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Opera 8 for Series 60 2.0

27 replies · 14,034 views · Started 13 July 2005

Rafe 13 Jul 2005, 09:57

Opera have announced the availability of a new version of their popular Opera browser for Series 60 2.0 (and above) phones. Opera 8 for Symbian S60 is based on the same engine as that powering the recently announced Opera 8 for Windows, as such there are improvement to JavaScript and DOM support. The Series 60 version has a major upgrade to the small screen rendering (SSR) technology.

There is now four way navigation in SSR mode with fast scrolling for more efficient browsing. Additionally there are now two SSR modes: Quality and Speed. The first preserves as much of the original document as possible, while the second is up to 25% faster. For a limited time the browser will be availabel at the reduced price of USD 20.

Press Release:
Furiously fast:
Opera 8 mobile Web browser released for Symbian S60

Oslo, Norway - July 13, 2005 - Opera Software, world-leading developer of Web browsing technologies, today released the mobile version of their new browser, Opera 8 for Symbian S60. The new browser encapsulates ten years of cross-platform browser development and delivers innovation as well as customization opportunities in one small package.

Opera 8 for Symbian S60 represents the latest in Web browser technology, providing an unparalleled Web experience for the wide range of mobile phones based on Symbian S60. The browser is based on the same engine as the newly released and popular Opera 8 for Windows, Linux and Mac. Its improved support for JavaScript and DOM makes it a powerful technology platform for the development of mobile Web applications. For the end-user, this means more speed and better functionality than ever before, while operators can now offer their subscribers advanced mobile services and an unparalleled mobile Internet experience.

The new version includes a major upgrade in Opera's unique Small-Screen Rendering (SSR), the technology that reformats Web sites to fit the width of mobile screens. Opera 8 for S60 also introduces four-way navigation with fast scrolling for efficient browsing on small screens. Users can now choose between two rendering modes: Quality and Speed. The Quality mode keeps more of the originial site color, design and layout than previous versions of SSR; in Speed mode, Web page rendering is more basic but 25 percent faster.

"Opera has developed its own market foresight by introducing cutting-edge Web technologies for a decade, all the while maintaining our drive to deliver a superior Web browsing experience across different platforms and media channels," says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "Fully compliant with Web standards and Opera's customer requirements, Opera 8 strengthens the company's position as the leading browser vendor on the S60 platform, and brings the latest in Opera's full mobile Web experience to millions of users around the world."

Armed with new and improved SSR and other innovations, Opera 8 is a proven customizable and extendible mobile browser. It allows operators and handset makers to maintain customer loyalty and reduce churn by quickly and affordably bring new services to market.

Symbian is continuing to strengthen its leading position in advanced 3G markets. According to the company, 12 of the 48 phone models based on the Symbian OS currently shipping are designed for 3G networks. Opera is well prepared for this development, and the new Opera 8 for mobile is designed to take full advantage of high-speed connectivity.

Availability
Opera 8 for S60 is available to download from <www.opera.com/products/mobile/>. Users with the previous version, Opera 6.20, will receive a free upgrade.

Mobile Accelerator
The Opera Mobile Accelerator reduces the size of Web pages by 50 to 90 percent. This dramatically increases surfing speed on GPRS networks. It is not recommended on 3G networks. Sign up at <www.opera.com/products/mobile/accelerator>.

About Opera Software ASA
Opera Software ASA is an industry leader in the development of Web browser technology, targeting the desktop, smartphone, PDA, home media and vertical markets. Partners include companies such as IBM, Nokia, Sony, Motorola, Adobe, Macromedia, Symbian, Canal+ Technologies, Sony Ericsson, Kyocera, Sharp, Motorola Metroworks, MontaVista Software, BenQ, Sendo and AMD. The Opera browser has received international recognition from users, industry experts and media for being faster, smaller and more standards-compliant than other browsers.

Opera's browser technology is cross-platform and modular, and currently available on the following operating systems: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, BREW, QNX, TRON, FreeBSD, Solaris and Mediahighway.

Opera Software ASA is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with development centers in Linkoping and Gothenburg, Sweden. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at <www.opera.com>.

stuclark 13 Jul 2005, 10:55

Having done a quick comparison - Opera 8 is a much needed jump up from version 6.2, but it's still not as good as NetFront is 😊

Rafe 13 Jul 2005, 11:23

Oooh controversial opinion... 😊

Personally I have both installed and some sites work better on one than the other. I'm looking forward to using the new version.

pdz 13 Jul 2005, 14:24

from the changelog:
Support for XmlHttpRequest.

and from a quick test on my 6600, google suggest is working

EddWo 13 Jul 2005, 15:13

Anyone know where there are any examples of SVG Tiny graphics with animations that work on Opera? I tried a couple of places but they either didn't render properly or just displayed the XML.

zainman 13 Jul 2005, 15:36

can anyone give me some direct link to upgrade the existing opera for free on my 7610, the website says that a free update is available for existing customers...

joar1 13 Jul 2005, 20:13

Have now tested version 2 (V.8) for a while on my 6600, and I must say I am impressed. A lot better than the previous version, and certainly better than Netfront 3.2 (don�t know know what you have been smoking "stuclark"... 😉 ).

