Author Archive: Vygantas
Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism career back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.
Opera Mini 4 (Beta) Review and First Impressions
First thing that I’ve noticed right after passed tests (less than in previous version) and accepted terms was a bit changed interface.
Once I’ve opened my first web page(Google.com), noticed that Opera Mini doesn’t show me Google logo, even I have checked to load images. I am sure this will be fixed soon or I just have to change some settings, asking Opera team…
Another nice thing is … a mouse! So far overall reating besides one bug (it’s a beta!) is really great. Nice smooth scrolling, “X marks the spot” feature which knows where you want to read :-) Power scrolling, new zoom features and much more. Some people complained that this versons hangs up a lot, maybe it’s due their phone, as I am using Siemens SXG75 and have no problems with this Opera Mini 4 Beta beauty.
It’s another browsing revolution in mobile phones world.
Love it. Keep up a good work.
Update: when viewing Favorite Browser web page with “Fit to width” unchecked, some text goes out of the it’s place. And continues to show up not in the white, but in the grey menu background.
Opera Mini 4 Dimension (Beta) Released
WOW. Finally.
Grab your phone and download it now.
Steps: Open mini.opera.com/beta/ in your mobile phone and click donwload.
I’ve just installed it and there are so many cool things around here.
What are the new features? Check them here.
Also, check this cool video. Opera Mini vs iPhone.
You can also read my first impressions here.
May, 2007 Web Browsers Market Share Results
Let’s begin.
Internet Explorer gained nice amount of market share this month. From 78.03% to 78.69% (0.66% total) and continues to be world’s most popular web browser.
This time Firefox lost some market share. From 15.42% to 14.54% (0.88% total).
As Internet Explorer, Safari also gained some market share. From 4.59% to 4.82% (0.23% total).
Good news for Netscape as well. This browser managed to gain a peace of market share as well as IE and Safari. From 0.81% to 0.83% (0.02% total).
This time Opera also lost some market share. From 0.76% to 0.74%
(0.02% total).
Good news for Opera Mini. With lots of attention going on, this mobile browser increased it’s market share from 0.13% to 0.16% (0.03% total) and continues growing.
Mozilla continues losing market share. From 0.17% to 0.15%
(0.02% total).
Here’s a graph of current browsers market share. Thanks to HitsLink.
Tomorrow is a Big Day. New Opera Mini Release.
Yes, only one day till we see a brand new Oper Mini Dimension (Beta), which should get version numbering 4.x.
As always, they are hiding everything and won’t tell about new features (which is good) Wait and see…
Opera Mini is the most popular downloadable Java software for mobile phones so it’s a big pressure to developers.
What we can expect from new version? Pretty much.
They’ve promised great features which will provide best user experience ever.
Opera Mini right already changed everything in mobile browsing world so expect even more positive changes and stay tunned.
Current Opera Mini (3.1.2) version you can find here.
Browser of the Month?
If you are wondering why I’ve placed “Browser of the Month” in FavBrowser.com (Favorite Browser) page, that’s because I will be reviewing latest stable browsers and pick a winner.
When I will start doing that? Since currently there are plenty of reviews about FireFox 2, Opera 9.2, Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and other ones, I will be waiting till the next month or even more till someone release brand new stable web browser version. That’s why I’ve placed a “?” for the month of the June.
Firefox 3 Alpha 6 Soon to Come
If you knew or not, Firefox 3 Alpha 6 will be released on June 29, 2007.
It’s still a long way to go till we see Firefox 3 Final release.
Previous Firefox 3 release (Alpha 5) offered a first look to it’s brand new bookmarks, history and other page information storing/management system.
As always, latest release will fix many bugs, which you can report here and maybe some other announced features.
I am waiting with excitement. Latest FireFox 3 version (Alpha 5) you can download here.
Is Mozilla News Page Outdated?
So I was looking for some news regarding Firefox and found their “Press Releases and Announcements” page.
However, I am not able to find any information about Firefox 2.0.0.4 even if it was released some time ago.
That’s not a big thing, but they should announce it there.
Upcoming Safari Web Browser Features
I’ve recently noticed a list of upcoming Safari 3.x features and thought about posting them here. So here you go:
- Support for International users
- International text input methods
- Advanced text (contextual forms, international scripts)
- Localized menus and help
- NTLM support
- PAC file auto-detection
- FTP directory listings
- Link to proxy settings from Safari (Safari respects the proxy settings in the Windows Internet control panel)
- Cookie management
- LiveConnect support
- Tooltips
- Spell checking
- Printing page numbers, titles, margins
Some of those features looks promising. I wonder if spell check will be like Opera browser 9.2 and previous or Firefox style (in-line spell checker). If they would make it “in-line”, this could really help them to grab some more share. We are waiting for more news…
Safari Beta 3.0.1 for Windows Released
Apple.com just released new Safari version: 3.0.1 which you can download now.
This version fixes Windows specify issues and most important: security issues.
I’ve downloaded Safari Beta 3.0.0 for Windows right after it was released. However, I wasn’t been able to test it, as all what I saw was menus with no text and other buggy stuff.
I really don’t know why, but this version doesn’t work for me either. I can’t enter address in the address bar or use quick search. All I know, that I am not the only one, who is experiencing such a problems.
I am not sure why this happens, but hope it will be fixed soon.
Opera Team Will Develope Flash Replacement
Confused already? You won’t be after reading this article.
Opera Software vice president Tatsuki Tomita confirmed rumors, that they are developing Adobe Flash replacemement for Opera Mini and Mobile versions.
Why they are doing that? As you know, performance is really important
in the mobile phones, however, current flash technology seems using too much CPU and memory resources which slows down mobile phones and make their battery last less.
It’s not officially known yet if this new replacement will be able to play Flash too. Waiting for more news in the future.
As for now, I’d like to congratulate Opera team for such a decision.
