Opera Mini Blog

And another changes in new build? Nothing???

No other changes.

And what about Google? There will be no Google search in homepage?

Well, this is an interesting revelation.

I'll give Opera the benefit of the doubt that Yahoo! is going to improve my experience over Google. I'll try out oneSearch™ and see what I think.

More info on onesearch:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/08012007/95/yahoo-launches-onesearch-forms-partnerships.html


Yahoo! site:
http://mobile.yahoo.com/go/search;_ylt=Ams.owLfNe5a03dVRHCU5irwtAcJ

Clarification: the Y! search that is available today in Mini is not Yahoo! oneSearch. This will come at a later point.

Anyone have a demo/simulator site?
This is the best I could find:
http://mobile.yahoo.com/go/tour

I tried to get Yahoo Go! on my BlackBerry, but it's beta and beta is full.

The oneSearch-demo looked promising, a natural evolvement in search on mobiles. Looking forward to trying it out:)

Also- I tried downloading the Go! app (which includes the new search), but the beta was closed. The Blackberry forums seem to dig it (those who can get it)

disia: Try to close the bultin-browser before you start Opera Mini. That should make it work again.

Could you please put the Y! logo INSIDE the input field just like you have it for wikipedia? On my 128x128 K300i phone this would save me screen space.

So will the Y!Search be replaced by oneSearch on my Mini installation when oneSearch launches?

Will this effect my bookmarks/settings?

Congratulations!

The RSS feature on my Palm Treo (with Mini Opera 3) now works for the FIRST TIME.

My Treo 650 - operating on WAP in Maine, connected to my Dial-Up provider - never ran the Opera Blog RSS updates, or any others, for that matter. (I had to use Opera 9 on a PC in order to find out what was "new" in this field via Newsfeeds.)

Have Opera Mini 3.0.6636 at this time ... and find that it's slightly faster and more responsive, beyond giving me RSS updates.

Keep up the good work!

Regards, Douglas
L. Douglas Henderson
ARTCRAFT Music Rolls
Wiscasset, Maine 04578 USA
http://wiscasset.nnei.net/artcraft/

Are we still going to be able to access google search through the Combo Box on the start page because I'm not so sure I'll use Yahoo as my search of choice.

Hello, again -

Still enjoying Mini 3.0 in the latest version (with Y! Search), BUT ... after putting Google vs. Yahoo through their paces, I'm staying with Google (and Gmail, which is "fast" on my cell 'phone, anyway, lacking the clutter of Yahoo Mail).

Google was already bookmarked in my Palm Treo 650, so I hit BOOKMARKS, which also gives me my provider's Open WebMail as well as Google.

Several searches, for unusual topics in the music field, for example "arrived" in Google but were skimpy in Yahoo.

Maybe someday Yahoo will trim their fat/bloat. Until then, I'm using most of the Mini 3 features but Y!.

Really like the latest Mini browser! Regards, Douglas

I think this is a definite step backwards for OM. I have tried to find sites with Yahoo in the past, and had poor results. And I agree with other posters' comments about Yahoo's cluttered and clumsy search page. I will stay with Google, and would like to see 2 versions of OM offered, incorporating the alternative search engines. That way I'm not stuck with one I don't want.

Great, now how do I get google back ? Do I have to buy a non-free version to un-cripple OM ?

i was so disappointed when my opera mini suddenly changed search engines sometime this afternoon from google to yahoo. i have never liked searching with yahoo - for me and a lot of other people, google is the best! i just dont understand why they have to change it when it worked so well! Please bring back google!! i miss it already!

Another followup from Douglas in Maine (USA) -

I was one of the first who wrote that he didn't like Yahoo for search ... on my PCs and definitely on my cell 'phone with Opera Mini 3.0 [Palm Treo 650, WAP/GSM]

Before the change to the new Start (Home) Page, I had already bookmarked Google, Google Language Tools and Gmail on my 'phone, so - after using BOOKMARKS to check my POP3 server via Open WebMail (similar to mail2web but with more features), I'm accessing Google from there, anyway.

Just to be fair, I did try Y! (or whatever Yahoo wishes to call itself) and found it to be definitely 2nd rate, on many fronts ... plus too much advertising. The text ads for Gmail are a delight when compared to Juno, MSN, Yahoo and other alternatives.

I wish that a "FIND (WORD)" feature were added, eliminating the long scrolls in Mini. It's difficult - when reading a news article - to land in a specific place, esp. if reciting part of it to a small group of friends.

