I know there's been some mixed feelings in the BlackBerry community towards the Bolt Browser since I posted the private beta code and video above a few weeks back. I'm all about speed so have been loving Bolt, and with their recent update a lot of optimizations came into effect which make it more berry-friendly. Today at the Mobile World Congress, Bitstream let everyone know that the Bolt Browser is now out of private beta and available to the public. You can get your copy from BoltBrowser.com. If you're a fan of Bolt, be sure to drop a word or two in the comments!

Press Release

Bitstream Launches Free Public Beta of the BOLT Mobile Browser

BOLT brings unparalleled speed and desktop-style browsing to mobile phones of all types

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As the world's wireless and mobile industries assemble at Mobile World Congress, Bitstream Inc. (Nasdaq: BITS) announced today the public beta of its acclaimed BOLT(TM) mobile browser. Previously available by invitation-only, BOLT is a browser built for speed and completely optimized for mobile phones, providing a desktop-like view of web pages on even the most basic feature phones. Beginning today, people everywhere can download the public beta version of the BOLT mobile browser for free by visiting: http://boltbrowser.com/.

One month ago Bitstream began offering BOLT in a private beta that included more than 30,000 users around the world. From the data collected and comments received over the past month Bitstream made improvements to the user experience and further optimized BOLT by adding device-specific features and making pages load even faster.

BOLT features unrivaled speed - routinely 25 percent faster, and as much as 50 percent faster, than the next fastest competitor in speed tests. BOLT is also both optimized to conserve battery life, and to minimize data transmissions allowing people to browse longer without recharging batteries while consuming less data - all without sacrificing quality.

The BOLT mobile browser lets people view full websites as they would on a personal computer. It does so using a patented magnification technology that smoothly scales both text and images, letting users navigate to specific sections of large web pages and then zoom in to display clear text and images that look crisp on even small mobile phone screens. BOLT supports streaming video from popular websites such as YouTube, vids.myspace.com, video.yahoo.com, blip.tv, dailymotion.com, and metacafe.com.

Built with proprietary compression, navigation and rendering technologies, BOLT enables users to find and read information quickly and easily. BOLT enables users to quickly toggle between a full-page view or a split screen/magnifier zoomed view and offers five different levels of zoom.

Features of this BOLT public beta release include:

  • Fast, secure, desktop-style web browsing on both high-end and low-end handsets
  • Streaming flash video capabilities
  • WebKit rendering engine offers high standards compliance
  • Support for XML, ATOM and RDF formats of RSS feeds
  • Support for JavaScript and AJAX
  • Split screen and full screen modes for easy navigation and viewing
  • Intuitive keystroke shortcuts for easier navigation and content selection
  • 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for secure access to web pages
  • Server filtering to protect users from spyware and other malware
  • Certificate error notification
  • Easily add and select favorites and view browsing history
  • Ability to clear history and cookies

BOLT beta is available for virtually any handset with Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 2.0 support that can run mobile Java (J2ME) applications, including BlackBerry devices.

The beta release of the BOLT mobile browser is compatible with the majority of the world's 4 billion mobile phones. It offers unrivaled speed and desktop-style web browsing including the ability to stream video. A patented split-screen viewing feature and intuitive keystroke shortcuts make navigating web pages simple. BOLT is built using Bitstream's award winning and patented ThunderHawk mobile browsing technology.

BOLT is built using the WebKit rendering engine to deliver the same web page layout as found on desktop browsers and includes high standards compliance such as AJAX and flash video support. Bitstream's client/server technology, mobile fonts and font rendering technologies speed content delivery enabling mass market deployments, improved readability and allowing BOLT to fit more information into smaller screens. BOLT's underlying ThunderHawk mobile browsing technology supports both J2ME platforms, as well as non-J2ME environments though a C++ SDK.]

Attendees of Mobile World Congress can meet with Bitstream executives at booth 1E31 in Hall 1. Download the public beta of BOLT for free at http://boltbrowser.com.

About BOLT:
The BOLT mobile browser, compatible with the majority of the world's 4 billion mobile phones, offers unrivaled speed and PC-style web browsing including the ability to stream video. A patented split-screen viewing and intuitive keystroke shortcuts makes navigating web pages simple. Download BOLT for free at http://boltbrowser.com - the mobile Internet has never looked this good on your phone.

About Bitstream:
Bitstream Inc. (Nasdaq: BITS) is a software development company focused on bringing unique software products to a wide variety of markets. The company's core software products include award-winning fonts and font rendering software, mobile browsing and variable data publishing and web-to-print software for personalized marketing. For more information about Bitstream please visit www.bitstream.com.

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