Chris: Geek Guy

I’m a diehard fan of Firefox, but I’m still interested in trying out the alternatives. Opera, once a commercial product, has been free since version 8.5, and the beta version of Opera 9 is now available for download. It promises the fastest, most secure browsing experience ever, and includes several new features including widgets (small Web applications, similar to Konfabulator, Windows Vista Sidebar and the Mac OS X Dock), a built-in BitTorrent client, customisable ad blocking and more. Compatibility-wise, I’ve had no problems viewing any of my usual sites, and it does seem fairly speedy. So far, my only complaint is that the interface isn’t as light as that of Firefox, but switching the skin to Windows Native has made things a little easier on the eyes.

You can download the beta from the Opera website.

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Opera Software have announced the worldwide release of Opera Mini, the full Web browser that runs on almost every mobile phone, including low- and mid-end handsets.

I’ve tried it, and I’m very impressed – it’s an improvement over the default browsers included on my Nokia 6100 and Sony Ericsson K750i – and it’s available as a free download. Go to opera-mini.com to find out more.

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Version 8 of the popular Opera web browser has been released, and now sports support for voice commands, although you’ll need to download an extra 10MB package the first time you use it.

I make no bones about the fact that I am a Firefox fanboy, but thought I’d try out Opera anyway, as it’s free to use if you can put up with the ads. The voice feature isn’t bad, although it took a few attempts to get it to recognise me – possibly as I’m British. It’s nothing more than a gimmick to me though, and as I found it easier to navigate conventionally using my mouse, it won’t convince me to switch browsers.

If you think you have a need for a voice-controlled web browser or would simply like to see it in action, give it a try. And if you switch to Opera as a result, I don’t mind. Honest. At least it’s not IE…

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