As for the Y! box on the Start Page, I can leave it empty until something better comes along. Google is a hard act to follow. People say "Googling" (not "Yahooing"), after all. Like the "Pianola" and the "Frigidaire" and the "Betamax" (for a long period of time, even after its demise), the Google name has captured the public's imagination and also given fast service.

Outside of the Y! business, I really like the improvements to 3.0 over 2.0 for my cellular 'phone.

Regards, Douglas

I'm not sure why the default search page was changed to yahoo, I suppose the end users don't really have a valid say in what the search engine on the main page is anyway, after all opera mini IS free. We can't really complain. All I know is, while I used to use the google search box on the start page quite extensively, I am now forced to bookmark navigate to google's mobile home. This just reaffirms my belief that google is the most user friendly search engine. Yahoo has literally FORCED itself upon EVERY user of opera mini. It could be argued that google did the same by opera mini's defaulting to google upon installation, but that is immediately countered by the fact that a) google is clearly the majority of user's first choice and b) if someone didn't use google, one could simply bookmark nav to the mobile search engine of choice. Since google is the greatest desktop search engine from a market share perspective, it is most likely that most opera mini users, such as myself, would be quite happy with google as default. I never really liked yahoo simply due to the clutter on their main page, this just makes me want to avoid yahoo even more.

I'm glad about this partnership. I prefer and use Yahoo! anyway. My top bookmark in Mini was to http://wap.yahoo.com. (I know that the idea of mini is not to use Wap sites; but it loads so much faster and is smaller in filesize - therefore saving me money).

I, however, have just un-installed Opera Mini. I was using it too much and was getting charged 18 GBP (27.25 EUR) a month for internet access on my phone. Damn phone networks.

I've also just wrote a blog post (in fustration) of how the web tends to have this biased to Google.

Regarding the writer, above, who was "charged too much" for Internet access with Opera Mini ...

We - in Maine (USA) - have WAP, here, not GPRS.

I have an "unlimited Internet plan" with no roaming fees, and log about 600 MB of data transfer/month on my Treo. The company doesn't tabulate E-Mail, but it's heavy, as this handset gives my computers a rest.

I have reduced voice calls down to 200 mins. per month plan, and usually have a half hour of airtime on each bill.

For this, I pay around $70 a month plus taxes, and - for me - it's worth it, thanks to Opera Mini.

Regards, Douglas

I fell in love with Opera Mini several months ago and use it constantly on my A900M.

I was shocked and very upset yesterday when I realized that I had been switched to yahoo search instead of google. This is now the only negative feature to Opera Mini that I can think of...

How about giving users a choice and letting them choose their default serach engine?? Or even allowing users to add google search as the "Secondary Search" where google images, wikipedia, ebay, etc can be added??

I want my google back

I allways used Opera to access the internet on my BlackBerry.
But now...

A few days ago i was really upset when i saw a Yahoo! logo instead of that beautiful Google logo.
I think switching is a thing you must not just do. You'd better ask first, or let the users choose.

However, if things are going to be played this way, i know i uninstall Opera Mini as fast as i can!

I want Google back!

Damn, just why have you done it?

I beg you, bring Google back!

Wow, people really seem to love Yahoo! Me thinks as many before me that the user should be able to set his preferred search page. Yahoo can be the default but it should be possible to change.

I guess Opera struck a deal with Yahoo that makes it impossible for them to offer this functionallity.

Still love Opera Mini and to those of you threatening to uninstall it:
Good luck with your wapping

I agree with N80 -- Users should be allowed to change between Yahoo and Google. I personally prefer Google (Yahoo isn't bad, but it's just a matter of preference). Methinks it wouldn't be that hard to add in an option to change between the two.

Just my $0.02 -- I'd much prefer an Opera Mini that I can configure my default search engine.

f*** Yahoo, RESTORE GOOGLE! Or at least give us a menu or something.

I will use previous ver. of Opera Mini with Google...
Yahoo... it silly...

Yahoo is garbage, and I won't use it. Period.

I'd been VERY happy with Opera Mini. But now I have to go to my Google bookmark and wait for Google to load before I can do a search. This makes Opera Mini significantly less convenient to use. Plus I'll always have that idiotic Y! logo to remind me how little Opera cares about what I want.

