War settles nothing. To win a war is as disastrous as to lose one - Agatha Christie
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Opera Mini on the Iphone
THERE WAS A LITTLE BIT of surprise when Apple allowed the Opera Mini web browser on the Iphone, because it is competition to the Safari browser. But we have had a little bit of a test drive and might have gathered the reason. In spite of noticeable speed benefits, about which Opera has made a lot of noise, the Opera Mini browser doesn't work well in terms of being a good Iphone experience.
First up the good bits, and an examination of the speed increases which Opera believes are a good reason to defect. We tested an Iphone 3GS on an O2 3G connection, and we did see a difference when it came to rendering a full INQUIRER webpage. It took 14 seconds for the Safari browser to do it, while Opera did it in 8 seconds, almost twice as fast.
That's impressive, and if you're looking for some web sites quickly - for instance updating the football scores or checking travel times on TFL - it might be worth converting to Opera Mini. But on sites like the BBC and Facebook, which offer dedicated mobile versions, Safari and Opera matched each other for speed.
Judging by our initial experiences, browsing speed alone is not worth the download of Opera Mini. Although the browser is fast, the user experience is not up to par for an Iphone app.
You can tell with your fingertips the difference between using an Iphone and using older touchscreen devices - it's a joy rather than a challenge in swiping, moving and pressing. But with Opera Mini, it feels like they've simply ported it over from a cheaper touchscreen phone. Using Safari, touchscreen browsing feels natural, with the Opera Mini it just feels clunky, bolted on, and like they've made very little effort to get it to work like an Apple user would expect it.
It's not just the way it feels but also the way you view content that is a problem. There only appear to be two types of zoom: so far that you can't see any words, and a close zoom to see the words. And that's it. It's like one view of the earth, and one view where you've plummeted a fair distance. This is far inferior to the smooth Safari browsing, where pinch and zoom is continuous and you can see the writing as big or small as you want.
Opera Mini has no Flash capability, a fairly big annoyance but one you would have expected, so no BBC video watching or YouTube without being transferred to another app. Also there is no way to make it the default browser - if you're clicking on an email or Twitter link, you'll be sent to Safari, not Opera. There doesn't seem to be any way to import bookmarks from other browsers unless you run Opera on the desktop.
But the lack of usability is the killer problem, and unless Opera remembers what an Iphone user expects from browsing the web, this app doesn't have much hope of being regularly used by people with reasonably decent connections, even if it is free.
It's not as if the Iphone Opera Mini app hasn't got some good parts to it. The multiple tabs feature is a bit nifty, and allows you to swap through different web pages with a row of thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. There's also the speed-dial screen which gives you a choice of nine thumbnails of your favourite sites, and lets you save pages for offline viewing when you have no connection.
There is another saving grace though, which means it could be very useful if you are caught in an area with very low connectivity, or in an area where you are forced to undergo roaming charges. As well as the speed benefits mentioned, there are also options to turn off images as well as always go for the mobile version of a web site, which will speed up the experience even more as well as keep your bandwidth use low.
It's free, so you haven't got much to lose. And updates could always improve the user experience, while it could also open the floodgates for competitors like Microsoft, Mozilla and Google to try and get their own mobile browsing apps approved for the Iphone. µ
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It would also seem that Apple is now playing games with the Opera browser for the iPhone - I now am getting a message indicating that you must be over 17 to update Opera and then after that acknowledgement, it errors out on the update and won't continue.. I wonder if there will be an age 17 requirement for Safari??
JimA
It's really unfortunate that the features that improve Opera Mini's speed (unencrypted server-side processing) also create the a href="http://www.healthcareitsquad.com/apple-opera-mini-exposed-medical-records/" biggest vulnerability for use of this app in health care /a .
As many electronic medical records are now web-based, passing private health information around with a lack of end-to-end encryption is frowned upon by HIPAA regulations. Essentially, Opera can see/cache/log everything you do while using the Opera Mini Browser app, including every single medical record viewed through the Opera Mini app on an iPhone or iPad since Tuesday.
I am using opera mini right now. I tested it on a lot of sites, and sites i created. It works great. No problems at all, and its fast.
The ones bitching about Opera are probably Apple fan boys. Face it safari sucks on the iphone. Safari is a b grade browser that lacks browser extentions, download manager, file type support, html compression (comp/deflate/gzip).
Opera has the potential to surpass it. Opera always improves its software. Safari has been the same crappy safari for such a long time.
Its funny how people bitch about a hood thing. They need to grow up and/or learn to program some good software. Being a software developer i understand whats involved. So grow up.
