Opera unveiled
a major new mobile browser initiative called Opera Ice today via Pocket-lint, coming in February and
based on the same WebKit rendering engine used by Apple’s Safari and Google
Chrome, rather than Presto, which has powered Opera since 2003 (including
server-side compression on the iOS side of things). The browser engine change
signals Opera’s intent to remain relevant in a changing browser market, as does
Opera Ice’s unique control scheme and user interface.
Opera’s CEO
Lars Boilesen describes the new browser in an internal video published by
Pocket-lint, which eschews buttons in favor of an all-touch gesture-based
control system. Tabs are also gone, supplanted by a home screen with page
icons, and a single combined search and URL bar handles all new page opening
duties. The browser looks to take the web application model of
browsing to its natural conclusion, and Boilesen even describes pages as “apps”
repeatedly in the video. Navigation back and forth between full-screen apps is
handled via gestures, and also through a home screen-like software button at
the bottom of every page.
“No buttons,
no menus, just a pure visual experience, that’s what we’re building here,”
Boilesen says at one point during the video. The idea is to hide as much of the
chrome and tech as possible, including when it comes to security. He demos
venturing onto a malware site, which brings up a very visual, very
easy-to-grasp warning featuring a caution tape animation.
The idea
behind Opera Ice is that Opera mini, while something Boilesen calls “great” in
speaking to Pocket-lint, isn’t up to snuff when compared to the competing
offerings like Apple’s mobile Safari or Google’s Chrome for Android. Rather
than try to iterate its current offerings to get there, the company decided to
go back to the drawing board and build something from scratch that is designed
for use in a mobile environment. Opera mini will continue to be supported
however, and there’s apparently also a new version of Opera for desktop slated for
a March release.
iOS and
Android made sense as the first logical targets given their market share, but
Windows Phone may be in the cards depending on what it can manage to drum up in
terms of market share according to Boilesen. As always with a new mobile
browser, however, the challenge will be making something attractive enough to
replace a user’s built-in software. Even with a unique control paradigm that
shows a lot of promise for touchscreen use, Opera Ice will have to face the
fact that iOS users can’t select a third-party browser as their default choice.
Even so, I’m interested to test out Opera’s latest, and see if it does indeed
push the dial forward in terms of how we browse the web on smartphones and
tablets. The attempt to make web apps work and operate more like native apps in
particular looks like an idea that could have legs. [TechCrunch]
No comments:
Post a Comment