SHARE

Download the BlackBerry Bolt Browser

A few years ago, the idea of downloading a third-party browser to a mobile device was something only mostly tech savvy users would even consider. Nowadays, particularly with the popularity of Apple’s App Store for the iPhone, customizing your mobile device is far more common. Bolt is a great example of this brave new software world. […]

Written By

David Needle

Mar 3, 2009

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

A few years ago, the idea of downloading a third-party browser to a mobile device was something only mostly tech savvy users would even consider. Nowadays, particularly with the popularity of Apple’s App Store for the iPhone, customizing your mobile device is far more common.

Bolt is a great example of this brave new software world. Bolt is a generic mobile browser that runs on a variety of mobile devices, but Bitstream, its developer, tweaked it a bit for BlackBerry users making use of specific key functions, like T for top and B for going to the bottom of the screen.

The growing popularity of third-party applications prompted RIM itself to develop an online storefrontfor applications that it’s slated to rollout this month, but Bitstream isn’t waiting. It released a private beta of Bolt for BlackBerry and other mobile devices in January and opened it up to a more public beta last month.

In that time, the company said its Bolt browser has been downloaded over 150,000 times. “The response has been completely overwhelming. It shows we’re meeting a real unmet need,” Bitstream CEO Anna Chagnon told InternetNews.com.

The need for speed

Chagnon cites several features she thinks makes Bolt a worthwhile alternative, but the primary one is speed. “We’re the fastest mobile browser out there that’s been tested as far as I know. We’re 25 to 50 percent faster than other mobile browsers and Web pages load very fast,” she said.

Other key features are support for YouTube and several other video streaming sites, advanced compression and other features to conserve energy. Chagnon claims Bolt works on “75 percent of the world’s handsets” and consumes a third less battery power than other mobile browsers.

Bolt has arguably been in development for five years, as its built on work Bitstream did originally for its Thunderhawk browser, which it offers through mobile operators and device makers.

“Bolt is a culmination of that work,” said Chagnon. “We decided we wanted to do something we could deliver directly to consumers.”

Bolt doesn’t make use of the touch screen interface in the new BlackBerry Storm, but Chagnon said that it does plan to support the Storm’s features in an upcoming release.

Currently a free download, Chagnon said the company is looking at ad support and other methods it might use to keep Bolt free to consumers.

This article was first published on InternetNews.com.

Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA

FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
Top 10 AIOps Companies

FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
What is Text Analysis?

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
Top 10 Chatbot Platforms

FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
Finding a Career Path in AI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science

FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2020

FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality

FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Anticipating The Coming Wave Of AI Enhanced PCs

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 05, 2020
The Critical Nature Of IBM’s NLP (Natural Language Processing) Effort

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
August 14, 2020

SEE ALL
ARTICLES

David Needle

David Needle is a veteran technology reporter based in Silicon Valley. He covers mobile, big data, customer experience, and social media, among other topics. He was formerly news editor at Infoworld, editor of Computer Currents and TabTimes, and West Coast bureau chief for both InformationWeek and Internet.com.