Opera mobile

Opera released the final version of their popular mobile internet browser, Opera mobile and Opera mini. The new Opera mobile 10 and Opera mini 5 have very similar looks and options. Opera mobile was earlier a shareware application designed for Symbian and Windows mobile smartphones. However, it’s completely free from version 10. Opera mini, as usual is free but has support for new devices. Opera mini 5 and Opera mobile 10 final comes with a set of cool additional features. The browsing is much faster and easier.  The default mobile browser in few handsets is slow and incompatible with certain type of web pages. Opera technology reduces the bandwidth requirement and makes the web faster on mobile devices. People with low-end handsets can now enjoy the full web browsing experience with Opera mini 5.0. One thing in which Opera mini and Opera mobile 10 differs is the technology used to process web pages. In Opera mobile the pages are loaded on the phone itself. Whereas in Opera mini 5.0, the pages are first loaded to Opera server and then to a user.

Opera mobile 10.0 final :

Opera mobile 10.0 final

Opera has partnerships with several hardware manufactures to ship Opera mobile with high-end smartphones. A similar customized version of Opera mobile is available in HTC’s Windows mobile handsets like HD2. But inbuilt device features like multi-touch and pinch-zoom will not be available if upgraded to Opera mobile 10. It comes with Flash Lite 3.1 support, that enables users to watch Flash animations and videos embedded in websites. But this features is not enabled by default as it requires higher memory resources. The Flash Lite in Opera mobile 10 can be enabled by turning ON plugin support in advanced settings.

As we said earlier, Opera mobile uses a different technology to process pages. In Opera mini 5, web pages are first loaded to Opera server, and then transformed to lighter version suited for lower-end mobile devices. On the other hand, Opera mobile uses Opera Turbo to speed up mobile web pages. But this process is done on the phone itself. Opera Turbo will compress the size of images and other files so that speed will be increased and data charges will be reduced. The main difference of Opera mobile from Opera mini is the availability of Turbo, bigger size of the installer, small number of compatible smartphones and option to enable Flash Lite.

Opera mini 5.0

Common features of Opera mobile 10 and Opera mini 5.0:

1.  Tabbed browsing: Opera mobile 10 and Opera mini 5 supports tabbed browsing. Users can open multiple web pages at the same time and move through them using a simple menu at the bottom.

2. Speed Dial: It can be used to customize Opera browser start page with quick links to  favorite websites.

3. Full sized web pages on the small screen with option to zoom, minimize, etc ., using touch and physical input.

4. Opera Link: Opera link can be used to sync browser bookmarks, favorite search engines in Opera mini and Opera mobile to other phones and Opera desktop browser.

5. Option to save websites and passwords, block images, enable full screen mode, add favorites are among other features.

One missing feature in Opera mobile 10 and Opera mini 5.0  is capability to play flash videos by themselves. At the same time, there are browsers like BOLT and Skyfire with support for on screen web video and audio streaming.

Download Opera Mobile 10 and Opera 5 mini here ( direct link for all versions)

Opera already released dedicated Opera mini 5.0 installers for Android (beta), Windows mobile(beta), Blackberry, Symbian and Java enabled handsets. They are also working on an iPhone version of Opera mini. Overall the final version of the most popular mobile browser is very impressive. But still we are waiting for a version with native Flash video and music playback support.

Opera is known for their web browsers in desktop and mobile platforms. Their mobile based applications include Opera mini and Opera mobile, which are currently shipped along with thousands of mobile devices. Last month we have seen Opera releasing beta version of Opera mini 5.0 web browser for Java enabled mobile phones. Today they have further improved their mobile browser portfolio by the releasing of Opera mobile 10 beta . While Opera mini brings full web experience  in small entry level handsets, the premium Opera mobile application is enhanced and specially built for high-end smartphones. Opera mobile is one of the the first professional non- native mobile browser for Windows mobile and  Symbian smartphone platforms. Beta version of Opera mobile 10 is now freely available for download.

Opera mobile 10

Opera mobile 10 supports touch enabled Symbian S60 V5 devices like Nokia N97, Nokia 5800 Xpress music, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5530 Xpress music, Nokia 5230, Sony Ericsson Satio, Samsung Omnia HD etc.  Its very hard to find out the differences between Opera mini and Opera mobile on a comparison . Interface of Opera mobile 10 is same as it was in Opera mini . Features like Faster page load timing, tabbed browsing, support for new web standards, password manager, option to save images and web pages, improved typing assistant, speed dial etc. found in Opera mini 5  are also available in Opera mobile 10.

Though Opera mobile 10 and Opera mini 5 have lot of improvements in user experience, I still prefer BOLT 1.5 and SkyFire as my favorite mobile browsers for Symbian . The major advantage of these browsers is that they can play Youtube videos without leaving browser window.

Download Opera mobile 10 beta .

Update: Opera released the final version of Opera mobile 10 and Opera mini 5.0. Features and direct download links are now available.

BOLT mobile browser 1.5

The browser doesn’t have a professional looks like Opera mini 5.0 . But  the page quality and load time superior or comparable with any other mobile browser in the market . BOLT browser support feeds , history lists and favorites . It can save images and web pages for future use . The interface includes a cursor so that you can move freely over pages , copy-paste whenever required . Youtube playback in Opera mini uses Real Player or other streaming music player in  mobile device . For this browser exits and the videos are opened in video player . SkyFire and BOLT 1.5 support on- browser playback of Youtube videos .

But the Youtube playback in SkyFire requires the mobile device to have more memory. BOLT mobile browser 1.5 supports almost all phones as its built with Java .

Download BOLT mobile browser 1.5 ( For Nokia ,Sony Ericsson ,LG ,Samsung ,Windows mobile and other Java phones )
Blackberry version is also available .
Update : Opera announced  Opera mobile 10 beta browser for Symbian S60 V5 touch devices.

Update: Download BOLT 2 mobile browser.

Skyfire browser 1.0

Skyfire browser features 1.0 :

Update Twitter ,Facebook and other social networking sites from browser interface itself .
Watch Youtube ,Hulu ,Metacafe , Dailymotion and all other streaming video sites in mobile phones .
Supports Windows mobile devices with touch screen.
Compresses data to reduce operator charges .
Play audio files in web directly .
Watch web pages in full size ,color and depth .
Read RSS feeds .

Skyfire browser 1.0 supported Nokia phones :

E63,E71,E90,E51,E65,E61i,E66,E61,E60,E62,E70,N95,E50,N95 8GB,N82,N73,N78,N77,N79,N85,N93,N93i,N96,N71,N75,N76,N80,N80i,N81,N818GB,N91,N92,5800 XpressMusic,c6120 Classic,c6110 Navigator,6121 Classic,c6210 Navigator,6220 Classic,6290,5320 XpressMusic,5500 Sport,5700 XpressMusic,3250,6124 Classic,6650,6708

Skyfire browser 1.0 supported SonyEricsson phones .

SonyEricsson W960i,G700,G900,M600i,P1i,P990i,W950i,P800,P900,P910.

Blackberry ,iPhone and Android versions are planned and will be released in near future .

Download Download Skyfire browser 1.0 .
Download Skyfire browser 1.0 for Windows mobile 5 and 6 .

You will need to close all other application before running Skyfire browser 1.0 . Otherwise it will show a memory low warning and exit .

Opera announced  Opera mobile 10 beta browser for Symbian S60 V5 touch devices.

Updated: Download Skyfire 2 mobile browser for Android, Windows mobile and Symbian handsets.