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BlackBerry does email better than any other platform. It’s why many people buy the device and then stick with it. They’re not the only ones using a push email platform, but they do it the best. Unfortunately, this superiority does not extend to other areas of RIM’s software. The company is constantly criticized for having software inferior to its competitors, and there is no application that draws more ire than the default BlackBerry browser. There are a few decent alternative, though, that should work for users while we wait for RIM’s WebKit browser.

Opera Mini

For years, BlackBerry users have turned to Opera’s mobile browser to do what the native browser cannot. Launched worldwide in 2006, Opera started as a basic web page browser, but quickly expanded to include more features. Shortly after release it added the ability to download files, and later that year it added RSS feeds and secure browsing. More and more features followed, leaving Opera Mini as one of the most comprehensive browsers on the market. The latest build, version 5.0 (beta), came out this past September.

The difference for Opera Mini is the speed. Instead of delivering full-featured web pages straight to users, Opera sends requests through its own servers, which compress the page and deliver it quickly to the end user. Though there is an extra step involved, it does speed up the browsing experience. For some sites this creates a desktop-like experience, and for others it creates a more mobile-friendly interface.

Bolt

With few third-party browser options on the BlackBerry market, Bolt set itself up for success with its first beta launch in January of this year. The consortium of BlackBerry blogs was all over the browser, critiquing it and noting how, if improved in the right ways, it could be a viable alternative to the native browser. Bitstream, the developers of Bolt, responded quickly, releasing an update just a few weeks after the initial launch. It featured, among other upgrades, smoother and faster scrolling, including the use of the space bar to page down.

Bolt shed the beta tag earlier this month, and again offered a ton of new features. These include streaming video capabilities, caching for faster browsing, and a download manager. Bolt’s best feature is its ability to render webpages like the desktop, without ridiculous load times.

Page rendering

These two browsers take a different approach on how to render a page. As mentioned in the intro, Opera compresses the page and sends it to you full, unzoomed. On many webpages it is impossible to read the text right away. Instead, you move a box around the screen using the cursor, which allows you to zoom in on one section. From there you can scroll around the entire page in zoomed-in mode, or you can back out to the zoomed-out view with the Escape key.

If the page exists in mobile format — that is, has a m. address — Opera will automatically load that version, rather than the normal desktop web version. After playing around for a little bit, I didn’t see a way to change this. It looks like you’re stuck with the mobile version on Opera whether you like it or not.

Bolt, on the other hand, renders web pages as you see them on the desktop. They are slightly zoomed out, as to fit more on the screen. There is some horizontal scrolling involved, which is natural in this type of setting. This can be a disadvantage sometimes, as in some cases the mobile version works better on the smaller screen. For instance, NJ Transit’s site renders better in mobile form when on the small display. Users can, of course, just enter the m. address if they want to view the mobile version in Bolt.

Speed

The speed of the browser will depend mainly on three factors. First, your device’s processor speed. Second, the type of network it works on. Third, the strength of signal in your particular area. I can only comment from my own experience, which is with an 8330 running on Verizon’s EVDO network in New York City with full signal strength.

Under these conditions, Opera launched slightly faster, though hardly noticeable. Opera also loaded pages faster. The speed depended on the page, of course, but when loading the same page Opera did it a little faster. When it was an issue of loading a page with a mobile version, Opera was much faster because there was less data to load.

Again, this is only from personal experience, which consists of my particular device, network, and location. You might find slightly different results. From what I’ve been reading from other BlackBerry users, though, these results seem to be typical. Opera is slightly faster, but Bolt loads pages more thoroughly.

Navigation

Bolt and Opera have similar start pages, featuring an address bar, a search box, and then a list of bookmarks. The difference is that Bolt employs three tabs in its start screen, allowing you to browse your favorites, history, and feeds. With Opera, your bookmarks and history are listed in a vertical list.

Both feature a feature to enter URLs, of course, but Bolt has the superior navigation in this aspect for one reason: you can use the space bar as a period. There are no spaces in web addresses, yet if you enter one in Opera, it will record a space. Hit the space bar in Bolt and you’ll get the dot. This can save you a keystroke or two per address.

Other than that, page navigation appears similar in both. The Escape button returns you to the previous page. Both save your web history, so you can enter in the first few letters of an address and then scroll down to select it. Both also feature in-page search options.

Streaming video

Here’s one area where Bolt reigns supreme, almost unquestionably. To make sure you have the best in-browser video experience, Bolt runs new users through a video wizard. This determines the optimal settings for your device. Bolt will automatically prompt you to run the video wizard the first time you try to view a streaming video. Then, when you visit a site like YouTube, you can go right to a video and it will play right inside the browser.

That’s not to say that Bolt’s system is without flaw. On YouTube I had a few issues, ranging from the inability to load a video, to the wrong video loading, to a chopping and unwatchable stream. In theory they have it right, but it might take another build or two before this system works.

It is, however, better than the Opera solution. First, YouTube only loads the mobile site, though that’s fine if you just want to search around. The problem, however, is in how it launches and plays videos. When you click on a YouTube video, Opera launches the native BlackBerry browser. You’ll then see a link that says Start Stream, which launches the media player when you click on it. In other words, viewing video with Opera is the same as on the native BB browser.

It’s a preference-based choice

Neither browser is radically better than the other, so the usage of Opera or Bolt will depend on your web surfing preferences. If you like full page loads and can handle the slightly longer wait times, Bolt is the way. If you like quick rendering, including mobile pages, it’s Opera. There are other aspects that separate them, but again that’s all based on personal preference.

You can download Opera Mini at http://www.opera.com/mini/download/blackberry/. You can also visit mini.opera.com from your browser for version 4.2, or for version 5 beta. Bolt is available at http://boltbrowser.com/download.html.

Is there anything else you want to know about Opera or Bolt? Is there a major point you think we haven’t addressed? Leave it in the comments.

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