Opera Mini Fans

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Why there's no Flash on Opera Mini

By Sami Serolaserola. Tuesday, October 20, 2009 11:35:24 AM

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Year after year people keep asking Adobe Flash or Flash Lite supported on Opera Mini. And year after year others try to explain why Opera Mini is better of without Flash. Here's once again my modest attempt to explain things.


Many phones just does not support Flash

Opera Mini is especially directed for so called low end phones that have very limited resources. The worst bottle neck is the amount of RAM available on those phones. This amount of RAM is usually unclear for many mobile phone users. First of all, RAM is not the same as phones internal memory. For some reason manufacturers just do not tell the size of RAM, but it is usually very limited. Find out more about RAM usage here.

In practice the limited size of RAM means that there's not enough working memory to run the applications, like browser and Flash player, plus all the pages, images and JavaScripts opened during the session. For example Opera Mobile has been told to need several mega bytes just for the browser. I couldn't find any exact numbers but it's a lot more than Opera Mini takes.

Even if the mobile browser would support the use of external Flash player, then the next problem is whether the phone actually can run something like Flash Lite 3.x. Although Adobe has published some promising forecasts on fast crowing numbers of phones having Flash Lite already installed, the numbers of those phones are still small compared to phones without Flash Lite.

Then what about having an built-in Flash player?

Another "full browser" for mobile phones called Skyfire has been told to include full Flash video player*. Of course this sounds promising, but once again the amount of RAM becomes crucial. I found information telling that Skyfire takes even 16 MB RAM, and there's no page history included. So no way to make it work on low end phones.

Update 19 Dec 2009: *Finally had some time to find out more on this and obviously Skyfire just transcode the videos on their server. Source, PCMAG.COM: For Skyfire's Mobile Web, The Secret's in the Server

But is it still possible to have Flash supported on J2ME applications?

I'm not an expert on this but it looks like it should be possible to open something like Flash Lite directly from J2ME application. And why not? However, currently there's a lot more important things to implement. There's no point to spend developers time and money when only relatively small number of phones can run Flash Lite.

Then what to do?

If Flash is important for you, then do consider buying a new phone that has Flash Lite 3.x already installed. Moreover, it's good idea to get 3G connection from your provider. You need fast connection to run rich media or download huge Flash files. Finally, forget Opera Mini and download so called "full browser" like Opera Mobile.

One thing is sure. You just can't get Flash Lite or any "full browser" to run on low end phone. As soon as majority of phones does have Flash Lite on them then it is fare enough to ask Flash supported on Opera Mini.

J2ME mobile browser comparisonTake over continues...

Comments

Anthony Museatlantis FletcherMuseatlantis Sunday, November 29, 2009 2:43:28 PM

Ive seen quite alot of people ask about this and as far as I can tell flash just isnt needed for browsing on phones. One person who I reccomended opera mini to asked me why it doesnt have GPS (Global Positioning System) installed into it and I pointed out that it would just be pointless and use up too much memory. As a plus GPS doesnt even work inside a house so it would be useless.

hydeaway Sunday, January 17, 2010 3:38:29 PM

I need flash. It seem nowadays many webster start thinking to hav flash based website..

sandu22 Tuesday, August 31, 2010 10:26:25 AM

flash on the web has become crutial... It's not only about the games, effects etc. but also connectivity with other elements, that simple html/php/xml can't manage. Creative designers could make a flash-based website more faster and intuitive than basic wap pages. I'm not even starting about, how flash apps (portfolio, web sale, voting systems,...) in the mobile browser could communicate with the phone alone (for example calendar, appointments,... possibilities are endless)
mobile industry has expanded - large displays with touch input, social networks, navigation & positioning gps, but the mobile web is staying behind.

Sami Serolaserola Tuesday, August 31, 2010 10:35:00 AM

I have not used a phone where's Flash Lite installed so, personally at the moment I have no idea how well it works and does it work at all with Opera Mobile. Nevertheless, I think either the way how flash works has to be changed or people should start to look for something else. All these years I have been against flash for many reasons, most of them just comes to usability issues. Flash can be used for pretty interfaces and games but for providing anything that can be searched (text) it is not good at all.

Moreover, as far as I know the number of phones that can play full Flash is still limited. If anyone knows any source that provide more information on this, then please send the link smile

thonyek Saturday, September 4, 2010 10:24:29 PM

If they can not use flash on ram MEMORY. They should convert all the data that use to phone memory card. So when browsing all the data from internet that store in ram memory should change it to use memory card to use! E.g like the computer! It will use page size to store data but if u have 500MB but your app run at 600MB. It will error. So i suggest to use phone memory card to store. It will much better then use all the phone ram. My phone ram is 1057KB but when i use opera mini a lot. It said out of memory

Almarkphilip Friday, September 17, 2010 9:43:39 AM

Then opera mini fans should request phone creators to put larger ram size on cellphones, they should provide the needs and wants of customers

sandu22 Sunday, September 26, 2010 1:00:24 PM

Well, it's a pity that such great browser with so many benefits cross platform is dedicated only to those "weaker" mobile phones...

prd3 Monday, September 27, 2010 9:28:11 AM

Originally posted by sandu22:

Well, it's a pity that such great browser with so many benefits cross platform is dedicated only to those "weaker" mobile phones...


