It is possible some people may not have heard of browser wars. This term is used to describe the rivalries for the control of the web browsing market, specifically between Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape’s Navigator in the 1990s (Internet Explorer won that one hands down), and the resurgence of rivals to Internet Explorer since 2003. The major competitors are Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and more recently, Google’s Chrome.
All this is in the desktop computing space however, and Opera, a Norwegian software maker, has always been one of the ‘little’ boys in that battle. But in recent times, the mobile browsing space is becoming more significant and more important, and when it comes to that space, Opera is king. Today, we are going to take a look at their browser for mobile phones, Opera Mini.
First things first, Opera Mini is free. Simply go to Opera.com and download it. It is supported through a partnership between the Opera Software company and Google.
The browser is designed primarily for mobile phones, smart phones, and personal digital assistants. It uses the Java ME platform and as a result, requires that the mobile device be capable of running Java ME applications.
Opera Mini was derived from the Opera browser for personal computers, which has been publicly available since 1996. It began as a pilot project in 2005 and after limited releases in Europe, it was officially launched worldwide on January 24, 2006.
Easy interface
Opera Mini has an easy interface with an address bar and a Google search bar. Mobile users do not need more than this really, and Opera manages to put them in a short column that requires little scrolling. A pop-up menu available from any screen brings you directly to any of these basic navigational components, no matter how deeply you are in a site. A Settings tool opts in or out of image loading, forcing the screen to jump to the first available text, font size changes, etc.
For me, the killer feature of Opera Mini is that it requests web pages through Opera Software’s servers. The servers are configured to process, and then compress them before relaying the pages back to your mobile phone. This compression process makes transfer time about two to three times faster, and the pre-processing smoothes compatibility with web pages not designed for mobile phones.
Some websites are not yet compatible with mobile phones, so do not render well on your Blackberry’s native browser, but render quite well on Opera Mini. All this is done without taxing the phone itself, and most crucially for me, in a way that is very friendly to the Nigerian pocket. Images on the websites are scaled down so you can see them on your phone, but they do not use much of the 100MB that Zain (what’s their new name nowadays?) allocates on what I consider to be the most reasonably priced mobile Internet plan in Nigeria.
For someone like me who does most of my mobile browsing on a Blackberry, this browser is a must have. The only problem I had with it was that it kept crashing each time I opened more than four tabs at a time, but that was probably a function of the kind of websites I visit.
However, it beats RIM’s own Blackberry browser hands down, and neither the Android’s native browser, nor Safari on the iPhone are nearly as good as what Opera has put out in the Mini. This browser is a must-use for anyone who is serious about having access to the Internet on the go.
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