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.
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.
Updated 7/17/08 at 11:16 am PST with additional pricing information.
It's time that Opera Mobile got its due. Long overshadowed by Opera Mini--the light, server-fed browser for Java phones--Opera Mobile is a robust browser built on Web standards (and written with C and C++) that's known for delivering a full Web experience to Windows Mobile and Symbian phones.
Yet even though Opera Mobile has made good as a much closer approximation of the desktop Internet experience, it traditionally hasn't received the same developmental attention as Opera Mini. With Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, released on Thursday as freeware, things begin to change.
In many ways, this beta version of Opera Mobile is a fusion of Opera's Desktop and Mini versions. It inherits certain tabbing, searching, linking, and saving capabilities from Opera Desktop 9.5, and Opera Mini's search and display settings.
What follows is a full hands-on review of Opera Mobile 9.5 beta (also see the video) that takes into account the program's newly redesigned interface, features, performance enhancements, Opera Dragonfly, issues, and what to expect from future beta builds, of which there will be several before the final release. We also won't leave out availability and price.
The redesigned interface focuses on a small strip of navigational icons at the base of the app and concealed context menus that appear where applicable when you tap and hold. For instance, opening the context menu when hovered over a link gives you options of opening the link in a new tab, copying the URL, or sending the link to friends. The main context menu can be accessed by tapping and holding the white space, whereas the inverted 'v' on the navigation pops up a third options menu.
The icon-based navigation bar is seamless and clean, though generic.
(Credit: CNET Networks)This new design replaces actionable menu items and helps boost clarity while reducing clutter. If you don't see the menu option you're looking for, you know you've mis-tapped. Without the familiar desktop icons, Opera Mobile 9.5 beta replaces the Opera-branded character with a generic sleek and modern look. You decide if that's good.
Only about two-thirds of the final features are present in this first 9.5 beta build (see the road map section below), but already surpasses version 8.65 in terms of the browsing experience--with one caveat.
This new beta version opens in the full-screen browsing mode by default, which lets users pick a starting point and zoom in for closer reading, and entire pages can now be saved for later. Like the 9.5 desktop version, there's in-text search with Find in Page and text highlighting; a Google search bar when you tap to enter a URL, and an address bar fitted with auto-complete that harnesses your browsing history by suggesting compatible sites as you begin typing.
In this case, not all that is newer is better. While Opera retains its support for tabbed browsing, it replaces the true tabbing experience of Opera Mobile 8.65--ironically defined as "windows"--with a reversion to separate browsing windows, ironically called "tabs."
In addition, the beta update appears to have lost some zoom granularity, though in a demonstration at Opera's California office, Sales Engineer Brian Purdy explained that zooming features differ by handset manufacturers.
Opera Mobile 9.5 beta ditches true tabs in favor of layered windows.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Driving all the front-end enhancements is a new proprietary core rendering engine, called Presto 2.1, which improves on the speed and rendering quality compared with Opera Mobile 8.65. While Opera doesn't yet have benchmarking numbers to share, I will say that the new version performed more smoothly than the old during testing and trounced Windows Mobile's Internet Explorer in performance. While Opera Mobile itself may have gotten speedier, the browser is still only as good as the phone's processor.
For developers: Opera Dragonfly
For developers, Opera has also included support for the open-source remote debugging tool nicknamed Opera Dragonfly. Using the computer's IP address and Opera browsers for the phone and desktop, this cross-platform software syncs the two to test against errors on the phone, not just in the editor or emulator.
Beta builds aren't meant to be perfect and Opera Mobile 9.5 beta comes with its share of flaws and foibles. First, it's an English-only build with support for other languages coming later. Users will also notice right away that Flash hasn't been enabled, making this software version video-blind. Installing the application on a memory card may be rocky, so make sure you've got room for the 4.2MB requirement.
Links can be opened, copied, or sent three ways.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Fourth, you'll want to refresh pages after switching between viewing modes, for instance mobile and full screen views. Finally, problems with custom input methods specific to certain phone models will be buggy or broken.
As I mentioned, Opera's center of command plans several more updates to Opera Mobile 9.5 before the final release. Google Gears, Opera Link, and Opera Widgets are slated to join the app in subsequent waves of development. A version for Symbian phones is forecast for Opera's near future.
Starting Thursday, the touch screen version of Opera Mobile 9.5 beta will be available for free for Windows Pocket PC phones running Windows Mobile 5 or 6. A slightly different version of Opera Mobile 9.5 comes preloaded on the HTC Diamond. Opera Software has declined to comment on the pricing of Opera Mobile 9.5 going forward, but I've speculated elsewhere that there's a good chance the product could remain free. The stable version, Opera Mobile 8.65, costs $24.
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