Opera launched new versions of its mobile web browsers for pretty much every mobile operating system imaginable today… except Android. And that’s only because the Android apps received the same update a few weeks ago.

But if you’re using iOS, BlackBerry, S60, or J2ME you can grab Opera Mini 6.5 for your device. Opera Mobile 11.5 is also available for S60. And MeeGo users can check out a new Opera Mobile Labs 11.5 release for tablets and netbooks.

The key difference between Opera Mobile and Mini is that Opera Mini relies on remote servers to compress data before sending web pages and other content to your device, while Opera Mobile uses your device’s hardware to render web content (although you can turn on Opera Turbo mode to enable the same sort of compression).

The biggest change in the new versions is a tool that helps you visualize how much data you’ve used — and how much data you’ve saved by using Opera’s compression technology. Opera has also made it easier to bookmark a website quickly by tapping a star in the URL bar. Sure, that feature is pretty common in desktop web browsers, but you don’t see it on many mobile browsers yet.

Opera web browsers updated for iOS, BlackBerry, S60, and even MeeGo is a post from: mobiputing

Opera has rolled out new versions of its two web browsers for Google Android. Opera Mini 6.1 and Opera Mobile 11.1 are both available from the Android Market. The new browsers add a number of new features including support for Google voice search, Google AutoComplete, and “intelligent domain suggest.” All told, they make the process of entering a URL or search query a little faster. You can also now

The two browsers look nearly identical, but Opera Mini is designed to run on slower devices or for customers with limited data plans. That’s because Opera Mini uses remote servers to compress data before sending it to your device, while Opera Mobile uses your phone or tablet’s hardware to render web pages completely.

Opera Mobile 11.1 also has a few extra tricks up its sleeve including experimental support for Adobe Flash on tablets running Google Android 3.x Honeycomb. You can also now adjust the user agent. While some browsers let you change the agent to iOS, Firefox, or another browser altogether, Opera Mobile simply lets you toggle between mobile and desktop views if you’re using a phone. On tablets, you can choose from tablet or desktop views.

The browser also features CSS and HTML5 improvements, and with every new release Opera seems to get a little faster. If I weren’t so keen on some of the plugins available for Dolphin HD, I’d seriously consider dropping that browser for Opera at this point — if it did a better job of rendering the mobile version of Gmail.

Opera Mini 6.1 and Opera Mobile 11.1 add auto-complete, more is a post from: mobiputing

Opera Mobile and Mini for Androis and iOS play nice with the company’s desktop browser, too — and now there’s a way to access your Opera data in the cloud on Windows Phone 7. Just download Opera Link for WP7. It’s an unofficial app, but it’s able to pull down your Speed Dial pages, bookmarks, and notes for quick on-the-go access. There’s no built-in browser, unfortunately — links will pop open in a new Internet Explorer window instead.

While an official browser from the crew in Oslo would be most welcome on WP7 (particularly while we’re waiting for Mango to arrive with a more up-to-date Internet Explorer), Opera Link for WP7 will do just fine for those of you who simply don’t want to recreate all your Opera bookmarks on your Windows Phone. Find it in the Marketplace, or scan the Tag after the break.

via WP Central

Sync Opera to Windows Phone 7 with the Opera Link app is a post from: mobiputing

The folks behind the Opera web browser have launched Opera Mini 6 for iOS. It’s the first version optimized for the Apple iPad, but it also supports iPhone and iPod touch models — and adds support for retina displays.

Other new features include the ability to open pages in the background, share content on Facebook, Twitter or “My Opera” and improved pinch-to-zoom and panning. There’s also better support for Arabic, Chinese, and Vietnamese fonts and a refreshed user interface.

Opera Mini 6 is available as a free download from the App Store.

Opera Mini 6 web browser launches for iPhone, iPad is a post from: mobiputing

Opera has released updated versions of its mobile browsers smartphones. Opera Mobile 11  is available for Android, Symbian, and MeeGo, while Opera Mini 6 supports BlackBerry as well.

