Opera News

You think that is real text you are looking at?

By Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO. Thursday, April 15, 2010 7:54:40 AM

In the most recent Opera Mini review by ars technica, Lachlan Hunt (Opera employee) wrote a comment with some answers how Opera Mini works. They help clarify a few questions we've seen following the release of Opera Mini in the App Store.

Text looks garbled when zoomed out

The reason you can't read the text whem zoomed out is because that's not real text. It's essentially a graphic designed to simulate where the text appears on the page. You have to keep in mind that the zoomed out mode is designed for feature phones and other smart phones that don't have screens as large as the iPhone. The fact that this design doesn't work so well on phones like the iPhone is a known issue, but I can't say what may be done to resolve it in the future.

Double-tapping to zoom shows unpredictable behavior

Also, zooming in only requires a single tap. While double tapping works, this is unnecessary. Single tap to zoom in, two-finger tap to zoom back out.

Concerns about security and privacy

Regarding the privacy and security concerns about passwords and SSL connections, while it is true that these are technically passed to the Opera Mini servers, I can assure you that security and privacy is taken very seriously. Access to these servers is highly restricted and no-one is given any access to anyone's personal information. Per the privacy policy, we only obtain anonymised, aggregated statistics. But, this does come down to an issue of trust, and users that don't trust Opera to protect their information are advised to not use Opera Mini for sensitive web browsing.

But there is an advantage here that may not be so obvious. The connection from the phone to the Opera Mini servers is always encrypted. This is incredibly useful when accessing the net over a public wifi connection.

Do you have any other questions or comments about Opera Mini? Please let us know as a comment and we'll do our best to answer them. Also, feel free to send this article to any of your iPhone buddies.

Can you spot the Opera icon?New beta of Opera for Mac

Comments

NicoHellbillyDeluxe # Thursday, April 15, 2010 8:15:58 AM

I've got only one question so far, but I guess it can't be answered that easy:

When will we see a Final of Opera Mini for Android. Or maybe just a snapshot/updated Beta?

I have an iPod touch 2G (besides my Motorola Milestone) and downloaded Opera Mini right from Day 1. Since I am alrady familiar with it from Android, I had no problems using it.
But my frieds, who mostly have iPhones, say that, in their own words, "usability sucks". I definitely wouldn't say that, but I understand that it's not native, which may be the main problem for them. But I guess there just wasn't enough time to work on that issue.

I just came up with another question: Since site-rendering happens on Opera's servers, how often are these servers updated to provide the best surfing experience? Some sites doesn't look as good as they could, so I am wondering how updates work.

For example: When I browse Amazon.de, I get a completely different (WAP?) site than with Safari or the Android browser.

To finally come to an end: Thank you for all the hard work that has been put into Opera over the years. As a long-time fan, I really appreciate that.

zorro1582 # Thursday, April 15, 2010 8:21:36 AM

That's cleared up the double tap and smalltext problem for me!
Thankyou

Aleksander AasAleksander # Thursday, April 15, 2010 8:39:29 AM

Originally posted by HellbillyDeluxe:

When will we see a Final of Opera Mini for Android. Or maybe just a snapshot/updated Beta?

No news yet I'm afraid. As a fellow Android user I'm still waiting for a updated one!

Originally posted by HellbillyDeluxe:

Since I am alrady familiar with it from Android, I had no problems using it. But my frieds, who mostly have iPhones, say that, in their own words, "usability sucks".

We are aware of this and have been trying to explain Opera Mini a bit on Choose Opera the last few days addressing some questions. However we need help from other Opera Mini users to explain some of the differences between Opera Mini and Safari on the iPhone.

Originally posted by HellbillyDeluxe:

Since site-rendering happens on Opera's servers, how often are these servers updated to provide the best surfing experience?

I'm not sure how to reply to this, the servers are updated all the time and we constantly add more of them. When it comes to browsing experience you might want to try to remove the mobile view and enable full page text!

Originally posted by HellbillyDeluxe:

To finally come to an end: Thank you for all the hard work that has been put into Opera over the years. As a long-time fan, I really appreciate that.

I'll be sure to forward this. I also hope you got some answers, if not follow-up!

Patrick H. Laukepatrickhlauke # Thursday, April 15, 2010 8:54:47 AM

espen, liking the matrix reference there in the title...

netwolf # Thursday, April 15, 2010 9:45:58 AM

Originally posted by chooseopera:

Do you have any other questions or comments about Opera Mini?

How can I get the "more bookmarks" item described in the Link FAQ ( http://www.opera.com/link/faq/ ) on the Opera Mini for iPhone?
All I get is a Opera Mini folder on my desktop (and Link), but how can I automatically sync my desktop bookmarks on the iPhone OM browser?

Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO # Thursday, April 15, 2010 9:56:07 AM

Originally posted by netwolf:

All I get is a Opera Mini folder on my desktop (and Link), but how can I automatically sync my desktop bookmarks on the iPhone OM browser?

Check out this article

http://my.opera.com/chooseopera/blog/2010/04/13/how-to-import-your-bookmarks-to-opera

NicoHellbillyDeluxe # Thursday, April 15, 2010 9:56:21 AM

Originally posted by Aleksander:

I'm not sure how to reply to this, the servers are updated all the time and we constantly add more of them. When it comes to browsing experience you might want to try to remove the mobile view and enable full page text!

First off: Thank you for your detailed answers.
I'm helping my iPhone-friends to get used to Opera Mini whenever I can, so I hope that they get used to it some day.

