http://www.phonedog.com/tags/opera-mini.aspx?utm_source=Rss&utm_medium=Tag_opera-mini&utm_campaign=PhoneDogThe latest information about Opera Mini(c) 2009, PhoneDog, LLC. All rights reserved.11/24/2009 1:06:48 AMcriticism for Opera's choice to push a feature-phone browser on a smartphone audience, I have to applaud the Norwegian team's focus on increasing the speed of all mobile browsing. In the quest to attain the same Internet for every device, programmers have reached another milestone. Their latest product, Opera Turbo, is a server-side technology that compresses network traffic by up to 80%.

For you and me, this means rapid, *real* browsing and lower costs for pay-per-kilobyte plans. To OEMs, enterprise deployments, and data carriers, this is an answer to the question of future demand and compatibility. Opera isn't just thinking in terms of maximizing the potential of your hardware; they're looking at the big picture of bandwidth availability - both for service providers and enterprise customers.

As mobile internet use increases, and more and more people are buying-web browsing phones, how can carriers (or a business' data plan) satisfy the growing need for bandwidth without continually increasing the end-user price to what could eventually become prohibitively expensive rates? Opera's solution is extreme compression.

Of course, compression isn't possible without data loss, so the key is choosing which bits can be discarded, and what can be reconstructed. Opera Turbo boasts the highest-quality compression technology, reducing traffic by up to 71% on laptops and 80% on handsets. It also works with Ajax and Flash - promising the best browsing experience for such a small resource footprint.

Opera Turbo works with the company's desktop and mobile browsers. It will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress this week.

]]>http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-research/blog/opera-s-one-web-ideal-comes-into-focus-with-turbo.aspx?utm_source=Rss&utm_medium=Tag_opera-mini&utm_campaign=PhoneDog2/16/2009 8:20:00 PMare you running a smartphone, or not? I am. And I want a browser to match.

Mini is a paramount Java app for feature-phones (non-smart). I will be updating the beta install on my wife's Behold with this release. The program out-does other feature-phone browsers on nearly all fronts, and if I hadn't bought a G1 I'd be using Mini today. Opera Mini can play videos, be skinned, and sync up the bookmarks and notes with the Operas on your other devices. In terms of data efficiency and speed, it sits at the top of the heap. In this week's final public version of the beta we first saw two months ago, Mini programmers have improved stability, speed, and overall performance. Version 4.2 added support for downloading files and other tasks that used to more clearly distinguish Mini from Mobile. The gap is a bit smaller than it was.

But What can I say? I spend most of my time using and writing about Android. I want to flick a page and watch it scroll, imbued with virtual kinetic energy until I stop it, it slows to a halt, or it runs out of content. I want to rapidly zoom and navigate around the original HTML that a designer intended for desktop viewing. I want fluidity. I want lots of features you just won't find on a dumbphone. I am spoiled. I have no complaints about Opera Mini as a feature-phone browser. It's killer in that respect. I just don't understand what it's doing in the Android Market.

Why an operating system as robust as Android should be dealt this diminutive shadow of the Norwegian program's hotter sibling is a question for which I can find no answer. I know that technical and legal issues usually abound in such situations; neither of which have I thoroughly studied within the Google/Opera context. I have tried, but discovered nothing authoritative. I ran into plenty of reviews and documents that confuse Mini for Mobile. If the latter were available for my phone, I'd likely be gushing with praise.

Considering what a rich stock browser the G1 ships with, I don't see the benefit of this release for anyone with a US T-Mobile account. An all-inclusive browsing plan is required for the G1. The lightweight Opera Mini could be a godsend for those who pay-per-kilobyte, as one of its primary functions is the redirection and compression of data. But I have (somewhat) cheap 3G and Wi-Fi. So you'll have to forgive my ethnocentric report, Opera team. I'm too busy splashing around in unlimited data to take the circumstances of others into account. Mini for Android... I just don't get it. If I wrote a review of the browser for Behold, I'd have a completely different perspective: I'd be whining about T-Mobile's proxy servers.]]>http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-research/blog/android-app-review-opera-mini-4-2-final-version.aspx?utm_source=Rss&utm_medium=Tag_opera-mini&utm_campaign=PhoneDog1/30/2009 2:35:00 PMhttp://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-tips-and-tricks/using-opera-mini-browser-on-t-mobile-network.aspx?utm_source=Rss&utm_medium=Tag_opera-mini&utm_campaign=PhoneDog8/19/2008 10:35:00 AM