Samsung F700 – sparking a new range

“Even before the New Year hits the streets, a number of European countries will see the Samsung F700 on shelves. This model is remarkable for having a lot of obscure facts and reports piled up around it since its original announcement in Barcelona. Initially the F700 was said to run Windows CE with Samsung’s user interface built atop, and the maker supposedly dumped all abilities of that operating system. However the F700 turns out to be somewhat different – the device is powered by Samsung’s proprietary OS, coming preinstalled with all latest and greatest phones from the company, so technically, all they have done is add support for touch-screens. I would like to put a particular emphasis on the fact that neither this handset nor those to come are smartphones. They are all positioned as fashion-savvy solution for easy-and-breezy Web-surfing, chiefly thanks to decent and huge displays. In other words, they will be sharing one niche with the Apple iPhone. In fact these two are simply bound to get faced off over and over again, and Apple’s offspring will be coming out victorious every time and these is a slew of reasons for that. But the main thing is that the Samsung F700 and those offerings that will follow shape up a whole new device line-up, allowing consumers to make a free choice. For that matter, they will be available in regions where the Apple iPhone is slotted for the next year at best. There is much room for further development of these solutions, and I suppose Samsung will prioritize this line in 2007-2009.” Read more here:

Opera Mini 4 final release now available

“Opera, the only company that puts the Web on any device, today released Opera Mini 4, the newest version of Opera’s worldwide mobile browsing sensation. Opera Mini 4 inspires the senses with its stunning desktop overview mode, so users see the page exactly as it appears on their computers. People can then use the intuitive Opera Zoom to fly into the page and access the content you want. Or they can select Opera’s Small Screen Rendering to eliminate horizontal scrolling.Opera Mini 4 is a free download, over the air, to your phone from http://www.operamini.com/Opera Mini brings the full Web, your favorite Web sites and services, to almost every mobile phone. Opera Mini also automatically reduces the size of the transferred pages, so Web sites load faster while reducing the cost of surfing.Opera Mini 4 supports Opera Link. Opera Link is a new platform for synchronizing your online life across any device that runs an Opera browser – or any browser that can access Opera’s social network, http://my.opera.com/. Opera Link instantly and effortlessly synchronizes bookmarks and Opera Speed Dial so that your information goes wherever users go.“Two years ago, we introduced Opera Mini to the world because we wanted to bring the Web to users everywhere. Today, Opera Mini is the world’s most popular mobile browser,” says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera. “As a result, the mobile Web is now a mass phenomenon. Opera Mini 4 raises the bar for user-friendly access to the Web on any mobile phone, anywhere in the world.”“We’ve had a lot of help from the community to get us ready to release Opera Mini 4 to the world,” says Oleg Tukh, product manager for Opera Mini. “Now that it’s ready and free to download, anyone can discover the beauty of Opera Mini and enjoy the best Web experience available on almost any regular mobile phone. We’re excited to share this with everyone.”Worldwide growthOpera Mini is the world’s most popular mobile Web browser, with 26 million cumulative users viewing more than one billion Web pages per month. Opera Mini has seen user growth skyrocket in the past 12 months as more of the world’s population browses the Web with mobile devices.Opera Mini offers a superior browsing experience to other mobile browsers. In some locations where wired infrastructure is limited or Web access by computer is restricted or expensive, Opera Mini is the only application to bring the Web to millions everyday.Fans speak out“I love Opera Mini. It truly gives me seamless access to the Internet on the go, hassle free,” says Kaushik Mohan, an Opera Mini user in Bangalore, India. “Security, reliability, innovation and cost effectiveness – Opera Mini gives me all I need. It’s addictive and it’s brilliant”“The Internet exactly as you know it – right in the very palm of your hand,” says Melissa Brophy, an Opera Mini user from Johannesburg, South Africa. “What you see on a computer screen is what you get on your mobile. How much cooler can it get?”I like the new Opera Mini 4 for its Opera Link support,” says Ryan Octavianus, who uses Opera Mini in Bandung, Indonesia. “I think Opera has done it. I can bring my bookmarks and Speed Dial everywhere, especially using Opera Mini on my phone. This is very cool because sometimes I bookmark pages with long URLs and I’m lazy to input it manually or search for it using Opera Mini. Having synchronised bookmarks and Speed Dial makes my life easier.”“I can read blogs and leave comments, check my e-mail and RSS, download files and many many other things far and wide at any time,” says Oleg Tarasov, an Opera Mini user in Tambov, Russia. “Opera Mini is one groundbreaking technology that ensures the real Internet is accessed by practically everyone with any mobile phone. The Opera Mini start page is also very useful – it’s like a mini portal, showing your search field, recently visited pages, bookmarks etc. Opera Mini 4 also reduces the cost of data traffic up to 10 times! That’s why I love myOpera Mini browser.”Opera Mini for Carriers and ManufacturersFor carriers operating in an intense competitive environment, Opera Mini remains one of the few technologies proven to improve average revenue per user (ARPU), lower data delivery costs, and increase customer retention and brand loyalty. Manufacturers select Opera Mini to drive feature-rich handsets that are more attractive and interesting to carriers and end users alike. The full range of Opera’s trusted solutions continue to be the choice to enable faster time to market and reduce costs without compromising the user experience.AvailabilityOpera Mini is available completely free. Just point your phone’s current Web browser to http://www.operamini.com/ and we’ll take care of the rest. If you have an earlier version of Opera Mini, upgrading is simple. Click the announcement banner on the start screen and begin to enjoy the new and improved Opera Mini 4.