Opera Mini Reaches One Million Downloads, Tops Charts Around the World

[SDub90]

I love the app. Zooming may be a bit of a pain, but overall I think it's great.

 

[html]

I am shaking my head at so much hate over a great app.

On another forum page here, a user said, "i don't like it cuz you can't tap the address bar and scroll back to the top."

I replied to him, tap the red bar, it does the same thing.

so many so quick dismissed this app without checking it out further.

its really sad. being as this is supposed to be a technology forum.

Unfortunately, it's not as great as you say.

Here are my problems with it, in order of importance:

1. It's slow. It may be fast for you, but their server-side rendering bogs it down for me.
2. It's not very stable. Since I started using it a few days ago, I've had more crashes than all my 3+ year experience with mobile safari.
3. The UI is outdated. Though Opera thinks they're being trendy, the color and button schemes just don't fit with the rest of the OS. As a developer, I can say that it is 10x easier to construct the UI looking the way Apple wants it than to do everything from scratch. Why even consider doing everything from scratch?
4. It's crippled. Apple's Safari can integrate with lots of things, but Opera cannot.

I have now used Opera Mini since the moment it came out and have not had a single "awesome" moment with the Browser after the initial 2-minute honeymoon period.

Don't get me wrong. I don't blame Opera, I blame Apple. If Apple weren't so afraid of competition for Safari, this could have been a great product. Where's the antitrust suit for Apple, EU?

 

[zv470]

Opera on iPhone = fail.

<exaggeration>
1 million downloads followed by 1 million deletions.
</exaggeration>

I'd like to know the real numbers. I'll definitely keep using Safari, unless something better comes along. Whatever comes along would have to be damn good to beat Safari. Chrome maybe?

 

[hanpa]

Downloaded and deleted

I have 3G cellular 99% of the time, I'd rather wait for a 3G connection using Safari than using Edge with Opera and bad user experience. I appreciate that there are alternatives to Safari but I'm pretty sure that the only reason that Apple approved Opera is that it's crap compared to Safari.

 

[dukebound85]

wow i like it

much faster than safari is for me on my 3g iphone. I am talking like 4-5 x as fast when i time the same site between opera and safari

definitely gonna use this as main browser


ONLY draw backs I cant figure out is copy/paste and zooming

 

[flash144]

wow i like it

much faster than safari is for me on my 3g iphone. I am talking like 4-5 x as fast when i time the same site between opera and safari

definitely gonna use this as main browser


ONLY draw backs I cant figure out is copy/paste and zooming

copy/paste is a "long click", menu comes up, then drag over text.

zoom is one tap, zoom out is double tap.
(you can also have little more control by going to settings-advanced-full page)

 

[batchtaster]

Yeah, it topped charts, but it's basically dropped back just as quickly. It hit #1 in the Australian store but is now #4 in the Free apps (behind Bird Strike, Kissing Test FREE and Age Me). Who knows where it drops to when you factor in the Paid ones as well. Most of the feedback indicates that it's good in theory, but it doesn't work as well as it should, with rendering and Javascript issues. Its image-loading behaviour is also weird, as is a lot of the UI.

Personally, I think you'll see this drop back to a fairly unimpressive position. Facebook, for example, is never out of the Top 25, usually in the 8-12 range, even though every other app just comes and goes. I think at best, Opera will hover in the Top 25, probably averaging around 20. But at the moment, it's not a must-have app (if ever there was a demonstration of the reasoning behind Apple's "do not duplicate functionality" thing). I think the OMG!!1! 1,000,00!!! is just those who are curious about the first authorized non-Safari "browser" (it does belong in air-quotes) and not so many will stick with it as a permanent tool.

 

[WeegieMac]

It's a nice enough browser, but it feels too much like a mobile browser, whereas Safari was designed from the ground up on the iPhone to bring "desktop quality browsing" to the mobile phone. And it does.

When you go to a site on Safari, in the default view you can see what the text is meant to say, but on Opera it's just a line of scribbles.

If Opera had a pinch to zoom that was gradual and allowed you to "custom fit" content to the screen to suit you and had things like double tap to fit and double tap to zoom in on a portion of the screen, it would be perfect.

I've kept it on my iPhone for the reason I believe it was released, ie: for when you're outwith a 3G reception area and need access to information quickly. It was never released, in my opinion, to replace Safari on your iPhone as the primary browser.

Also, the fact that 90% of the data for the website you're visiting is rendered on Opera's servers means that accessing sensitive information such as online banking is a non starter. Well it is for me anyway.

 

[WeegieMac]

You Apple supporters are fanatics. Everything Apple makes is great, everybody else "sucks" or are just copycats. Indeed, indeed.

I'm glad I'm using Android.

Thanks for that riveting piece of information.

So do you use a Mac, or are you just trolling and here to bitch about Apple users?

For the record, just incase you start, I'm an Apple customer but I have no problems in saying an Apple product is inferior or poor compared to X or Y.

