Webware

Visual thumbnails for tabs are all new in Opera Mobie 10 beta.

(Credit: Opera Software)

Opera impressed us a few months ago with its beta release of a restyled Mini browser for Java phones. Early in November, they did it again with a standalone mobile browser for Symbian Series 60 handsets that adheres to Opera Mini 5 beta's glossy master design. And on Wednesday, Opera repeats what it hopes to be mobile magic with Opera Mobile 10 beta for Windows phones.

The free Opera Mobile 10 beta starts off with a customizable Speed Dial screen, composed of nine preview thumbnails that whisk you off to a favorite site. Browser tabs receive a new treatment that echoes those thumbnail previews, and other features like the Password Manager get a few behind-the-scenes adjustments.

As with the recent betas for Java and Symbian phones, Opera Mobile 10 beta lacks some features for Windows phones that Opera expects to restore by the time it approves the app for general consumption. Opera Link, its bookmark- and favorite-syncing service, is among the laggers.

Our First Look video of Opera Mobile 10 beta (below) sees the browser tested on a Symbian phone, but it will look and work almost identically on Windows phones. Press "play" to get a good idea of what's in store, including those known bugs.

Note: Since our video, Opera has released an update for Symbian phones that can now handle font for several Asian languages.

Windows Mobile owners can download the mobile browser beta free by navigating to m.opera.com/mobile/ from the phone or www.opera.com/mobile from the desktop. Opera Mobile 10 beta will replace the Opera Mobile 9.7 beta that has previously been available for Windows Mobile phones.

Windows users: how do you like Opera's reworking of the browser? Let us know in the comments.

Right now I'm Web surfing with a browser that's sleek and fast. It has Speed Dial thumbnails to quickly load a favorite Web page and preview thumbnails to help rotate through open Web pages by sight. The app I'm wielding sounds a lot like Opera 10, Opera's desktop browser (Mac | Windows), or even the recently released Opera Mini 5 beta for Java phones. But it's not.

I'm navigating the Internet from a 4.6x2.2-inch screen belonging to a Nokia N97 smartphone using a prerelease version of Opera Mobile 10 beta for Symbian Series 60 phones. Opera Mobile 10 beta is available as of Tuesday morning, Central European Time.

Opera Mobile 10 beta previews tabs in a flashy new design.

(Credit: Opera Software)

What's new? The tabbed browsing treatment and speed-dial thumbnails you see when you load the browser anew or launch a new page are the spotlight-grabbing features. The entire interface, in fact, gets a fresh coat of paint using the same brush that drew in Opera Mini 5 beta. The visual encore works. In looks alone, the inviting Opera Mobile 10 beta bowls over Opera Mobile 9.7 beta's design.

While the speed-dial thumbnails and multiple browser tabs were far more impressive in the comparatively resource-light Opera Mini 5 beta, a proxy browser, the design continuity we see in Opera Mobile 10 beta, a standalone Web browser, is a welcome refresh that also joins the two cell phone apps in a unified design philosophy.

Opera's 4MB version 10 beta browser retains many of the features from prior releases, like the password manager, and the abilities to zoom in and out, copy text, save images, download files, and open links in a new tab. Opera says it has improved the password manager in this 10 beta release, including better handling for multiple URLS for a single site, and easier management for deleting passwords.

From Opera Mobile 9.7 beta, the version 10 beta has carried over Opera Turbo, Opera's compression engine that uses Opera's servers to punch up performance (and deliver less detailed images) when the Internet connection is slow.

In addition, Opera claims that Opera Mobile 10 beta is twice as fast as its Symbian predecessor when it comes to downloads and zooming and panning.

Opera's Speed Dial and expandable search box make the jump to Opera Mobile 10 beta.

(Credit: Opera Software)

As a beta build, Opera Mobile 10 beta does have several bugs to work out. First, Opera Link, the bookmarks-syncing service available in Opera 10 desktop browser and in the stable builds of Opera Mobile and Opera Mini, is absent from this build (it's also missing from Opera Mini 5 beta.) Opera Link will return by the time Opera Mobile 10 leaves beta.

Other known issues include the virtual keyboard popping up even when you're using the physical keyboard, as it did in our tests on the Nokia N97. The beta browser is also known to freeze at times, and has only partial support for the IMEs (Input Method Editors) that make typing Asian languages like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean work. As a result, this beta build won't function on handsets with Asian language packs and won't render Asian fonts in this version, says Opera, but the input incompatibility should be fixed in the next release.

