Opera, the Scandinavian-designed, small-footprint Web browser, has had a rough go. Despite critical praise by critics around the world, Opera has remained an underdog in the browser wars, with Microsoft, Apple and Firefox overshadowing their lesser-known Nordic competitor.
Of course, Opera does have its fans — and they tend to be more technologically savvy than average, as well as loyally devoted to the brand. But a mainstream breakthrough has never been the cards for their desktop browser, which is now more than a decade old.
But even though Opera may never reach critical mass in the desktop marketplace, the company is hoping that the Opera Mobile browser will. Version 9.7 of the mobile browser has finally been released as a beta, and includes lots of new features designed specifically to make surfing the web on a mobile phone easier and more intuitive. Importantly, the company also claims that version 9.7 displays Web pages as much as 25% faster than its predecessor.
Underneath the hood, Opera 9.7 uses the Presto rendering engine — the exact same coding used by the Opera desktop Web browser. It also features a new compression technology that redistributes much of the page rendering process to Opera’s own dedicated servers, resulting in a speedier, more robust mobile browser.
As you might expect, Opera Mobile also fully supports Flash, Ajax and other dynamic web rendering protocols used by the likes of YouTube, FaceBook and Google Videos. Version 9.7 also features a unique hardware acceleration, and support for Google Gears as well as Open GL ES.
With so many mobile Web browsers creating a glut in the marketplace, it can be difficult for any newcomer to get noticed. But with Opera already having a small but loyal army of fans, the company hopes to make a serious dent in the mobile browser market.
The real challenge for Opera is to negotiate agreements with cell phone manufacturers to include their Web browser as standard. The intense competition in the mobile field make this easier said than done; but with an excellent track record of desktop browsers behind them, Opera could just pull off a hat trick.
All it would really take is one popular smart phone; say, a new Sony Ericsson model, to feature the Opera Mobil 9.7 as standard. But without a deal for inclusion on a high profile phone, Opera mobile could wind up as a tougher, leaner “also ran,” much like its desktop ancestors.
Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner claims that version 9.7 sets “a new standard for speed and compatibility.” Whether mobile phone users will agree remains to be seen.