So what’s new in Opera Mobile 11 and Mini 6… and why does the company offer two browsers? In a nutshell, Opera Mobile is a full-featured browser with its own rendering engine and support for JavaScript, HTMl5. Opera Mini looks a lot like Opera Mobile, but it’s designed for phones with slower processors or users with limited bandwidth. Opera Mini relies on remote servers to compress some data before sending it to your phone for speedier browsing on less powerful devices.

Opera 11 packs a whole slew of updates. The Android version of the app now supports Adobe Flash and has a new user interface for tablets with large displays. The browser also features improved text reflowing when you zoom in, faster panning and zooming, and faster JavaScript performance. The browser also now supports Archos tablets and the Motorola Atrix 4G smartphone.

Unfortunately every time I tried to view a page with Flash content, Opera Mobile 11 crashed on my Google Nexus One. The safest thing to do for now might be to keep the default setting of click-to-load Adobe Flash.

Opera Mini 6 adds support for pinch to zoom, improved panning and zooming, and a tablet-friendly user interface. You can also now open links in the background and share web pages. Opera says the startup time has also been shortened.

Both browsers also support key Opera features including a Speed Dial page with thumbnail icons for your favorite web sites, an excellent tab switching user interface, and support for Opera Link which lets you synchronize your data between the desktop and mobile versions of the Opera browser.

You can download Opera Mobile 11 and Opera Mini 6 from opera.com/mobile or by visiting m.opera.com with your phone’s browser.

Opera Mini and Opera Mobile are also available from the Android Market.

Opera is also officially dropping support for Windows Mobile with the latest release, which doesn’t come as a huge surprise… but it’s a bit disappointing for folks still using phones with Microsoft’s older operating system. The company may eventually offer Windows Phone 7 apps. Opera Mini 5.1 and Opera Mobile 10 are still available for Windows Mobile.

Opera Mobile 11, Mini 6 now available is a post from: mobiputing

Opera already offers a mobile web browser (or two) for Google Android smartphones. But the company is working on a version optimized for tablets with larger, higher resolution displays. Today the company released a video showing the new user interface.You can check it out after the break.

Honestly, I can’t spot too many differences between the tablet and phone versions of the browser aside from the fact that Opera appears to have moved the toolbar to the top in the tablet version.

We should know more soon, as Opera plans to show off the browser at CES this week.

via SlashGear

Opera teases a tablet version of its Android web browser is a post from: mobiputing

The Opera Mobile web browser for Android is speedy, customizable, and has a few nifty features like Opera Link technology which lets you synchronize your settings with the desktop version of Opera. But there are a few things Opera Mobile doesn’t currently support, including Adobe Flash and HTML5 video support.

Now it looks like both of those things are on the way. In a blog post this weekend, the Opera team reported that an upcoming version of the Opera Mobile browser for Android would support Adobe Flash on phones that can run Flash. That includes most newer devices running Android 2.2 and up.

The new browser will also be able to handle HTML5 video from sites including YouTube.

While neither of those features are currently available, you can download the latest version of Opera Mobile beta from the Android Market.

via CNET

Flash, HTML5 video coming to Opera Mobile for Android is a post from: mobiputing

According to the release notes, even though Opera 10.1 has gone final for Symbian, there’s still room for improvement. The app doesn’t support pinch-to-zoom, and there’s no support for HTML5 audio or video files. The new JavaScript engine also uses more memory than the older version, which could cause problems on some phones.

You can download Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian from the Opera Mobile page, or visit m.opera.com from your phone.

Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian has been in beta since this summer. A version of the app is also available for Google Android.

Opera Mobile 10.1 now available for Symbian S60 is a post from: mobiputing

Opera Mobile 10.1 beta for Google Android wasn’t supposed to be available until tomorrow, but it looks like the download link went live for a while today. I can’t find it at the moment, but the folks at Android Life snagged the installer and posted it online.

Scan to download

Update: Opera Mobile beta is now available as a free download from the Android Market.

