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Opera Mini

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Opera Mini
Developer(s)Opera Software
Initial releaseAugust 10, 2005
Written inC++, Java, Pike[1]
PlatformJava ME, Android, Windows Mobile, iPhone
Available inVarious[2]
TypeMobile browser
LicenseProprietary – Freeware
Websitewww.opera.com/mini

Opera Mini is a web browser designed primarily for mobile phones, but also for smartphones and personal digital assistants. It uses the Java ME platform and consequently requires that the mobile device be capable of running Java ME applications. Opera Mini is offered free of charge, supported through a partnership between its developer, the Opera Software company, and the search engine company Google.[3]

Opera Mini was derived from the Opera web browser for personal computers, which has been publicly available since 1996. Opera Mini began as a pilot project in 2005. After limited releases in Europe, it was officially launched worldwide on January 24, 2006.

Opera Mini requests web pages through the Opera Software company's servers, which process and compress them before relaying the pages back to the mobile phone. This compression process makes transfer time about two to three times faster, and the pre-processing smoothes compatibility with web pages not designed for mobile phones.

History

Total data consumed by Opera Mini users worldwide from 2006 to mid-2008 in TB

Opera Mini was derived from the Opera web browser for personal computers, which has been publicly available since 1996.[4] Opera Mini was originally designed for mobile phones that would ordinarily be incapable of running a web browser.[5] It was first introduced on August 10, 2005 as a pilot project in cooperation with the Norwegian television station TV 2.[6] At that time, Opera Mini was only available to TV 2 customers.

A beta version was made available in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland on October 20, 2005.[7] After the final version was launched in Germany on November 10, 2005,[8] and quietly released to all countries through the Opera Mini website in December, the browser was officially launched worldwide on January 24, 2006.[9]

On May 3, 2006 Opera Mini 2.0 was released. It included new features such as the ability to download files, new custom skins, additional search engine options on the built-in search bar, a speed dial feature, and new search engines, and improved navigation.[10]

On November 1, 2006 Opera Mini 3 beta introduced secure browsing, RSS feeds, photo uploading and content folding into its list of features and capabilities.[11] Content folding works by folding long lists such as navigation bars into a single line that can be expanded as needed. A second beta was released on November 22,[12] and on November 28, the final version of Opera Mini 3 was released.[13]

November 7, 2007 saw the release of Opera Mini 4. According to Johan Schön, technical lead of Opera Mini development, "the entire code" was rewritten.[14] Opera Mini 4 includes the ability to view web pages similar to a desktop based browser by introducing Overview and Zoom functions, as well as a landscape view setting. In Overview mode, the user can scroll a zoomed out version of certain web pages.[15] Using a built-in mouse cursor, the user can zoom into a portion of the page to provide a clearer view; this is similar to the functionality of Opera's Nintendo-based web browsers. This version also includes the ability to sync with the personal computer edition of Opera.[16][17]

Prior to Opera Mini 4, the browser was offered in two editions: Opera Mini Advanced for high-memory MIDP 2 phones, and Opera Mini Basic for low-memory MIDP 1 phones.[18] Opera Mini 4 has now taken the place of Opera Mini Advanced.[19] The older Opera Mini 3 Basic is still available for low-memory phones.[20]

Originally, Google was the default search engine on Opera Mini.[21] However, on January 8, 2007, Opera Software and Yahoo! announced that a partnership to make Yahoo! search the default instead.[22] But on February 27, 2008, Opera Software officially announced that Opera Mini's and Opera Mobile's default search engine would return to Google from Yahoo!.

It was published in the New York Times on October 27, 2008 that an iPhone client has been developed but that Apple won’t let the company release it because it competes with their own browser Safari[23].

