Opera Mobile 9.5

Opera

Opera unleashes innovative technology in latest mobile Web browser — Opera Mobile 9.5

Faster speed, new interface and Opera Widgets bring users closer to a full desktop experience
Exclusive preview at Mobile World Congress 2008 (February 11-14, Barcelona)
Oslo, Norway and Barcelona, Spain — February 5, 2008
Opera Software, the only company that puts the Web on any device, today announced the commercial release of Opera Mobile 9.5 — the latest version of its award-winning Web browser for sophisticated feature phones and smartphones. Participants at the Mobile World Congress 2008 will be the first to experience the improved functionality of Opera Mobile 9.5.

According to high-tech market research firm, In-Stat, the smartphone market will grow at more than a 30% compound annual growth rate for the next five years globally, exceeding unit sales for laptops, as users experience significant value from their smartphones. Users are downloading more applications and generating higher usage as measured by average revenue per user (ARPU) for operators. The main driver that has fueled this growth is overall user experience on the mobile Web.

Built on Opera’s unique core architecture, the Opera Mobile 9.5 desktop-like browsing experience has been enhanced with innovations such as zooming and panning that make it easier to navigate, load pages quicker and get users closer to the Web content and entertainment they want. With Opera Mobile 9.5, users can experience the real Web and interact with content exactly as they do on their PC.

Faster speed
The new version utilizes Opera’s Presto rendering engine to achieve page load speeds comparable to a desktop experience. The Opera Presto engine was modified and improves browsing performance significantly by accelerating the handling of Web pages. It dramatically improves page responsiveness on pages with heavy use of languages such as JavaScript and Ajax, ensuring smooth, hassle-free browsing.

Compelling experience
Opera Mobile 9.5 includes numerous features aimed at elevating the mobile browsing experience. Not only is the user interface (UI) intuitive enough to master in minutes, Opera Mobile 9.5 introduces several new innovations that elevate the Internet experience on a handheld device. Users can take advantage of the intuitive Opera Zoom™ to dive into the page and get closer to the content they want. In addition, productivity tools like the ability to save pages for offline browsing, Web address auto complete and password manager help busy users make the most of their time.

Fully loaded
Web 2.0-enabled, Widget-ready and Flash support turn Opera Mobile 9.5 into a fully loaded browser allowing users to access all their favorite Web sites such as Facebook, MySpace and more. With Opera Mobile 9.5, OEMs and operators will have the capability to include Flash Lite 3, empowering their smartphone users with access to the full Web including the ability to watch videos on YouTube effortlessly. In addition, Opera Widgets, which are mini applications that allow content to be accessed easily from the device idle screen with just a few clicks, are included in the new edition — automatically engaging the user through ease of operation and meeting consumer demands for quick access to information.

New revenue sources, bigger brand
Opera Mobile 9.5’s ability to serve Web content directly on the idle screen gets mobile OEMs or operators closer to users. By greatly reducing the number of clicks required to get to content, there is a real potential for operators to increase data revenue and user loyalty. In addition, access to the idle screen allows operators to place their brand strategically to interact dynamically with users. Opera Mobile 9.5 is everything that handset makers and operators have been trying to achieve for years.

“Opera Mobile is the result of Opera’s unwavering commitment to a vision that puts a true Web experience in the hands of mobile users,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “The improved functionality of Opera Mobile 9.5 and easy access to information has raised the bar on a more compelling mobile Web browsing experience and will further stimulate mobile Internet adoption.”

The Opera Mobile 9.5 experience includes many of the innovations found in Opera’s trend-setting desktop browser including:

Intuitive user interface
Tabbed browsing
Improved text wrap
Page overview, zooming and panning
Landscape mode
Save Web page for future offline access
Call phone number from Web page
Send link as SMS/MMS
Send image as SMS/MMS
Small Screen Rendering™
Password manager
Web address input auto-completion
History and bookmarks
Copy text
Opera Widgets
Opera Mobile is currently shipped on more than 100 million phones with many of the world’s top mobile OEMs and operators such as HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, and others.

