Opera Max stretches to 21 countries in Asia

If you've been looking for a way to browse to your heart's content on your mobile device and yet not incur the wrath of your carrier, or your wallet, then now might be your day. That is, if you're living in one of the 21 Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries that Opera is bringing its Opera Max service to, offering not just speed but also data savings that Opera is known for.

So why would you opt to use an Opera product in this day and age of Firefox and Chrome browsers? Well, for one, despite the name, Opera Max is not actually a browser, even if it calls to mind Opera Mini, which is indeed a browser. Second, because even in this day and age of Firefox and Chrome, data usage is still data usage, and there will always be a price to be paid there.

Opera Max helps you save on data and, therefore, on money by compressing everything that goes to your smartphone via the Internet, through apps or browsers. That means web pages, images, text, and yes, even those data-slurpling videos. By compressing data, not only is the entire package smaller, it also travels quicker. The one catch is that this doesn't really happen magically. In essence, you will be routing your Internet traffic through Opera's "data-savings cloud", which might not sit well with some users due to privacy concerns.

If you find that trade off acceptable, then Opera Max might just be your money-saving answer from above. The service is now expanding to the following countries:

• Vietnam
• Philippines
• Thailand
• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Egypt
• Fiji
• Iran
• Israel
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Morocco
• Nepal
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Sri Lanka
• Tunisia
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

Download: Opera Max from Google Play Store
SOURCE: Opera

source: androidcommunity