Opera Mobile 10 beta is available now for Symbian users on Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson smartphones running Symbian Series 60, 3rd and 5th editions. Try it by pointing the mobile browser to http://m.opera.com/mobile.

We knew that Opera Mobile 9.7 beta was on its way (in fact, we expected it in May,) but the build released to Windows Mobile consumers on Monday morning isn't exactly what we had anticipated given certain hints in the business build that support for Flash video was on its way. We should say, the inclusion of Opera Turbo was dead on. What we hadn't expected was a separate widget gallery to replace the one built into Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, the previous version.

More on Turbo and widgets in just one moment, but first the answer to what we think you really want to know--should you upgrade? Based on our tests of the preview build Opera let us test the Friday before the release, here's our take: While it won't slow you down if you do upgrade to Opera 9.7 beta from Opera 9.5 beta, and while it may even help you in a pinch, those with reliable fast coverage who don't plan on using more than Opera Mobile's core browsing features won't have much cause to reinstall.

Turbo-charged Opera Mobile 9.7

Enable Opera Turbo when you've got a weak connection.

(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)

Now back to your regularly scheduled review. Opera Turbo is the by now much-touted compression and proxy engine used in Opera 10 beta (review), the desktop browser version released the first week of June. On Windows Mobile phones, Turbo also makes browsing faster for data connections below 3G speeds--in other words, EV-DO, EDGE, and other 2.5G connections. When Turbo's revved on the phone, it sends the page data to Opera's servers for proxy rendering. The servers then send a lighter version of the page back to the phone. While that makes Turbo much faster on data- and image-rich Web pages over slow connections, it also predictably slashes image quality.

Turbo's implementation in Opera Mobile 9.7 beta is (disappointingly) unchanged since we got a demo at CTIA in early April. Though automatic detection is enabled in Opera's version 10 beta desktop browser, beta testers will need to manually switch it on and off each time. It's easy enough to do in the Advanced portion of Opera Mobile's settings menu, but there is a detriment to letting Turbo slave away. If you're on Wi-Fi or 3G, you could experience more lag time while Turbo sends your data to Opera's servers and back. Also, your image quality will suffer. This will be the singlemost challenge for 9.7 beta testers.

Last week, when Opera Software announced Opera Mobile 9.7 for business partners, the Norwegian company also mentioned that a version for consumers would come "soon." At CTIA 2009, Opera told CNET that "soon" means May.

Everything is the same but the rendering.

(Credit: Opera Software)

What sets Opera Mobile 9.7 apart from the current 9.5 beta version for Symbian and Windows Mobile phones is the inclusion of Opera Turbo, a rendering and compression engine that shrinks data down to 80 percent. What's more, the Turbo engine uses the exact same server engine as Opera Mini's, Opera's proxy browser for Java phones.

This is interesting. An effort to speed up Opera Mobile using Opera Mini's rendering servers means that the full-Web Opera Mobile was simply not fast enough for Opera's liking--or, perhaps just not as fast as some of the competition. Opera showed off side-by-side versions of Opera Mobile 9.7 in action, one with the Turbo feature on, the other with it off. Turbo-ized surfing was indeed much faster when squeezed through the server, though photo quality predictably took a hit. Yet if speed is what you're after--especially over shaky EV-DO, EDGE, or other 2.5G cellular networks--Turbo gives you options. Yet, does feel in one sense like Opera is taking a step back. Does this mean that Web surfers don't really want the full mobile Web, or that speed trumps all else?

As I mentioned, Opera Mobile 9.7 alpha is still a bit raw. For one thing, you have to manually turn the Turbo booster off in a buried advanced-options menu. Switching back and forth between Turbo and regular settings would be a pain for users who might easily forget. Why turn it off? The Turbo enhancement is terrible for AJAX-heavy Web pages like Google Maps and for streaming video, both of which require high image quality. Eventually, Opera says that the Opera Mobile browser will be able to autodetect the page type and switch Turbo on and off automatically, making the exchange seamless, though that may not happen by the time the beta is released to the public in May. Hopefully, it will be perfected when the general release drops, probably some months later.

The CTIA Wireless mobile phone conference this April may be much lower key in 2009, but that doesn't mean there won't be news.

In advance of the show, Opera Software announced on Thursday an update to Opera Mobile, its full mobile browser for Windows Mobile and Symbian phones (download current version). While Opera Mobile 9.7 is intended for Opera's enterprise level B2B clients, like carriers and cell phone manufacturers, the news still offers a glimpse of what's in store for the consumer download version that Opera expects to release "in the near future."

