Why My Hatred for Opera Mini for iPhone is Not So Mini

When I heard Opera announce that they were submitting their app to the App Store, I was curious to see how this would turn out. Apple is notorious for rejecting apps that duplicate functionality of the iPhone. Google Voice got the boot, tethering apps got the boot, even Wi-Fi hotspot finders got the boot.

Opera was smart. They waited until the App Store debate was starting to turn popular opinion against Apple. Then, they announced very publicly that they were submitting the app. Clearly everyone would know right away if Apple rejected it. Opera has never been shy about standing up for their browser. Despite all this, I’m still surprised Apple let it through. Steve Jobs doesn’t have a history of caring about the opinions of critics. When Steve wants something, he usually gets it.

Well, all the hype aside, let’s get down to the business at hand. Tuesday afternoon I downloaded the app, eager to try it out. I’ve had a mixed relationship with Opera in the past. They were the first browser I ever tried that used mouse gestures. I used to love being able to sit back in my chair with just the mouse, and flip back and forth through sites. The problem was, a lot of the sites that I was flipping through didn’t render properly. Opera suffered from the same problems Firefox and Chrome had in their infancy, not all the sites were coded to work properly in those browsers. Opera seems to be on the frontline with new browser features (mouse gestures, standards compliance, media sharing), but in my opinion they’ve never had the complete package. There’s always been something just annoying enough to stop me from using it full time.

Once again, they’ve done some really great things, but driven me nuts along the way.

Before I even started to test out the speed, I wanted to have my bookmarks transferred over. If I was going to use this browser for longer than the afternoon, I’d like to have my favourites with me. What a disaster! There’s no way to import from Safari, which I get. I’m sure Apple would have squashed the app if it tried to tie into Safari. Ok, fine, I went to Opera’s site for options. Apparently if I install the desktop browser, Opera Link will let me sync my bookmarks with the mobile app. I proceeded to download and install the desktop app. I had to sign up for a My Opera account, and configure the desktop client. I exported my bookmarks from Chrome, and imported them into Opera. Once I was setup with Opera Link, I synced up my bookmarks with the cloud. Great! Now I can see them on the iPhone app.

Not so fast!

Nothing, not a single thing came across. After a quick browse through the forums, I found out that plenty of other people were having the same problem. Apparently bookmark sync isn’t working yet. There is a direct link I can go to, to see my bookmarks. A static page? Why would I want to use that?

The Final Straw

Since the bookmarks issue wasn’t going to resolve itself, I thought I’d just surf around and test the speed. The default home page is Opera’s Speed Dial, a home page with icons of your favourite shortcuts. Facebook was one of the sites, so I thought I’d see how quickly Facebook loaded. I tried to login 3 times before I was told that I was temporarily locked out of my account. It seems that since Opera sends the info back to its own servers, it looked like I was suddenly logging in from the US on a new browser. Facebook apparently thought this was suspicious, and promptly blocked access to my account.

Did it just block me out from Opera? Oh no, that would be far too simple. All of the 3rd party apps that I had authorized to work with Facebook were blocked. I had to go to facebook.com from my laptop. They first asked me to confirm that the activity from the Opera Mini browser was me. After I did that, I had to go into each and every 3rd party app (Hootsuite, TweetDeck, etc.) and re-authorize them with Facebook. What a pain!

A Ray of Hope

At this point I was too frustrated to do much more with the app. I’d just spent a good 20-30 minutes setting up a mobile browser, and then another 30 going through and fixing Facebook. In the interest of not sounding like a bitter anti-Opera nut, I’ll offer a few positives. I browsed through a few other sites after my ordeal.

The browser is, without a doubt, really fast.

Pages loaded much faster than in Safari, and I didn’t have any problem with the content once it was loaded.

I really like the way they handle multiple tabs. 

You can flip through, close off, and open up new tabs very easily. I like their method more than the way Safari handles them. Finally, the Speed Dial feature is really nice (you can see it in the picture at the beginning of this post). If I was able to get my bookmarks in, or spent the time to import them all manually, having a handy homepage like this one adds even more speed to Opera’s already quick browsing.

Reality Sets In

This is a 1.0, and should be treated as such. I’m impressed they got the app through. I’m impressed by the speed, the Speed Dial, and the way they handle tabs. I can only hope that future releases address some of these issues. Bookmarks are just too big of a deal for me to ignore. I have no idea what happened with Facebook, and whether or not it would happen again if I went back there in Opera Mini. I didn’t have the time to risk it happening again. I will certainly keep an eye out for updates. If I hear that they have fixed a few things, I may give it another shot. Until that day, I’ll stick with my slower, more reliable Safari, with all my XMarks synced bookmarks at my disposal.

Have you tried out Opera Mini for the iPhone? Let me know what you think, and if you’ve had similar problems.

(Audio)Book Pick of the Week

For the first in hopefully a long line of weekly book pics, I've decided to back to one of my all time favorites. Michael E. Gerber's "The E-Myth Revisited" is one of those books that should be a requirement before you start your own business.

A good friend of mine gave me a copy of this book over 5 years ago. Since then, I've read the paperback, and listened to the audiobook several times. There is a timeless quality to the way Michael describes the lessons here, which makes this just as relevant now as it was when I first read it.

The book describes the entrepreneurial myth that everyone working for someone else believes very strongly in. It's the belief that being good at your job automatically means you'd be even better at running your own business.  The style of storytelling used here really makes a potentially dry subject come to life, which in turns really makes the lessons stick.

Before you start your own business, you owe it to yourself to read this book. If you're already an entrepreneur, it's never too late to learn some valuable lessons. Follow the links below to pick up your copy of either the audiobook or the dead tree version.

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Business Don't Work and What to Do About It - Audiobook


The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It - Paperback

Office Gadget of the Week

On a weekly basis, I’ll try to feature one gadget that will help you out in your business.
This week, I’m featuring something on my wishlist. For years we’ve been hearing about the “Paperless Office”. Unfortunately, it’s been my experience that computers just found new ways to give us more paper to deal with. One of my big goals this year is to completely digitize my workflow. I work from home, and tend to do this work all over the place. Having all my work scanned and neatly organized in folders on my laptop would save me a huge amount of time and frustration. Unfortunately, my current equipment just takes too long to scan each page, one by one, and then manually organize.
My pick this week is the NeatDesk from The Neat Company. 
This is basically your scanner on steroids, without the bad side effects. On top, there’s an automatic feeder that accepts 3 types of documents (up to 50 pages); regular paper, receipts, and business cards. It even scans both sides in a single pass. That alone makes it better than my current all-in-one. After it’s done scanning, the software takes over. All of your documents can be converted to searchable PDF files, and then organized in a digital filing system. Make sure to check out the link to find out all the juicy details.
At $399US, it’s not cheap by any means. However, consider the alternative. With my $200 all-in-one, I have to manually add each page, press Scan, wait, flip the page over, press Scan again. After repeating this step 50 times, I’ve lost a big chunk of my day, and my sanity. With the NeatDesk, I toss 50 pages in the feeder, press a button, and walk away or get back to other work.
If you’re a fan of GTD, I suggest at least placing this on your Someday/Maybe list.
NeatDesk