[mobil3gen]

I dont know about the rest of you Android fans, but I'm so excited about Opera Mini finally making its way to the Android Market, Read More Here

Anybody else happy about this?

[nyc_rock]

Sorta happy. I downloaded it.

It is basically the exact same version as what I had on my S2. the difference is that without it on the S2, browsing was horrible so it was a must have app IMO. On the droid, its not nearly as nice as the stock browser. No pinch to zoom, pages dont render as accurately and the kenetic scrolling is not as good. However, if you are looking to do some quick browsing, Opera is very very fast. Takes literally seconds to get pretty much any page opened a scrollable. While I love the droid browser, it can take some time to get pages fully opened.

[sivan]

Speed is everything. You will soon forget about the silly pinch to zoom and kinetic scrolling.

[Blacker.the.berry]

I installed it.......whoa its fast! lighting fast!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[cary]

I have used the stock, dolphin & xscope browser. I really liked the xscope browser. If you haven't tried, it is worth it. Can watch a review of it at droid-life.com

It uses a zooming similar to pinch zooming (can do that to) but can do it with one finger. Just 2 quick taps & then finger up/down to zoom. Works very well. Not sure I even am interested in Opera Mini, but I do use it on storm2 (and now rarely use storm2 for internet browsing, just too inferior).

[nyc_rock]

Speed is everything. You will soon forget about the silly pinch to zoom and kinetic scrolling.

Serious? Love pinch to zoom!

[sivan]

Serious? Love pinch to zoom!

It's cool but it's just a gimmick. Use Opera and you'll notice how slow the stock browser is. You won't care about the pinch to zoom.

[Air Force One]

I left Opera behind with blackberry. Dolphin is lightning quick on my Nexus so I don't need anymore browsers.

[garrett]

it sucks on android.... its worse then opera on a blackberry and that was a train wreck.

it lasted almost 5 minutes before i had to uninstall it..... dont waste your time.

[sivan]

Agreed. The stock (2.1) browser on my Droid is already quick and I don't need some second rate browser when I have an excellent one out of the box.

Every review so far has said the same thing: Opera Mini is way faster than the Android stock browser.

Why not install and try it?

[garrett]

Every review so far has said the same thing: Opera Mini is way faster than the Android stock browser.

Why not install and try it?

i did a side by side test with my droid and my girls droid and opera only loaded 1 out of 10 pages faster.

[sivan]

i did a side by side test with my droid and my girls droid and opera only loaded 1 out of 10 pages faster.

You'll see a difference in full sites, like Engadget or the full version of the NYTimes. Mobile sites are a wash because they're very light.

At any rate, Engadget posted a video comparison that shows the speed difference very clearly. Do you have a counter example?

[Air Force One]

You'll see a difference in full sites, like Engadget or the full version of the NYTimes. Mobile sites are a wash because they're very light.

At any rate, Engadget posted a video comparison that shows the speed difference very clearly. Do you have a counter example?

Yeah I tried it too.

I use Dolphin in desktop mode so I don't ever go to mobile sites, only the full version and Dolphin smokes Opera. Now I realize Opera is in beta still and that's fine, but Android is not really in need of newer, better browsers. If I were Opera, I would double down on Blackberry since the browsing experience there sucks out of the box.

Also, Opera needs an option to remove the notification bar for true fullscreen mode like Dolphin. Maybe I'll try it again if they add pinch to zoom. Without that it's a complete non starter. I'm not looking to move backwards.

[sivan]

Yeah I tried it too.

I use Dolphin in desktop mode so I don't ever go to mobile sites, only the full version and Dolphin smokes Opera. Now I realize Opera is in beta still and that's fine, but Android is not really in need of newer, better browsers. If I were Opera, I would double down on Blackberry since the browsing experience there sucks out of the box.

Which sites did you use for comparison?

[Air Force One]

Which sites did you use for comparison?

NYTimes.com, Crackberry.com, AVSForum.com, Drudgereport.com, Foxnews.com, Espn.go.com, Androidcentral.com, Newsbusters.org, Cowboyszone.com

[sivan]

Thanks. I will post back detailed results when I get it on my G1.

For reference, are you on Wi-Fi or 3G?

[Air Force One]

So far, only wifi..I'll try EDGE on my way home. I'm running the AT&T EDGE Nexus One so I cannot try 3G but I'll give EDGE a whirl and report back tonight.

[ERDude]

True, the Android browser lacks true tabbed browsing, but with multiple switchable windows does tabbed browsing and the speed dial feature warrant replacing that which is fast, renders well, and integrates nicely with the rest of the operating system?

There’s no pinch to zoom or automatic repagination with Opera, So what am I missing?

[ERDude]

Every review so far has said the same thing: Opera Mini is way faster than the Android stock browser.

Why not install and try it?

The only reason Opera Mini is faster is because all the information is compressed by 90% and stored on their servers.

[Johnly]

It is about time someone brought up why bolt is called mini.
Yes, it is fast but compresed (good for those that don't have unlimited data plans, or horrible hardware on their phone that can't handle the web in its entirety.) IMO the Droid has good hardware, and runs uncompressed web pages fast and fine. If you like a split second faster, and don't mind pages reduced, run opera. Just doesn't make sence, but to each there own

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[justatest]

i like it, it is fast, it needs pinch to zoom tho

[sivan]

The only reason Opera Mini is faster is because all the information is compressed by 90% and stored on their servers.

We know. What matters is how fast and accurate the page is.

Opera Mini has a rendering engine, it just resides in the cloud. It's no less sophisticated.

[sivan]

It is about time someone brought up why bolt is called mini.
Yes, it is fast but compresed (good for those that don't have unlimited data plans, or horrible hardware on their phone that can't handle the web in its entirety.) IMO the Droid has good hardware, and runs uncompressed web pages fast and fine. If you like a split second faster, and don't mind pages reduced, run opera. Just doesn't make sence, but to each there own

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I will post more detailed test results later, but it's not about half a second. For reference, it used to take 1 minute to full load Engadget on my Pre. On the 9700 with Opera, only 15 seconds. A quarter of the time. That's significant.

There are some questions about the scenarios it works best under. Opera Mini
offloads most network activity and rendering to the server, so one would expect that on Wi-Fi, mobile sites and high end devices the difference would be less pronounced in terms of speed. But I'd look at the effect on battery life even if speed differences are not significant. If you browse all day, but Opera Mini requires much less bandwidth and processing, you should see improved battery life.

But the bottom line is, it's free, and it's good according to many reviews out there. There is no need to get defensive and boycott it just because it's faster than the stock browser. It doesn't make your device less badass.

[Johnly]

Did you read ERs post? He stated it perfectly, Opra compresses the web by 90% before it is viewable on your phone. Why settle for a compressed web experience on the Droid, when it runs the desktop flavor fine? I installed Oprah and it wasn't blowing the Droid browser away quick enough for me to except opras truncated web pages. Uninstalled, and are quite happy having a full web browsing experience that is fresh out the box. No doubt Oprah loads a blink sooner, but the end product has been reduced, so that is why I am passing on the mini browser.

If truncation doesn't bother you, have at it!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[hal1]

Yeah, I don't like how much screen space is lost with the tool bars (or am I missing how to hide them. Also, scrolling seems slower.

for the sacrifice in speed, I'm finding stock browser more comfortable. Just my personal preference