The most consumer-friendly feature, and the one that Opera sorely needs to excel on, is Opera Mobile 9.7's support for Web technologies like Flash and Ajax. In layman's terms, that means the browser will be able to better handle sites like Facebook and stream YouTube videos using Flash Lite. Video is huge here--while Opera is a dominant mobile browser, it has been slower building muscle for video playback, while rivals like Skyfire have made longer strides.

In addition to bringing on wider support for Web standards, Opera Mobile 9.7 will feature Opera Turbo, the Norwegian company's new compression engine. Previewed in mid-March, Opera says Turbo can squeeze down data by 80 percent, clearing through slow and stubborn network connections quicker. Also found on the back end, says Opera, will be the Presto 2.2 rendering engine, the same tool that brings Opera 10 alpha for the desktop its higher speeds compared to Opera's current desktop browser.

Lastly, Opera Mobile 9.7 boasts that it passes the Acid 3 test of Web standards with 100 percent, and that it supports Google Gears and the Open GL ES standard for graphics acceleration. The upcoming consumer version will share these upgrades, and in addition, is expected to have a new widgets manager that run independently from the mobile browser.

(Credit: Microsoft)

The enhanced usability features of Windows Mobile 6.5 (coverage) may not be available for a few months yet, but that doesn't mean you have to wait for Microsoft's newly announced mobile operating system to start sampling some of its new features. There are a couple of similar applications that are available now.

Instead of twiddling your thumbs over the new MyPhone service--which will back up your phone's contacts, photos, and texts--you can sign up for Dashwire (download). Dashwire's free service for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 uploads your calls, texts, contacts, photos, videos, and ringtones to an online dashboard. You'll be able to access and also interact with your phone's contents; for instance, reply to a text, e-mail a photo or video, and read visual voicemail.

Similarly, Microsoft's revamped Internet Explorer Mobile looks promising, with added support for Javascript and Flash, and some more sophisticated page navigation than in previous versions. Chances are, if you're using IE Mobile on a Windows Mobile 5 or Windows Mobile 6 phone, downloading Opera Mobile or Skyfire (beta) will give you some of those promised features today. The most recent version of Skyfire, for instance, comes with Flash 10, Silverlight 2.0, and the latest Quicktime, and can play media directly from the browser. Opera Mobile, on the other hand, has similar icon-based navigation to what Microsoft previewed in Barcelona this week, and some advanced features to highlight and search text. Opera Mobile's larger buttons already make version 9.5 beta 2 a finger-friendly option. In fact, some Windows Mobile phones, like the Samsung Omnia, come shipped with Opera as a browser option.

It will definitely be interesting to see how Microsoft's new features play out in the phone's ecosystem compared with the services that already exist. In the meantime, Dashwire and the alternative mobile browsers can give you a taste of what's to come.

Updated on 10/20/08 at 4:10 PM PT with a few more details.

Symbian UIQ owners can now try out Opera browser on their phones.

(Credit: CNET)

There's been a lot of activity this week in the world of mobile browsers. On Friday, Mozilla introduced an alpha build for Fennec, the very-much-in-development mobile browser that will grow up to become Firefox for Mobile. Monday's news brings Opera Software's release of its most recent beta for the Opera Mobile browser. It's the second beta for Windows Mobile phones, and the first beta compatible with the Symbian UIQ platform. (At this point, the build only supports touchscreen models.)

We hear that Opera has also released a developer (alpha) version for Symbian Series 60 phones that is available with the updated Opera Widgets SDK. The fact that it's packaged for developers hints that it's still riddled with bugs.

The changes found in Opera Mobile 9.51 beta 2 are few, but distinct--the addition of Opera Widgets, speedier page loading, and a package of developer tools that includes the Opera Dragonfly debugger.

Of the three additions, Opera Widgets is the one that most directly affects the mobile browsing crowd. The new beta installs five widgets on Windows Mobile and UIQ phones. There's Twitter, AccuWeather, a clock, Shopping List, and Bubbles, a colorful Tetris-like game. If you have a Series 60 phone, you get all of the above except Twitter.

In order to download widgets onto the phone, Opera has added a shortcut button that takes you to the Widgets Web page and presents a list of widgets compatible with your platform. Selecting the widget will download it over the air.

Although Opera is the first out of the gate implementing its version of extensions, add-ons will also be at the core of Mozilla Fennec, the mobile build of Firefox that's in development for Windows Mobile and Symbian phones. The importance of add-ons, overall speed, Flash support, and general navigability cannot be overstated in the simmering contest among Opera, Firefox, and newcomer Skyfire (which is based off Firefox.)

