Opera upgrades mobile browser for Symbian

JavaScript performance is improved ninefold, and the new version also includes geolocation

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Looking to speed up browsing on the Symbian platform, Opera Software released on Wednesday Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian/Series 60 phones, offering faster JavaScript performance, the company said.

Version 10.1 for Symbian offers just-in-time compilation to the Carakan JavaScript engine, which also drives the Opera desktop browser. The upgraded mobile browser performs nine times faster than Opera Mobile 10.0 on the SunSpider JavaScript test, Opera said. Also featured is geolocation, enabling Web services like maps and travel applications to recognize a location to provide a user with customized content. Users can choose whether or not Opera Mobile shares their position.

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"Opera Mobile 10.1 today brings the best mobile browsing experience to the world's most popular smartphone platform," said Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera, in a statement released by the company.

The browser features such capabilities as speed dial, tabbed browsing and a password manager to reduce the typing required to navigate Web sites. Opera Turbo compression, meanwhile, helps overcome slow network speeds that impact browsing.

Offered as a free download, Opera  Mobile 10.1 is available for Symbian^3 and Symbian S60, third and fifth editions.

Opera also released on Wednesday results of a survey of Opera Mini users found that most 18- to 27-year-old users of the browser browse the Web more often with their mobile phones than with desktop or laptop computers. In Nigeria, South Africa, and Indonesia, more than 90 percent of the so-called "Generation Y" users in this age bracket used their handsets for browsing the Internet more than they use laptops or desktops for this purpose. Findings are featured in Opera's State of the Mobile Web report.

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