Opera Shows Apple a Better iPhone Web Browser
This could be available for the iPhone soon as long as Apple lets it through the App Store gates.
When the iPhone originally launched in 2007, the Safari browser was a revelation in web browsing on a smartphone. Nowadays, competing browsers also based off of the Webkit source from Google's Android and Palm's WebOS have caught up.
iPhone Safari is still plenty usable, especially for those on Wi-Fi or a strong 3G connection, but Opera can do better through its Opera Mini browser and some clever server-side compression tricks.
Opera says that due to server-side rendering, Opera Mini compresses data by up to 90 percent before sending it to the phone, resulting in rapid page loading with less data transferred. This could be hugely useful for those on capped data plans, especially when roaming.
Check out the video below for a demonstration on how much faster Opera Mini is over Safari when on a meager 2G EDGE connection.
Opera announced that its Mini browser for iPhone was officially submitted to the Apple iPhone App store today. Of course, given Apple's tight control over what can and cannot be on the iPhone, it's anyone's guess as to whether or not Opera Mini will be approved.
How long do you think it'll take Apple to approve or reject the app? Opera has a counter here.
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We'll just have to wait for the EU on this one.
Not like Apple would actually approve it and get competition towards Safari. Apple'll say that it had pr0n on it or something.
Very nicely done. Let us now just hope it's free, or at least reasonably priced. I heard no mentioning of price in the video.
Holy crap... that not only kills safari but kills every other browser out there too. I want to see it support some login pages though...
i want that!!!!!!!!!!! awesome
What was the App store approval cycle like 4 months?
I'm sure Apple is good at letting other software run on their iPhone, that would be fair.
Holy crap... that not only kills safari but kills every other browser out there too. I want to see it support some login pages though...
That's the problem I always had with Opera. Everything goes great until you try to log in to Bank of America or some other financial site and get hit with a not supported browser prompt. Though it was much worse a few years ago when only IE was supported at many of these sites.
Okay, just watched the video...
Cool, I want it too... if I had an iphone or smart-phone that could use the Opera Mini browser
Opera rocks kind of like that too on Windows (most likely the same on Mac). You can pull tabs off (into their own window) as well as bring them back.
Everytime I would log on to Paypal or Wachovia I would have problems with opera for my helio Ocean. For paypal it would deactivate my paypal account and say that suspicious activity has been noticed and that I have to go through the security questions and set up a new password. For wachovia a few days after I upgraded to the newest version of Opera Wachovia said they would not be supporting Opera any longer and that I cant access my banking via opera in 2/3 days. I dont really care their gonna cancel the Helio Ocean in May since Sprint Purchased Virgin Mobile Which Purchased Helio. On my PC Opera is Faster than the Safari and IE8.
Their gonna reject the app for whatever BS they choose to do so with and they'll just use the server-side tricks to get the iphone faster and call it a new 4G model.
I love Opera Mini so very much. I just wish Opera Mobile took up less RAM on my Symbian phone, it's much smoother.
That's the problem I always had with Opera. Everything goes great until you try to log in to Bank of America or some other financial site and get hit with a not supported browser prompt. Though it was much worse a few years ago when only IE was supported at many of these sites.
Many banks and sites work fine with Opera, Firefox, etc. Only a few JERK sites force that or stupid sites using old MS servers, who knows. But as of now, even Microsoft.com has to work nice with non IE servers (about time). Now some MS-Specific editing sites for web-sites, custom software may lock down to IE and/or FireFox.
As long as IE continues to lose market share (and it should - its a crappy butt-ugly browser) what few hold-out sites should get their act together.
I think Stevie would rather have his spleen taken out and barbecued than let Opera touch his precious iPhone.
That is amazing in itself.
Does Opera mini support scroll boxes? I never seen one work in safari.
Also, if this works, will this mean flash would be on its way?
Opera just kicked apple to the curb. I wouldn't be surprised if they launched their own smartphone. Hell, I'd buy one. I only use the damn safari browser because it was "bundled" with the iphone. I should totally sue apple for forcing me to use safari. ballet box anyone?
That is amazing in itself. Does Opera mini support scroll boxes? I never seen one work in safari.Also, if this works, will this mean flash would be on its way?
If it's like the older Mini 4, then it would run off of the JVM. It would then mean, no, it would not support flash.
Opera Mobile however is based-on C and made for specific devices, and it has flash.
It seems plausible that a third party browser could include flash and it would just be installed during the regular app installation. Ignoring the fact that Apple would never allow another browser on the app store am I wrong in thinking it is possible to package flash in the browser and have them both download and install at the same time?
wow... it looks nice. hmm... any flash support?
Is it going to be free? Hope apple will actually let them sale it.
Yay..... what about flash? >:-|
Opera is NOT based on Webkit.
Yeah, Opera has its own rendering engine called "Presto", it is not based on Webkit.
It's likely that Apple and the ISP's (the big cable companies and telecos) have an understanding to keep data usage up, not down, so it's unlikely to that a browser that compresses up to 90% server side and reduces your potential bandwidth consumption is going to fly with Apple. The telecos don't want you to lower your bandwidth, they just want to reap the profits from overages.
will this be free?
Yes it will, it would improve the internet experience. The phone part is pretty much opinion.
Funny thou, I've seen many black berry, Windows Mobile, Basic-Phone users switch to iPhone and love it.
I've been using Opera Mobile on my Polaris for ages. It's a really good browser. The only problem I've had is with a few sites with lots of JavaScript where it runs like a dog and occassionally crashes.
So all my traffic is routed through Opera servers? No thanks,
You can turn that feature off.
Keep in mind your speed is dependent on opera's servers to retransmit the compressed data back to you via proxy. I've used opera on my blackberry for awhile and sometimes using the internet browser is faster b/c the opera servers are overloaded, and even the compressed pages come in slower than non-compressed. Plus theres the security risk & uncomfortable feeling of having all your traffic routed through opera's servers.
I'll definitely give this a try on my iphone if it's free or shows up on cydia, but you gotta admit the safari browser is pretty damn good. I'm sure apple will deny this app and claim they did so to "prevent customer confusion"
Opera is NOT based on Webkit.
You misunderstood. I said that competing browsers from Android and Palm were based on Webkit. I did NOT say that Opera Mini was connected to Webkit in any fashion other than it competes with the once-leading Safari.
The Speed Dial on Opera mini kind of reminded me of why I wanted to sell my iPhone and get a Nokia N900 before it was released.
To clarify most things in one post, hopefully:
Yes, Opera Mini is free, as is the other mobile browser from Opera, Opera Mobile.
Neither support Flash, though typically that is not too much of a problem, considering there are specific Youtube applications for devices anyway and other Flash content on websites is advertising. I will admit there are some sites where Flash is used for useful purposes and the lack of support is annoying, but don't forget mobile browsers are used in addition to a desktop browser, not instead of.
Finally, the differences between Opera Mini and Mobile. The most obvious is that Opera Mini runs on just about any phone, whereas Mobile does not and has a limited phone support. This is because of the major difference between them; Opera Mini sends everything to and from the Opera servers (and having used Mini for many months, it does speed up a slow internet connection and is not at all problematic) and so requires less resources on the host mobile. Opera Mobile instead does all the processing on the mobile, but like the desktop browser, Opera Turbo can be enabled.
Hope that clears a few things up.
/sent using Opera Mobile from a Nokia E63
hmmmm... does it support hulu and flash?
"coming soon to the iphone app store" i hope so. I'll give it a try.