Helio has begun to offer the Opera Mini web browser to users as a free download on Helio devices. This is yet another chapter in Helio’s ongoing Walled Garden fiasco.
Opera Mini gives the user a full web browsing experience on their device. One of the main benefits of the browser is the fact that it compresses the data before it sends it to the phone. The web pages are pre-processed by a remote server before being sent to the device. This enables the compression of the web pages allowing for faster data transfers.
Previously, Helio stated that their devices did not run Java, but rather special variants of C++ and Java-rooted platforms that were not directly compatible with Java. However, hackers in recent months have tunnled through Helio’s device protection and executed several J2ME Java applications, without modifying any code in the program themselves. This has been done by feeding the phone a special “wrapper file”, known as a JAD, which tricks the Helio phone into thinking the program is an approved application.
No official announcement has been made by Helio, but others have noted an imminent announcement. You can access Opera Mini from Helio by following these steps.
1. From the idle screen, type the jumpcode “67372†(OPERA).
2. Hit the flamekey
