boostapps » Browsers

New Bolt Browser Version No Longer Working

Dennis — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:56:06 +0000

Update: As of 4-Jan-2012 this version no longer works and I haven't been able to find a working replacement. If you see one online that claims to be working was posted after Jan 4th. please leave a comment with a link to it and I will test it and post it here if it works.

The on again, off again Bolt browser is on again. Bolt was shut down on Dec 14 by it's parent company Bitstream as it was losing money. Then last week a version of Bolt that still worked was discovered and posted here. It worked for 4 days and then started dispalying the dreaded "Bolt browser has been discontinued.." meessage that indicated that it was dead.

Today a reader sent me a link to a new "BOLT Modded By Bassel" version that, at least for the moment, is working. I think what is happening is that Bitstream has kept a server or two operational for internal uses and people are finding these working servers and modifying the Bolt app to use them.

I dug around to see where this moded version was coming from. It was posted to a file sharing site by well known Indian mobile blogger Manuforall but the actual mod was done by Bassel Bakr, who according to his profile on the UC Browser Forum is a 15 year old Egyptian. See Bassel's forum post where he expalins how he modded Bolt.

I imagine this version will stop working after a few days too but enjoy it for now.

On iDEN phones the OK key doesn't work, use the Call key as OK. Also the following settings are recommended for best performance and stability on all iDEN phones except the i9 and i856:

Set magnification to large or greater;
Set image quality to low or none;
Turn off the inline text input;
Set the display mode to mobile.

Type: Ad-supported
Vendor: Bitstream/Bassel Bakr
Data Connection Required: Yes
Minimum Java ME profile: MIDP 2.0
Screen Size: All
Boost CDMA Compatible: (tested on Motorola Rambler): Yes.
Boost iDEN Compatible: (tested on i776): Yes
Supported iDEN phones: All Falcon series with Java (i776, i465, i9, i290, etc.)

The app "BOLT Modded By Bassel" (272 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"Bolt252new".

Working Version of Bolt Browser Found and Lost

Dennis — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:58:49 +0000

This version is no longer working. It shows the same "Bolt browser has been discontinued message as all other Bolt versions. There's a new working (for now) version here.

The Bolt Browser was discontinued Dec 14th and the servers were shut down. At least that's what Bolt is saying. However a reader on my WapReview.com site was kind enough to send me a link to a version that works. It's labeled "SBB Bolt". I'm guessing SBB is a mobile operator (Google seems to imdicate that there are SBB mobile companies in Pakistan, Switzerland and Russia) and this is a custom version of Bolt that was created for SBB. I think it works either because Bolt is contractually obligated to keep the service running for a certain period of time for SBB or else SBB has licensed the Bolt server code and is running their own server.

I have no idea how long this version will continue working, enjoy it while it lasts

On iDEN phones if you have the old non-working version of Bolt installed, delete it before sending this one to your phone. Or else choose highlight Bolt in the Java menu, press the Menu key and choose "Update" after downloading.

On iDEN phones the OK key doesn't work, use the Call key as OK. Also the following settings are recommended for best performance and stability on all iDEN phones except the i9 and i856:

Set magnification to large or greater;
Set image quality to low or none;
Turn off the inline text input;
Set the display mode to mobile.

Type: Ad-supported
Vendor: Bitstream/SBB
Data Connection Required: Yes
Minimum Java ME profile: MIDP 2.0
Screen Size: All
Boost CDMA Compatible: (tested on Motorola Rambler): Yes.
Boost iDEN Compatible: (tested on i776): Yes
Supported iDEN phones: All Falcon series with Java (i776, i465, i9, i290, etc.)

The app "BOLT" (254 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename: "SBB_Bolt".

UC Browser 8.0

Dennis — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:25:47 +0000

The UC Browser 8.0 Beta was released this week. It's a pretty big update, especially in look and feel. Here's how UC describes the new version:"

Beautiful looks - Beauty is not the patent of iPhone or Android phones, Java phone could also make it. The classical black gives you a cool tech style.

More efficient - In UC 8.0 Beta for Java.We optimized the interface layout and menus, you can find the useful features easily.

Magical action function - When you operate on Windows via PC, it's convenient to choose what you want in the right mouse botton menu. The right mouse button in different places, then the popup menus are different. In the same philosophy, UC Browser knows what you want when you stop at a place and gives the most convenient options to choose. Otherwise, U can press shortcut '1' to start this funtion more conveniently. When you move to different elements,the actions re different.

Not only beautiful, but also intelligent - Do you still think excellent user experience is just belong to high-end phones? Ucweb said no. We think A good Browser is what can provide good browsing to all users."

The new interface is a shameless copy of Opera Mini 5.0 and later but other than that I like the new version. All the sites I tried; including Twitter, Dabr, Facebook and Gmail loaded without error, looked good and worked well.

Type: Freeware
Author: UC Browser Product Page, Forum, User Guide
Data Connection Required: Yes
Minimum Java ME profile: MIDP 2.0
Screen Size: All
iDEN Compatible: (tested on i776): No (Java verification error while installing)
Boost CDMA Compatible: (tested on Motorola Rambler): Yes
Supported Boost phones: All CDMA (Incognito, Rambler, Seek, Rant, Mirro, Juno, etc.)

The app "UC Browser" (429 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"UC80".

Opera Mini 6.5

Dennis — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:19:35 +0000

Opera Mini was updated to version 6.5 yesterday. According to Opera new features in this release:

Added Data Usage view showing amount of data used and amount saved by Mini's compression
Added the ability to bookmark the current page by tapping a star icon in the URL field (Touchscreen devices only)
Added protocol setting (Socket/HTTP) in advanced options
Improved handling of Saved Pages when upgrading client
Fixed various stability and performance issues

The app "Opera Mini" (290 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"Mini65c".