The Twitter widget is one of five preloaded in the new beta build.

(Credit: Opera Software)

Developers' bag of tricks

The new Opera Mobile beta also hands independent widget developers a goody bag in the form of the updated Widgets Software Developer Kit, or SDK. This version of the SDK bundles in the Dragonfly debugger and a new widget manager. Together, these tools will help developers pick through bugs in JavaScript, CSS, and DOM code on an actual mobile phone, not just on a desktop emulator. Developers for Windows Mobile and both Symbian platforms can use the updated Widget SDK.

If new tools to ease the way for developers aren't enough incentive to create useful, interactive widgets, Opera hopes its X-Widget Challenge is. From now until November 23, the final deadline, Opera will be awarding weekly prizes. The breakdown of the $10,000 purse for the winning designs will award $5,000 for first prize, $2,000 for second, $1,000 for third, with the additional $2,000 distributed among weekly winner and the first 20 qualified entrants. We wouldn't be surprised if many submissions are the mobile versions of existing desktop widgets, such as the Google Toolbar or Pandora Radio.

Still so much to do

When Opera Mobile 9.5 beta 1 came out in July for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs, Opera promised that future releases would branch out to languages other than English. There was also a bug that required refreshing pages after switching between mobile and full-screen modes, and difficulties typing into some phones with custom keyboards or input methods (T9 is one example of an input method.) As far as we know, this beta release has addressed at least some of these bugs.

While the beta does integrate Opera Widgets and introduces Opera Mobile 9.5 to Symbian UIQ phones, Opera has promised to add Google Gears and Opera Link support before the final release. Opera Link, a feature for synchronizing bookmarks on the server-side among all Opera browsers, has been present in the Opera Mini browser for Java-based phones for more than a year.

You can download Opera Mobile 9.5 beta 1 for Symbian UIQ phones and the second beta for Windows Mobile phones straight from CNET Download.com, and let us know what you think with your own review.

Editors' note: Since this article published, Skyfire has offered the first hundred CNET readers immediate access to Skyfire's Symbian beta program. (Note: Only U.S. phones at this time.) Enter the promo code CNET100 in the sign-up page. Once you have signed up for the Skyfire Symbian Beta with the beta code, an SMS message will be sent to your mobile phone prompting you to create a password. Once you enter a password, you will be presented with a download link.

On Thursday, mobile browser start-up Skyfire announced the opening of a private beta for the Symbian Series 60 (S60) platform--nearly a week after a Symbian users Web site busted the news.

Skyfire is positioned as a resource-light Web browser that relies on Web servers to deliver a desktop browsing experience. I covered Skyfire soon after its initial Windows Mobile release and agree that it has a nice design and good potential; however, with rendering and crashing issues, it's not nearly ready for open beta. That's too bad because adding an identical build for Symbian means that Skyfire has two platforms in private beta with some tall performance hurdles to leap.

Skyfire will debut on 10 Nokia handsets, including the high-end N95 and E71.

(Credit: Skyfire Labs)

Going global (and taking on Opera)
Skyfire's Symbian beta program is the mobile browser's second platform, and its entree into the European market, where it will be rolling out later this year. This move improves Skyfire's competitive position against Opera Mobile, whose release of a free version 9.5 beta for Symbian is also scheduled for "the near future."

Opera Mini, Opera Software's build for Java phones and BlackBerry, has pretty much dominated alternative browsers in Europe, but Skyfire could destabilize that position. As a direct competitor to Opera Mobile 8.65, which sells for $24, Skyfire's free beta brings a few advantages to the table. It's true that Opera Mobile 9.5 beta is also currently offered for free, but with its Symbian build also in development, there could be an interesting battle over Symbian owners.

Pricing isn't the only point of comparison between Opera and Skyfire. Opera wants to bring Symbian owners the "authentic" desktop experience through a rich client and Skyfire will attempt to do so by pulling data from its servers. That makes Skyfire lighter on system resources, but it won't have as many search and linking capabilities out of the gate as Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, which integrated some tricks from the desktop browser. Conversely, Opera's cell phone browsers verge on cluttered, so there's a benefit to Skyfire's pared-down look.

Mobile browsing has come a long way and continues to gain speed and power as cell phone hardware and processing technologies mature. At the forefront of this evolution is Opera Software, whose most recent efforts bring us Opera Mobile 9.5 beta for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs. Watch the video to see what's new and improved in this free, brand-new release.

For more details, check out the full review.