By Stevie Smith Jun 20, 2007, 13:47 GMT
In the pre-release scramble spawned by the imminent arrival of Apple Inc.’s much-hyped iPhone handset and its unique touch-sensitive navigation, it would appear that every market related manufacturer is eagerly pushing new or developing products out of the door in the hopes of catching the eye of consumers trawling the annuls of mobile technology. More pointedly, this week sees Norway-based Opera Software releasing the new public beta of its Opera Mini 4 Web browser, which just so happens to be built specifically for use on mobile phone hardware.
Using an innovative but already established navigation method – utilised from Opera’s existing Nintendo Wii videogame console browser – the Opera Mini 4 (or ‘Dimension’ as it has come to be known) allows the mobile phone user to use their handset’s thumb controls to direct a navigation box across an overview of Web pages, zooming in and out, and scrolling in all directions based on what they want to view. A more traditional mobile browser page view is also available.
By comparison, Nintendo Wii owners using the home-based Opera browser physically manipulate the motion-sensing Wii Remote controller to accomplish similar results, yet both are considered intuitive and user friendly in their execution.
According to industry watchers Wired News, in terms of offering up an easy-to-navigate Web browser capable of competing with the completely button-free touchscreen aspects of the iPhone, Opera Mini 4 may serve its users well but is unlikely to match Apple’s much trumpeted ‘pinch and throw’ immediacy and accessibility.
That said, Opera’s new beta release will be open for use on a wide selection of existing handsets, and "it’s certainly an improvement over the current [mobile Web] experience" points out Wired before also reminding interested consumers that the Opera Mini is available as a vastly accessible free download that won’t set users back $500 USD for the privilege – the basic retail price for a 4GB iPhone.
And the appeal of Opera Mini certainly seems to be growing, if the Oslo-based company are to be believed. Indeed, Opera claims that some 13 percent growth is being attributed month-on-month to the American market and that around 15 million downloads have been completed since the Opera Mini browser was first launched in 2006. Opera Mini leads all rivals in the mobile market, even outperforming Mozilla for market share.
Opera has said that the final official version of Opera Mini 4 will make its entry before the end of summer 2007, but if you’re keen on tasting Opera Mini 4 in its beta form right now then merely click on the following link: Operamini.com/beta
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