Bitstream, the makers of the awesome browser Bolt are at CTA this week and they brought along with them a nicely refreshed version Bolt. This is what I would consider a major update for the application, lots of feedback was generated from previous beta builds and Bitstream has taken all of that under consideration and has come up with a massive list of improvements especially when it comes to usage on the BlackBerry Storm. You can grab the update from the public beta link at http://boltbrowser.com/ full press release and noted changes after the jump.
Cambridge, Massachusetts & Las Vegas, Nevada – April 1, 2009 – With well over 300,000 users from around the world participating in a public beta that began in February, Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) today announced that BOLT, the company’s web browser for mobile phones of all types, will get a significant upgrade today.
BOLT’s new features include:
- Significantly improved BlackBerry scrolling speed and control
- A new 3XL (extra large) magnification mode with content 33.3 percent bigger than in 2XL
- Double tap approach to select links on touchscreen devices like the BlackBerry storm (eliminates inadvertent clicks)
- Wi-Fi auto-selection as default option when Wi-Fi is both enabled and available
- Save and view pages locally on the phone
- Support for folders in favorites
- A new landscape viewing feature
- Improved magnifier dragging in split screen mode on the BlackBerry Storm
BOLT Beta2 also includes many enhancements based on feedback from beta users, including:
- Improved video quality on mpeg4 capable devices
- Improved scrolling speed on image-rich pages
- A user preferences page to reduce menu clutter, especially useful on BlackBerry smartphones where the native menu structure, without sub-menus, is utilized
Optimized to conserve battery life and data transmissions, BOLT features unrivaled speed – consistently 25 to 50 percent faster than competitors. The WebKit based BOLT browser offers ultra-fast viewing of streaming and flash video, high standards compliance, rich media and graphics enabling people to view websites just as they do on a PC.
Built with proprietary compression, navigation and rendering technologies, BOLT enables users to find and read information quickly and easily. Once users have navigated to the specific section of the large web page they are viewing, they can then zoom in to display clear text and images that look crisp on even small mobile phone screens.
BOLT’s feature set includes:
- Fast, secure, desktop-style web browsing on both high-end and low-end handsets
- Streaming video capabilities
- Split screen and full screen modes for easy navigation and viewing
- Easily add and select favorites and view browsing history
- Intuitive keystroke shortcuts for easier navigation and content selection
- Extends battery life and uses less data than competing browsers
BOLT Usage:
With over 300,000 users, BOLT is being used on every continent on the globe. The top ten domains visited by BOLT’s users include:
1. google.com
2. orkut.com
3. facebook.com
4. yahoo.com
5. youtube.com
6. friendster.com
7. myspace.com
8. hi5.com
9. craigslist.org
10. mocospace.com
It’s interesting to watch how people use BOLT to connect to friends and information,” said Sampo Kaasila, vice president of research and development at Bitstream. “Most of the heavy usage is around social networking, with about 10 percent of users spending well over an hour per session online with BOLT. We see Google visitors using search, mail, maps and translation services while Yahoo visitors use mail, messenger, fantasy sports and finance. It’s also interesting to see how BlackBerry users seem to prefer using BOLT for Facebook instead of the BlackBerry Facebook application.”
People are enjoying the video streaming feature of the BOLT browser – the only mobile browser that lets people enjoy streaming videos on average mobile phones from such popular video services as YouTube, vids.myspace.com,video.yahoo.com , blip.tv,dailymotion.com,metacafe.com and more. Of the total bandwidth used by all BOLT users surfing the Internet, nearly a third was consumed by streaming video.
BOLT is now available for free to anyone as part of its public beta test. Visit http://boltbrowser.com.
Visit Bitstream at booth number 6250 at CTIA Wireless.
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91 comments
Great update to the app. I have always hated the one-touch cliking for browsing. This is much improved and actually blows up the text to see before selecting links. Great job!
Fine, fine. I'll try it again.
I just downloaded it for my Pearl and the scrolling is much improved. If you didn't like Bolt before because it was too slow, give this beta another shot. Scrolling is so much smoother, it feels like Opera Mini.
Great updates. Just what I've been looking for
I hated the original version. I couldn't scroll effectively on it. It lagged.
If the horrid scrolling was your only issue with Bolt, I strongly suggest you check out this latest beta. Bolt had progressed slowly but steadily with regards to the scroll feature in previous upgrades. But the latest is pretty darned good - approaching, if not equaling, Opera's scrolling proficiency as another person stated earlier for the Pearl (I use a Curve).
cant get the menu screen to stay up (options) when i hit the menu button it the options flash up at me and then disappear....?????? weird but fast
This happened to me with a downloaded theme. I changed back to one of the original BB themes and it was fine. I then switched to a different downloaded theme, fine again. It was just that one particular theme.
The scrolling has improved a lot on my 8130. Still don't know if I'll keep it (opera works fine for me) but its a step in the right direction.
Scolling has improved to a better level. Just tested a youtube video and it is great. Better picture.
I might actually use it all the time now.
amazing update
Storm browser still faster and better in general, IMO.
I have to disagree, the Storm browser while nice, on complex website it takes up to three times as long than Bolt to get the job done.
Personally i feel that the browser has really been improved, still dont like the clock popping up constantly though, but its something i can live with.
