5 ms·

Opera’s new Android beta is out, and it includes some pretty big changes

55 points by iProject 14y ago

chayesfss 14y ago
Is Opera popular in other countries?
- aw3c2 14y ago
  Other than what?
  - chayesfss 14y ago
    The USA. Looking at stats I see in Jan of this year they've got 1.9% market share (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp). But I just saw that they're based in Norway so I'm sure it' popular there.
    - yareally 14y ago
      Stats are kind of misleading, since Opera's larger base is mostly Mobile browsing and other embedded devices (Wii, Nintendo DS, etc). Mobile stats show it has ~16% of the market share[1][2] [1] http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/189/statcountermobilebrowse.jpg http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/189/statcountermobilebro... (flash alternative) [2] http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201202-201302 http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201202-... (flash)
- kmfrk 14y ago
  Yes.
dave1010uk 14y ago
It will be interesting to see how many (if any) HTML features they've dropped by switching to WebKit/Chromium. CanIUse [0] shows the latest Presto-based Opera having the following features that Chrome on Android doesn't: getUserMedia/Stream API Shared Web Workers CSS3 object-fit/object-position Color input type Drag and Drop Datalist element WebGL - 3D Canvas graphics (partial support) [0] http://caniuse.com/#compare=op_mob+12.1,and_chr+0 http://caniuse.com/#compare=op_mob+12.1,and_chr+0
- bgarbiak 14y ago
  According to the official blog post at http://my.opera.com/ODIN/blog/ http://my.opera.com/ODIN/blog/ Opera 14 for Android is based on AppleWebKit/537.22 and Chrome/25.0.1364.123 but with added support for: input type=color Microdata WebGL 3D context CSS3 @supports
- abraham 14y ago
  Opera's html5test.com score went up by 44 points with the switch to WebKit. https://plus.google.com/114233674199568482864/posts/fE1jaycpTaq https://plus.google.com/114233674199568482864/posts/fE1jaycp...
aw3c2 14y ago
I can't believe they moved the tab selector to the top. Who can easily reach the top of a screen with a finger in single-hand use? I cannot. Placing buttons up there makes using these apps incredibly annoying. Even worse would be on the top left, since that is the place farthest from my finger. Apart from UI changes there does not seem much new. I am still hoping they will make site preferences easily accessible so one can protect his privacy and security easily even on mobile devices. And of course extensions (they had a beta once).
- barredo 14y ago
  > Who can easily reach the top of a screen with a finger in single-hand use Every iPhone owner. Just joking. But this is an issue with big screens in smartphones that we as developers have to consider when making apps.
- veeti 14y ago
  Chrome for Android lets you move between tabs easily by swiping from the left and right corners of the screen (and swiping in general is used for tab navigation in Android). Maybe Opera could rip that off.
  - yareally 14y ago
    I hope they go for the quick toggles (touching the sides of the phone/tablet if enabled) like the stock browser has, but either option is better than none.
    - Freestyler_3 14y ago
      I hope they go for gestures. Hold finger on position then move left right top bottom for their respected options.
simfoo 14y ago
Have been using it for the past 10 minutes. It's considerably slower than the stock browser in 2.3.7. Also, using 36MB is kind of unacceptable - I only have less than 100MB internal storage on my Galaxy Ace.
- gcp 14y ago
  Normal size for all browsers that have to bundle the entire rendering engine. Chrome is 50Mish, Firefox 30Mish, last time I checked. Only the built-in-browser-skins are smaller.
  - ZoFreX 14y ago
    I have Opera installed on my Ace for two reasons: 1. Speed 2. Size If it's slower than stock and takes up a similar amount of space to Firefox... then there's no reason for me not to use Firefox.
    - dysoco 14y ago
      Can you install Firefox in the Ace? I have the same phone and I can't.
    - fyzlman 14y ago
      How do you install Firefox (or Chrome) in Ace?
      - gcp 14y ago
        Download it directly from the Mozilla site: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/aurora/ http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/aurora/ The Ace has very little available memory, so Mozilla still blocks it for Beta & Release because they think it doesn't work well enough. But your mileage may vary (greatly). This is the Aurora build (Firefox 21) which has some more optimizations. Chrome can't run on a phone that doesn't have at least Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0+) AFAIK.
vladev 14y ago
For me, the killer feature of Opera has always been the ability to reflow text to fit any size and zoom. Can anyone confirm this is still in?
- vetler 14y ago
  To a degree. It works much better in the old version using Presto.
- infinita740 14y ago
  I just downloaded it and tested that, it's not present, zooming is now as bad as in other android browsers (but some of the HN comments are in bigger size than others so there is no need to zoom, it's quite a strange behavior though) Also as another user pointed it, tabs on the top is not practical and unreachable (especially on big devices like samsung GS3)
  - ZoFreX 14y ago
    How about the "scrolling guides" when you're zoomed? Not sure if there's a proper name for that, but with Opera when I zoomed and the text reflowed, it would lock me to vertical scrolling only as long as I don't wiggle too far horizontally. Easily my favourite thing about it.
    - exterm 14y ago
      also not in as far as I can see. I hope that gets added again in the future, together with the reflow.
- yareally 14y ago
  Zooming is very "Chrome-like" if you used it before on Android. I'm not a fan of Chrome zoom though. I prefer the stock browser's or Opera Mobile's.
- gcp 14y ago
  For what it's worth, the latest Firefox for Android has an option in Preferences called "Reflow text on zoom". It may be what you look for (but I don't use Opera enough to be sure).
MatthewPhillips 14y ago
Heh, first icon in Speed Dial is to Google+. Even though the browser is nearly identical to Chrome for Android under the hood, Google is still serving the basic html version to Opera.
- johansch 14y ago
  Waiting for them to wake up and fix. :)
shurcooL 14y ago
A question to anyone who knows/remembers this. I remember seeing a video that showed off a new experimental and highly different mobile UI that either Firefox or Opera created. In it, there was a much smaller distinction between closed tabs and browsing history - they appeared the same. Whatever happened to that prototype? I thought it was a good idea, but I never got a chance to see it in action. Is the project dead or does it exist somewhere. If the latter, is any good?
- johansch 14y ago
  In this press release, somewhat buried, is this message: http://business.opera.com/press/releases/general/opera-gears-up-at-300-million-users http://business.opera.com/press/releases/general/opera-gears... “Opera is also experimenting with WebKit in several research and development projects, and many of you got a peek of one of them, codenamed ‘ICE’, last month. As a leading innovator in browsers, we are very excited that ICE received such great buzz. We will provide more information about ICE and other exciting R&D projects in the future, but as we are also really proud of our new browser on Android and our Opera Web Pass operator offering, those products will be the main focus at MWC,” says Wium Lie."
Someone 14y ago
Any comments on "Features such as the combined URL/search bar may be unoriginal, but they were worth copying."? On iOS with its split URL/search, I like it that the keyboard layout and autocorrect adjust to what you are doing. Is that less of an or no issue on Android, with its different way to do autocorrection?
sirn 14y ago
Interestingly, the Off Road mode is still using Presto version of Opera Mini: Opera/9.80 (Android; Opera Mini/14.0.1025/28.4079; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/11.10

