Opera Mini Vs Opera Mobile Browser
Filed Under (General, Mobile Application reviews, Mobile Industry News) by Mobile Games on 11-06-2008
Opera has 2 different browsers for mobile phone, Opera Mini and Opera Mobile Browser. While Opera mini is free and fast, Opera Mobile is comparatively slow and not free. I was always wondering if what is there amazing with Opera Mobile. After doing a small research with my Nokia N70, I understood their idea in bringing in 2 different products which have the same output.
My Experience
Today I installed Opera Mobile 8.65 trial version on to my Nokia N70. However I always have the Opera Mini latest version on it. Opera Mobile doesn’t look that cool and user friendly, someone has to learn using it But then its still costlier. The answer lies in this picture.
Technology behind Opera Mini
Now Opera Mini is a available for most mobile models that support java. There isn’t much that the application does from the mobile end. The application, Opera Mini is a simple interface that connects to the server and downloaded the website in layers. And these layers are already well optimized in the server itself. So all that you might be downloading to your mobile is simply the low resolution images and formatted data that says where the user can click and where does the link take the user to.
Technology behind Opera Mobile
When you consider Opera Mobile, the operation that is done in the server side for Opera Mini is done in the mobile itself. The website is directly queried from the mobile and the complete content is downloaded in as is format and optimized internally for the interface layer to understand. Now after this point both the browser work in the same way.
Comparison of advantages and disadvantages:
1) GPRS usage is many times less in Opera Mini when compared to Opera Mobile
2) Secured sites cannot be accessed using Opera Mini which Opera Mobile can just do it and store Cookies etc.
3) Opera Mini has very good interface while Opera Mobile Doesn’t.
4) Opera Mini usage is similar to being behind a Proxy server. Opera Mobile uses direct access.
Now you have to decide which one to choose after considering these factors. For me, I prefer Opera Mini as the data usage is high with Opera mobile and its costly here in India for Data usage.