Ocasta

Opera have produced an amazing application (Opera Mini 4 beta) that delivers a browsing experience similar to browsing with the Nokia Webkit based browser. Full page rendering with a thumbnail overview. A technological marvel.

But is this really the best way to help phone users navigate around pages larger than the screen? On my Nokia E61 the thumbnail looks relatively clear. On a Motorola L7 I can just about identify the screen areas (Left menu, middle content etc), but if I visit an unfamiliar Website the thumbnail doesn't help me find the information I'm looking for at all. As for vertically and horizontally scrolling the L7's tiny viewpoint around a large web page on the L7; the horror, the horror.

So what happens when I turn it off. I'm left with a smartly rendered page with no assistance to help me navigate around. Is this better than using the built in browser and a content adaptation service such as the one launched by Vodafone recently? As I say its rendered very well, it scrolls faster than built in browser (at least on a phone like the L7) and it probably uses less data traffic; but I don't think this is enough to crack the mass market. I'm sure the mobile geek community will rave over it, but I think that the big breakthrough in presenting normal Web pages on restricted phones is still to come. Maybe Opera Mini v5.