On April 10, 2008 it was announced that a version had been produced for the Google Android operating system. Rather than developing a new version for Android, this was accomplished by creating a wrapper to translate Java ME API calls to Android API calls.[24]

On August 16, 2009 Opera Software presented the next generation of the product: Opera Mini 5.0 beta. The new version included tabbed browsing, a password manager, improved touch screen support, and a brand new interface, including a visual Speed Dial similar to the one introduced by Opera Software in their desktop browser. [25]

Since Nov 20, 2009, there have been reports from Chinese users that when they use Opera Mini, they are redirected to an error page leading them to download Opera Mini China Version. Many people believe the cause of this incident is that the Chinese government are afraid that citizens are using Opera Mini to bypass the Great Firewall in China.[26]

Functionality

Unlike ordinary web browsers, Opera Mini fetches all content through a proxy server that reformats web pages into a format more suitable for small screens.[27] A page is compressed, then delivered to the phone in a markup language called OBML (Opera Binary Markup Language).[28] This compression process makes transfer time about two to three times faster[15] and the pre-processing also smooths compatibility with web pages not designed for mobile phones.[29]

When a user browses the web using Opera Mini, the request is sent via the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) to one of the Opera Software company's proxy servers, and that server retrieves the web page, processes it, compresses it, and sends it back to the user's mobile phone.

By default, Opera Mini opens only one connection to the proxy servers, and then keeps that connection open and re-uses it over and over. This improves transfer speed and also enables the servers to quickly synchronize changes to bookmarks stored in Opera Link.[30]

The Opera Software company maintains over 100 proxy servers to handle Opera Mini traffic. They run Linux and "are massively parallel and massively redundant."[31]

Small-Screen Rendering

For devices with screens 128 pixels wide or smaller, the default rendering mode is Small-Screen Rendering (SSR). In this mode, the page is reformatted into a single vertical column so that it need only be scrolled up and down.[15] Long lists and navigation bars are automatically collapsed (hiding most of the list or bar) by a feature known as "content folding". A plus (+) sign is displayed next to the collapsed content. When clicked, it toggles content folding on that list or bar.[32]

Web developers can turn on Small-Screen Rendering on the desktop edition of Opera to see how their web site will display on mobile editions of Opera.[33]

In Small-Screen Rendering mode, images are scaled down to no more than 70% of the screen size in either direction.[34]

JavaScript support

Opera Mini has limited support for JavaScript. Before the page is sent to the mobile device, its onLoad events are fired and all scripts are allowed a maximum of two seconds to execute. The setInterval and setTimeout functions are disabled, so scripts designed to wait a certain amount of time before executing will not execute at all.[35]

After the scripts have finished or the timeout is reached, all scripts are stopped and the page is compressed and sent to the mobile device. Once on the device, only a handful of events are allowed to trigger scripts:[35]

  • onUnload: Fires when the user navigates away from a page[36]
  • onSubmit: Fires when a form is submitted[36]
  • onChange: Fires when the value of an input control is changed[36]
  • onClick: Fires when an element is clicked[36]

When one of these events is triggered, Opera Mini sends a request to the proxy server to process the event. The proxy server then executes the JavaScript and returns the revised page to the mobile device.[35]

Pop-ups, if not blocked by the JavaScript restrictions, replace the web page being viewed.[37]

Features

Scrolling is achieved with the device's arrow keys, its number keys, or a stylus.[15][38]

Opera Mini may also be set to landscape mode, where it will rotate the page 90 degrees. This is useful for screens that are significantly taller than they are wide. However, this feature is not yet available on BlackBerrys and some other devices.[15]

The image quality may be set to "Low", "Medium", or "High".[39] The higher the image quality, the more data is transferred and the longer it will take to load pages.[40]

Opera Mini supports only one font,[34] which can be set to "Small", "Medium", "Large", or "Extra large" size.[39] If a web page uses Courier or a generic monospaced font, the one font is still used, but the characters are spaced out so that each character takes up the same amount of space.[34]

Browsing tools

Opera Mini features a search bar capable of using several pre-configured search engines,[41] with the user being able to add additional search engines.[39] The default search engine is Google.

