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Sivertsen figures that there are 700 million phones being used today that are capable of downloading Opera Mini. Users must have a cell phone capable of downloading a Java application. Most mobile data users pay based on how much data they download. Using Opera Mini should reduce fees that customers pay their cell phone operators because the system compresses the size of Web sites by 70% to 80% before sending them to the handset, Sivertsen said. Opera is hosting the back-end servers and cell phone customers can download and use the application free of charge, except for the fees related to using the mobile networks. "The idea is that you shouldn't have to buy an expensive smart phone to browse the full Web," said Eskil Sivertsen, a spokesman for Opera. The small client communicates with servers operated by Opera that strip down the size of Web pages, making them quicker to transfer to the cell phone and rendering them to fit on the small screen of the phone. Opera Mini is designed to improve on the limited Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) surfing available on many phones, allowing users of Java-capable cell phone to surf the Web.Ĭell phone users download the Opera Mini Java application, under 100K bytes in size, to their phones. Typically, full Web browsing is reserved for users of smartphones or handsets with powerful processing capabilities. The official worldwide launch of Opera Mini is planned for January but Opera has quietly lifted restrictions that previously allowed only residents of some Nordic countries and Germany to download the application, a spokesman has confirmed.
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Users of Java-capable cell phones anywhere may find browsing the Web easier and cheaper now that Opera Software is allowing anyone to download its Opera Mini application.
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