The browser has a number of features that set it apart from the default Android browser, including:

• Quick switching between browser tabs without switching to a separate window
• Speed Dial feature which lets you customize a thumbnail list of favorite sites
• Opera Turbo mode feature which uses remote web servers to compress pages by up to 70%
• Opera Link for synchronizing bookmarks and other data between mobile and desktop versions of Opera

Opera Mobile 10.1 beta actually looks a lot like Opera Mini, which has been available for Android for months. The difference is that Opera Mini relies primarily on server-side compression while Opera Mobile uses your phone’s hardware to render web pages.

The new browser also supports pinch-to-zoom with hardware acceleration, which means you can zoom in and out with precision, while Opera Mini only has two zoom levels: in and out. Like Firefox Mobile though, Opera Mini seems to take a second to adjust to the new zoom level. Text tends to look fuzzy for a moment after you zoom before it clears up. Overall the browser loads pages much more quickly than Firefox at this point — especially with Turbo enabled. But both browsers are still in beta.

Overall Opera Mobile looks like a decent alternative for the default Android browser for existing Opera users or anyone looking for something a little different. It’s still clearly a work in progress though. When I tapped the browser button on my home screen, Opera didn’t show up as an option. There’s no support for Adobe Flash. And the app takes up quite a bit of storage space — about 20MB out of the box, and about 13 after “moving” the app to the SD card.

First look at Opera Mobile 10.1 beta for Android is a post from: mobiputing

Opera has announced that the Opera Mobile web browser will be available for Google Android on November 9th. We already knew the company was working on an Android version of the app, but now we have the release date. Opera Mobile is already available for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 devices.

Opera Mobile differs from the Opera Mini web browser which is already available for Android, since Opera Mini relies on remote server compressions to render pages quickly. Opera Mobile is a native browser that runs on your mobile device.

The browser will support pinch to zoom using hardware acceleration, geolocation, and other features that take advantage of your phone’s hardware. It will also have some of Opera’s hallmarks, including a Speed Dial page with thumbnail icons for your most important bookmarks, and Opera Link capabilities for synchronizing your data with the cloud (and Opera running on your desktop or other mobile devices).

Opera Mobile coming to Android next week is a post from: mobiputing

Opera software offers several different versions of its web browsers. There’s the desktop version, which is a full featured browser that offers bookmark and settings synchronization, tabs, and support for web standards. There’s the popular Opera Mini app for mobile phones which offers speedy page load times thanks to remote server compression technology that pre-processes data before sending it to your phone. And then there’s Opera Mobile, which sort of rests in between.

Opera Mobile is a native browser for mobile devices which renders web sites using your phone’s hardware, but which offers many of the small-screen optimizations available in Opera Mini.

So far Opera Mobile has only been available for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 devices. But Opera plans to release a new version for Android phones within a month.

The Android browser will support pinch to zoom and hardware acceleration. The hardware acceleration will help speed up page navigation and helps enable the pinch to zoom feature. Pinch to zoom may not exactly be revolutionary — it’s been available in Safari for the iPhone since day one, and the default Android browser has supported it for ages. But Opera Mini for Android currently only has two zoom levels: all the way in or all the way out. Opera Mobile will let you pinch the screen to zoom in and out as much or as little as you like.

Opera has been working on Opera Mobile for Android since at least February, but it’s good to know it should finally be available in the Android Market soon.

Opera also plans to launch Opera 11 for the desktop, which will have a new API allowing third party developers to write extensions in HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript to extend the functionality of the browser — much as they can already do with Firefox, Google Chrome, and other browsers.

Opera Mobile web browser for Android coming soon is a post from: mobiputing

Opera has launched an updated version of Opera Mini for Windows Mobile. Opera Mini 5.1 features a number of updates, including:

• Page layout improvements on high resolution screens
• Set Opera Mini as the default web browser
• Support for screen rotation on HTC and Samsung devices using a G-sensor
• Better kinetic scrolling
• Improved text input support

There are also a number of bug fixes, but one of the things I’m kind of psyched about is the alternate installer. While Opera Mini 5.1 officially supports Windows Mobile 5 and up, there’s an alternate installer that will let you load the browser on Windows Mobile 2003 devices. Previously you had to use an unofficial installer file to get Opera Mini 5 up and running on older Windows Mobile devices.