Regarding site-problems: Even with those options enabled, I still get a very, very minimalistic mobile site of Amazon.de, instead of the full mobile site I'm getting with Safari Mobile/Android.

I guess it's because of the user agent.

msbahari # Thursday, April 15, 2010 10:21:13 AM

Why Opera can load Arabic website as good as Safari?

mrmamen # Thursday, April 15, 2010 10:48:02 AM

Is there any chance of seeing Opera Mobile on the iPhone, or would that not be possible with Apple's rules?

Tamil # Thursday, April 15, 2010 10:49:22 AM

NicoHellbillyDeluxe # Thursday, April 15, 2010 10:56:27 AM

@ mrmamen:

Opera Mobile means that webpages are completely rendered on your phone, and Apple does not allow that, unfortunately.

So no, it won't happen.

Jonny WIldeoriginalJayDub # Thursday, April 15, 2010 11:23:41 AM

So, Opera Mini isn't designed for iPhone, hence why the zoomed out mode looks so poor, it renders it as graphics rather than text and on a small phone that looks ok, but not on an iPhone, Safari can be render text at a variety of zoom levels.

The zooming doesn't work like everything else on the iPhone does so an iPhone user has to think differently when using this browser? Hmmm, no thanks.

Everything goes through the Opera Mini servers to optimise, etc, security aside (which I'm not comfortable with, but hey ho, you have responses like encryption, etc) this means when using services like BBC iPlayer the site thinks you are outside of the UK so won't allow you to use the video services, only the radio services.

Overall, it's a fail.

Bit quicker, less usable, less legible, less capable...
Yes moving back through pages is a lot quicker, but that's about it.

This doesn't answer any iPhone issues, it just explains why it doesn't work very well.

netwolf # Thursday, April 15, 2010 11:53:59 AM

Originally posted by Espen André Øverdahl:

Check out this article

http://my.opera.com/chooseopera/blog/2010/04/13/how-to-import-your-bookmarks-to-opera

So in other words, there's no way to actually sync desktop and Mini bookmarks (all of them, not only the ones you manually move to the Opera Mini folder), and the Link FAQ entry regardings "more bookmarks" is wrong, right?

Spadar ShutSpShut # Thursday, April 15, 2010 1:19:25 PM

Maybe a bit offtopic. Will there be Opera Mobile for Android?

Livio Ribeirolivioribeiro # Thursday, April 15, 2010 2:13:27 PM

Public WiFi networks, a very good reason to use Opera Mini

chimerical # Thursday, April 15, 2010 5:48:55 PM

Is the "real text" issue the reason why we're getting a sans-serif font with the rendered New York Times page in Opera Mini? I assumed it wasn't displaying the serif typeface because it the app didn't have the same access to system fonts as Mobile Safari.

Rafael Luikrafaelluik # Thursday, April 15, 2010 7:29:56 PM

Originally posted by originalJayDub:

so an iPhone user has to think differently when using this browser?

this is not different from the choice you make on your computer: you also have to think differently when using other web browsers than Safari (or any other browser) on your computer. I don't see reason to scandalize about it, there's nothing new on thinking differently when using different software.

Luchs # Thursday, April 15, 2010 7:54:28 PM

Why are the long touch menus on the right side? They are always exactly under my finger, as I use the right hand for navigation.

Is there a way to stop Opera Link syncing my speed dial? I've got some flash gaming site on my desktop Opera speed dial which I will never visit on my iPod touch, but when I change it there, it is also changed in my desktop Opera.

Rafael Luikrafaelluik # Thursday, April 15, 2010 8:28:13 PM

Originally posted by Luchs:

Is there a way to stop Opera Link syncing my speed dial? I've got some flash gaming site on my desktop Opera speed dial which I will never visit on my iPod touch, but when I change it there, it is also changed in my desktop Opera.

There's no way to stop your Speed Dial to being synced on Opera Mini.
What you can do is disable the Speed Dial sync on your desktop Opera but that would make the Speed Dials in your account at http://link.opera.com be the Opera Mini ones.

Why don't you increase the number of Speed Dial items in your desktop Opera's Speed Dial using "Configure Speed Dial" and put the games in the numbers above 9?

prd3 # Friday, April 16, 2010 11:00:51 AM

Originally posted by originalJayDub:

The zooming doesn't work like everything else on the iPhone does so an iPhone user has to think differently when using this browser? Hmmm, no thanks.

You are kidding, right? "It isn't exactly like Safari, so I won't use it!"

I guess Apple fanboys really are a special breed...

Cutting Spoonhellspork # Friday, April 16, 2010 5:00:28 PM

Well, Apple products began with a rebellious phase, then they gradually reorganized into a lockstep. In the Appleverse, every program must look and act nearly the same. Sometimes it's great and many times it is aggravating.

The explanation at top does answer my own question about zoomed-out view.

Daniel Ziltenerzilti # Friday, April 16, 2010 7:57:43 PM

Just to give my two cents to iPhone-Users saying that the usability... well... "sucks"...
It's once again a proove that iPhone-Users are too stupid/lazy to think one second about that OM _could_ be different than Safari and try how it works. I mean, it really is simple, and after all there's a well-made introduction at first start (at least in the J2ME-Version, but I think it's the same).

CrossBrowserWeb # Wednesday, April 21, 2010 2:55:56 PM

I was wondering how the zoom worked and why the text looked a little funny, but the fact that is essentially a graphic explains that question as well as answering a second question of mine as well - why do you have to wait for the entire page to load first? Obviously to correctly build the image to zoom....
love the slick interface on the iPhone - good job!