Posts Tagged ‘browser’

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Opera Mini’s first iPhone fix doesn’t tackle big complaints

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Now that the dust has settled on Opera Mini for iPhone’s dramatic entry into the App Store and subsequent million-download day, the browser company has gotten to work addressing some user complaints in Thursday’s Opera Mini for iPhone update.

The fixes, however, are subtle. The most significant one rights a network issue that caused Opera Mini to freeze at start-up. This release also set the app’s fallback language to English rather than Arabic, as it previously was (in other words, an error with a language pack will now revert back to English.) Opera Mini is now also available in Hungarian, and the company says it has fixed backend bugs and stability soft spots.

However, Opera’s mini update may disappoint some users who are on the lookout for Opera Mini to adopt multitouch pinch-to-zoom capabilities, finer-detail zoom levels, improved page rendering, and support for iPhone-optimized Web pages.

The fact that Opera Mini is a proxy browser that more or less beams an image of a Web page to your screen courtesy of Opera’s servers, can account for some of the user grievances. For instance, Opera Mini isn’t a native iPhone app, and therefore doesn’t have access to the pinch-to-zoom technology of iPhone’s Safari browser.

In the meantime, a brand-new entrant into the mobile browser space should have Opera reconsidering its position.

Skyfire, a previous Opera Mobile competitor on Windows Mobile and Symbian phones, has also on Thursday introduced Skyfire beta browser for Android. Skyfire’s browser is based on the same open-source WebKit engine used to build Safari–as such, it already employs pinch-and-zoom. Skyfire definitely has its sights set on a version for iPhone, which would bring it into direct opposition with its Opera Mini rival.

While Opera has gone on record boasting that it’s found a way around Apple’s browser restrictions using its own software code, the company’s stubbornness could lose users who care more about pinching the screen than they do about how quickly pages load.

It’s also worth noting competitor Skyfire’s buzzed-about ability to transcode and stream Flash video through the company’s servers. That, combined with multitouch support, could give Skyfire, and not Opera Mini, the next iPhone edge. Flash video has been the hot topic in mobile of late, with Google affirming that its Android OS update 2.2 will carry it, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ going on record to bestow his kiss of death for Adobe Flash on iPhone.

Opera may yet have a little breathing room to rethink its strategy before Skyfire and others make their iPhone move. Skyfire’s CEO Jeff Glueck told CNET in an interview that while an iPhone version of their native/proxy browser hybrid is certainly in the works, the company wants to make sure it can handle server hits comparable to a million new users in one day, assuming their success were to follow Opera’s in the first full day of its iPhone release.

Resource:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20003802-233.html

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Posted in iPhone | 1 Comment »

Opera Mini tops all of Apple’s top app charts

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

The Opera Mini 5 application is now at the head of all “Top Apps” lists, from every country in which the App Store is available.

There are over 50 million Opera Mini users globally.

Opera Mini uses Opera’s servers to render and compress pages, thus increasing speed for the end user, and also working around Apple’s stringent rules.

The company says users of the iPhone over AT&T’s slower 2G Edge data will definitely feel the “uptake in speed.”

Whether all the downloads are just a curiosity or proof that iPhone/iPod Touch users are looking for choice within their hardware remains to be seen, but it seems pretty clear that Opera will be gaining a significant amount of users.

Resource:

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2010/04/15/opera_mini_tops_all_of_apple_s_top_app_charts

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Posted in iPhone | No Comments »

Opera browser gets accepted for Apple iPhone

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

First rival browser gets access to iPhone

Opera promises faster downloads, less data traffic (Adds background)

HELSINKI, April 13 (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has accepted distribution of Opera Software’s (OPERA.OL) Internet browser for its iPhone after a long review, opening a new and potentially lucrative market so far closely guarded by Apple.

There are numerous versions of Apple’s own browser on App Store, but Norway-based Opera is the first rival to get access to iPhone.

Opera applied on March 23 for its mobile browser to be distributed on iPhone, and it was available for downloading to consumers early on Tuesday, three weeks later. Usually the review process takes up to one week, developers say.

Analysts have said the decision was difficult for Apple — whose application store is the only way to distribute software for iPhone users — as its Internet browsing function is key behind the success of the iPhone.

Opera’s browser promises up to six times faster download speeds than Apple’s own browser and to cut data traffic by up to 90 percent.

Massive data traffic from iPhone mobile phones has caused problems for many operators’ networks

Resource:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63C02620100413?type=marketsNews

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Posted in iPhone | 2 Comments »

Browser Exploit Brings Jailbreak to the iPad

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

The iPad survived a good, long day before hackers were able to break into it and gain root access over the weekend. The hack was engineered by a group credited with the iPhone “Spirit” jailbreak, according to MacNN.com. The hack uses an exploit in Safari to let you get root access on the device.

Over the weekend, twitter user “MuscleNerd” posted a tweet suggesting that the the iPad had succumbed to a jailbreak. He followed his posts with a picture and video evidencing the hack for the public. MuscleNerd also mentions that it should be possible to similarly jailbreak the unreleased 3G iPad using the same method.

The iPad jailbreak represents the next chapter in the epic struggle between computer hobbyists seeking full control over their devices, and hardware manufacturers that try to keep their products locked down.

What will a jailbroken iPad mean for Apple and hobbyists? The iPad is already a device that seeks to expand the functionality of its small brother the iPhone. Unlocking root access to the iPad should bring even more features to the long awaited tablet and maybe even fix some of its shortcomings. Perhaps we’ll finally see Flash video come to the iPad via jailbreak like we did on the iPhone, for example.

Of course, none of this is officially sanctioned by Apple and you could risk voiding your warranty or worse by jailbreaking. Also, jailbreaking means you’ll always have to wait for a jailbreaking solution before being able to update to a new OS version. If you think it’s worth the hassle though, jailbreaking your iPad might help enrich your tablet-computing experience.

Resource:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/193506/browser_exploit_brings_jailbreak_to_the_ipad.html

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Posted in iPad/iPod | 3 Comments »

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