Microsoft Throws In The Towel. Adopts Opera Mini As Default Browser For Nokia's Feature Phones

[Guest]

Wanting to cut costs and make the company leaner, Microsoft decided to outsource Opera Mini for Nokia's feature phones instead of maintaining its own browser.

Microsoft Throws In The Towel. Adopts Opera Mini As Default Browser For Nokia's Feature Phones : Read more

 

[therogerwilco]

Microsoft didn't throw in the towel, they inherited some crap Nokia made.
They could definitely choose a better option than Opera though..

 

[de5_Roy]

LOL. opera mini has been a mainstay in feature phones for a long time.

 

[neblogai]

S40 aren't feature phones- symbian is not very user friendly, but definitely a smartphone OS. Could do 90% of what android or other current OS's do now- years before those where even invented.

 

[dextermat]

**faceplam* and hahahas

 

[alextheblue]

Microsoft didn't throw in the towel, they inherited some crap Nokia made.
They could definitely choose a better option than Opera though..

Such as? What's better than Opera Mini for non-smartphone devices that have very very low specs? Hint: Nothing.

 

[falchard]

Wow someone is really smart at Microsoft. First they decide Internet Explorer probably is not the best browser. Second they decide that Opera is the best browser. That really deserve an award.

 

[Shin-san]

I thought this was for smartphones. It would probably cost way more to port over IE to that kind of UI than to just use something like Opera, especially for a phone that's not going to be sold for much

 

[rdc85]

The data compression by opera mini helps a lot, because of it most web displayed correctly/full instead of choppy web using built in/other browser (in area where data connection worse).

This may not a problem in country with better internet access, but it helps in the one who don't...

but that was in past now the connection is better, I was kinda hoping opera could step up the game..

 

[razor512]

In terms of functionality, no one has been able to compete with opera in the feature phone area. While opera mini has 0 privacy as the reason why it runs so well is because it is using opera servers to offload a bunch of the processing load, and formats pages really well to fit those really tiny screens.

Microsoft probably tried and failed to come up with anything better. (the reason why some of the better feature phones only need to be charged 1-2 times per week is because they are designed for low power. Call quality is the main focus, with other random features being extras based on what the SOC supports.

 

[damianrobertjones]

"Microsoft Throws In The Towel. "

Flame bait. Terrible writing and shame on you!

 

[BlasterX]

I like what Opera is doing with browsers. The mobile ones save a lots of data, and the Desktop one is the most secure, very aesthetically great looking and the speed dial is 1000 times more useful than IE, Firefox and Chrome's "new tab" menu. And it's very customizable!

 

[ubercake]

How is this throwing in the towel? Don't they own this company [Nokia] now?

 

[alextheblue]

Wow someone is really smart at Microsoft. First they decide Internet Explorer probably is not the best browser. Second they decide that Opera is the best browser. That really deserve an award.

IE11 is fine. This is for Nokia feature phones that rely on tiny cut down browsers. Nokia had an in-house browser, but MS realized that it's a lot cheaper to use Opera mini (which is good for what it is) rather than continue to maintain the in-house Nokia browser.

 

[ickibar1234]

Can Opera Mini 'request desktop version of site'? I hope so