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Bolt vs Opera Mini: Battle of the Browsers
Prasad Naik, Jun 14, 2009 1000 hrs ISTFind out which one is better
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Opera has had a field day with its Java based mobile browser the Opera Mini. With over 20 million users world wide, Opera Mini is now the world's most popular mobile browser. However, there is now a competitor vying for the crown the Mini has held so far. But is it really worth it? I took it for a spin and compared it with the reigning champion to see who emerges as the winner and the one that deserves the space on your phone's memory.
First things first
Bolt is a Java based browser similar to Opera Mini. Since almost all phones these days have Java support you can install Bolt on a wide range of phones without having to worry about compatibility. It is created by Bitstream based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and uses their ThunderHawk technology for browsing and rendering web pages. Just like Opera Mini, the actual page rendering is done at the server side of Bolt and the browser then merely downloads that data, which not only saves time but is also light on the data usage, something that people using limited data plans on their phones would appreciate.
Getting started
To download Bolt, you have to go to Bolt's website and enter your name and email address after which you get the link to download the jad file. This process only exists because Bolt is still in beta phase. You then have to transfer the jad file to your phone and then click on it to initiate the download of the actual application, which then gets installed. The jad file is 74 kb and the main application is a 171 kb download after you click on the jad file. Compared to this, downloading Opera Mini is much easier. Just point your mobile browser to mini.opera.com and the site automatically recognises your phone and then provides you with the right version for your phone. The Opera Mini download is 124 kb in size.
On starting up both of them, I noticed Bolt started faster on my Nokia 5700 XpressMusic than Opera Mini. The home screen layout is slightly similar to Opera Mini. You see the URL field at the top. Below you see tabs for your favorites, history and feeds. Clicking on either of these tabs display their contents below.
The left soft key is for options and the right soft key is for going back. At the top is where you see the page title and the progress bar for when the page loads. Unlike Opera Mini wherein it shows you the progress in kilobytes, Bolt shows you the less informative percentage meter. Going in preferences you see that you can control the page magnification level, the image quality in three steps and the video quality. You can enable HTTPS, split screen mode, mobile layout and landscape mode. You can also clear the cookies from here.
Performance
I tried loading the Techtree home page on both Bolt as well as Opera Mini. At the time of using it I had Airtel EDGE connection activated on my EDGE Class 32 enabled Nokia 5700 phone. While Bolt took 40 seconds to load the site Opera Mini took only 30. This was with all the graphics settings set at high quality on both the browsers. When I set them to low, Opera Mini did it in 15 seconds, however, for some strange reason, Bolt still took 30 seconds. The browsing speed depended but mostly Opera Mini was still slightly faster than Bolt every time.
You can use the 2, 4, 6 and 8 keys to navigate within the web page. When you press 5 the browser goes into split screen mode. In this mode the browser zooms out like in Opera Mini but at the bottom you see a small window where the page is displayed at 100% zoom level and as you move your mouse around in the above screen you can see the zoomed in view of the current position of the pointer.
Other shortcuts include 0 for favorites, 1 for the home page, 3 to enter URL, 7 to search within the page and 9 to go forward one page. * shows history and # shows you your feeds.
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(11) Comments
Prajjwal
,Lucknow, on May 16, 2011 04:00 PM
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OperaFan
,Delhi, on Jul 07, 2009 05:43 PM
Aditya Mundra
,Jodhpur, on Jun 16, 2009 02:04 PM
Prateek
,New Delhi, on Jun 15, 2009 08:42 AM
T.Raguveeradaya
,Thiruppullani, on Jun 14, 2009 11:56 AM
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