The iPhone is a "weak phone"?

sandu22 Monday, October 4, 2010 7:57:05 PM

Originally posted by prd3:

The iPhone is a "weak phone"?


That's exactly what I mean...
You get the same (functionally equal, not UI) Opera mini on symbian and iPhone/WM.
My point was, that the differences of computing power are very big on mobile phones nowadays, so why not adjust the software to use the full potential of a particular device, not limit it to the weakest one for better compatibility.

prd3 Tuesday, October 5, 2010 1:14:53 PM

Originally posted by sandu22:

My point was, that the differences of computing power are very big on mobile phones nowadays, so why not adjust the software to use the full potential of a particular device, not limit it to the weakest one for better compatibility.


What makes you think it ISN'T?

sandu22 Friday, October 8, 2010 7:56:44 AM

Simply, because the absence of Flash on Opera mini.
I do hope that the new HTML 5 and CSS3 will be implemented, what will make the flash eventually not needed anymore. But until then, we'll just have to wait.

Sami Serolaserola Friday, October 8, 2010 8:16:38 AM

Please do your homework on what Adobe Flash and HTML5 really are, and how Opera mini works. And I'm still doing my homework but surely I think people have misunderstood HTML5 in some very awkward way. The fact that desktop Opera now already support HTML5 and things like OGG format does not mean it would work on Opera Mini: http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/everything-you-need-to-know-about-html5-video-and-audio/

Mobile browsers still have to either transcode the videos to format supported by mobile phones (like Skyfire) or just let others to do it and embed the video stream into pages (like Bolt) or just open it on phone's built-in media player (like Opera Mini does).

But even on full browsers and desktop browsers the HTML5 is not going to stop people using Adobe Flash just like that. On the contrary Adobe will very likely fight for their place on market and make their format more accessible like they have done already.

prd3 Friday, October 8, 2010 10:36:34 AM

Originally posted by sandu22:

Simply, because the absence of Flash on Opera mini.


That's got NOTHING to do with device capabilities, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that transcoding video is TOO EXPENSIVE.

I do hope that the new HTML 5 and CSS3 will be implemented


Uh, they are. Opera Mini uses the same engine as the desktop version (only on a server).

what will make the flash eventually not needed anymore


Uh, what on earth are you talking about? HTML5 is more than just video troll

Ornelien Mfornelien Friday, November 5, 2010 3:04:44 AM

i used for sometime m.youtube.com in the built in browser of my Nokia N95. Its now possible to read videos directly in the page just like on the pc youtube site. This time opera mini has got native version for the major mobile platforms it will be more simple to make an opera mini version that will run flash content on mobile phones with more ram.

Razioffuture Saturday, January 8, 2011 1:56:22 PM

opera plz when u release new version plz plz it should flash suport

Sami Serolaserola Saturday, January 8, 2011 6:45:56 PM

Said on this groups about page: "Opera Mini fans group is not affiliated in any way with Opera Software." So no point to ask flash support here. Moreover, it is more like a hardware and "operating system" issue. Thus people should ask mobile phone developers to make their phones fully support flash.

Razioffuture Monday, January 10, 2011 12:14:10 PM

when skyfire and digia browsers can display flash content when u see flash based site then opera mini is use less they can develop flash suport operam mini on symbians or iphone maeomo or android

Razioffuture Monday, January 10, 2011 12:17:12 PM

opera mini on lower ram and processer devices not suport flash but on big brands this can . And should develop a flash based version
it is possible

ChrisSlamdex Tuesday, January 18, 2011 1:54:17 PM

Originally posted by Razioffuture:

when skyfire and digia browsers can display flash content when u see flash based site

Skyfire doesn't display Flash content. What it does is that it converts only Flash videos from some popular sites to a format that can be played on the phone.

But there's no real Flash support. You can't play Farmville.

Razioffuture Tuesday, January 18, 2011 2:57:40 PM

then why operam mini not convert these videos into flash as skyfire on popular sites it shoule to imrove and accepted as complete browser

Razioffuture Tuesday, January 18, 2011 3:00:28 PM

on big ram devices 1ghz like have adobe flash plug in the why ? Opera mini should develop

ChrisSlamdex Tuesday, January 18, 2011 9:53:30 PM

Originally posted by Razioffuture:

then why operam mini not convert these videos into flash as skyfire on popular sites it shoule to imrove and accepted as complete browser

What happened to Skyfire?

They had to block most countries in the world. Only rich Western countries are now able to use Skyfire.

Why?

Because video transcoding is prohibitively expensive due to network costs.

In fact, they had to charge for the iPhone and iPad versions.

I doubt Skyfire is profitable. In fact, I am fairly sure they are burning cash fast. Video transcoding is that expensive.

Razioffuture Friday, January 21, 2011 10:06:52 AM

oh it,s mean no mobile browser supporte flash

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