browsers – Tech Raman

After iPad, now Opera brings Coast for iPhone

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 12:00:50 +0000

Ever since Opera outed Coast for iPad, its brand-new browser that re-imagined the browser as we knew it. Two questions sprang into my minds. First when they will make something similar for Android and two, when will it make appearance for iPhone. While Opera is non-committal on the first question, there is good news for iPhone users. Today Opera released the Coast for iPhone to provide an all-new browsing experience offering a very minimalistic clean interface doing away with much of the bells and whistles of traditional browsers. Talking about the Opera Coast, Huib Kleinhout, Product Manager on the Opera Coast project at Opera Software says ” “I was never quite happy with how apps and browsers kind of got in the way of the content. With Opera Coast, we have made content the main star of the show, letting the browser app itself get out of the way when you just want to kill some time. It’s the way the web was meant to be enjoyed.” Opera trumpets Coast as the first true made-for-touch mobile browser and I have to largely agree with it after using the Coast for iPad and now it is the turn for iPhone. [gallery link="file" columns="6" ids="6973,6974,6975,6976,6977,6978"]

Opera Coast for iPhone features and functionality

The homescreen of Opera coast is minimalistic with a clean look and yet functional. We have a unified search and address field on the top. Below that we have a site tile grid that can have a grid of 3×3 or 3×4 tiles where you can list your favourite websites. The tiles picks a default image from the website and list them as neat square. The tiles can be tapped and moved between the grid. Also you can swipe left and right for more entries. At the bottom, there is a tile that shows the last opened site. You can tap and drag the site to the set of site tile grid for easy access later. On the bottom right sits a small bar which shows the recent sites when pressed. Pulling down anywhere on the screen also brings the search screen active. When on a webpage, you can long tap the picture to save it or back it as a background for the browser. Also the grid button on the bottom middle when pressed take you back to the homescreen. Taking optimum use of touch functionality, while browsing you can go forward or backward by swiping right or left. Also pulling down at the top of a page, reloads the page. We can also shift between recently opened sites by swiping to right or left and also can close a site by swiping it up. As a security measure, a warning appears when you access suspicious site and you can also view the site safety report. With Coast for iPhone, Opera also has added automatic sync between iPhone and iPad the site tiles in your Coast browsers with the same iCloud account. So you can retain the site bookmarks (tile grids) across your iOS devices. The Opera Coast browser is available today for iPhone and iPad, as a free download in the Apple App Store.]]>

Opera Software announces 7 new OEM partnerships in India

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 11:06:03 +0000

Opera Software today announced it’s tie up with seven new OEMs in India who would be baking the Opera Mini browser with their devices. With mobile penetration surpassing easily the PC penetration in India, the region witnesses more number of users for whom mobile devices are the first or only entry into the web experience. In this scenario, the mobile web browser becomes the essential app and Opera wants to tap the market aggressively by making their browser visible by pre-installing the browser in the device. By this new partnership in India Micromax, Videocon, Spice, MoMagic Technologies, Wynncom, Lemon Mobiles and iBall will preinstall Opera Mini as an exclusive, third-party mobile browser across their upcoming Android devices. Opera has also signed partnership with Symphony Mobile in Bangladesh and Colors Mobile in Nepal. Recent popular smartphones like Micromax’s Canvas 4 and Canvas Doodle 2, Spice Coolpad, Lava Iris 506Q, Celkon Campus A20, and Karbonn A9 Star already comes with Opera Mini pre-installed. Earlier this year, Opera had tied up with 7 other India OEM’s including Celkon, Karbonn, Lava, Intex, Fly, Zen and HCL. Today’s announcement takes the Opera’s overall OEM tie-ups to 17 handset manufacturers in this region. Sunil Kamath, Vice President for South Asia, Opera Software, adds, “India is home to the largest number of Opera Mini users in the world. Partnering with local OEMs in India and neighboring countries is part of our growth strategy to take Opera Mini’s user numbers in the region from strength to strength. Since the beginning of this year, more than 100 Android devices with Opera Mini preinstalled on them have been launched in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.” ]]>

Coast by Opera Review – A minimalistic browser exclusively for iPad

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 17:24:23 +0000