Application : o3, aka Ozone
Version reviewed : 0.01 alpha

Ozone – a new web browser for S60.
Ozone was already available for UIQ as an Alpha release and they today released an alpha version for S60.
The following is a quick preview of this new browser in the current battle of mobile browsers and I’ll post more as I get time.

Upon installation it gave a ‘Application Incompatible with the device’ prompt for me. But continuing with the installation has so far not given any errors for me.

Upon launching you’ll be greeted with the homescreen.

The most important part for any application, specially for someone like me who runs on a phone with a non-functioning charger port , battery usage.

Look at the following report screenshot taken from Nokia Energy Profiler – the first little hike is upon launch and look at the big hike next, which is when the application started using already active data connection, and that also on EDGE . Not acceptable at all, but still ok for an early alpha.

The first thing to be noticed is the rendering. It does not slack while loading or loads part by part of a page like Skyfire does but instead loads the page in a very clear and almost desktop-like manner, which is honestly leaps ahead of browsers such as Opera Mini or UCWEB.

Look at the following few screenshots.

Video playing capability however is
currently not available onboard and instead it passes it directly onto RealPlayer, at least this was the case with YouTube . But this transfer process is really very fast and is still good enough for an alpha.

The browser also supports opening of new windows.

Settings screen and controls are not so user friendly, but still gets the job done.

Now, the most important part. The Acid3 test. The Acid Test is a popular test for web browser and it measures the rendering and other various functions of web browsers.

Ozone scored a staggering 93/100 at this test, which is probably the highest I’ve ever seen on a mobile browser.

Zooming functions

Conclusion:
Ozone is really superb in rendering and page viewing capabilities and is definitely in a good level for an alpha version.
But it really needs to sort out the energy consumption problem and it also needs a good intuitivite interface and probably some shortcuts similar to Opera Mini.
All in all, the developers have done a really great job in bringing desktop viewing to mobiles and it really is worth giving a try !

See for yourself at the official site .

Liked this post ? Subscribe and stay updated .
1. RSS Feed
2. Twitter Feed

Similar Posts:

• First Peek at Firefox Mobile
• Opera Mobile 9.5 Preview for S60 (aka Opera Widgets Manager)
• Bolt Browser does OK
• The Hotmail Nightmare
• Firefox Mobile – Screenshots Review