Monday, February 4, 2013

Opera Announces ‘Ice’ Browser for iOS


Opera Software is working on a new browser for iOS. Called "Ice," the browser is designed to be used on phones and tablets. Instead of using its standard engine, Presto, Ice will be powered by WebKit, which is is what both Safari and Chrome use.



Ice was first introduced back in December, but the video below demonstrating how it works surfaced just yesterday, from Pocket-lint. The video is from an internal meeting held before Christmas, and outlines the company's strategy for 2013.









The new version of Opera, which is demonstrated as a beta version, is designed to be sleek and simple to use. It eliminates all buttons and uses gestures to control navigation elements like forwards and backwards.



Tabs have been removed, instead replaced with icons on the homepage, but new pages can still be accessed using search or typing in a URL. The home page icon idea is unique, as Safari and Chrome both use tabs.



"This is a full touch and tablet-focused browser," said the Ice product manager in the video. "Most are taking a PC browser and squishing it into a tablet, or they are taking a mobile browser and blowing it up to fill the space."



The browser will also alert people if they come in contact with a potentially harmful site, with a warning screen.



Ice will not replace Opera Mini, which is Opera's existing mobile browser for iOS. It will continue to be developed. Ice is set to launch this February, at the upcoming Mobile World Congress.



[via Electronista]



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