Opera has announced the latest version of its mobile web browser: Opera Mini 5.1 for Android users.The popular web browser has been taken out of beta and is available now for download from the Android Market or m.opera.com.The new browser version has some new features that should make it appealing to many users.

“Opera Mini 5.1 for the Android platform is the next step in bringing the world’s most popular mobile web browser to all major platforms, offering improved performance and great web experience to almost any handset,” says Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software

Opera says that the new version is much faster for loading web pages thanks to the fact that it compresses data up to 90% before sending the content to the phone. That means faster page loads and less money spent on data.

The Opera Mini browser offers users another choice when surfing the web while mobile by compressing rich web data to provide a better overall browsing experience.
Opera Mini for Android can be set as your default browser, and the browser also gets a session restore feature for quick recovery after crashes. There’s also a full-screen mode that does away with the chrome and fills the tiny screen with pure gold web content.

With over 61 million users worldwide, Opera Mini is the world’s most popular browser for mobile phones, allowing much faster browsing speeds, while keeping the costs to a minimum. You can download it in the Android Market or at m.opera.com. The new version is also optimized for a better layout on Android devices with a larger screens and the browser can be set as the default for your device.

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Opera Mini has now released its Opera Mini 5 beta for the Android platform. Earlier, it had its Mini 4 for this platform but now it has come out with this bigger and better version which includes many new features over the Mini 4. After spending some time with the new browser, we bring you this hands-on report.

The new browser is identical to the one that we have seen on the Java platform. The startup screen has the URL field and the Search field on the top. Surprisingly, there was no option to change the search engine in the Android version and Google was the default and only option. Also, we could not add extra search fields from other sites. This, we thought, was a bit of an undersight for the company and just because it is on Android, it doesn't mean it has to be just Google search.

Below, you can see an option to 'Tell a friend'. With this feature, you can inform someone about the availability of this browser by entering their name and email ID. You can remove this option from the Settings menu though. Below that option are the nine Speed Dial buttons. Quickly tapping them takes you to that site. You can edit them and add your favorite sites for quick access.


source : techtree[dot]com

READ MORE - Hands On with Opera Mini for Android

Opera Software on Tuesday announced that it is submitting its Opera Mini Web browser to Apple for use on the iPhone.

The Norwegian company boasts that Opera is the most-used browser on mobile devices; it offers a version of the software for Windows Mobile phones, Google Android and the Nintendo DS game system.

The Opera team said they are confident their new browser will be approved for the iPhone, but the final say is still up to the gatekeepers at Apple who are known to block applications in the iTunes store for any number of random reasons.

Last week I had a chance to sit down with Opera’s co-founder, Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, to see an early version of the new iPhone software. The new browser loaded pages extremely quickly, as you can see in the video below, and manages to integrate some unique features that are currently available in its desktop browser. Some of the highlights include unlimited tabbed browsing and the ability to search the content of a Web page — an important feature that is currently unavailable on the Safari mobile browser made by Apple.

The software was missing an important feature on the iPhone: the ability to resize a page by pinching a page with both fingers. Mr. Tetzchner said this could be added to the software with a later update.

The Opera browser loads Web pages rapidly by using a technology called server-side rendering, which compresses most aspects of a Web site on a server, sometimes reducing the load time of 90 percent of a Web page, before sending the data along to a phone’s browser.

Mr. Tetzchner pitched the new Opera browser as a way to reduce roaming charges when traveling.

Opera Software says its mission is to make a browser for any computer and mobile phone.



source : bits.blogs.nytimes[dot]com

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