14 DAY TRIAL // Bitstream Inc. announced on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the launch of a new version of their popular mobile browser, the BOLT 1.7. The new iteration is delivered to users one year after the launch of the first flavor of the application, and comes with enhanced functionality and usability through the addition of new features such as direct Twitter integration, Spanish and Russian language support, the ability to run widgets or a better download manager.
The BOLT mobile browser marked its first anniversary on Monday, and the company announced that the solution had already passed over the 4 million users mark, and that it had delivered more than 512 million pages to them or around 3 million pages per day. At the same time, the company also notes that the browser streamed over 135 million minutes of video, and downloaded more than 132 terabytes of data.
The release notes of BOLT 1.7 include: - Support for Widgets (web applications) that can be installed directly from BOLT - Direct integration of Twitter Posting - Advanced Download Manager – allowing for multiple simultaneous file downloads with pause - resume option - Automatic socket support for most users (resulting in a 15% speed increase) - Spanish and Russian language support - Support for YouTube videos embedded in 3rd party sites - Support for ESPN and CNN videos - New shortcut keys that enable users to zoom in or out directly from the keypad, as well as navigating to the top or bottom of a page in full screen view - BlackBerry-specific shortcut keys for scrolling to the top, bottom, left, and right of a page - Common shortcut keys for both BlackBerry and non-BlackBerry devices with QWERTY keypad - More sensitive button support on web forms - Search widget to allow editing and searching of selected text on web page
Given the fact that mobile phone owners in more that 100 countries are already using BOLT on their devices, the company has expanded the language support for BOLT, so that a larger number of people can enjoy the application in their own language. The new 1.7 version of BOLT comes with options for English, Spanish and Russian languages. However, a wide range of other novelties has been included in the solution too, when compared to the previously available flavors, the company states.
The Widgets feature in the new BOLT version is now in beta, but offers users the possibility to install small self-contained Web applications that will run directly from the mobile browser. “Because these widgets are installed directly within BOLT they load and execute faster than website-based applications, giving users a wider variety of utility for their mobile phones. BOLT users can discover, select and install specific Web apps through a BOLT Widget Gallery,” the company concludes.