Opera Mini for iPhone/iPod Touch

[louis]

As most of you already know, Opera Mini was approved by Apple yesterday. It's faster than Safari for the most part and the built-in search function is a welcomed addition. That said, it's not without its share of issues. In my experience, some sites don't render properly and there are privacy/sercurity concerns due to server-side rendering of the webpages.

Have most of you tried the browser yet? If so, what do you think? Will it replace Safari on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Personally, I'm using both. I love the speed of Opera and how you can browse back to previous pages instantly (without a new page load). As for sites that require "sensitive" log in info, I simply use Safari.

[shigzeo]

If they can implement pinch/Zoom better, it may just do that. I find that Opera renders the most pertinent sites better than Safari , at least for me. Both however, are 'off' from what I expect.

[Thunderclaw]

I don't really have a problem with the pinch/zoom. I do like the speed. And, although I have seen a few formatting issues, they don't really matter, as on such a small screen, small details don't really matter.

Now if only I could have Opera as the default to open links from mail and such...

[shigzeo]

^^ clever thoughts, but now that my horse is gone, I'll just settle for opening links from Opera Mini Web browser. Apple owe me that, at least.

[NineSwords]

I am used to safari and Opera behaves sometimes different. Scrolling, snapping, etc. just isn't the same as I'm used to. I also don't really see any speed increase on my 3GS. Maybe because I'm in Europe and the connection to operas servers are so slow, but the sites I visit from my iPhone are mostly mobile versions that don't need any compression and the extra step through the opera servers take actually more time. I think this will be different when you open sites that are actually graphics heavy and that Opera might as well be faster on those sites. What I really like is the fullscreen mode and search. I'd like to have something like this in Safari.

But all this aside, there is the BIG issue that makes Opera a absolutely no go for me. Routing my personal information through their servers. As long as they don't have a option to turn this off this browser isn't anything I'd ever use to replace safari.

[ChiffaN]

Nine, I don't think there will ever be an option to turn the routing off since that is how the app works - it just renders the websites processed by the servers. And that's why I didn't even try it - I value my privacy.

[Jim]

Opera sucks.
Bare facts on iphone 3G:

RAM usage (from closed to cold start) - Safari 6mb, Opera 16mb
Cold start time: Safari 3sec, Opera 8sec

Rendering is weird, and it feels like a ported non-native app (zooming/scrolling).