I should make a youtube video to show safaris flaws and why opera is better. So many improvements. Like i can select a link, or when i zoom i dont click on a link by mistake, or pages not refreshing on reload by miatake.
I've downloaded and tested Opera's effort on the iPhone and I think it's unsightly, bloated and improperly designed.
Safari is the default and I will stick with it. Let's pray that Google and Firefox can jump on the iPhone band-wagon.
I am glad Opera Mini came out. Safari sucks sh*t, and its getting old. I hope now Apple will try to be more competetive with Safari and make improvements.
I like how Opera Mini lets you change the website to mobile view, letting the page better fit on the screen. (just makes the page longer). Also I like the one tap zoom.
This version is not a simple port over of the other Opera Mini. I have opera running on the Palm TX (version 4). It looks totally different. And the pages load different. Sure there is some bugs. But the software is new.
So, stop complaining. Its free.
One dumb thing about App store users is complain, complain, complain. Well, look to the positiving and not the negative. Its free ! Its an alernative to Apple Safari crap. ANd I welcome it. It can only get better from here, becuase now the world + dog + complaining bitch app user can make sugestions to Opera, and they will improve things, as they respect their users opinions unlike Apple.
So, express your views the Opera.
Just remember, this release of Opera is already 24+ days old ! so, I am sure their will be an update soon.
And pray to god that Apple will still be open and not take Opera down, since Apple is so controlling.
Actually, if Opera Mini got denied from the app store, I was about to switch phones.
Anyways, enjoy the products. ! And be Apple crap free.
PS: If you are having problems, chances you are not using it properly. So get use to the software first. Yes its different then Safari. But, in the end you will like how it works. Not every app has to operate how Safari Operates. I think its stupid how Safari operates, as I am alwaya clicking on the wrong links by mistake when zooming.
So, some things to try:
Mobile view !
Some things I noticed about the browser:
Does not keep back and next history log, when closing web browser and then reopening it. But hey webpages are cached between sessions unlike safari.
Some webpages have some html problems (images in wrong spot), then again, every web browser is different. I have seen similar issues on the PC when using different web browsers.
Some webpages only check for safari in the USER_AGENT header to see if you are using an iphone, and fail to reconize Opera. But sooner or later developers of web pages will fix it so they reconize the iphone properly. Right now they only check for Safari and not the iphone word in USER_AGENT.
I personally thing Opera mini is a breat of fresh air. I been using Safari far too long, and its good for a change. There is some third party program GUI's for safari that let you download files, so I hope Opera will implement a download mananger in the future. Apple never implemented a download manager, becuase they never listen to what people want. example 20MB app download limit on 3g (ok ok it use to be 10MB).
Anyways, apple letting Opera be on the app store means, apple is not such a prick and its good they did that. Its time apple finally made a good decision. I hate apple being so controlling.
What would I like to see:
Pure html rendering mode, so it will not have to use the Opera proxy server.
In my opinion, the web browser is a big step forward compared to Opera Mini 4 for the TX.
Did it cross your mind that maybe Opera did the crippling on purpose just so it can pass the hitler test?
;) think different
HAhaha
thats a good bit to leave at the end.
If that was true, flash on the iphone would leave the app store with a need for half of the apps. In other words none of those worthless apps for streaming that still count in apple mind as reasons to get an iphone. Imagine an iphone with streaming suppport? Yeah half of the apps disappear over night!
The only reason why apple budged on opera was because opera played it smart.
In other words they launched a pr campaign behind their app along with a countdown. So there was not going to be any questions what Opera was going on to do in their end.
@dan: AP guidelines clearly state that iDevices have their initial letter capitalized at the start of a sentence.
I downloaded it the day it was released. Took a while for it to propagate to all the stores. The first thing you notice is the lack of proper zoom. Then the red bar along the top always advertising Opera. Then you find a way to do full screen but you have those annoying buttons at the bottom of the screen. Soon you find that you have a back button but no forward button. Scrolling is fast, page loading is fast. It's just not refined. They need to rework that interface and give us the speed with what we expect from the interface.
I agree with this review. I downloaded Opera out of curiosity, but was quickly turned off by the app's lack of functionality and responsiveness. It will be deleted soon.
On a side note, something you should probably know as a tech writer. iPhone, iPod, and iPad are proper nouns, thus Iphone is an incorrect spelling. I think we go over proper nouns in 4th grade here in the States...
"Opera Mini has no Flash capability, a fairly big annoyance but one you would have expected"
Not owning an iPhone, why would I expect this?