Samsung’s Gear S smartwatch gets its first full web browser – Opera mini

Samsung’s Gear S smartwatch is the latest smartwatch from Samsung that was announced a few weeks ago and is expected to hit the stores in a few days from now and ahead of its expected global roll-out the smartwatch has received its first full Web browser in the form of Opera Mini. This is the first web browser for the Samsung smartwatch based on the Tizen platform, now users can experience full web experience on their smartwatch.
Opera Mini has been around for a while and is known for its compression technology that is able to shrink the file size of web pages to as little as 10% of their original size. The reason for heavy file compression is to make the web pages load faster. Opera Mini will have finger-friendly controls that work on the watch’s small 2-inch curved Super AMOLED display.
The Opera Mini Gear S app is very similar to the smartphone version, except everything is condensed to fit onto the watch’s two-inch display.
This maiden web browser offers private browsing mode and a “Smart Page” that aggregates social updates and latest news. Users can switch between Smart Page and Speed dial with a tap of the finger. The browser also features a Speed Dial feature in whiich there are large buttons for website shortcuts enabling Gear S users to reach their favorite sites in a single tap.
Samsung Gear S smartwatch users can also save webpages for offline reading. The blog post notes that the browser has been optimised to save data and notes.
The Opera Mini browser can be downloaded for free from the Samsung Gear Apps store for the Gear S.