BOLT Browser Goes Live In The Android Market

This morning Bitstream powered on the public version of their BOLT Browser, which was previously in a closed beta. Bolt has a laundry list of features, however the browser claims to be 25 to 50 percent faster than its competitors.

After downloading Bolt, I noticed that it needed some time to warm up. While at first it was noticeably slower than other browsers, it did speed up. The interface is at the same time both slick and clean, a UI that in my opinion could appeal to the masses. Like the other browsers out there, Bolt has tabbed pages, Flash support, copy/paste, pinch-to-zoom, the usual. The browser also supports Facebook apps such as Mafia Wars and Farmville, and has the ability to save web pages for offline use.

Anyone who is bored of their current browser should check out Bolt in the Android Market. The app is free so you have nothing to lose.

[Note] I did notice that it had a hard time loading both Android Life and Droid Life, I tried with both 3G/WiFi with the same result.

BOLT® Mobile Browser Unleashes Android Version Worldwide 

Bitstream’s BOLT browser brings lightning fast browsing, video, and social networking support to Android phones and tablets 

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. and CTIA Enterprise and Applications in SAN DIEGO – October 11, 2011 – Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS), today announced the public availability of its BOLT™ Mobile Browser 3.0 for Android™ phones and tablets. Previously only available through a private beta, BOLT 3.0 for Android is making its public debut at CTIA Enterprise and Applications. Users worldwide can now download BOLT 3.0 for Android for free at http://boltbrowser.com/android or Android Market.

BOLT’s cloud computing based WebKit architecture offloads much of the heavy lifting of serving Web content to the cloud, making it fast and economical for wireless networks. With a host of advanced browsing features including lightning fast streaming video and other advanced media viewing capabilities, BOLT 3.0 for Android offers the most feature-rich, desktop-style browsing experience to Android users worldwide. BOLT has always featured tight social networking integration, and BOLT 3.0 for Android improves upon previous versions with the addition of a new social tab, dedicated to Facebook. This tab allows for even faster sharing of websites, blogs, YouTube videos and status updates, without having to login to Facebook each time.

Optimized for small and efficient data transmissions, BOLT features unrivaled compression of Web content and speed – consistently 25 to 50 percent faster than its competitors. BOLT offers ultra-fast downloads of streaming and flash video allowing users to enjoy YouTube, CNN, MTV, ESPN and more, even if the user’s device does not support Flash videos. By compressing Flash videos with new adaptive streaming technology, BOLT ensures quick and economical video playback.

“BOLT’s advanced capabilities and sleek customer-centric feature set have been in high demand by Android users around the world, and with BOLT 3.0 for Android we’ve delivered,” said Sampo Kaasila, vice president of research and development for Bitstream. “Our engineering team has been hard at work to deliver the most feature-rich browsing experience to Android users. We took all the feedback from our private beta and used it to improve BOLT 3.0 even further, adding many of the features Android users want to BOLT’s already unmatched speed. The result is a truly powerful Android browser that has raised the bar for mobile browsers worldwide.”

Features of BOLT 3.0 for Android include:

• Flash, HTML5 video playback with compression
• Social Tab – currently dedicated for faster sharing on Facebook
• Web Apps for popular services like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Wikipedia and more
• Easy to use, intuitive user interface, optimized for Android

Bitstream will be demonstrating BOLT 3.0 for Android at CTIA Enterprise and Applications, being held October 11 – 13 in San Diego, California. To arrange a meeting or private demonstration, contact the BOLT team at [email protected].

BOLT 3.0 for Android is now available for free to any user with Android 2.1 or later. Visit http://boltbrowser.com/android or Android Market.

About BOLT®

The acclaimed BOLT mobile browser has the most faithful rendering of Web pages of any browser in its class. This fast mobile browser quickly and accurately displays Web pages on mobile phones just as they would appear on desktop computers. BOLT is the only browser for mobile phones of all types to support streaming video from popular media sharing sites such as YouTube and MySpace. Based on the same WebKit rendering engine used by the iPhone’s Safari and Android’s Chrome browsers, BOLT is compatible with the majority of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones. BOLT features a patented split-screen viewing mode, intuitive keystroke shortcuts and copy/paste functionality, and offers a user-friendly, feature-rich mobile browsing experience for even entry-level mobile phones. Download BOLT for free at http://boltbrowser.com – the mobile Internet has never looked this good on your phone.

About Bitstream

Bitstream Inc. develops software technologies and applications for the graphic art and mobile communications industries. Bitstream’s award-winning fonts and font technologies enable device manufacturers and application developers to render the highest quality text in any language, on any device, at any resolution. The company’s MyFonts brand is the world’s leading provider of fonts to consumers. Bitstream’s Pageflex brand enables marketers to easily produce customized communications in print, email and online. The company’s latest offering is the BOLT mobile browser which has been installed by millions of users worldwide since its release in February 2009. For more information visit www.bitstream.com.

Android is a trademark of Google Inc.