Opera Mobile 9.7 beta is now available for download. We first showed Opera Mobile 9.7 at CTIA in late march, but we needed some time to stabilize and test the new Opera Presto 2.2 core version.
The big news in this release is Opera Turbo. Opera Turbo is a server-side compression technology that compresses data up to 80% before it is sent to the mobile phone. Opera Turbo speeds up your browsing experience significantly when you are on a low bandwidth network (like EDGE). You will however not notice such a big effect when you're connected through WiFi or a high-speed mobile network. You can turn on Opera Turbo in the advanced section in the browser settings. Opera Turbo for Opera Mobile is still a preview feature, and we appreciate all feedback.
Our core department has released a new version of Opera Presto which contained support for Opera Turbo, more advanced web standards, Gears and several other improvements. We wanted to make this available to our users as soon as possible, and chose to upgrade the core version in Opera Mobile. Updating the browser core is a big step forward for us, and it felt natural to change the version number.
We have to upgrade to a new browser core as often as possible. Several products using a wide range of browser core versions introduces a lot of overhead (several version of core has to be maintained and worked on at the same time), so we try to use the most current stable core version at all times.
With regards to Symbian S60, I can only tell you that we're working on it.. but I'll also add that it's really awesome, and we can't wait to let you guys play with it
I'm Helene, and I work as a project manager in the Windows Mobile team at Opera Software. We are a dedicated team working with developing the Opera Mobile browser for Windows Mobile touchscreen devices.
My group works with the consumer product and new feature development in particular, and we are excited about the opportunity to focus on new technology and our end users. We're happy to announce our upcoming release: Opera Mobile 9.7 Beta for Windows Mobile touchscreen devices.
The Opera Mobile 9.7 Beta will include the following great features:
Improved rendering engine Opera Mobile 9.7 Beta uses the Presto 2.2 rendering engine, which will also be used in the Opera 10 desktop browser. Presto 2.2 offers faster page loading, and we're excited to use this state-of-the-art rendering engine and be at the forefront of standards support with 100/100 on Acid 3.
Opera Turbo Finally we can show you Opera Turbo on mobile! Opera Turbo accelerates the browsing experience by reducing bandwidth consumption up to 80%. Many of you will be familiar with Opera's compression technology from using Opera Mini, and with Opera Mobile 9.7 you'll get the best of both worlds - a full-fledged browser with extra Turbo capabilities. It's not the full version of Opera Turbo yet (yes, that's a Beta feature in a Beta release), but we couldn't wait to show you this cool feature.
Improved Widget Manager Opera Widgets are small, handy Web applications that run locally on your mobile phone. Our new Widget Manager has improved usability and design, and runs independently from the browser.
Gears Gears is a Google open source project that enables more powerful web applications, by adding new features to your web browser. Read more about Gears on Opera Labs.
OpenGL ES Hardware acceleration with OpenGL ES support, ensuring smoother scrolling, panning and a more fluid user interface.
Also, we've tried to iron out some of the major issues with the 9.51 Beta, among other things:
Installation on storage card is now possible, and the Beta happily coexists with preinstalled versions of Opera Mobile.
Better IME support (although a lot of non-standard 3rd party IME applications still make this a difficult task).
Better performance and feedback when clicking links.
We look forward to sharing this great product with you, so stay tuned
PS: If you're in Las Vegas during CTIA, make sure to drop by the Opera booth (6724 in Central Hall) to test out a preview of Opera Mobile 9.7.
- Opera Mobile for Windows Mobile v9.5 beta2 (w/widget support) - Opera Mobile for Symbian UIQ v9.5 beta (w/widget support) - An updated Opera Widgets SDK - A developer version of Opera Widgets for Symbian Series60 (only available in the Widget SDK) - An updated widgets.opera.com with several mobile-optimized widgets
The Windows Mobile and Symbian UIQ builds are available from the Opera Mobile download page.
This release focuses on x-platform and x-device widgets, and we're also kicking off an X-Widget challenge for those who eat JavaScript, CSS and HTML for breakfast.
The major new feature in Windows Mobile is the Widget Manager, but we have also added a Zoom slider and done some user interface and usability improvements in addition to many under-the-hood fixes in the browser core.
The Symbian UIQ browser is our latest and greatest UIQ build. It can only be installed on SonyEricsson P1, W960, G700 and G900.
Many of you have asked for a Symbian Series60 browser, and today we're releasing a Widget Manager which is one of our milestones towards a new full Series60 browser which will be based on the latest browser core. The S60 widget manager is a developer version packaged together with the Opera Widgets SDK.
As usual, please look at the list of Known Issues on the download page before reporting bugs in the Windows Mobile or UIQ forums.