However, what does annoy me is when people come on here and post nonsense like I quoted above ... if you're glad you're using Android, then go to the Android forums and be happy.

I have no idea what you gain from your existence by dwelling here and having pot shots at people who use a platform you do not even, by your own admission, own.

I have no desire to own an Android phone, I'm not particularly fond of the interface and prefer that of the iPhone, but you don't see me signing up for an Android forum and posting nonsensical ramblings.

 

[Lightbrazer]

My hope is that everyone knows and remembers that this is not actually a browser and is completely insecure. It should never be used for any web site that uses https. In other words if you need to login you should never use this app. It is way to easy for someone to get ahold of your username and password for your bank, facebook, or other sites and then steal your identity. If you were to use this for purchases your would also be vulnerable.

NEVER suggest this app to someone who is not extremely tech savy.

Most companies security protocols would ban the existence of this app on their devices or personal devices that interact with their services.

The way this app works with https sites is that the server does the encryption/decryption so that the server/source of the site 'thinks' it is actually working with an actual browser that you are using. All it would take is one dishonest person with access to Opera's servers and everyone using this is in serious trouble.

Another way this app could endanger you is if someone one the network you are using is sniffing packets. They would be able to grab all of the personal information sent by users of the app.

By the way, this is not new information. Opera themselves are the source.

I say again, DON'T use this app.

First of all someone sniffing packets won't see crap it's encrypted from the phone to the opera servers decrypted there then re-encrypted between their servers and the sight. The ONLY way for someone to see the data is to have physical access at the point of the Opera servers. Funny thing how you don't trust them yet you sent your info to some sight in the first place. In other words when you send you Credit card info to a sight to buy something someone at that company is just as able to get your data as someone at Opera, in fact more so in most cases.

Also if you're really really paranoid go to settings/advanced/protocol and swap it from socket to http before you send your "secret data" this will bypass opera servers and load it just like safari does with a direct connection.

For me and many other people that do use this it's about getting info and getting it fast. I have my 9 fav sights on operas main screen and I can click to load each one before the previous is loaded using the multi page button at the bottom. Since the opera servers are handling the loading it can send the pages in near parallel and this is where the real speed increase comes from. Safari may be close in speed when loading one page at a time, but you can not load 9 pages in safarii concurrently as you can do with Opera.

 

[chriszzz]

I am shaking my head at so much hate over a great app.

On another forum page here, a user said, "i don't like it cuz you can't tap the address bar and scroll back to the top."

I replied to him, tap the red bar, it does the same thing.

so many so quick dismissed this app without checking it out further.

its really sad. being as this is supposed to be a technology forum.

Or maybe there is so much hate because its just as fast as Safari, the rendering is atrocious and the zoom is completely broken.

Seriously, this isn't even a half-baked beta release. This is "look what I did on my lunch break"-quality.

 

[filthandfury]

Is there even one person here that will use Opera fulltime instead of Safari?

I am!
safari is soooo slow; even under 3g, yes opera isn't as pretty as safari, but it's waaaaaay faster.

hopefully apple will use that massive computer bank they set up in NC last month to implement the compression technology opera is using, then we can have the best of both worlds.

 

[louiek]

I won't be using it full-time but I'm definitely keeping it installed for those frequent occasions when I need to search within a webpage.

This is the only reason I'm keeping it. Really, you can't search within a page in Safari. That's just embarrassing. Don't bother pointing me to the javascript bookmarklet, I've got it and that I have to go to that extreme is doubly embarrassing.

 

[AV8TOR]

It may have reached One Million Downloads but what they don't say is they reached one million deletes. The most over rated pos in some time.

 

[canucksfan88]

okay...considering this is v1....what are people expecting?
safari has been on the iphone since its release. Apple spent years optimizing it for the iPhone.

next version of opera should be better.

 

[iSurfHi]

Opera

Aloha All,
I noticed when using the browser I into Att.com and when you are trying to input your log in to my wireless account, phone number and password you cannot see it displayed correctly and there is no Go button so it all chopped off. So the platform is not corrected it has bugs need to be fixed! Has anyone noticed any sites where you can't see the enitire screen?
Mahalo~

 

[killerrobot]

After using Opera this past week I've got high hopes for this browser. It's not perfect yet and there are many flaws, but there are also some cool new ideas.

Cons:
1.The rendering isn't great as all have noticed.
2. After being used to a user controlled zoom in Safari, the zoom in/zoom out option is really weak.
3. The socket option delays loading quite a bit when using a wifi connection

Pros:
1. For web searches it is way quicker to use than Safari (unless you have a google page opened still in Safari then it's about the same)
2. Speeds are much faster for me over 3g or edge connections than with Safari
3. The tabbing is nice, easy to use and fast.
4. The number of browser settings that you can customize is nice and very useful.

