First Impressions of the Opera Mini Browser for iPhone

Wired UK has posted their first impressions of the Opera Mini Browser for the iPhone.

The magazine was invited to try a preview build of the new browser at the Mobile World Congress.

Our first impression? It's fast. While I've always found the Symbian platform rendered Opera Mini's interface somewhat slugglishly, putting a damper on the browser's lighting-fast network performance, on the iPhone Opera has finally found a platform to do justice to its nimble web-slinging.

Scrolling through webpages is silky smooth, with nary a glitch or stutter regardless of the size of the page. The interface is instantaneously responsive as well, just as you'd expect from the iPhone. However, those expecting a tightly integrated browsing experience will be disappointed.

Wired notes that unfortunately Opera has kept their user interface from other platforms neglecting iPhone interface elements and conventions. Also missing is pinch-to-zoom support leaving only the double tap for zooming functionality.

Tabs and most recent page are remembered between application launches and a tab-switching widget along the bottom of the screen (which looks something like a horizontal stack of cards) allows speedy switching and closure of open tabs.

There has been much debate as to whether Apple will approve the browser for the App Store, particularly since Apple's terms prohibit apps that "duplicate existing functionality".


Partner Manager Phillip Grønvold told Wired, "There are two reasons why we are confident that Opera Mini will met the requirements of the App Store."

"One, our compression technology imposes limitations on what the browser can do -- Opera doesn't render rich, content-heavy documents like Safari does. Two, Opera Mini does not actually render HTML on the device, it uses a custom binary representation of the website. We believe these technical differences make Opera Mini sufficiently different to Safari to be made available on the App Store."

When asked when the app would be released Gronvold said, "This is a very complete beta but the short answer is -- when it's done."

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