We have updated the beta1 with a fix for the (very annoying) bug that turned off the notification sounds. The notification bugfix was relatively trivial and had a low risk. We are aware of the other bugs and issues, but these aren't adressed in this update.
There have been reports of OOM (Out of Memory) problems on some devices. Phil Nickinson over at WMExperts.com have suggested a workaround to avoid this problem. By changing the location of the folder where Opera stores the cache-files, more memory is available for Opera. Please note that depending on the speed of the memory card, Opera might perform slower and you will probably experience some delays when Opera reads and writes to the cache.
Edit: Please be sure to uninstall the previous beta-version before installing the new one. You can find more detailed instructions in this forum thread.
The first beta of Opera Mobile 9.5 is finally available for you to download. This will be the first in a series of betas for Opera Mobile 9.5. It is designed for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 phones with touchscreens.
The market has undergone a series of dramatic changes since our last major Opera Mobile upgrade. Apple entered the mobile browser market with Safari on the iPhone. Mozilla announced it will release a version of Firefox Mobile later this year and many other players are releasing browsers targeted for smartphones.
We have some fierce competition, but we are determined to keep Opera Mobile as the standard in Web browsing on smartphones. To achieve this, we need your help more than ever. Please file bugs and give us feedback in the forums and even feature requests. Our development team is active on the My Opera forums and will answer questions and do their best to help you out as you put the beta through its paces.
As I write this, I've just left for a much-needed vacation. I expect a long list of bugs and feature-requests to be waiting for me when I get back. After I return, we'll get back to our regular programming with updates on the roadmap and subsequent betas.
Edit2: This beta will only work on touchscreen-based windows mobile devices. We are planning to add compatibility for non-touchscreen phones in the future.
Edit3: Main testing has been done on English HTC devices (Touch Diamond, Touch Pro, Touch, Touch Dual, Touch Cruise, TyTN and Wizard) and Samsung i900.
Some things in life don't go according to plan -- at least not in software development. We knew when we announced a release date before we finished development that a showstopper bug might be found that could alter the actual date we release the beta.
As you can imagine, we encountered a few bugs last week that we needed to fix before we launch. Our engineering team worked through the weekend to fix the bugs. Even though our release is a beta, we'd rather spend the extra time to fix them, thus giving you a better experience. The fixes are almost complete now, but we need two more days to run the build through our quality assurance testing. The new launch date is now set for the 17th.
We're disappointed to delay, but fixing these bugs will improve the experience with our beta and let you fully test the browser.
After we announced last week that the first beta was expected on July 15th, many of you asked if we would offer a Symbian version. We will offer a Symbian version of Opera Mobile, but you will have to wait a while. We do not yet know when the Symbian version will be ready because development and quality assurance on mobile devices is time consuming. In the meantime Opera Mini is a great alternative for Symbian users. On July 15th, we'll release that first beta for Windows Mobile. Then we need your feedback and ideas to help us improve the browser.
One of the reasons I like working at Opera is that we've always supported a number of platforms. One of the slides from our last quarterly presentation shows 20+ supported operating systems. It's a challenge for a growing company, even with the engineering talent we're fortunate to have. But supporting a variety of platforms is part of our DNA. It's the foundation upon which Opera is built. We believe it's the right thing to do because more people can get the Web where they are, on their terms, on their device. I think that's a noble cause, but it takes time to do it right.
We have a unwavering focus on the craft and quality of our browser. That's the main reason many of you choose Opera. We will never compromise that.
In the meantime, while you're waiting for the first beta of Opera Mobile 9.5, here's a list of some of the official Opera blogs:
We have some exciting news to share today. It's almost time to release Opera Mobile 9.5 for Windows Mobile to the world. We thank you for your patience and support as we make what we (and many others) believe is the best browser for mobile phones. A release testing phase is underway now and the target date for the first beta is July 15th. You will be able to download it from opera.com just like you would any other versions of Opera.
Opera Mobile 9.5 will be based on the same browser engine as Opera 9.5 for desktop, and this is the reason why it has taken some time to get it ready. A new version of the browser engine will ensure that you can surf the Web with a browser supporting the latest and greatest in Web standards.
Some versions of Opera Mobile 9.5 are already shipping on great phones like the HTC Touch Diamond, and some of you have asked why we wouldn't be able to release it publically yet. As you probably know, releasing a version that works on a large variety of phones is more complex than making it work on one specific phone. You should also expect a few differences between the versions that are pre-installed on phones and the public version of Opera Mobile 9.5.
We'll have more details about the product in the near future. Thanks again, and we hope you're ready for some beta testing with us.
WIDGETIZE