Additionally, Opera Mini features shortcut keys,[42] skins,[43] and a web feed aggregator.[44] It can save bookmarks,[45] download files,[46] and it remembers the user's browsing history.[47]

Privacy and security

When using Opera Mini 4.0 or 3.0 Advanced, the connection between the mobile device and the proxy server is always encrypted for privacy and security. The encryption key is obtained on the first start by requesting that the user press random keys a certain number of times.[48] When using Opera Mini 3.0 Basic, the connection is not encrypted. Opera Mini has received some criticism because it does not offer true, end-to-end security when visiting encrypted sites such as paypal.com.[49] When visiting an encrypted web page, the Opera Software company's servers decrypt the page, then re-encrypt it themselves, breaking end-to-end security.[50]

Standards support

As of version 4, Opera Mini uses the same layout engine that is included in Opera 9.5.[51] This means that Opera Mini supports almost all of the web standards supported in Opera 9.5. However, unlike the desktop edition of Opera, Opera Mini includes no support for Web Forms 2.0. Also, frames are flattened because of client limitations, and dotted and dashes borders are displayed as solid borders due to bandwidth and memory issues.[34] And because Opera Mini reformats web pages, it does not pass the Acid2 standards compliance test.[52][53]

Opera Mini supports bi-directional text, meaning that it can display text in right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew in addition to left-to-right languages like English, French, and Spanish.[14]

Low-memory device support

For MIDP 1, low-memory devices, the older Opera Mini 3 Basic is still available.[20] Its features include an option to increase the text size, as the default text size is too small for some web sites.[54] Opera Mini 3 Basic uses less advanced compression, does not support full page view, does not include support for favicons, does not scroll as smoothly, does not feature a built-in clock, and does not support encryption.[18] When browsing an encrypted web page with Opera Mini 3 Basic, the page is actually decrypted before being sent to the mobile phone.[50]

  • Opera Mini 3 Basic using the default, "medium" font size
    Opera Mini 3 Basic using the default, "medium" font size
  • Opera Mini 3 Basic using the "large" font size
    Opera Mini 3 Basic using the "large" font size

Market adoption

Opera overall market share compared with other mobile web browsers is about 26.92% as of October 2009[55]. It is unclear how much of this share belongs to the Opera Mini variant.

Network operators

Several mobile network companies preinstall Opera Mini on their mobile phones, including AT&T, Vodafone, T-Mobile, KDDI, Omnitel, Era (telecommunications), Pannon GSM, Telefónica Móviles de España, TMN, Tata Teleservices, and more.

Devices

The following devices came pre-installed with Opera Mini as of August, 2007. None of the devices pre-installed with Opera mini after August, 2007 are included in the list. Note that some of these only include Opera Mini when bought from certain network operators.[56]

  • Motorola V980, E2, L7, i1[57]
  • Nokia 2610,3120c, 3500c, 3600, 3600 slide , 3720, 6085, 5130, 5500, 5310, 5610, 3110, 7373, 6131, 6600 slide, 5070, E65, N95, N71, N73,5000, 3110c, 6288, 6103, 6080, 6303, 6300[58] and 8800 Arte
  • Sony Ericsson K310i, K530i, K550, W200i, W760i, Z530i, Z550i, Z780i, W910i
  • Samsung X160, E570, E420, F480, X510, X650, E900, E250, U700, ZV60, D900i
  • LG K880, KU250, KE970, and KU311
  • SAGEM My411x and P9521
  • BenQ-Siemens EL71 and EF81
  • BenQ E71 fight

Distribution partners

The following Internet service providers, web portals, and other companies distribute Opera Mini to their customers:[56]

Critical reception

Opera Mini has been greeted with largely positive reactions.[72][73][74][75][76] Opera Mini competed against its sister product, Opera Mobile, for the 2007 Smartphone and PocketPC Magazine award for the "best mobile browser for both Windows-based Pocket PC and Smartphones" award. Opera Mobile is a more powerful web browser, sold for 24 US$,[77] that runs on smartphones and personal digital assistants. Opera Mini lost the award to Opera Mobile because at the time Opera Mobile supported Flash and tabbed browsing while Opera Mini did not.[78]

Awards

References

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