Opera previews mobile browser for Google Android
Opera on Thursday added Google's
Android to the list of platforms that can run its mobile browser.
Opera released a technical preview of its Opera Mini browser for Google's mobile
OS and middleware on its Web
site, the company said Thursday. The company also released a software development
kit for the platform.
Developers can test the browser and share feedback about it that will be considered
before Opera releases a beta version, which it will do once it collects feedback
from the community.
In a company
blog posting, Opera's Developer Relationship Manager Chris Mills explained
why the company decided to create a version of its mobile browser for Android
and the particulars and challenges of writing the code.
According to the post, Opera considered the "cool factor" in providing
a browser for Google's much-ballyhooed mobile platform, but also wanted to give
users and developers the broadest possible choice for deploying its browser.
Because Android is so new and there is not yet hardware available for it, however,
Opera developers ran into some challenges in creating the software, he said.
Mills said that because the platform is comprised of "a very fresh set
of APIs," there is not much information available on the Web about it,
and the community, while helpful, is still in its nascent stage of developing.
"Sometimes it is difficult to find an answer if something during development
is not going very well and you have questions," he wrote.
Not having access to hardware that will run the platform makes it "impossible
to say how fast Opera Mini will run on real devices," Mills added.
Google introduced Android last November; it includes a mobile OS, middleware
and applications for mobile devices. So far HTC, Motorola, Samsung and LG are
among handset providers that have committed to building devices for Android,
and Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and AT&T are among the carriers who will offer
service on Android handsets.
According to Opera, more than 40 million people use Opera Mini. Other mobile
platforms that can run the browser include Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, Palm
OS, BlackBerry OS, Samsung's SHP and Motorola's P2K.
IDG News Service
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