Mobile Phone Reviews

The latest refresh of Opera Mobile, version 10.1, is now live for Symbian^3 and Symbian S60 3rd and 5th editions. The release marks the debut of just-in-time compilation (JIT) performance optimization to the Carakan JavaScript engine (the same engine seen on the Opera desktop browser).

Other key features to Opera Mobile 10.1 include the support for geolocation, fine-tuning of kinetic scrolling, a virtual keyboard and auto-rotation to landscape mode. You can download Opera Mobile 10.1 for your Symbian^3 and Symbian S60 3rd and 6th edition devices for free at m.opera.com

Opera Software today released the beta version of Opera Mini 5.1 optimized for Symbian. The Opera Mini 5.1 native beta release brings several key improvements to the Opera Mini browser on Nokia smartphones: support for more devices than ever, significant faster start-up time, improved page-load and scrolling performance,  full support for device input methods, improved fonts, device integration for copy & paste and option for default access point.

Previously, owners of S60 handsets were restricted to using the Java version of Opera Mini. The new, optimized version improves performance and is better integrated with other applications. Nokia smartphones based on Symbian are very popular among Opera Mini users, and this release translates into a better browsing experience, while saving on data traffic charges and fees.

Opera Mini reaches Historic One Billion Daily Page Views

Opera joins the exclusive one billion served per day club. According to Opera Software statistics, Opera Mini users viewed more than one billion pages on July 25, 2010. Every second, Opera Mini servers compressed more than 11,500 pages before sending that content to phones around the world.

Opera Mini has experienced tremendous page view growth in recent years. In June 2008, Opera Mini servers processed 100 million page views per day for the first time. In June 2010, Opera Mini users viewed more than 910 million pages on average every day, an increase of more than 161% since June 2009.

“Each day is different in the fast-growing mobile Web. Every day more people around the world choose Opera Mini and view more pages through this browser,” said Jon von Tetzchner, co-founder, Opera Software. “Crossing one billion pages views in a day is further proof that people desire the best Internet experience, no matter where they live or what device they use.”

Opera Mini, the world’s most popular mobile phone browser, delivers the best Internet experience possible on more than 3,000 mobile phone models. The unique Opera Mini technology compresses data by up to 90 percent before sending content to the phone, resulting in faster page loading, improved speed, and lower browsing costs.

Download

Go to m.opera.com with your phone’s default browser and Opera will automatically select the optimized version for your phone.

Nokia smartphone owners rejoice! Opera today released the first beta of Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian Series 60 phones. Opera Mobile 10.1 beta features accelerated speed and geolocation capabilities. Download the beta directly to your mobile phone from m.opera.com/next.

The best features in Opera Mobile 10.1 beta all reside under the hood, with the powerful Presto rendering engine, Vega graphics library and Carakan JavaScript engine bringing the same engine power to mobile as on desktop.

Support for geolocation puts you and your mobile on the map, so that web services such as maps and travel applications can offer you tailored, relevant content. Your privacy is important, and you decide if and when Opera Mobile will share your location.

Beat the summer heat with these cool features:

• Opera desktop features, like Speed Dial, Opera Link, password manager, make it easier for you to surf on the go, by reducing the time and effort it takes to get to a website.
• Tabbed browsing, a virtual keyboard, kinetic scrolling and auto-rotation to landscape make browsing with Opera Mobile easier and a lot more fun.
• When the network speed makes browsing tough, turn on Opera Turbo. Use our servers to compress webpages on the fly and more than double your browsing speed.

Today, Opera introduces Opera Mini 5.1, an update to the popular Opera Mini 5, which further improves the browsing experience on phones with limited memory. The update includes a new optimized browser skin allowing for more pages to be open at the same time, more rapid scrolling through pages, and overall improved browsing performance.

This update is highly recommended for users of Nokia S40 feature phones with limited memory, such as the popular Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, Nokia 6300 and Nokia 2700 handsets. This upgrade will also benefit phones with a small screen size, such as the Sony Ericsson K550i and Sony Ericsson W810i phones. In addition, Opera Mini 5.1 will improve the browsing experience for those who have encountered out-of-memory issues or the need to reload open web pages while surfing with Opera Mini 5. The update is not critical for Opera Mini users on smartphones or high end devices.

