Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Opera upgrades mobile browser for Symbian

news
Nov 24, 20102 mins

JavaScript performance is improved ninefold, and the new version also includes geolocation

Looking to speed up browsing on the Symbian platform, Opera Software released on Wednesday Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian/Series 60 phones, offering faster JavaScript performance, the company said.

Version 10.1 for Symbian offers just-in-time compilation to the Carakan JavaScript engine, which also drives the Opera desktop browser. The upgraded mobile browser performs nine times faster than Opera Mobile 10.0 on the SunSpider JavaScript test, Opera said. Also featured is geolocation, enabling Web services like maps and travel applications to recognize a location to provide a user with customized content. Users can choose whether or not Opera Mobile shares their position.

“Opera Mobile 10.1 today brings the best mobile browsing experience to the world’s most popular smartphone platform,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera, in a statement released by the company.

The browser features such capabilities as speed dial, tabbed browsing, and a password manager to reduce the typing required to navigate websites. Opera Turbo compression, meanwhile, helps overcome slow network speeds that impact browsing.

Offered as a free download, Opera  Mobile 10.1 is available for Symbian^3 and Symbian S60, third and fifth editions.

Opera also released on Wednesday results of a survey of Opera Mini users that found that most 18- to 27-year-olds browse the Web more often with their mobile phones than with computers. In Nigeria, South Africa, and Indonesia, more than 90 percent of the so-called Generation Y users browse the Internet on their handsets more than they do so on laptops or desktops. Findings are featured in Opera’s State of the Mobile Web report.

This article, “Opera upgrades mobile browser for Symbian,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in business technology news and get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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