Bolt mobile web browser has been taken out of Beta version and is now officially Bolt 1.5. Bolt is a very capable web browser for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices that uses server-side technology to deliver full media support to the the mobile web browser. Bolt version 1.5 allows streaming videos of any length, includes a handy download manager, and reloads previous pages from cache instead of downloading them again – saving time and data costs.

The main selling point of Bolt is it’s speed: it downloads pages quickly and without fuss: the ESPN.com homepage downloaded in about 15 seconds. Most of that (about 10 seconds) was staring at a blank screen, but once the first bit loaded the rest really seemed to zip along. Other than the snappy performance, and the fact that its free, the rest of the browser doesn’t offer a very enjoyable experience.

The UI is missing some of the key features we see on new apps these days: big buttons, easily selectable lists, etc. You can see from the bookmarks page below – it isn’t terribly finger-friendly.

That said, Bolt 1.5 is a quick and reliable web browser. I hope version 2.0 address the UI issues, including improved navigation, and then Bolt could be a real threat to Opera and Skyfire.

You can download Bolt 1.5 for free from the Bolt website.