Would you recomend I download this for my storm or continue using my default browser? What are the ups and downs compared to the blackberry browser?
Would you recomend I download this for my storm or continue using my default browser? What are the ups and downs compared to the blackberry browser?
i say give it a shot, i also had mini opera as well, which is a very good browser. give them a shot and see which is good for you
Personally i only use the BB browser for websites i go to that are wap based, like CB, wiki and a few others.
Definitely give it a try. A lot of people like the Bolt browser, and despite my general distaste for the product, this is clearly an upgrade over past versions. Give it a shot and see how you like it.
Bricked my storm...again.
im downloading it i never used the original one ill give this one a shot
Its better, but every time I switch from portrait to landscape and vice versa, the entire page reloads. Pretty annoying.
I would like to see a side-by-side comparison of BB, Opera and Bolt that shows me which browser does what and which excels at what features.
I'm pretty much an amateur, and have been please with BB's standard browser.
But, I'm open to insightful information.
anyway to change the size of the font on the favorites page? running Bolt on my STORM
Be nice if it worked with a site that has IIS domain security. Submitted this bug to them a while back. It just keeps asking for username/password. This site requires domain\username and password style login. If I could get that, I'd be very happy!
Great, Great, Great update to this application. Makes my new 8900 so much more better.
I like this better than opera however you can tell it was built to be use with a track ball
Goes pretty fast but I agree with the above saying build to be used with a trackball.
I think this just became the best browser with v0.94
Trying it out now...
I will take another shot at Bolt. Beta 1 was very slow. I had it on .75 and it ran slower than BB browser. Saturday I moved to .113 and it runs faster. Maybe Beta 2 will be better.
I find Bolt frustratingly difficult to use on a Storm. It's dependence on a keyboard does not translate well to the storm virtual keyboard. I think they should put a disclaimer on the site 'THIS PROGRAM DOES NOT PLAY WITH A BB STORM' in big red letters.
The only thing I could find about the Storm on their web site: "Improved BlackBerry Storm home page tab clicking " is that all?????
This thing sucks on the Storm. Totaly hosed the page rendering at Youtube Google Video, etc. a bunch of jibberish on the screen. Not intuitive for the touch screen.
I love it. Great update. Now the trackball and typing are actually responsive on my 8330. Before it would lag behind and was unbearable.
This browser just isn't made for a touch screen. The pointer/hand operation is just unmanageable. When they make a version for specifically for the Storm, Then I'll try it again.
http://boltbrowser.com/boltbb.jad
OMG! What a BIG change. Scrolling page's on my 8800 is now verry smoother and faster than in previous version's. Now im love it Bolt Browser :D Good Job.
the first beta was absolutely horrendous!
load speeds were slow, the split-screen magnifier didnt help much (even when maxed), content-rich pages full of images were VERY laggy to scroll through and it was generally a pain to use (ESPECIALLY the stupid clicking/selecting).
lets hope this beta isn't all hype like its predecessor.
I did not like it on my storm
Seems like a nice update, many improvements are immediately obvious. It will take some getting used to, though, before I decide to keep or dump it.
Like others have pointed out, it's kinda wonky on a Storm.
It is 100% better than the previous beta I tried. Much faster and takes up less resources IMO.
Great work boys!
i was wondering when the new update was coming. cant wait to try it
The scrolling issue made it to difficult to use on my curve.....I am lovin this new beta, images and streaming videos make it a lot better than Opera IMO! THX
The trackball only seems to be allowed to go left and right.... And it isn't going up or down???
I had the same issue until I closed it out then restarted it then it worked fine
hope it works well on a 8330, plan to give it a try
Like others have mentioned it's more frustrating then it's worth.
Either build a storm specific version or focus solely on trackball BB's, because the current storm version is sub par at best.
i usually use opera mini on my sprint curve. wasnt thrilled w/ bolt when i downloaded it and rarely used it over the past few months...opened it today and saw the update...now i say WOW! amazing what an upgrade can do! The scrolling and general slow browsing and navigation made the previous build pretty useless. now it scrolls smooth and opens pages much faster. ironically, crackberry.com takes forever to load, way slower than on opera, but overall much improved and i will definitely be using it more after today. i still dont like that there isnt a "stop" button when i hit a link by accident and it also takes way too long to go "back" to the previous page. i also cant get any videos to play, keeps opening my default browser, looks like its going to load then i get an error saying the format isnt supported. still thumbs up for a promising beta!
im very intrested in this APP but i dont know much about these browser apps does it replace the orginal browser because my bold is in for repair at the minute for software failure i dont want to get this program if its fear of destroying my bold i was quiet annoyed when i downloaded BerryAlerts Which caused my fone to break down.... so if anyone could PM me and let me know :D thanks
no, it doesn't replace your blackberry browser.
I just tried it, and trying to line up that pointer to click on a link is next to impossible. Also, tapping for magnification is nowhere near as easy to use as it is on the native Blackberry browser, nor can you tap to bring up the menu icons (as you can with the native browser). Also, if you can't import your favorites (which, apparently, you can't) it's too much of a hassle to re-enter then all manually). The native browser is actually pretty darn fast if you uncheck the Java box; for now, that's what I'm going back to.