Type: Freeware
Author: Opera Software - Product Page, Online Help, Forum
Data Connection Required: Yes
Minimum Java ME profile: MIDP 2.0
Screen Size: All
iDEN Compatible: (tested on i776): Maybe. Hangs on the i776, may run on the more powerful i9 and i856
Boost CDMA Compatible: (tested on Motorola Rambler): Yes
Supported Boost phones: All CDMA. iDEN; i9 and i856 only.

Opera Mini 4.4

Dennis — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:19:11 +0000

Opera Mini 4 has been updated. The new release is Version 4.4 According to a post on the Opera Mini blog, there are no visible changes in this version. However the network code has be redesigned which "opens up new possibilities for your network operator to integrate services like free Opera Mini browsing to certain sites". I kinda doubt that Boost will ever use that feature. There are also bug fixes including one for a problem that affected skins on some Samsung devices.

Opera Mini 4.4 is recomended for phones that aren't powerful enough to run Opera 5+ well or at all.

Type: Freeware
Author: Opera Software - Product Page, Online Help, Forum
Data Connection Required: Yes
Minimum Java ME profile: MIDP 2.0
Screen Size: All
iDEN Compatible: (tested on i776): Yes
Boost CDMA Compatible: (tested on Motorola Rambler): Yes
Supported Boost phones: All.

The app "Opera Mini 4" (134 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"Mini44c".

UC Browser 7.9

Dennis — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 02:25:51 +0000

UC Browser 7.9 was released today. According to the publisher the new features and bug fixes in the release are:

1) Intelligent night mode: According to the time, UC will notify you to take care of your eyes.
2) More powerful bookmark management: Convenient for you to backup bookmark.
3) Support more languages: Integrate language pack for Java. Support RTL web pages, such as Arabic, Farsi and Urdu.
4) Optimized Cache management: Cache will be re-adjusted automatically.
5) Fixed timeout error and image loading failure.

Bookmark backup seems to be missing in the Java version unfortunately. This release seems to load pages much faster than previous ones. Possibly this is related to the cache and timeout fixes.

Site compatibility seems better too. The only site I had trouble with was Twitter.com which gave me a "rate limiter exceeded error" and wouldn't let me log in. I was able to log in to Facebook, Google+ and 3rd party Twitter client dabr.co.uk with no problems.

The app "UC Browser" (461 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"UC79F".

PicoWeb 2.1

Dennis — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:50:11 +0000

PicoWeb has been upgraded to version 2.1. The new version seems noticably faster than 2.0. It now seems to load pages about as quickly as other proxy browsers like Opera Mini, Bolt and UC.

This browser is similar to Opera Mini 3.1 in that it reformats all pages into a single column. It also removes also background colors, borders and most other styling. Images are displayed and image quality is actually pretty good.

Submitted by: Sophie Louise
Type: Ad-supported
Author: PicoWireless
Data Connection Required: Yes
Screen Size: All
Boost CDMA Compatible: (tested on Motorola Rambler): Yes
iDEN Compatible: (tested on i776): Yes
Supported iDEN phones: All with Java ( i9, i856, i776, i465, i290, etc.)

The app "PicoWeb" (76 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"PicoWeb21".

UC Browser 7.8

Dennis — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:41:19 +0000

The UC Browser has been upgraded to version 7.8. According to UC, the new features in this release include:

"View Image Mode" - zoom images and view original size images
30% faster page loads
New "remember current page" and "clear all browsing history" options when closing the browser
Close current window with one click using the right softkey
You can now switch to the main menu while a page is loading

I tested UC 7.8 on the Motorola Rambler (it doesn't work on the iDEN phones).

As with UC Browser 7.7, inline editing doesn't work correctly with the Rambler's QWERTY keyboard (there's no way to type uppercase letters and the "Q" and "P" keys act like the left and right soft keys). It's not possible to disable inline editing either. You have to press the left softkey and choose "Edit" or "Symbol/Paste" on each field to switch to full-screen.

At least the bug in 7.7 where switching to fullscreen edit turned on caps-lock is fixed.

The app "UC Browser" (454 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"UC78".

PicoWeb

Dennis — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:38:55 +0000

A simple Web browser from the publisher of PicoMail.

PicoWeb reformats pages as a single column. It removes background colors, borders and other styling. Text is all the same size. Images are displayed and image quality is actually pretty good.

Type: Ad-supported
Author: PicoWireless
Data Connection Required: Yes
Screen Size: All
Boost CDMA Compatible: (tested on Motorola Rambler): Yes
iDEN Compatible: (tested on i776): Yes
Supported iDEN phones: All with Java ( i9, i856, i776, i465, i290, etc.)

The app "PicoWeb" (72 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"PicoWeb".

Opera Mini 6.1

Dennis — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:09:09 +0000

Opera Mini was updated to version 6.1 yesterday. According to Opera new features in this release

Added support for Google AutoComplete
Added ability to search directly from the address bar
Added intelligent domain suggest which suggests your most used domain endings
Added support for country domain auto-complete such as .ru or .id
Improved text selection on touchscreen phones
Ring tones can be saved to "tones" download folder (on some phones)
General bug fixes and improvements

Opera Mini 6.1 should work well on most of the Boost CDMA phones. Opera Mini 4.3 is recomended for the Boost iDEN phones. ^.1 is too resourse intensive for the iDEN phones, except possibly the i9 and i856.

The app "Opera Mini" (291 KB) is ready to download or send to your phone as filename:"mini61".