I'll still use OM, but only because it's the only remotely satisfactory mobile browser I've found. If and when we get Firefox Mobile, I'll switch in a heartbeat.

Please please bring Google Search back !!!

Blecch! I want my Google back! I don't understand the 'it's free so we can't complain' mentality.

The ability to change your default search provider should be a user-driven option. Regardless.

Lot's of anti-Yahoo stuff here.

I'll ask again since my comment might have been lost in the frey... Based on this:

Opera will launch the new Yahoo! oneSearch(TM) when it goes live globally later in Q1 2007

...is OM going to use the "OneSearch" in the same manner as the demo on the Yahoo! pages? will it be a seemless upgrade from the simple search engine that is there now?

If that's the case, then I think a lot of the rants here might be a bit misguided. The search engine currently on OM is just the Yahoo search engine. With the new onesearch stuff, you're supposed to get more mobile friendly (less clicks) search results.

Also- Apple's touted iPhone has a similar deal with Yahoo! do they not? I say we give Opera and Apple the benefit of the doubt as these companies would not just side with Yahoo! for the dollars, they have to bring something to the table for OM and for iPhone.

That said- I do think there should be a choice.

Ouch. Google removed, I'm returning back to the slower, older Opera Mini. Not a happy bunny, of all the 'new' features in OM3, I have only one, the RSS, but without even Google built in, there is no incentive and I should've stuck with the old one.

I don't know if it's ok to say that here, if no - please delete my comment. For anybody that want google in bookmark, don't write just http://www.google.com but add the address like this: http://www.google.com/search?q= and edit your bookmark every time you want to search, and just add your search words here. That way, you don't need to load google before searching. And if you prefer to use the xhtml interface, just add it like this: http://www.google.com/xhtml/search?q= Good luck!!!

Will it be possible to have it work just like Opera for the desktop? I don't mind to have Yahoo as a default search or even MSN! I want the flexibility to go in the settings and change it to Google. I also understand that Opera Mini is making profit out of the sponsored Bookmarks and Google search, but the search engine is slightly different. It's the one we LIKE to use, we don't care if you had a deal with Google to make money, we would of used it anyway.

Go ahead, switch it. I will NEVER use that search box, I'll quick-bookmark Google this way you won't get the revenue from Yahoo and you won't get the revenue from Google either because it is not your app that brought me there.

Bitter sweet day!

i like google too. ^_^ please bring it back. and yes, i have tried the yahoo search engine. but google has too many added features that are absent in yahoo's search, even if the vast difference in relevance of search results didn't exist.

Why on earth are you guys trying to tell Opera to force Google search on people? Stop it please. It is not up to you what people should be using as a search engine in Opera Mini. If you want Google, go to Google. But don't pretend that it's your moral right to force Google searches on everyone else.

Why should Opera offer a choice now when they didn't offer one when Google was used for search? Where were all you people demanding options when your preferred search engine was being used? I hate double standards.

Originally posted by heisencat:

Plus I'll always have that idiotic Y! logo to remind me how little Opera cares about what I want.

Why are you so much more important than everyone else? Why should YOUR preferred search engine be used? Double standards...

Why should Opera offer a choice now when they didn't offer one when Google was used for search? Where were all you people demanding options when your preferred search engine was being used?

I'm all in favour of choice so I'd prefer the possibility to select your own search engine, but make Google the default. The reason that there where no complaints when google was the only choice is that it is the only serious option out there. I've never met anyone who uses anything other than Google. Yahoo! and other alternatives are just pitiful attempts at building a search engine compared to google. Choosing Yahoo! in stead of Google just makes OM look bad, like it's not a serious browser.

Hey, all you fighting FOR Yahoo, come here to get a headshot reason of why i have never wanted to use it! Seems like all of you leaving your comments here are living in english-speaking or, at least, latin alphabet using countries, don' you? As for me, same as hundreds of thousands (!) Opera mini users, i live in Russia. And most of my search querys are made in russian, with Cyrillic alphabet and for russian websites. Which Google is really near excellent, is i almost never have to use any local search service (except for some very language specific querys). And what do i get in "Y!" where i was getting about a thousand of useful links in Google? I get THREE non-relevant links, none of which is even laying near the topic of my search.

O fukitol! What do you think the russians will do next? They will produce a "mod" without any "Fk!search" (yeah, i'm writing "search" in quotes, cuz it's no more than a trademark. Not a really search like Google's one) and with Google and, maybe, some local searches by default. What you can really be sure is there will be no fees from their mods' searches towards Opera Software.
DIXI.

