Items tagged with mobile browser
Google is working to improve the search experience for tablet users. Recently, the company rolled out changes that were made with tablet users in mind. First up, the company simplified the layout of search result pages and increased the size of the contents on a page. Most notably, text, buttons and other touch targets are now larger. Google believes these changes should make it faster and easier to browse on a tablet. Google added a pull-down menu to the search button underneath of the search box. From this menu, you'll be able to tell Google if you want to search Images, Videos, Places, Shopping, or another area of Google. If you're looking for images using the Google search engine, you'll...
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Opera has confirmed plans to release a beta version of Opera Mobile for Android phones within a month. At this point, the software company hasn't given us a ton of details about what the new browser will offer, but it has confirmed that the beta version of Opera Mobile for Android will support pinch to zoom. In addition to the Android announcement, Opera also announced plans to update Opera Mini for iPhone sometime this year. The update will deliver pinch to zoom support as well as hardware acceleration. The current versions of Opera Mobile and Opera Mini have two levels of zoom. One for the full page width and one for zooming in to read the text. With the introduction of pinch to zoom you are...
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Opera Software released an Android version of its popular Opera Mini 5 beta web browser. According to Opera, the mobile browser compresses data by up to 90%, making pages load more quickly. In order to achieve this boost in speed, the browser is actually a proxy-based browser that connects to Opera's servers. These servers compress the data remotely and then push the compressed results to the phone. Opera Mini 5 beta delivers a desktop-like Web browsing experience. Some of the browser's features include Speed Dialing, tabbed browsing, bookmarks, and a password manager. The Speed Dial feature makes it easy to navigate to your favorite Web pages in a single click using visual bookmarks when you...
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Recently, Jay Sullivan at Mozilla told the BBC that Mozilla's upcoming mobile web browser codenamed Fennec is just "days away" from being launched. The browser will initially be available for Nokia's N900 phone followed by other handsets. Sullivan further explained that the browser is currently going through final testing and could be released before the end of the year. The mobile browser has been in the works for the past year and a half. It is said to offer the ability to synchronize with the desktop version of Firefox, allowing users to take web pages that are open in their desktop browser with them on their mobile device. "At the end of the working day you can walk away from your computer...
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RIM, the maker of the popular line of BlackBerry smartphones, has acquired Torch Mobile, the WebKit browser developer that’s most known for its Iris mobile browser that runs on Windows Mobile phones, for an undisclosed sum. WebKit is the open-source code that underlines many of today’s mobile browsers found on the Apple iPhone, Palm Pre, and Google Android phones. According to Torch Mobile’s website, “Our team of developers will join RIM’s global organization and will now be focused on utilizing our WebKit-based mobile browser expertise to contribute to the ongoing enhancement of the BlackBerry platform.” The site also explains that Torch Mobile’s team of skilled developers will continue to be...
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Opera is bypassing handset manufacturers and going straight to U.S. wireless carries in an attempt to further the distribution of its popular mobile web browser. The move isn’t completely new for Opera Software. In fact, Opera currently has license agreements with European carriers Vodafone and T-Mobile. Through these agreements, the Opera browser is placed on the carrier’s mobile phones. An Opera spokesperson revealed Opera’s plans to announce several U.S. carrier deals at the upcoming CTIA Wireless conference next month. The spokesperson didn’t reveal the names of specific carriers, but considering Opera tends to work with large, tier-one operators, we’d say chances are good the announcement...
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Remember when we told you about Fennec’s upcoming availability for Windows Mobile? Now, it’s here. Yesterday, Mozilla released a pre-alpha test build of the Windows Mobile port. This release is designed to work on an HTC Touch Pro and might not work on other devices just yet (though there’s nothing to stop you from trying.) Fennec’s goal is to bring the Firefox experience to mobile devices. Historically, Mozilla’s browser has been too resource-intensive for the mobile market, but the time and efforts spent to reduce memory overhead for the Firefox 3 release and other ongoing efforts to improve the browser’s JavaScript performance have made it a viable option for handheld devices. An early...
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Mozilla announced the availability of Fennec alpha 2. This new prerelease version of the organization’s mobile browser has some much-needed performance improvements that increase the responsiveness of the program and adds faster page loads and faster scrolling. According to Mozilla developer Stuart Parmenter, the first alpha was focused on the user experience. This second alpha is focused on improving performance, with major strides being made in startup performance, panning and zooming performance, and responsiveness while pages are loading. Parmenter also notes that they’ve re-factored a significant amount of the front-end code, which enabled substantial speed improvements and will provide...
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