Leading software platform provider, UIQ, has realized the potential of Opera’s new mobile browser. “UIQ works with the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturers to create the ultimate user experience. Our long-standing partnership with Opera has given users the ability to access all their favorite Web sites and services,” says Mats Barvesten, EVP Product Planning and Product Management at UIQ Technology. “We look forward to introducing our upcoming handsets, featuring the groundbreaking Opera Mobile 9.5 browser.”

Along with hands-on exposure to Opera Mobile 9.5, Mobile World Congress participants will also have the ability to experience Opera on a variety of devices: Opera Mobile on smartphones, free downloads of Opera Mini 4, improved Web browsing on gaming consoles and the ARCHOS Generation 5 Media players will be just a few of the exciting features of Opera’s 2008 exhibit.

Mobile World Congress will be held on the 11th through the 14th of February in 2008 in Barcelona, Spain. Visit the Opera Booth in Hall 2, 2C76 or email conference@opera.com to book a meeting.

Platform Support and Availability
Opera Mobile 9.5 will be available on all major platforms including Symbian, Windows Mobile and Linux, as both a standalone browser and as a SDK. The public beta release of Opera Mobile 9.5 will be announced separately. For media inquiries, please contact julies@opera.com.

A video demonstration of Opera Mobile 9.5 is available on http://www.opera.com/b2b/solutions/mobile/video/

About Opera Software ASA
Opera Software ASA has redefined Web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera’s cross-platform Web browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com.

LG New Slim SLider at GSMA 2008

LGKF510

GSMA 2008 is almost upon us, and LG has made it amply clear that its new KF510 mobile handset will make its debut at the event. The slim slider has LG’s famous touch-sensitive navigation under its display and is loaded with a 3 megapixel (and possibly auto-focus) camera.

It’s not just the intriguing design, but the colors too – such as Stardust Gray or Sunset Red – that will make the KF510 an eye-catcher. The phone is quite slim at 10.9mm, comes with an MP3 player, and is Bluetooth-enabled.

The LG KF510 will officially launch in March this year. We’ll have to wait a few more days, however, before we get more information on this new slider. Stay tuned.

source:tech2

LiMo’s Linux Phone Platform Nears Launch

Limo

The LiMo Foundation plans to release the first version of its Linux software platform for mobile phones in March, with handsets running the software due soon.

LiMo’s goal is to offer handset manufacturers an open, hardware-independent software platform that offers a secure environment for downloadable applications.

Publishing the code on time is one thing, but “putting handsets into consumers’ hands is the most important proof point,” said Morgan Gillis, executive director of the LiMo Foundation. That will happen very soon, he said.

On Monday, the Foundation will publish a beta version of the software’s APIs (application programming interfaces) so that developers can begin writing applications to run on it.

The APIs are still beta versions because the underlying software is not yet complete and minor details may change ahead of its release in March, Gillis said.

The LiMo Foundation is focusing on phones’ middleware, leaving handset manufacturers and operators to choose their own user interface and content applications.

That freedom is important, Gillis said, because “the cost of developing the first phone on a platform can be as high as half a billion dollars.”

Phone manufacturers may be unwilling to make that kind of commitment to a new operating system if it will also leave them tied to another company’s user interface or content applications, he said.

“That’s why Windows Mobile and Series 60 didn’t gain broad traction; suppliers didn’t feel comfortable,” he said.

LiMo faces competition from another open platform, Android, supported by Google and the Open Handset Alliance.

For Gillis, the connection between Android and Google’s content make that another example of a tied operating system.

Although the LiMo Foundation’s code is not quite finished, most of it has already been proven in handsets sold or distributed by founder members Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone, Gillis said.

Nevertheless, there are some new elements, notably the security model, Gillis said. “Security in handsets is an area that tends to evolve quite quickly,” he said.

Since development of the platform began, “there are no major new threats, but it’s about evolving approaches and algorithms that address the security situation.”

Although the underlying platform is open, the handsets based on it may not be. The LiMo code includes support for application signing, allowing handset designers or operators to block the execution of unsigned downloads.

“The precise rules used for application signing are usually determined by the operator,” Gillis said.