The security comment on page one was quite inane. Security starts with the user, not the browser or https connection. If you're that security-minded then you should never be using your cellphone for any purchases/banking/credit card payments etc, no matter what mobile browser you're using.

Here's to hoping the next version will be better.

 

[kenman884]

Okay so after 3 days I deleted Opera. Wish things went better.... hopefully some future update of Opera running native on the ipad will change my mind.

Except then the speed benefit is nullified... Have you actually used an iPad? It's so fast it astounded me, and I have a top-of-the-line mid-2009 MBP

I use this when I'm reading, and only reading, some basic sites that I don't feel like waiting for safari to load, or if time is an issue. If I'm actually surfing the web.... Safari all the way. I wouldn't use Opera at all if my iPod Touch weren't first-gen. 128MB of RAM and a 400MHz processor can get a little slow on full web.

One thing this App has done for me? Convinced me completely that Android will never, ever replace the iPhone as top mobile OS in customer satisfaction. Just the little details Apple pays attention to, like the people actually using the device, make it totally worth every penny.

 

[Fraaaa]

Is there even one person here that will use Opera fulltime instead of Safari?

I am using it since it was released.

It has pro and cons.

Faster half of the time compare to Safari, and you don't reload pages when go back and forth.
Better tabs.

Unfortunatly, is a bit buggy sometimes: when you click links sometimes doesn't load the page or it select another link, when you pan the page doesn't stay where you leave it. The zoom definitly suck.

I prefer Safari for some features Opera for others. Choice is always a good thing.

 

[Gyrferret]

Lol. Posted from my blackberry with Opera mini 5.
From all these months using opera, I've learned that the way it renders things is so that text can be easily viewed in a column on screen. I think most people have been taught that the way the internet is for desktops is the way it should be for mobile devices.
Did no one notice how many sites created iPhone specific pages because they realized how much of a terrible experience their actual page had?
So why bash opera for trying to make it easier on you? Sheesh.

 

[RobertD63]

Lol. Posted from my blackberry with Opera mini 5.
From all these months using opera, I've learned that the way it renders things is so that text can be easily viewed in a column on screen. I think most people have been taught that the way the internet is for desktops is the way it should be for mobile devices.
Did no one notice how many sites created iPhone specific pages because they realized how much of a terrible experience their actual page had?
So why bash opera for trying to make it easier on you? Sheesh.

Its only "terrible" because of a slow connection. Try the same connection on a desktop and you will probably get the same results. The reason I hate opera Is because the zoom is soooo clunky! Its either all the way out or all the way in. Either way its a pain in the @&& to read.

 

[karlwig]

Is there even one person here that will use Opera fulltime instead of Safari?

not fulltime, but i have indeed replaced opera with safari in my dock.

seriously, people bitch too much. is the zoom crap? yes. is the formatting strange at times? oh yes. so what, when i use a cell phone internet browser, i dont really care. in need fast, simple access. and opera is fast, much, much faster than Safari. Safari is horrible, it takes forever. I hate Safari, even with WiFi. Of course, the difference is greatest using EDGE on my first gen iPhone. I appreciate lower costs as well (have to pay per megabyte as per my contract)

So, using EDGE I always use Opera. Using WiFI I use opera most of the time, like reading threads like this on MacRumors. I dont need advanced zooming, I just zoom in and it stays there, and its ok. Its fast, and I like fast.

EDIT: People, when an update comes (very likely, no?) I think they will fix these issues and make you happy.

EDIT2: Also, I live in Norway, which probably explains the speediness Im getting (its like 4x faster than Safari even in WiFi). Of course, if it had been the same speed as Safari I would never use Opera. Speed is where it rocks. Without speed, it sucks.

 

[baryon]

Such a horrible App, when you're zoomed out, the text is basically replaced by horizontal lines, even though the screen resolution would be just fine with displaying small text. It works on Safari, why not in Opera? Only two zoom levels, and it doesn't sync bookmarks, and who the hell wants to type in dozens of URLs manually on a virtual keyboard??? Seriously! The buttons are ugly and scrolling is strange compared to Safari's (and every single other iPhone App's) smoothness. I also don't feel that it's much faster, maybe that's because my home WiFi is fast. But that's the only place I can get WiFi with my iPod Touch anyway, so what's the point?

 

[ewoods]

...and it doesn't sync bookmarks, and who the hell wants to type in dozens of URLs manually on a virtual keyboard???

I know this thread is dead, but I wanted to let you know that you CAN sync bookmarks...and search preferences and browsing history and a lot of other data. Opera has something called Opera Link which does all this wirelessly. You sign up for an Opera Link account and then anything you do with the desktop version of Opera is automatically synced to the mobile version.

 

[mixel]

I like Opera Mini.. If I wasn't so entrenched in the Safari/Mobile-Me bookmarks syncing setup i'd use it quite a lot I think. Certain complex sites do seem to fly in it..

Is there some way to set up Opera Link to always import anything you add to safari on the desktop? That would keep everything nice and simple.