Opera Mini 5.1 is available as a free download by visiting m.opera.com from your phone. You can also choose the best installer file for your device from the Opera Mini & Mobile download page.

You can check out a promotional video after the break.

Opera Mini 5.1 for Windows Mobile now available is a post from: mobiputing

Another day, another mobile software release from the folks behind the Opera web browser. Yesterday the team launched Opera Mini 5.1 for Google Android. Today Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian Series 60 phones is ready for download.

While Opera Mini is designed to improve page load speeds by offloading some of the page rendering to Opera’s servers, Opera Mobile runs entirely on your mobile device. It features mobile versions of the rendering engine and Javascript engine used by Opera’s desktop browser.

At the same time, Opera Mobile 10.1 has some mobile-specific features including support for geolocation and touch-friendly controls for navigating through browser tabs and for zooming in and out of web sites. And if you’re experiencing slow network speeds on your phone, you can turn on “Turbo” mode which will enable Opera Mobile to use the same server-side compression as the Opera Mini browser to speed up page load times.

Symbian S60 users can download Opera Mobile 10.1 beta by visiting m.opera.com/next on their phones.

Opera Mobile 10.1 beta for Symbian now available is a post from: mobiputing

Opera has pushed out an updated version of the Opera Mini web browser for Google Android. Opera Mini 5.1 features stability improvements as well as a handful of improvements over Opera Mini 5 beta that you might actually notice, including:

• You can now set Opera Mobile as the default web browser.
• Full screen mode now actually uses the whole screen.
• The browser now has better page layout on Android handsets with large screens.
• There’s better kinetic scrolling action.
• There’s support for 96 languages.
• The browser will save your session if the app is automatically killed in the background, and will restore your session if you open the again app within 60 minutes.

Scan to download

Opera Mini’s main selling point is that it uses server-side compression to speed up page load times, especially over slow network connections. Basically when you enter a URL, a request is sent to Opera’s servers, and if they can speed things up by compressing some data before sending it to your phone, they’ll do that.

I also really like the way Opera Mini handles browser tabs by showing you thumbnails at the bottom of your screen when you press a button. The browser also supports pinch or double tap to zoom, storing bookmarks and passwords, and most of the other features you’d expect from a modern web browser.

On the other hand, there are a few limitations. Some web sites, such as Gmail don’t look as good in Opera Mini as in the default Android web browser. And there are only two zoom levels: in and out. You can’t keep zooming as you can with other mobile browsers.

Opera Mini 5.1 is available as a free download from the Android Market.

You can check out a demo video after the break.

Opera Mini 5.1 web browser now available for Android is a post from: mobiputing

For the last 10 years, Microsoft has been shipping its mobile operating systems with mobile versions of Internet Explorer. But as mobile web browsers go, the Internet Explorer tends to be sluggish and up until recently, the browser was hard to navigate with your fingers, instead relying on stylus input.

But Internet Explorer isn’t the only game in town. There are a number of popular third party browsers available for Windows Mobile, and the folks at xda-developers have written up a rather detailed overview of 5 Windows Mobile web browsers (including Internet Explorer).

If you’re looking for a good comparison of Skyfire, Internet Explorer, Firefox Mobile, Opera Mobile and Mini, and Dorothy, you should definitely check out the xda-developers article to see how the browsers stack up against one another in terms of page rendering speeds, user interface, and other criteria.

