Opera Mobile 10 lands on Maemo thanks to pro hobbyists
By Vlad Savov 
posted May 12th 2010 8:14AM
posted May 12th 2010 8:14AM
[Thanks, Jesus]
posted May 12th 2010 8:14AM
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I was wondering if this is even relevant considering maemo is just around the corner.
@tobsmonster2
Maemo is here now, MeeGo is just around the corner. Those apps can work on MeeGo in all likelyhood.
@tobsmonster2 *MeeGo is just around the corner
@cashclientel timing fail.
@tobsmonster2 True. MeeGo is the upcoming one vendors have started having second thoughts about (or even flat out abandoning it like the case a few weeks ago).
Another day another hack on N900.
@MikeZ
Please substantiate those allegations, or simply stop spreading FUD.
@JFH 1. http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/30/confirmed-lgs-moorestown-based-gw990-wont-be-made/
2. www.google.com
@tobsmonster2
[Thanks, Jesus]?
i didn't know he reads engadget.
@MikeZ
So one device is not coming, and then the platform is dead. Idiot. EA Mobile, BMW Group, Acer, Gameloft, Novell, ASUS all just jumped onboard. Boy you must have a thick skull.
@tobsmonster2
face palm?
Yay! More Opera on more devices!
@mattisdada Yey more hobby developers
This is cool but boy, Engadget was really looking forward to this if that statement "Thanks, Jesus" at the end is anything to go by :)
(and yeah, I do get what the really meant)
You know how most travel insurance policies don't cover phones. Well i wonder if you could say I lost my mini computer?
@fais
Good question
+1
These guys code Opera for a living but then in their spare time also code a bit of Opera for free? Talk about loving your job!
Tried this. Not really too impressed. The install, at 6.9MB is relatively small, though -- it's about 60% of the size of Fennec. In fact, there are themes that are bigger.
MicroB is still better, although I suppose that if you're using mobile data, as opposed to Wi-Fi, the Opera compression effect kicks in and you get better mileage from your connection.
@t4inc
Only if you use turbo mode. This is Opera Mobile, not Opera Mini.
@Suomaa Yes. I meant that in turbo mode.
@t4inc I haven't got to use it exhaustively but I'm pretty impressed. I am using the Turbo mode so that when I'm not on 3G I can still move around the web (relatively) quickly. I do agree MicroB is the overall better browser, but I'll be using them for different browsing scenarios (right tool for the right job).
My N900 now has the native MicroB, Firefox, Chrome and Opera! And I'm really impressed by the quality of this "hobby project", Opera is way faster than Firefox and comes very close to MicroB. Not bad at all!
I'd say the Maemo community is very well served in terms of browsers :D
I am not amazed that Opera runs on Debian derived Linux (Maemo), but as far as I know Opera is not OpenSource, so they couldn't have just recompiled it for ARM. (for those who do not know, Opera distributes Linux binaries built for x86)
@stoffer
Opera is available for many more platforms than PCs. Its available in embedded platforms like Archos (605's, 705's etc) which as far as I know should be ARM and Linux. I am not sure they ported version 10 yet though.
@stoffer, the source is available to Opera devs, obviously. They are the ones that made the release...
"....versatile mini-computer..."
Best description of the N900 I've heard.
On my N900 Opera is way faster in initial load times and page renderings than all the rest N900 browsers. On screen keyboard is great (I'd say better looking than the Nokia stock.) Auto rotation is amazing. Full screen browsing is excellent. It formats the pages to fit screen width so no unnecessary scrolling/zooming to get everything. For an alpha release it's way better than Firefox 1.1 (slow-slow-slow) and on par if a bit better than microB.
Missing features are flash and battery optimizations. All the rest don't look or feel like alpha to me. BTW mine is a 900Mhz N900. Maybe that's why Opera is so fast.
woah. i wasn't expecting anything new for my n800.
@debudebu, Maemo still loves you, even if you gave up all hope :)
It's not bad, but MicroB is still worlds better.
unfortunately it takes forever to load a page on my n800, and it also just crashed. and i also just uninstalled it.
@hated one good thing this article has NOTHING to do with Opera on the iPhone then ..
@hated one
And, we have a mention of the iphone on a Maemo post.
*sigh
@hated one
You know, in moments like these that one Dude quote comes to mind...
No, I didn't mean: "That's just, like, your opinion, man."
I meant: "What the f*ck has anything got to do with Vietnam?!"
My only gripes I'm having is that there seems to be no flash support on some sites, correct me if im wrong, and the ability to pick what platform ur using to browse with. Other than that I'm loving having my bookmarks synced again with speedy browsing, amazed that I have it on my n900 before my other android devices.
This is a awesome touch to my already amazing N900. I almost forgot there was a portrait mode until now. Pretty fast browser. Awesome portrait mode. I really like how it was able to keep tabs and shortcuts to your favorite sites. Really cool.