Mobilization: Opera Mobile 12 and Opera Mini 7 Next

As you can see, since the beginning of 2012 the news in our blog has been sparse. But the reason is not at all that the company has left the entire composition for the last year's holiday - we just hid for a while. And there was a good reason, which in a nutshell can be described as follows: they were preparing surprises. And today it is time to present these surprises to the public. True, there are a lot of surprises, so you have to divide them into two articles, different in content and described products, but related to one common topic: what Opera Software offers today for the global mobile market. And we start, of course, with browsers.



So, as has already become clear from the title, today we are introducing the next versions of mobile browsers, and if with Opera Mobile 12 everything is, in principle, clear, then Opera Mini 7 with an intriguing addition to Next has a certain part of readers raises fair questions. But more about that later - first about the “big” version -

Opera Mobile 12

This version of the mobile browser was released for Android and Symbian smartphones, as well as a version for Android tablets. The new version of the mobile browser presents changes, both general and specific for each platform. From the general can be identified:



- New Express panel, allowing you to add an infinite number of links;

- To add links to the Express panel, you can now use an asterisk in the address bar;

- Now it is possible to close tabs with one touch (on touch screens);

- The prefix “www.”, Which previously appeared by default when entering an address, was removed from the address bar;

- Added support for languages ​​with the opposite direction of the letter (from right to left);



Now about the specific changes for each platform.

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Android

- Supported platform version - Android 1.6+;

- Added support for getUserMedia API, Device Orientation Events and WebGL;

- Support for Flash Player (only for Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3);

- Ability to transfer URLs to other devices via NFC (Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 only);



A complete list of tested devices can be found in the developer’s forum of this version .



Symbian

- The supported platform version is Symbian / S60;

- Added quick access to the address and search fields with one click on the Symbian status bar (only for devices based on S60 5.0 and Symbian ^ 3 / Anna);

- Added Russian keyboard layout for the virtual keyboard (only in the Russian version);

- Added support for sensors (accelerometer, rotation and orientation to the north magnetic pole, only for devices based on S60 5.0 and higher);



It should also be noted that this version of Opera Mobile is built on a new engine used in the desktop version of the browser, which has a positive effect on both the speed and improved support for the latest web standards. Some features:



- New HTML5 parser (Ragnarök);

- WebGL support for both web pages and 3D (for Android only);

- Support HTML5 Camera (only for Android 2.1+);

- Support HTML5 Device Orientation;



More information about new features and known issues on some devices can be found on the developers blog .



You can download the Android version from the Android Market , the Symbian version from our website .



Let me remind once again that the Internet today is just full of all kinds of fraudulent sites and “services” that offer to update or install a new browser version, so I strongly recommend downloading new versions of Opera exclusively from the official website of Opera Software or directly from Android Market (in the case of the Android version ). Attempting to install any version of Opera from unofficial or little-known sources will almost guarantee the loss of a certain amount from your mobile account.

dev.opera

To end the conversation on Opera Mobile, we should add that at the same time with the stable version of Opera Mobile 12, our developers have also prepared test builds of Opera Mobile 12 for tablets based on MIPS processors using the Android Ice Cream Sandwich platform , as well as Opera Mobile 12 for Android x86 based devices . Detailed descriptions of these versions and download links are provided in the articles at the links above. I can also inform you that Opera Emulator 12 is expected to be released soon, running on Windows, Linux and MacOS.

Opera Mini 7 Next

Finally, we got to the "younger" sister of the mobile version of Opera. To begin, let me explain what “Next” means in the version name. By analogy with the development of the desktop version of the browser, we decided to organize a test branch of the development of Opera Mini Next. Thus, everyone will be able to install and test this version in order to identify as many errors and shortcomings as possible by the final release. The Next version is installed separately from the stable version of Opera Mini and in the list of applications is represented by a gray icon, which allows you to protect against accidental loss of personal data available in the stable version of Opera Mini installed on your device. But losses can be quite, because, as a rule, Next versions are quite “raw” and contain many errors in the code that can lead to unpredictable consequences.



So, what can we see in Opera Mini 7 Next? First of all - the modified Express panel. More precisely, in addition to the Express panel, another tab appeared, which opens when the browser starts by default, under the working name “Smart page” (in Russian translation this tab is listed as “Home” for the time being). What is it and why is it needed?



As conceived by the developers, this page should be a good helper for those who are used to actively using the Internet access using a mobile browser, not limited to viewing two or three favorite pages. The smart page consists of several sections, including a list of the most frequently visited resources (a separate line provides access to popular Google services - Google+, GMail and Google News), an access block to social networks, a News block (direct links to new publications to frequently visited sites from the first block) and a block of recommended resources (also not a very good option in the Russian version - “Suggested Links”), broken down by subject (News, Finance, Travel, etc.).



At the top of the page there is also an ad unit of two banners (currently, these are links to MyOpera and Opera Mobile Store). Some blocks are updated automatically depending on the pages visited by the user, some contain predefined sets of links to popular resources of a certain subject (as long as these are English-language resources, it is planned to replace them with popular local sites of similar subjects).



By the way, in the screenshot you can see the red squares on the block title bar. They say that there are more messages in this block. To go to them, use the "flipping" left and right. And one more important note. It is clear that not everyone will like this page, therefore, the developers have provided the ability to turn it off (Settings-Advanced-Homepage). Immediately I will warn you: it is better to first open the Express panel (second tab), and then go to the settings and turn off the Home page - otherwise you can get a white screen. The function is still very test.



Yes, express panel. She now also became "dimensionless" - you can add as many links as you like. And, by the way, in this version Opera Mini finally fixed the synchronization: now when you turn on Opera Link on the “mobile” Express panel, absolutely all links from the desktop version are added, in exactly the order in which they are placed on the desktop.



Other important innovations include the emergence of Opera Mini's auto-update system, as well as the fact that users of phones on the Symbian / S60 platform have finally received the Russian layout on the virtual keyboard. You can read more about the features of Opera Mini 7 Next in the developers blog .



It remains only to remind (as is the case with Opera Mobile) that downloading and installing new versions of Opera Mini is necessary only from the official site ( m.opera.com for stable versions and m.opera.com/next for test versions) or from official "appstorov" for your devices, otherwise it is very easy to lose quite significant amounts from your mobile account. The following are the correct download links for Opera Mini 7 Next:



J2me

Android

Symbian / S60

Blackberry



And as a bonus for Apple followers - Opera Mini 7 Final for iOS



It is best to report errors in mobile versions of Opera to the official bug tracker:

Opera Mini

Opera Mobile



And at parting - a short video demonstrating the new features of Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers.







ANNOUNCEMENT

Tomorrow, wait for the continuation of "Mobilization: OMAX, SmartPay and Opera Mobile Store."