Windows Mobile web browsers rounded up, judged is a post from: mobiputing

Thing is… now that Opera is in Apple’s good graces, Skyfire might actually have a chance. That’s because like Opera, Skyfire uses remote compression to speed up page load speeds. Basically when you enter a URL in the mobile web browser, Skyfire sends the requests to its remote servers which compress some of the data before delivering it to your phone

One thing that Skyfire can do that Opera currently can’t is to even compress Adobe Flash content before sending it to a mobile device. Right now Skyfire offers mobile browsers for Windows Mobile and Symbian phones — but a version for iPhone and iPod touch could be particularly exciting, because right now there’s no way to view Flash video content on an iPhone. Skyfire could provide a workaround by remotely converting the video into a format the iPhone can handle.

I suspect we’ll see additional browser makers push to get onto the iPhone as well — but unless they can offer something that Safari doesn’t, I suspect they won’t have as much success as Opera has.

There’s no word on just how close Skyfire is to launching an iPhone/iPad/iPod touch version of its web browser. But in a company blog post, Skyfire’s Jeff Glueck writes that the team will “certainly accelerate our strategy on iDevices.” In the meantime, we already know that Skyfire is working on a Google Android version of its software, and a BlackBerry version is also in the works.

via CNET

Now everybody wants their web browser in the iPhone App Store (Skyfire) is a post from: mobiputing

As announced last night, the Opera Mini web browser is now available as a free download from the iPhone App Store. This is one of the first real alternatives to the Safari web browser that ships with the iPhone.

While there are other browsers in the App Store, they all use the same WebKit rendering engine as Safari. Opera Mini takes a different approach by offloading much of the heavy lifting to a remote server — where Opera will compress JavaScript, images, and other data and then send it to your phone. This means your phone will actually have to process fewer bits to accurately show a web page, and the end result is that Opera Mini should render pages more quickly than Safari under some conditions.

I took Opera Mini for a spin on my iPod touch this morning, and I have to say, it doesn’t really feel that much faster than Safari for most tasks. But I’m using it over a WiFi connection. I imagine if you have an iPhone 2G, that data compression could make a world of difference.

I do like the Opera Mini user interface. The tab switching mechanism is quite elegant. Just tap on the tab icon in the toolbar and a list of open tabs pops up. You can flip back and forth between those page seamlessly or hit the plus button to open a new page. I’m not sure if this is actually more efficient than the way Safari Mobile handles tab switching — but it feels faster, since you’re effectively able to switch tabs without leaving the current page to open up a tab switching screen.

By default, Opera Mini will load a full page view of most web sites. You can double-tap to zoom or use a multitouch pinch gesture. But you don’t have a lot of control over the zoom level. You’re basically either zoomed in or out. In practice, this is actually good enough for most situations. But it feels like a step back when you’re used to being able to zoom with more precision.

And some web pages just don’t render as elegantly in Opera Mini as in Safari. For instance, you don’t get the version of Gmail and Google Reader that are optimized for the iPhone and Android platforms when you use Opera Mini. Instead you get a much more clunky and outdated mobile interface for these mobile apps.

But while there are still some quirks, Opera Mini does finally offer iPhone and iPod touch users a viable alternative to Safari. And depending on your internet connection, you might find it to be significantly faster than Safari.

Opera Mini is also available for Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and most Java-based phones.

You can check out more screenshots and a hands-on video below.

First look at Opera Mini for the iPhone – Video is a post from: mobiputing

Wow. We knew that Opera had submitted a version of its Opera Mini web browser to the iPhone App Store for approval. But smart money was against Apple actually approving the app. After all, it’s a web browser. And the iPhone already has one of those: It’s called Safari. Apple has a long and steady history of rejecting apps duplicate the functionality of core iPhone apps… like the browser. But for some reason, Apple decided to let this one slide… probably just to mess with us or something.

Of course, Opera has its own theory. Since the Opera Mini browser uses server-side compression to render some web content much more quickly on mobile devices, Opera suggested that the browser is actually different enough from Safari to warrant its approval. At the very least, it should make surfing over a 2G connection with a first generation iPhone a whole lot more bearable.

Whatever the reason, the folks at Opera have sent out a note letting the world know that Apple has approved Opera Mini for the iPhone, and the app should be available as a free download from the App Store within the next 24 hours.