Renders faster than before, but generally the major difference is that most "secure" sites seems to run without problem now. Now I really can do my banking from the phone! Unicode works fine too!

Seems i have to get hold of a 6680 - my phonebill might be running a bit high on the 6600.

Everyone should try this app.!

stuclark 14 Jul 2005, 10:32

joar1 wrote:Have now tested version 2 (V.8) for a while on my 6600, and I must say I am impressed. A lot better than the previous version, and certainly better than Netfront 3.2 (don�t know know what you have been smoking "stuclark"... 😉 ).

I haven't been smoking anything - is that where I'm going wrong? 😉

Seriously - Opera still doesn't seem as good at CSS as NetFront is - try looking at www.sendosmartphones.com in both Opera and NetFront, then tell me which renders it better 😊

Think 14 Jul 2005, 10:56

stuclark wrote:I haven't been smoking anything - is that where I'm going wrong? 😉

Seriously - Opera still doesn't seem as good at CSS as NetFront is - try looking at www.sendosmartphones.com in both Opera and NetFront, then tell me which renders it better 😊

Failed to see your point stuclark. Check out the attachement. I think Opera (to the right) presents the page much smarter than Netfront...

btw: reformatting of pages has little to do with CSS support. If you would like to test that, you need to tell the browser to turn the reformatting off (by using a handheld stylesheet)

Attachments: test.png
Juanm 15 Jul 2005, 14:43

Hi.
I was reading here that it was possible to use wap and/or mms access point to enter the web with opera configuring properly the proxy server.
This until 6.20 release

I've read on another forum the bad news that proxy servers config in Opera 8 is gone from the advanced configuration.

Could it be possible anyway configuring a proxy (maybe editing some config file by hand, maybe that advanced panel has been moved in another place) or those tricks are permanently gone?

Thanks in advance.

Think 15 Jul 2005, 15:05

Juanm wrote:Hi.
I was reading here that it was possible to use wap and/or mms access point to enter the web with opera configuring properly the proxy server.
This until 6.20 release

I've read on another forum the bad news that proxy servers config in Opera 8 is gone from the advanced configuration.

Could it be possible anyway configuring a proxy (maybe editing some config file by hand, maybe that advanced panel has been moved in another place) or those tricks are permanently gone?

Thanks in advance.

You need to configure the proxy settings in the Internet Access point setting for the phone. To do this, open tools -> internet connections, select your access point and choose advanced settings.

/t

Juanm 18 Jul 2005, 11:31

hi.
i've noticed a little problem with reduced visualization and tag like 

 <select name="select"><option>(text here</option></select>

in pages with frame.
no problem with normal visualization

Cheers.

rmaxtheviper 18 Jul 2005, 18:56

Hi guys...
is there anyone having problems with the new opera release?
I cannot browse anymore...

the app connects to the Internet but remains to conn to server.. 😞

The previous version was working fine.

The phone is a Nokia 6600

Massimiliano

JustSomeOne 18 Jul 2005, 23:15

Damn fuckers they disabled the proxy server option and now to surf u have to pay for each MB you DL

Alex-pl 19 Jul 2005, 09:20

rmaxtheviper wrote:Hi guys...
is there anyone having problems with the new opera release?
I cannot browse anymore...

the app connects to the Internet but remains to conn to server.. 😞
Massimiliano

I have the same problem. Any hints?

Juanm 19 Jul 2005, 19:36

JustSomeOne wrote:they disabled the proxy server option and now to surf u have to pay for each MB you DL

enter your wap APN if you have a wap promo ... otherwise ...
change proxy settings directly in your access point configuration panel as explained here

then ... let's start the (little) complaint ... :banghead:

[list=1]
[*]you cannot copy and paste text from and to text box like this enabled in Opera.

You can see what I say by yourself trying to paste with Opera a link or a text string in your post ... you will notice that the function is no more.
Furthermore you aren't able to select text in text boxes like this of vB forum.
So ... if you want to delete a big portion of your post while posting, you are forced to delete one characher at time :icon13:
[*] your phone will become a bit slow after a while.
This 'cause it requires 3.4 mb of free RAM ... checking with appman I noticed a 6.6 mb average free memory on 6630
you cannot keep too programs open ... expecially after a while.
[/list]

IMO they could sort things better :banghead:

Juanm 19 Jul 2005, 19:48

davidlove wrote:Anyone know why Mobile Accelerator is not supported in Opera 8?

