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Why does Opera mobile need camera use?

T

The Smasher

Newbie
The title says it all. I recently bought a Motorola Atrix 4g with Android 2.3 and the stock browser. The browser has too many problems for me to use, so I was going to try Opera Mobile to see if it fit my security needs, but I didn't know why it needed permission to use the camera. Can anyone help me? Your answer is much appreciated.
 
Have you considered Opera Mini instead? It has a much smaller permission list and is very functional.

According to this google search:
https://www.google.com/search?q="op...ra&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest&tbs=li:1
there is "Support for camera use in the browser."

Looking through Opera Mobile's settings menu I see "Clear camera permissions" as an option.

Further googling indicates that it's for web apps to get access to the camera:
Playing with HTML5 video & getUserMedia support - Dev.Opera

Opera Developer News - Developer Relations team blog - Posts tagged by "camera".
The first time you access a web page that requests access to the camera, you will get a notification requesting you to authorize it. It's time to rush to the bathroom, fix your hair, make up, change your shirt and smile. If you are not satisfied, you can deny right away.
{...}
There will always be an icon in the toolbar or the tab to tell you that the camera access is ongoing in case you had forgotten. It's worth noting that we do something similar for sites that request access to your geolocation.
Click to expand...

Over the years I've gotten comfortable trusting Opera and they haven't let me down, but it's certainly worth checking up on things like this. While there's certainly the opportunity for abuse, they describe legitimate uses.

I imagine the intent here is for online video chat web apps.
 
I was thinking about opera mini, but a test that I was using to decide which browser to use indicated that it didn't handle java well. I may use both; mini for most of the time, and mobile when mini is incompatible. Here is the site that contains the comparison.

Rendering and Computational Performance : The Great Android Browser Face-Off

I had never used Opera, I have normally been using Firefox so I wasn't familiar with the level of trust I should give.

Thank you very much for the information.
 
Don't trust that just cause an app doesn't ask, doesn't mean it can't access your camera.

All forward facing camera's on tablets n phones on mine have a piece of tape over the lense until needed.
 
The Smasher said:
I was thinking about opera mini, but a test that I was using to decide which browser to use indicated that it didn't handle java well. I may use both; mini for most of the time, and mobile when mini is incompatible. Here is the site that contains the comparison.

Rendering and Computational Performance : The Great Android Browser Face-Off

I had never used Opera, I have normally been using Firefox so I wasn't familiar with the level of trust I should give.

Thank you very much for the information.
Click to expand...


Then why not go with Firefox for Android?
 
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