Opera for the iPhone is now the #1 most downloaded free app in all 22 app stores.  This pretty well showcases Apple users’ desperation for third party replacement for the stock apps on the iPhone.  It’s also amazing, considering it’s currently not a very good browser.

Now, I’m a fan of Opera on the desktop.  It’s always been the enthusiast browser of choice - chock full of cool features and settings.  But it does feel a little rough around the edges, with a design and polish that looks fine on a PC, but a little out of place on the iPhone.

So far, most of the reviews I’ve read have focused on the speed.  Here are my informal benchmarks:

• Somemotivationrequired.com - Opera: 10s Safari: 10s
• Nytimes.com - Opera: 10s Safari: 1:28m
• Bensbargains.net - Opera: 24s Safari: 24s
• Kotaku.com (mobile) - Opera: 13s Safari: 9s
• Reddit.com - Opera: 14s  Safari: 12s

This wasn’t conducted in any kind of scientific capacity (I did clear my browser cache first), but it looks like they’re pretty evenly matched, excusing the Times website.  So what don’t I actually like about it?  Well…I’ve only read one review that really sums it up nicely, and it wasn’t even from a major website - it was by some dude in the comments on Gizmodo.  Yes it’s a wall of text, but it’s a good wall of text.

Personally, I’m happy to have a second browser, because sometimes Safari just can’t load a page properly, and maybe Opera will be able to.

Now I want Chrome on my iPad.

God I hate bezels.  I really do.  Besides the obvious - they’re hideous - they just tend to indicate that the device is a cheap piece of crap.  That the manufacturer couldn’t even be bothered to put in an LCD that fits.  I’ve always been aware on some level that thinner bezels look better, but I hadn’t seen it properly implemented until this came out.

That’s how you make a bezel.  Now let’s look at some Fail.

Hey, it’s not like Apple is immune to Fail.

In all fairness, it has been pointed out that it would be hard to hold a tablet if it was all screen. But it sure would be pretty.

The original Asus Eeeeee PC has no excuse.  Well, except that it was designed from the ground up to be cheap crap.

Before there were any pictures of it, the specs just said it was a “7 inch screen laptop,” which I thought sounded pretty awesome.  I remember actually making a barfing sound when it was revealed.  One of the most popular things to do with wasted bezel space is put speakers in it.  Which in this case just emphasizes the tiny screen.

I guess this is kind of supposed to double as a picture frame, but god damn it’s ugly.

It’s literally half bezel.  Gross.

Fortunately, this is mostly a problem in the low to mid-range laptop market.  Televisions, by their very size, tend to have a low bezel to screen ratio, and computers monitors are starting to head the same way.  Most major panel manufacturers even offer truly bezel-less models for use in video walls.

My point is this.  If you’re designing a device of some kind, for the love of god, make the LCD the same size as the frame around it.  Or I’ll blog about it, and make you feel bad.

A fellow Seattlite and hopeful future Verizon-branded iPhone customer wrote a little blurb about this, which reminded me that I’ve been meaning to chime in with some analysis.

Here’s a chart of the chances the iPhone will show up on Verizon.

Note how it takes a steep turn downwards right about 2005.  This is a result of Verizon turning down Apple, who offered them the iPhone first.  The sticking points? Apple wanted control over distribution and warranty repairs.

Also notable on this chart is a slight rise in 2011.  AT&T’s contract is set to expire this year, but industry pundits say they’re trying to negotiate an extension.

No shit.  The iPhone is a massive cash cow for AT&T, and you can bet they’re going to do anything they can to hold onto it.  Including offering Apple what is quite possibly the sweetest mobile data plan in history.

I’m referring of course to this.

$15 for 250mb, $30 for “unlimited” (5gb).  This makes it second only to the Kindle in giving the average consumer a decent reason to have always-on mobile Internet on something other than a cell phone.

This article covers the effect it could have on the cellular industry.  Basically, AT&T isn’t just giving up a contract and some profit, they’re potentially changing the entire topography of the mobile data marketplace.

All so they can hold onto Apple.

I’m not going to say that the iPhone won’t show up on Verizon.  Apple does love money, and expanding their userbase into other networks would certainly increase revenue. But on the other hand, AT&T is willing to go to incredible lengths to maintain their exclusivity, and I don’t think Steve Jobs has forgotten who told him to go get stuffed when the iPhone was in development.