New Opera Release for Ericsson Smartphone

Norway-based Opera Software is continuing its push to add power-browsing tools to its Web browsers, rolling out new versions for Windows users and for the Sony Ericsson P800 smartphone.

Opera, which trails Microsoft and the Mozilla project in the three-way Web browser race, announced the availability of the final Opera 7.20 for Windows. It adds support for bi-directional languages such as Arabic and Hebrew and lets users of the free, ad-supported version to choose whether to receive Google’s text ads or the standard graphic banners.

Opera, which styles itself as the ‘Fastest Browser on Earth’, said
features like mouse gestures, integrated search and tabbed browsing had been tweaked to speed up the Web browsing experiencing.

The company also announced the release of Opera 6.2 for Symbian OS for Sony Ericsson P800, a new version that improves the way complex Web pages are rendered on small cell phone screens. While Opera has struggled to catch up with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer on PC desktops, the company has made some headway in the wireless sector, rolling out mobile browsers for the widely deployed Symbian OS.

With the Ericsson P800 browser upgrade, Opera adds further refinements to Small Screen Rendering (SSR), including the ability to the zoom and full-screen mode features. The SSR technology eliminates the need for
horizontal scrolling on small mobile screens.

The company said improvements had also been introduced in frames and
windows handling. A new “save image” feature was also added to the Opera 6.2
upgrade.

The upgrade, which Opera says has been downloaded by “hundreds of
thousands” since its initial launch in February, is free for all Ericsson
P800 users.