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It's the moment that many enthusiasts thought would never happen – Apple has allowed a rival browser onto the iPhone.
And more than a million people downloaded it on the first day.
The browser is of course Opera Mini, which has enjoyed great success on a variety of mobile platforms - it's the world's number one mobile browser by a good margin.
There's one question I wanted to answer, though...
I'm a bit of a sceptic, you see. I occasionally used to download the desktop version of Opera onto my Mac. Admittedly this was back in the early 2000s, but I always found it clunky and ugly.
I had a better experience when I had a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone (I forget which one it was). Opera was a godsend, largely because even a clockwork-powered browser would have been better than the software that came pre-installed on the handset.
But on the iPhone, Opera faces a slick, mature rival in Apple's Safari browser. Can it compete? I put it through its paces.
It only took a few seconds to download Opera from the Apple apps store. A good start.
It was a bit slow to fire up first time round, but that improved on subsequent use. On first use, you are presented with an intro screen. Here's the top half.
The other benefits it goes on to list are its ability to remember passwords, and the facility to synchronise your bookmarks and settings between your phone and your desktop computer.
Intro screen over, we were off. Here's the home page:
Handy for keeping your favourites at hand, but a little ugly for my tastes. Nice and easy to set up though.
The first site I wanted to check out was our own, so I keyed in the URL. It rendered just fine, as you can see.
The problem comes when you turn the phone to get a landscape view, like so:
Instead of expanding to fit the space available, the site remains constrained by the portrait view dimensions. Compare this to Safari's treatment.
Before:
After:
Much easier to read. Much clearer. Much better.
Again, the Opera approach is a bit clunky. In Safari, you can switch between tabs by sliding your finger horizontally across the screen. In Opera Mini you have to select the tabs button, and then slide thumbnails of the tabs from left to right. It works, but again it's a bit ugly by comparison.
I've saved the best bits till last, though. Opera Mini for the iPhone does have some nice additional features. The first one I like is the ability to switch to a full-screen mode.
The second feature I like, which will come in handy for finding information on overly-long web pages, is the text search function. I used it here to find information about today's volcanic explosion.
I've only had a quick play, but overall I prefer the interface and beauty of Apple's native Safari browser. That said, Opera has some handy tricks up its sleeve, particularly with the full screen mode and text search function - although the aesthetics could be a lot better.
The next question is whether Apple will incorporate features like this into Safari. I think the answer's contained in that old story about the painter Whistler and Oscar Wilde.
Oscar Wilde: "I wish I had said that."
Whistler: "You will, Oscar, you will."
Ben Locker is a freelance writer who has contributed to a wide range of publications, from The Times to local newspapers and magazines. He has been blogging in various corners of the Internet since 2003, and is as interested in the mechanics of the web as he is its content.
A magazine journalist and qualified teacher, he has spent much of his career working for education charities and other voluntary sector organisations. He became a freelance writer in early 2006 and now runs a popular copywriting agency.
Ben is particularly interested in the craftmanship of writing, and most enjoys helping others crystallise their ideas in the right words. His first book, a satire of which he was co-author, was published by Atlantic in 2007.
(2) comments
Comments
As many electronic medical records are now web-based, passing private health information around with a lack of end-to-end encryption is frowned upon by HIPAA regulations. Essentially, Opera can see/cache/log everything you do while using the Opera Mini Browser app, including every single medical record viewed through the Opera Mini app on an iPhone or iPad since Tuesday.
I guess it's just personal preference but thought the asthetics were actually quite nice.
With updates it could certainly rival Safari for me.