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Jan. 13, 2006

Opera Software is shipping a version of its web browser aimed at TVs, set-top boxes, phones, and other consumer devices. Opera 8.5 for devices aims to provide an execution environment for web applications and user interfaces, in addition to the "full" Internet experience Opera has long claimed to offer on embedded devices.

Execution environment

According to Opera, device applications and user interfaces based on web standards can be developed faster and maintained more easily than native applications. Opera claims Opera 8.5's Javascript rendering engine to be the fastest in any browser, and that "native Javascript extensions" enable device developers to create new Javascript objects and methods -- allowing Javascript applications to control device functions such as changing TV channels, adjusting volume, making phone calls, or playing songs. Opera 8.5 also supports complex AJAX (asynchronous Javascript/XML) applications, the company says.

Opera 8.5 can even serve as a self-contained applications framework on simple devices with no native applications at all, Opera says, thanks to an available graphics framework called GOGI (generic Opera graphical interface). GOGI comprises a collection of APIs that hook the browser into a variety of close-to-the-metal environments, including the Linux framebuffer.

"Full" Internet

Alongside its potential to serve as an application and UI framework, based on support for Javascript, HTML, CSS, DOM, SVG, and other W3C standards, Opera 8.5 is unique among device browsers in supporting "street html," Opera claims. The term refers to non-standard Web pages that exist in real life, including HTML that is not well formed, and HTML that exploits vendor-specific HTML extensions and other browser bugs.

Additional touted features include:

Extensible rendering architecture (ERA) said to "reformat Internet pages to suit any screen size"
TV display support, through anti-flicker technology and optimized fonts
Support for the human interface devices typically found on embedded devices
- Touchscreens
- Navigation buttons
- Voice input through IBM's ViaVoice technology
Integration with leading digital and IPTV middleware solutions
Supports Unicode, proprietary character encodings, bi-directional scripts, and other Internationalization features typically offered by STB interface vendors such as Espial
- Input Method Editors (IME) and iType font engine facilitate global deployments
Architecture builds for MIPS, ARM, Intel XScale, SH4, x86, PowerPC, and Equator
- Pre-ported to popular silicon, such as the forthcoming Sigma SMP8630
- Portable to new architectures
Linux is the primary operating system platform
- Opera Core is portable, and can support other OSes as needed
Extensive, well-documented APIs allow customization of main browser features
SDK implements the Netscape Plug-in API, for quick porting of standard plugins such as Adobe's Flash Player, or the addition of custom plug-ins
SDK includes UI source for custom configuration or hacking
- Well-documented skinning files
- Coding examples on a variety of GUI toolkits

Product Manager Michael Link stated, "We see increasing demand for a full Internet browser on devices, and we are meeting that demand with not only a superior surfing experience, but also by providing a solution for quickly implementing advanced Web applications on anything from in-flight entertainment systems in airplanes to next generation networked media players."

Scott Hedrick, Opera's Executive Vice President of Devices, said, "The promise of Internet devices has been around since the mid-90s. Now, the processing power and screen are there. Devices are a new focus for Opera, and an area we are pushing forward into with a lot of great customers [we hope to] announce later this year."

Recently announced or shipping products that use the Opera browser include the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, the Motorola Rokr E2 music-oriented mobile phone, and the Industria Zignal IPTV set-top box.

Opera competitor Access has also targeted the latest version of its browser development kit, NetFront SDK 3.3, at a broad range of embedded devices. Additionally, Espial aims its Escape embedded browser squarely at the set-top box market.

Availability

Opera 8.5 for devices is available now, at prices dependent on business opportunity, volume, and the amount of work involved, according to Hedrick.

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