I'm sorry, but I'm reverting right now; removing Google, _the_ default search engine even as an option(!) is plain ridiculous. I will never use Yahoo, and being forced to do so is exactly the kind of patronising behaviour that antagonizes all those users who seriously use their mobile devices to scour the web on the go. It is just unacceptable, and I will take great care to warn all of my business colleagues to look for alternatives or older versions, since such consumer-unfriendly treatment is not to be condoned.

i wont even waste time with Y after giving it a try with garbage results EVERYTIME. i just go straight to my bookmarks and hit Google.

Very sad that you couldn't extend the agreement with Google - as I know, they pay browsers for using them as the default search engine too; and contrary to Yahoo, their search engine actually delivers useful results....

It would really have been enough make Yahoo default for all new downloads, but I think thta for most existing users, Yahoo is now nothing but a symbol for something in their way, something that forces them to open their bookmarks to use Google.

Until now, Yahoo was just some unimportant, rathe lame portal/mail/news/search site that I preferred not to use (a pity they bought Flickr and delicious, thus forcing me to create an account) - now it is the company who removed Google from my mobile phone without ever asking me and replacing it by themselves blatantly. They have to be desperate if they have to work that way.

By the way - have a look at www.yahoo.at - the most blatant rip-off of Google I've ever seen! They don't even provide a portal for Austria - you have to sign up at www.yahoo.de, and you get a german E-Mail adress. Nothing against germany, but there are other German speaking countries too...

Originally posted by Deimos123:

removing Google, _the_ default search engine even as an option(!) is plain ridiculous

Your default search engine perhaps. But you are in no position to dictate my search engine use, which you are clearly trying to do.

I will never use Yahoo, and being forced to do so is exactly the kind of patronising behaviour that antagonizes all those users who seriously use their mobile devices to scour the web on the go.

Ah, but forcing people to use Google is perfectly fine?

It is just unacceptable, and I will take great care to warn all of my business colleagues to look for alternatives or older versions, since such consumer-unfriendly treatment is not to be condoned.

But if you force people to use Google, that's "consumer-friendly"?

Double standards, that's what you are all about. This has nothing to do with being "consumer-friendly", does it? It has to do with you being in rage because YOU want to dicate what EVERYONE ELSE uses as a search engine.

Originally posted by xell42:

now it is the company who removed Google from my mobile phone without ever asking me and replacing it by themselves blatantly.

Wrong.

It was never part of your phone. It was a page belonging to Opera, on Opera's servers.

Who are you to dicate what Opera puts on their web sites?

look, nelsson, first, it was not a part of any WEBsite, but a built-in Opera mini feature.
Second, Opera Software may do whatever they want for free, but WE may complain about it for free too
And if they want to lose most of users' money feedback - it is their own decision too. Whatever they want

Originally posted by Chamie:

it was not a part of any WEBsite, but a built-in Opera mini feature.

Really! Then how come they were able to change it? If it had been built into the Opera Mini client it would not have been possible.

Face it, people who whine about Google not being forced on everyone else anymore have double standards, and the demands are unreasonable and ridiculous. Who are you to dictate what Opera puts on its own site?

Nelsson: You don't get it at all.
"Your default search engine perhaps. But you are in no position to dictate my search engine use, which you are clearly trying to do."
I'm not trying to tell you what search engine to use; I hate being forced to accept someone else's choices!
It's about CHOICE, not about coercion!
It's about the FREEDOM TO CHOOSE, to SELECT ANOTHER OPTION, to PICK WHAT YOU YOURSELF PREFER!
Is that really so hard for you to understand? Should I draw you a picture?

Really! Then how come they were able to change it? If it had been built into the Opera Mini client it would not have been possible.

Look, hav u ever heard of "Auto update"?

I'm quite disappointed with Opera Software now...but very disappointed with Yahoo! for using this kind of dirty tactics to sell their useless search engine.

I bet guys at Opera would have wanted to make it possible for user to select which search engine to use by default but Yahoo insisted on making it not possible for user to change it back to Google or even set the-good-old-G to that secondary searchbox(!). Money counts, and I know it's not cheap for Opera to provide this great piece of free software.

At least this solution is better than f.ex. scrolling ads on top of the screen. I can just ignore the stupid Y! sign and open up google from bookmarks when needed.