Are you sure?
OPtions/settings/advanced ... check the fist line

Utenteanonimo64 06 Sep 2005, 17:55

Juanm wrote:let's start the (little) complaint ... :banghead:

IMO they could sort things better :banghead:

The problems are many more and even worse they keep saying in their forum that the user feedback for this piece of sh*t has been good. If you subscribe to their forum and post a complaint you will be banned.
They don't fix problems and they don't commit to any date to fix them. But they find the time to delete any message in their forum that can ruin their image. Opera is the worst software company I have ever dealt with.

UA

Sigup 06 Sep 2005, 19:47

Utenteanonimo64 wrote:The problems are many more and even worse they keep saying in their forum that the user feedback for this piece of sh*t has been good.

Wouldn't you say that the feedback in this thread has been mostly good? It seems to be very well received.

If you subscribe to their forum and post a complaint you will be banned.

Why then are those other threads and posts with complaints still there? You know why you were banned, and it wasn't because you posted "a complaint". You flooded the forum with abusive off-topic posts.

They don't fix problems and they don't commit to any date to fix them.

They don't fix problems? Oh my, I wonder what all these new versions are doing out then!

But they find the time to delete any message in their forum that can ruin their image. Opera is the worst software company I have ever dealt with.

Opera is the "worst software company" because they removed your abusive spam, and finally banned you after repeated warnings?

I'm a member of those forums, and I saw what you did. You deserved the ban.

And anyone can see that criticism is not just deleted. It's still there. Only your abusive posts were removed!

By the way, it seems that you have a problem with companies that don't immediately respond exactly the way you want them to right away:

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum//forum/thread/37301/#post235578#post235578

Utenteanonimo64 06 Sep 2005, 22:31

Sigup, I stated my opinion on the Opera browser and the Opera company. You stated your opinion on my posts. Fine, even if I think your post is not so interesting as I am not getting money to post here, while Opera gets money when they sell a non-functioning browser.
Regarding my complaints on other companies; I keep my right to critisise any company (any consumer should use critisism and not become a "fan" of what they buy) but I must commend Nokia for contacting me personally to solve the problems in their latest version of PC Suite. The person I have been in contact with has invested a lot of time and has always been kind and really interested in solving my problem. I can say that I have contributed to the solution of the problem running a considerable amounts of tests for them but I did it happily.
Opera's behaviour has been very different and when you contact their customer support with a problem you get a canned response: "we are aware of the problem, we are working on it and it will be fixed in a future release". (Please try and check for yourselves). However serious the problem might be you always get that answer. This is not the kind of response I want to receive when I have a problem with something I bought and paid for. And it's a fact that the problems under discussion with Opera 8.0 are serious and two months have passed with no corrections.
If I buy a car and it's not working I want to know when it will be fixed. I have worked in software development for many years and my company had to provide customers with planned dates for bug fixes. Why not Opera?
UA

Sigup 07 Sep 2005, 16:12

Your "opinions" are nothing but lies about what actually happened. To claim that Opera is a "non-functioning browser" just goes to show how desperate you are to use red herrings and hyperbole to spread lies about Opera and what happened in that forum.

Your posts were not criticism, they were plain off-topic abuse, pure and simple.

"Opera's behaviour" was that they apparently responded to your questions (as shown in another thread), and since you didn't like the answers you started flooding their forums with abusive off-topic messages.

I somehow doubt your completely nonsensical claim that you have worked in software development for many years. Not even Microsoft will give out planned dates for bug fixes. Especially browsers are highly complex pieces of software, and having contributed to the Mozilla project myself in the past, I know exactly how impossible it is to give anyone "planned dates for bug fixes". In case you didn't notice, the upcoming Firefox version has slipped several times by now.

You are simply ignorant about how browsers and software development works in general. You can't give a specific date and say "this is when it will be ready". A bugfix can introduce other bugs, and there are often several high priority bugs that need to be fixed before the next version is shipped. Again, look at Firefox.

But I somehow doubt that it is within your ability to comprehend how browser vendors, and indeed, software publishers in general, work.

Utenteanonimo64 14 Sep 2005, 06:21

Some companies commit to dates it seems... read this statement from Apple: "Apple is aware that a limited number of customers are experiencing
issues with installing iTunes 5. We're working to resolve this and expect to have a software update early next week."

Juanm 19 Sep 2005, 14:59

well ... No bug fixes came out in the meanwhile. Maybe they need more time to sort things well.

A little aside note: Firefox is not available yet for mobile devices 😉