Opera’s been making a lot of noise recently about their new browser application for the iPhone. In what’s probably the worst idea, they’ve created a video showing 2 iPhone 3GS’s side-by-side. One running Opera Mini 5 browser and the other running Mobile Safari that comes with the iPhone.
In the demonstration, the New York Times website is loaded using the same 2G network. The Opera browser is significantly faster, achieved by Opera’s special sauce compression technology. Wether the results are as significant on 3G remains to be seen, but one things for sure they haven’t done their chance of getting approved to the App Store any favours.
It’s one thing to say it’s fast, another entirely to show how crappy Apple’s own browser is in comparison. Also speed isn’t the only thing Opera Mini’s got going for it, the way it handles multiple browser windows also looks polished.
Opera don’t hold your breath.