However, he said, there are signs that operators are moving away from the “walled garden” they favored in the past to a more open approach.

source:pcworld 

Googles ‘New’ Mobile Search Engine

 Gmob serch

Shortly before releasing their latest results showing a slowdown in advertising sales in the fourth quarter of 2007, Google announced the launch of their ‘new’ mobile search engine (or, should we say, the improved version of the previous one).

Google says that with the new search service, mobile phone users will get results that best fit what they’re looking for, with search results combined from different bodies of information, so users don’t need to sift through both mobile and regular web results, or specify their search type. Instead, Google will search through the whole web, mobile web, news articles, local business listings, and image index to get the information needed and then provide the most relevant results. A search for cats, for example, provides links to photos of cats as well as web pages.

Google’s new mobile search also improves the local search experience. By remembering a user’s recent search locations, the new service is said to provide relevant local results in subsequent searches-no need to retype the location every time. Once a user has entered a location, searches for weather or restaurants, for example, provide information tailored specifically to that user’s location. The service is now available in the UK, France, Germany and Canada. It has been available in the US since March last year.

It is claimed that fewer clicks will now be necessary to access meaningful search results on mobile devices, which is a welcome improvement. The jury is still out as to how effective the new search engine is, but while we may not be there in terms of ultimate functionality, it is clearly a step in the right direction. Bizarrely, we still have to type in “http://mobile.google.com” instead of just “http://google.mobi” or “http://m.google.com”, but that’s a different story…

 

source:reuters 

Google and Dell to announce gPhone hardware?

gphone

Marketing Week reports that “speculation is mounting that Google is plotting the launch of a mobile phone in partnership with computer giant Dell”.

Citing “senior industry sources” the site says that the two companies are due to reveal their plans to the world at next month’s 3GSM event in Spain.

The first handsets are expected this year running Google’s “Android” mobile phone operating system, but Dell has not previously been hotly tipped to be one of the first manufacturers to market.

Pocket-lint will be attending 3GSM and will bring you all the news from the event as it happens.

source:sky 

Garmin launches ne-3G touchscreen mobile and GPS

Mob

As was predicted they would, Garmin has announced its grand entrance into the mobile phone market with the “ne”, that they describe as “an all-in-one, sleek and slim, touchscreen device that combines a premium phone, mobile web-browser, and cutting-edge personal navigator”.

The ne, an all touchscreen device, is the first of its kind to integrate 3.5G phone capability with an internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and full personal navigation functions in one device.

The 3.5-inch touchscreen display has three main icons — “Call”, “Search”, and “View Map”. When the ne is docked into its vehicle mount, it automatically turns on the GPS, and enables hands-free calling.

The GPS side of things has preloaded maps of North America or Eastern and Western Europe, or both, and contains all that you’d expect from a full-featured PND, as well as a few sweet extras.

The ne is Garmin’s first device to include Google local search capability, which means users can search for locations like “coffee shops” and Google will sort the results based on the user’s current location and relevance.

For the forgetful, the phone has Garmin’s “Where am I?” feature as well as the ability to help drivers find their car by automatically marking the position in which it was last removed from the vehicle mount.

Borrowing from Navman’s Navpix feature, the built-in camera allows users to take a picture that will automatically be tagged with the exact lat and long references of where the image was taken, which means the user can save the image so they can navigate back to the location, or email the image to someone else.

The ne also provides direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available through Google’s Panoramio picture sharing site that can be used similarly.

Other multimedia functions of the ne include a built-in video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC player.

Garmin “anticipates” that the ne will be available in the third quarter of 2008 when specific details about pricing and sales partners will be announced.

The ne is going to be on show at 3GSM in February, Pocket-lint will be attending this event, so will bring you more info – and hopefully a hands-on – with the exciting new device from the show floor.

source:sky 

Sneak Peek at Windows Mobile 6.1

winmob 6.1

You might have heard about Windows Mobile 7; and even seen some screenshots that were leaked a while ago. But let’s face it, it may well be a long time coming. In the meantime let’s look at something a little more realistic – such as Windows 6.1. And Gizmodo, through the Portuguese tech forum PocketPT, seems to have some new information on what the next step might look like.