55 points by iProject 14y ago

chayesfss 14y ago

Is Opera popular in other countries?

aw3c2 14y ago
Other than what?
- chayesfss 14y ago
  The USA. Looking at stats I see in Jan of this year they've got 1.9% market share (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp). But I just saw that they're based in Norway so I'm sure it' popular there.
  - yareally 14y ago
    Stats are kind of misleading, since Opera's larger base is mostly Mobile browsing and other embedded devices (Wii, Nintendo DS, etc). Mobile stats show it has ~16% of the market share[1][2] [1] http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/189/statcountermobilebrowse.jpg http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/189/statcountermobilebro... (flash alternative) [2] http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201202-201302 http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201202-... (flash)
kmfrk 14y ago
Yes.

dave1010uk 14y ago

It will be interesting to see how many (if any) HTML features they've dropped by switching to WebKit/Chromium. CanIUse [0] shows the latest Presto-based Opera having the following features that Chrome on Android doesn't: getUserMedia/Stream API Shared Web Workers CSS3 object-fit/object-position Color input type Drag and Drop Datalist element WebGL - 3D Canvas graphics (partial support) [0] http://caniuse.com/#compare=op_mob+12.1,and_chr+0 http://caniuse.com/#compare=op_mob+12.1,and_chr+0

bgarbiak 14y ago
According to the official blog post at http://my.opera.com/ODIN/blog/ http://my.opera.com/ODIN/blog/ Opera 14 for Android is based on AppleWebKit/537.22 and Chrome/25.0.1364.123 but with added support for: input type=color Microdata WebGL 3D context CSS3 @supports
abraham 14y ago
Opera's html5test.com score went up by 44 points with the switch to WebKit. https://plus.google.com/114233674199568482864/posts/fE1jaycpTaq https://plus.google.com/114233674199568482864/posts/fE1jaycp...

aw3c2 14y ago

I can't believe they moved the tab selector to the top. Who can easily reach the top of a screen with a finger in single-hand use? I cannot. Placing buttons up there makes using these apps incredibly annoying. Even worse would be on the top left, since that is the place farthest from my finger. Apart from UI changes there does not seem much new. I am still hoping they will make site preferences easily accessible so one can protect his privacy and security easily even on mobile devices. And of course extensions (they had a beta once).

