Opera finally unveiled a lighter version of its news app, Opera News Lite that uses fewer data storage and minimal data capabilities.
The new app can help those with slow networks and small mobile storage. With less than 1MB in size, the app loads faster and is more responsive than other mobile applications. According to Opera, the news app is available to download in 40 countries, including Africa, Russia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Morocco, Zambia, India, etc.
The slimmed version reduces connection latency and provides up to 4x faster navigation on any Opera services. This innovation came after Opera assessed the availability of factual information to some countries with restrictive governments. With access to Opera News Lite, people can easily consume news with their mobile phones.
Opera News Lite is already up and available for download at Google Play Store. While the application is set mainly for African countries, the United States, Indonesia, and Russia can access the app.
“We have developed Opera News Lite as per requests from our users. The app is extremely responsive on slow network conditions as it minimizes the use of data and resources. It also helps smartphone users save storage space on their mobile devices, especially for users with older handsets,” said Opera marketing and distribution head Jorgen Arnesen.
Opera’s market is those people with no access to a high-speed Internet connection, like Africa countries. With the flu pandemic going on, people can easily get factual information from different news outlets. Given Kenya’s entry-level phone market, Opera wants to give people a chance to get exclusive content and personalized news articles.
“Opera News Lite helps make online information even more accessible to everyone. The app offers the features that everyone loves from the regular Opera News app, like personalised news articles, notifications about breaking news, and exclusive original content. However, Opera News Lite is ten times lighter than the regular version,” said Opera.
In addition to fast loading speed, the app also uses artificial intelligence to personalize the contents in the app. It provides briefing updates, with a mix of important headlines, local news, and latest developments on the topics of interest of users.
The Opera News Lite has already launched two years ago and has over 160 million users. The new lite feature simply supports entry-level Android mobile phones to load news faster than normal apps.
