Will they ever release Opera Browser in the US?

jbullfrog · January 16, 2007, 08:02:50 PM

My hopes are beginning to die about having an Opera Browser in the US.

Any word?

I really doubt that any homebrew browser will be released. There are only ideas and speculations, no real dedicated team. Perhaps if there were some monetary incentive?

DeVS · January 16, 2007, 08:08:42 PM

Get the European one, it is in English.

PharaohsVizier · January 16, 2007, 08:11:38 PM

I imagine that the problem isn't that it is or is not in English. I think if they release one in America with servers in America, the speed will be a little bit better?

DeVS · January 16, 2007, 08:14:44 PM

Doubtful. Look at the PSP browser, it's not much faster (if it is at all).

dantheman · January 16, 2007, 08:18:03 PM

I got tired of waiting myself, so I went and bought it while in London for a band trip. Freaking expensive due to the exchange rate (30 pounds is about 60 dollars) but importing would cost about the same, so it doesn't make too much difference really.

mudlouse1 · January 16, 2007, 08:33:30 PM

you could have claimed back the tax if you weren't planning to use it in this country

dantheman · January 16, 2007, 09:05:53 PM

I didn't know about it at the time, and I really don't even understand it now. Is it something I should have asked for when I bought it? Or was it something with the airport? We didn't have time at the airport, but I could have probably asked for a form at the counter if that's all I had to do. Oh well.

Rayder · January 17, 2007, 07:19:33 AM

The lack of an American release of the Opera browser for DS has caused me to get a Supercard (received the card yesterday, still waiting on the SD card for it, which should arrive today (2gig Transcend 80X miniSD)....and I still need the SCDS(one) solution for the actual ability, buying soon....).

...make me wait for a highly anticipated app and I'll find my own way to get it.

I read somewhere that the browser is "ready to go" for America, but Nintendo of America is dragging their feet about releasing it, as it is Nintendo that makes the final decision on releases for their systems.

I'm still waiting for someone "official" to tell us WHY we are being made to wait for such a useful program for our DS's. Meanwhile, I'm working towards having the browser on my DS whether Ninty wants to provide it for us or not. :evil:

mudlouse1 · January 17, 2007, 10:40:02 AM

Quote from: "dantheman"I didn't know about it at the time, and I really don't even understand it now. Is it something I should have asked for when I bought it? Or was it something with the airport? We didn't have time at the airport, but I could have probably asked for a form at the counter if that's all I had to do. Oh well.

i'm no tax expert but in larger stores and especially in london (where it's touristy), you can request a form which lets you reclaim tax. you hand this in at the airport and they'll pay it into your account some weeks later.

in very large stores (harrods for instance) will have an office you can go into where someone will help sort it out for you.

dantheman · January 17, 2007, 11:11:40 AM

I don't have a source for this info unfortunately, so I don't know whether this is fact or guesswork. Take it for what you will.

The reason they don't have a release date for it is because they want to include the ability to filter out adult content, so us overprotective Americans won't be afraid to buy our little innocent darlings the DS web browser. However, in order to do that, they need to enlist the help of a company that has enough bandwidth to act as a proxy for millions of DS systems at any given time. As they have not found such a provider yet, they have not set a release date.

As if we need even more lag in the browser...

teknicz · January 17, 2007, 06:16:00 PM

Quote from: "mudlouse1"
Quote from: "dantheman"I didn't know about it at the time, and I really don't even understand it now. Is it something I should have asked for when I bought it? Or was it something with the airport? We didn't have time at the airport, but I could have probably asked for a form at the counter if that's all I had to do. Oh well.
i'm no tax expert but in larger stores and especially in london (where it's touristy), you can request a form which lets you reclaim tax. you hand this in at the airport and they'll pay it into your account some weeks later.

in very large stores (harrods for instance) will have an office you can go into where someone will help sort it out for you.

Yes, that's correct, you can apply for a VAT free price if you are taking it out of the country. Request it at the time of purchase.

However, this doesn't help with the conversion rate, just the tax.

dantheman · January 17, 2007, 09:59:26 PM

Well, since the tax is close to 20% (perhaps a bit less, I'm going off memory here), I could have gotten it for about 25 pounds instead of 30, reducing the rate by $10. Ah well, can't do anything about it now, and it's not that big of a deal. Thanks for the info regardless.

PharaohsVizier · January 17, 2007, 10:18:16 PM

is the real browser faster or the patched version?

Perseid · January 18, 2007, 12:13:36 AM

Quote from: "PharaohsVizier"I imagine that the problem isn't that it is or is not in English. I think if they release one in America with servers in America, the speed will be a little bit better?

Unless Opera uses some bizarre proxy server(and I don't see why it would) there would be no speed difference between a US or EU version of the browser.

zektor · January 18, 2007, 12:53:17 AM

Well, if the Opera browser's ram pack is of faster memory than the SC, it may be quicker in loading cached pages than using the Supercard.