barredo 14y ago
> Who can easily reach the top of a screen with a finger in single-hand use Every iPhone owner. Just joking. But this is an issue with big screens in smartphones that we as developers have to consider when making apps.
veeti 14y ago
Chrome for Android lets you move between tabs easily by swiping from the left and right corners of the screen (and swiping in general is used for tab navigation in Android). Maybe Opera could rip that off.
- yareally 14y ago
  I hope they go for the quick toggles (touching the sides of the phone/tablet if enabled) like the stock browser has, but either option is better than none.
  - Freestyler_3 14y ago
    I hope they go for gestures. Hold finger on position then move left right top bottom for their respected options.

simfoo 14y ago

Have been using it for the past 10 minutes. It's considerably slower than the stock browser in 2.3.7. Also, using 36MB is kind of unacceptable - I only have less than 100MB internal storage on my Galaxy Ace.

gcp 14y ago
Normal size for all browsers that have to bundle the entire rendering engine. Chrome is 50Mish, Firefox 30Mish, last time I checked. Only the built-in-browser-skins are smaller.
- ZoFreX 14y ago
  I have Opera installed on my Ace for two reasons: 1. Speed 2. Size If it's slower than stock and takes up a similar amount of space to Firefox... then there's no reason for me not to use Firefox.
  - dysoco 14y ago
    Can you install Firefox in the Ace? I have the same phone and I can't.
  - fyzlman 14y ago
    How do you install Firefox (or Chrome) in Ace?
    - gcp 14y ago
      Download it directly from the Mozilla site: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/aurora/ http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/aurora/ The Ace has very little available memory, so Mozilla still blocks it for Beta & Release because they think it doesn't work well enough. But your mileage may vary (greatly). This is the Aurora build (Firefox 21) which has some more optimizations. Chrome can't run on a phone that doesn't have at least Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0+) AFAIK.

vladev 14y ago

For me, the killer feature of Opera has always been the ability to reflow text to fit any size and zoom. Can anyone confirm this is still in?

vetler 14y ago
To a degree. It works much better in the old version using Presto.
infinita740 14y ago
I just downloaded it and tested that, it's not present, zooming is now as bad as in other android browsers (but some of the HN comments are in bigger size than others so there is no need to zoom, it's quite a strange behavior though) Also as another user pointed it, tabs on the top is not practical and unreachable (especially on big devices like samsung GS3)
- ZoFreX 14y ago
  How about the "scrolling guides" when you're zoomed? Not sure if there's a proper name for that, but with Opera when I zoomed and the text reflowed, it would lock me to vertical scrolling only as long as I don't wiggle too far horizontally. Easily my favourite thing about it.
  - exterm 14y ago
    also not in as far as I can see. I hope that gets added again in the future, together with the reflow.
yareally 14y ago
Zooming is very "Chrome-like" if you used it before on Android. I'm not a fan of Chrome zoom though. I prefer the stock browser's or Opera Mobile's.
gcp 14y ago
For what it's worth, the latest Firefox for Android has an option in Preferences called "Reflow text on zoom". It may be what you look for (but I don't use Opera enough to be sure).

MatthewPhillips 14y ago

Heh, first icon in Speed Dial is to Google+. Even though the browser is nearly identical to Chrome for Android under the hood, Google is still serving the basic html version to Opera.

johansch 14y ago
Waiting for them to wake up and fix. :)

shurcooL 14y ago

A question to anyone who knows/remembers this. I remember seeing a video that showed off a new experimental and highly different mobile UI that either Firefox or Opera created. In it, there was a much smaller distinction between closed tabs and browsing history - they appeared the same. Whatever happened to that prototype? I thought it was a good idea, but I never got a chance to see it in action. Is the project dead or does it exist somewhere. If the latter, is any good?

johansch 14y ago
In this press release, somewhat buried, is this message: http://business.opera.com/press/releases/general/opera-gears-up-at-300-million-users http://business.opera.com/press/releases/general/opera-gears... “Opera is also experimenting with WebKit in several research and development projects, and many of you got a peek of one of them, codenamed ‘ICE’, last month. As a leading innovator in browsers, we are very excited that ICE received such great buzz. We will provide more information about ICE and other exciting R&D projects in the future, but as we are also really proud of our new browser on Android and our Opera Web Pass operator offering, those products will be the main focus at MWC,” says Wium Lie."

Someone 14y ago

Any comments on "Features such as the combined URL/search bar may be unoriginal, but they were worth copying."? On iOS with its split URL/search, I like it that the keyboard layout and autocorrect adjust to what you are doing. Is that less of an or no issue on Android, with its different way to do autocorrection?

sirn 14y ago

Interestingly, the Off Road mode is still using Presto version of Opera Mini: Opera/9.80 (Android; Opera Mini/14.0.1025/28.4079; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/11.10