“The goal with Opera Mini is to make the Web available to anyone, anywhere, regardless of where they come from or the handset they have,” says Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “More than 61 million people on over 3000 devices have chosen to surf the Web with Opera Mini for fast and easy Internet access at a considerably lower cost.”

Opera Mini compresses data by up to 90 percent before sending content to the phone, resulting in faster page loading and speed. This compression dramatically reduces data load, which translates to lower browsing costs when on a pay-per-MB data plan, especially when roaming.

Where to Download

Go to m.opera.com with your phone’s default browser and Opera will automatically select the optimized version for your phone.

This morning we were contacted by a representative over at Nimbuzz, the creators of Nimbuzz Mobile.  For those that don’t know by now Nimbuzz Mobile lets you call, chat, message, and send files on the go, for free. It combines all your buddies from Skype, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AIM, Google Talk and more. One login, one contact list, all accounts. Today Nimbuzz announced the launch of:

• the most powerful Twitter app on Symbian – adding a whole new element of “real-time”!
• a world first, with pop-up notifications for chats and events, while Nimbuzz runs in the background!
• added kinetic scrolling to all 5th Edition phones – which will rock your touch screen!

The are currently over 13 million Nimbuzz users and another 40,000 new users joining every day. If you have Symbian cell phone, go and get the brand new Nimbuzz NOW!  Get it on their  website.

An updated version of Fring has been released today that allows select Symbian devices to do Skype video calling.  This is the first, consumer ready, implementation of Skype video calls on a mobile phone.  Users can both place and receive Skype video calls from other Skype or Fring users directly on their mobile phone for free starting today.  This means that whether you want to complete video calls from your mobile phone to a desktop computer Skype users or just another Symbian users with a compatible handset, you have all the tools you need to get the job done.  Unfortunately unless you have a European spec model device you probably will not have the front-facing camera necessary for the video chat but the good news is the option exists.

The Skype video calling functionality is available on the Nokia X6, N97 mini, N97, 5800, N95 8G and N95 devices. Additional device support will be added in due course. You can download fring from m.fring.com

[via AllAboutSymbian]

Yesterday we brought you the showdown between the image quality of the 5-megapixel Nokia N82 and the newer 8-megapixel N86.  Today thanks in part to FoneArena we are back to bring you the device showdown where you can see exactly how these two devices stack up side by side.  What you’ll immediately notice from the pictures is that the N86 is shorter in length but much thicker than the N82 due to its dual-slider mechanism.  This also helps the N86 become a bit more pocket friendly and easier to hold when taking pictures.  When it comes to build quality, Nokia put in the hard work to drop some of the plastic casing and instead opt for the much more solid metal build.  As a previous N82 users myself I can appreciate the new keypad on the N86 and I believe that most will agree that typing is much easier thanks to the bigger keys.  Enough with the talking we’ll let you compare the two devices and draw your own conclusion, but whether you prefer to save some money with the older N82 or spend some extra green on the N86 I think we can all agree that both devices deliver excellent images and are among the best available.

[View with PicLens]

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Most Symbian S60 3rd and 5th edition users are familiar with the commercial Gravity Client, but is this necessarily the best client for you?  Over on AllAboutSymbian we’ve just been introduced to J1CK.Tweet, a freeware Java-based Twitter client that works flawlessly on both S60 3rd and 5th edition devices.  While the software is still in beta, it looks promising thanks to native Twitpic support, multiple accounts and trending topics.  If you’ve been looking for a new and free way to explore Twitter on your Symbian device we highly recommend giving J1CK.Tweet a shot.

[Via AllAboutSymbian]

Besides the iPhone it looks like every other mobile platform will be seeing Adobe Flash Player 10.1 between now and early 2010.  In a Press Release issued by Adobe this morning, the company announced that Windows Mobile and webOS support would be coming later this year while Android and Symbian support would come in early 2010.  They will also be bringing Flash Player to the BlackBerry thanks to a joint collaboration between RIM and Adobe.  The good news is that the browser-based runtime leverages the power of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for accelerated video and graphics while conserving battery life and minimizing resource utilization.  The bottom line is that our precious battery life will not suffer when using the native Flash Player and that is a good thing, especially for Palm Pre owners.