One new feature is a Zoom function that will allow users to view an entire web page on the display screen. This could be useful for navigation to specific articles or portions on the page that may interest a user. Another feature will indicate how much space is consumed by applications. The latest version is expected to be able to load DOCX and SLSX formats. A new advanced ‘Note’ feature should allow users to draw and add voice recordings to each note.

source:tech2 

Garmin Announces GPS-Ready Handset

Garmin

Garmin Ltd., the leading maker of satellite-powered navigational devices, is getting into the wireless phone business with the launch of the nüvifone, a handset that incorporates GPS.

“This is the breakthrough product that cellphone and GPS users around the world have been longing for – a single device that does it all,” said Cliff Pemble, the company’s president and COO. “We believe nüvifone will change the way people view converged devices in future.”

The all-touchscreen device is claimed to be the first of its kind to integrate premium 3.5G mobile phone capability with an Internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and personal navigation functions in one device.

Personal messaging functions include email, text, and instant messaging. Also available is access to Garmin Online, which offers constantly-updating information such as real-time traffic, fuel prices, stock prices, news reports, and weather forecasts.

The nüvifone is Garmin’s first device to include Google local search capability, which harnesses the vast point of interest information available from the Internet.

The built-in camera will allow individuals to take a picture that will automatically be tagged with the exact latitude and longitude of where the image was taken. The device also provides direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available via Google’s Panoramio picture sharing site.

Garmin anticipates that the nüvifone will be available in the third quarter of 2008. Specific details about pricing and sales partners haven’t been announced yet. For more information, please visit the official website.

source:tech2

Sony Ericsson Launches 2 New Mobiles for Japan Market

Sonyerc

Sony Ericsson has launched two new handsets, but unfortunately it seems they’re only meant for the Japanese market. In that case you may wonder why we’re so concerned. Our logic is that perhaps we could show the company that a country like ours that’s one of the (if not THE) mobile friendliest markets on the planet should be getting snazzy mobiles like these too.

The two handsets are the W61S (slider) and the W62S (flip). The W61S is loaded with a 5.1 megapixel autofocus camera and falls under the Cyber-shot umbrella. It’s equipped with a CMOS sensor and aside from 3x optical zoom it uses Sony’s ‘Exmor’ technology from the Pro Alpha DSLR. The camera boasts Kaokime Lite (auto-adjusts brightness on face detection for ideal facial tones), Smile Shutter Lite (auto-releases shutter on detecting smiles) and anti-shake abilities.

As if that weren’t enough, the W61S has a large 2.8 inch WVGA display with a resolution of 400 x 800 pixels that apparently uses Reality MAX technology as in Sony’s Bravia HD TVs. WOW!! Aside from all that (as if all that’s not enough to make you want to fly to Japan), it has other usual features such as Bluetooth, GPS, TV-out and external memory support via microSD cards (Not M2?)

Next up is the W62S flip phone equipped with a 2.7 inch WQVGA display that sports a resolution of 240 x 432 pixels. There doesn’t seem to be too much information provided about this particular phone other than the display size and the fact that it will also support external memory up to 2GB via microSD cards, and that it will have a 2 megapixel camera.

Prices haven’t been announced as yet, but the W61S will be out this April in Spectrum Pink, Shadow Black and Prism White, while the W62S should be out a bit earlier, in March, in Silver/Leather, Black/Rose and White/Lime.

source:IntoMobile 

iPhone’s SDK Key Leaked!

ilock

iPhone lovers have yet another reason to bring out the champagne and caviar. Some kind soul has apparently leaked what seems to be the iPhone’s application SDK key. What this means for iPhone users is that third party application developers can now come up with software for the iPhone that can be officiated through iTunes without any worry that the device will get bricked. With the SDK key users may not even need to jailbreak their devices to install third party apps.

It’s quite likely that Apple will develop a new SDK key, but the fact that things even got to this stage with the always-in-the-news iPhone pretty much tells us there’s no stopping either side from making or breaking down the gadget’s defenses.

For your information here’s the “Key to the Kingdom”: 18 84 58 A6 D1 50 34 DF E3 86 F2 3B 61 D4 37 74.

source:tech2