That means you can now use Opera Mini on Windows Mobile, Google Android, Symbian, the iPhone, and pretty much any Java-based phone. In addition to using remote servers to compress data and cut down on the bandwidth used by your phone, Opera Mini has some other nice features including a customizable start page with thumbnail shortcuts for your frequently visited sites, a rather elegant browser tab-switching scheme, and the ability to synchronize your preferences with the Opera Link web service — so you can share your bookmarks and other preferences with the desktop version of Opera.

You can check out a demo video of Opera Mini for the iPhone after the break.

Against all odds, Opera Mini web browser headed to the iPhone App Store is a post from: mobiputing

Opera is bringing both of its mobile web browsers out of beta. Opera Mobile 10 is available for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones. This mobile browser supports tabbed browsing, Opera’s Speed Dial feature, which gives you 9 shortcut icons on your home screen, and the ability to synchronize your data with the desktop version of Opera.

Opera Mini 5 offer similar functionality. The main difference is that Opera Mini relies on data compression to reduce the amount of work your phone has to do to view a web page. Basically, Opera’s servers pre-load most images and other content, compress it, and then shoot it to your phone to save bandwidth.

The final version of Opera Mini 5 is available for Blackberry and Java-based phones. The browser is also available for Windows Mobile and Android, but both of these recently launched versions are still in beta.

You can install Opera Mobile 10 or Opera Mini 5 on most phones by visiting m.opera.com in a mobile browser.

Opera Mini 5, Opera Mobile 10 shed the beta labels is a post from: mobiputing

Opera has launched an updated version of the Opera Mini web browser for Google Android. Opera Mini 5 beta has all the hallmarks of Opera Mini on other platforms, including:

• Speed Dial: A start page with quick access to 9 of your bookmarked pages
• Data compression: Opera’s servers actually compress each page before it’s sent to you, making page loads much faster on slow devices
• Opera Link: You can synchronize your bookmarks with the desktop version of Opera’s web browser

Opera Mini 5 beta also has a password manager and decent bookmark and history views.

Probably my favorite feature is the way that Opera handles tabbed browsing. Just hit the tab button in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and Opera will bring up thumbnails of all your open windows. You can hit the plus bar to open a new tab, or hit the X over any icon to close a tab. It’s much more intuitive than the way that the default Google Android browser handles tabs, and it takes up less screen real estate than the always-visible tab bar on the Dolphin web browser for Android.

There’s no support for multitouch, which means you can’t pinch to zoom. But zooming, scrolling, and other actions are very fast and smooth using single-touch gestures.

The launch of Opera Mini 5 beta for Android comes just a week after the launch of Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile.

You can download Opera Mini 5 beta  for Android from Opera.com, or from the Android Market.

You can check out my hands-on video with Opera Mini 5 beta for Android after the break.

Opera Mini 5 beta web browser now available for Android – Video is a post from: mobiputing

Opera has released a public beta of Opera Mini 5 for Windows Mobile. Up until now, you had two choices for running an Opera browser on a Windows Mobile phone or PDA: You could purchase Opera Mobile (or use a public beta) or use the Java-based version of Opera Mini. The new software runs natively, no Java required.

Opera Mini 5 beta 2 supports devices running Windows Mobile 5 and 6. Like the Java based version of Opera Mobile, the native app supports tabbed browsing, bookmarks, a password, manager, and Opera Speed Dial — a feature that lets you tap thumbnail icons with shortcuts to your most frequently visited web sites.

One of the things that makes Opera Mini different from most mobile web browsers is the fact that you don’t need a speedy processor in order to experience fast page load times. That’s because Opera uses server-side data compression. In other words, when you enter a URL, the information is sent to Opera, they process the page remotely and send you a compressed version that opens up on your mobile browser. It sounds like it would be slow, but it’s actually faster than trying to load some full web sites using a relatively slow phone.

You can download Opera Mini 5 beta 2 by visiting m.opera.com/next from your device, or by downloading the desktop installer from Opera.com.

Opera Mini native web browser for Windows Mobile is a post from: mobiputing