Mobile Safari is a beautiful experience to use, however in times of poor reception impatient people may found it annoyingly slow. This goes for usage on iPhone 3G but I suspect this may be the case for newer versions as well. There is another web browser which Apple amazingly approved and that is for free, a Norwegian dream called Opera mini.

If 3G connection is dead and you only have GPRS, you want to use Google reader or other simple and/or text based pages, I warmly recommend Opera mini. If, on the other hand you require a smooth experience and more sofisticated features, Safari may be a more pleasant experience. When it comes to zooming for example, it’s faster with Opera mini as you only need one click to zoom. The downside is that you won’t get the smooth effect and control that comes with the “pinch zoom” that goes with Safari.

Let’s not forget the most important feature in a browser; speed. Some tests show that Safari is faster on some occasions, but that Opera mini gains on page load time, which I personally think is the most important assuming that it is a simple page primarily text-based.  All in all, it is free after all, so I think Opera mini is worth a shot, don’t you?

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