themes & Graphics: Metronize/Clavitones – The Geeks themes and graphics

The winning entries don’t actually really win anything, but do at least get some recognition and kudos in the development community. Mind you, Opera’s new browser (Mini 4.0) has been getting plaudits and awards by the handful anyway, but they probably don’t mind another pat on the back from a manufacturer.

On the site, you can find out more about these apps and see the full list of nominees.



Opera Mini 4 hits the streets

Published by Fraser MacInnes on November 7, 2007 in Applications and Mobile internet. 0 Comments

eu.jpgOpera has just launched the latest version of its mobile browser, Opera Mini 4.0. The browser boasts the ability to bring the web to your handset almost exactly as you would experience it on a PC by way of a zoom function (Opera Zoom) that allows you to home in on the section of the page you are looking at; much like the iPhone’s Safari browser.

Much cleverer than that however is the small screen rendering tech that reduces the size of the page automatically to fit your handset so that pages load more quickly thus costing you less time and money online. Not such a concern in the age of unlimited data plans for mobile browsing but cool nonetheless.

There is of course full support for Opera’s recently launched Opera Link function too, allowing you to synch and organize your bookmarks between the various online devices you use. The new version is available now free from the Opera site or via an over the air download.

(Via Opera)



Sony Ericsson Xmas launches leaked

Published by Chris Leonard on November 5, 2007 in Handsets. 0 Comments

Sony Ericsson’s going to unveil three new handsets tomorrow, and in the best tradition of the blogosphere, details on them have already been leaked.

Sony Ericsson W890i
Perhaps the biggest news is the launch of the W890i, a slimline 3G Walkman phone. It’s an upgrade of the W880i, and has the latest version of PlayNow (4.0) and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

W890i_front_mocha_brown.jpg

Sony Ericsson W380i
A second Walkman phone is also going to be announced - the low-end W380i. Again, this is another upgrade, this time of the W300i. It will apparently feature something called ‘gesture control’, although what this involves isn’t clear at time of writing.

W380_front_open_angle_electric_purple.jpg

Sony Ericsson K660i

Finally, the third handset is the 3G web-browsing phone, the K660i. Its selling point is that it will let users browse the mobile web in portrait/landscape modes and is controlled by a pointer cursor. Presumably this will be the latest Opera mobile web browser (Mini 4).

K660i_Front_Lime_on_White.jpg

So there you have it, details of Sony Ericsson’s Christmas releases - two updates and a 3G web browsing handset. The three phones are almost certainly going to be well-made and popular handsets, but surely Sony Ericsson’s going to unveil more than this tomorrow?

Update: All three were announced as predicted, and all should be in stores before Christmas.