Back in April, Opera released a preview of their mobile Opera Mini browser for the Android SDK. It looked as good as ever with running on Android, but it still was not complete. Until now we have had to deal with the less than perfect integrated Android browser.
Now users have a choice as to which browser they will use to surf the net. Newly introduced into the Android Market is Opera Mini 4.2 made specifically for Android. What a relief to see one of our favorite browsers on our new favorite handset! However this version is reportedly not without bugs.
Some highlights of the mobile browser are changeable skins and the “speed dial” features that gives you a nice grid of popular windows so you don’t have to open your bookmarks every time. Opera Mini is very unique in the fact that instead of downloading the page to your device and then rendering it, the browser renders it on their servers and then sends it to the handset reducing the load time.
Our question to you is, how do you like it? Is this enough to get you to completely stop using the native browser? Send us a comment and let us know.
Comments For This Post
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Not even close to the integrated browser, this is just not meant for touch screens, I loved it on my BB though.
by jmejiaa
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need more work on it~~since is beta~~cant judge too much~~what i really wish is a full opera browser like the Winmo have, it will run much better in an android
by PHILLIPXENXCIEL
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The int browser is the best browser on any cell phone. Even the iphone's browser which has the added glory of multi-touch has to re-render the site when scrolling up and down using those white blocks (think google maps over an edge connection).
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Needs to be optimized for the G1 since it has a touch screen. Useing opera mini on my G1 makes me feel like on a blackberry.
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If the scrolling was more flowy like the integrated browser, and there were a few more long press zoom options, i would like this over the integrated browser. Very quick, but i cant handle swiping my finger 12 times to scroll to the bottom of the page. Id rather not zoom in and out a few times while in the page. But nice start.
by hondamx525
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serious bugs with it, but hopefully the kinks get ironed out, i love poera on a mobile platform.
by kitsunisan
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This is great news.
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Wow. WICKED FAST!!!
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Finally! Death to horizontal scrolling.
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Forget this.. Internet Explorer is the best browser in whole wide world.
by XDViPeR
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most of operas basic shortcuts work, same with their button combo shortcuts
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i don't like the fact that when you are typing in a new url, it takes you to a different screen...didn't really notice a change in performance from the native browser...fix the browser up a bit and I may consider using it
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you know, people complain about the text boxes, but from the versions of opera I've used on blackberries and other devices, its pretty much standard for opera. A bit annoying, but I can live with it. Here's what has me excited about the possibilities, can you imagine if they brought over opera's mouse gestures and applied them to the touchscreen?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by badbob001
Finally! Death to horizontal scrolling.
worth mentioning that this only works in mobile view...
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This browser was not made around the phone. Loads faster but some of the conviences that are on Chrome mobile just out weigh using this on the phone. I had the same problem with this browser with the recent update to even my curve. The 4.5 software browser on the BB is easier to use than the Opera mini
by SaveTheChicken
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I didn't notice any benefits of Opera Mini over the built-in browser. Opera Mobile would probably be nice but otherwise this one is just a downgrade in every way.
by outsider
(16) comments | Add your commentsBest browser hands down. by fellonblackdays
For the time being i will continue to use the stock browser that came with my phone. by NismoG35
- faster internet access when not on 3G
- switch off 3G access; and longer battery life
http://blog.jayeyesea.com/2008/11/24...to-the-masses/
jon by jdbradford
As for scrolling you can (if you have small enough fingers) grab the scroll bar and go all the way down (instead of using your fingers 12 times as mentioned above).
Only thing it's missing is "Save Page"...but apparently it's the phone's fault for not supporting "JSR-75" blah blah blah. Either that or I'm just missing it. by JimDog
If you never used opera mini before: use the trackball and scroll up and down to move between links and left and right to page up / down. Opera Mini is best used with a dpad but the trackball is okay. Definitely not really fat finger friendly and wasn't designed for it. by badbob001
number 3 to page down, 8 to page up, 5 to zoom out and in, etc... arrow pointer with trackball etc...
if the interface is streamlined a bit more and the reload-link problem gets fixed, i'd rather use this than the native webkit based browser due to speed alone...
opera mini is so much faster because its proxy based, don't think webkit will beat it anytime soon speed wise by tread
and for the record...IE sucks lol most of their features were bit off from open source...like...multi-tabbed browsing (thank you, open source) by tornadoofsouls87
I just downloaded the update, scrolling seems smoother. Anyone else think so? by kitsunisan
If you never used opera mini before: use the trackball and scroll up and down to move between links and left and right to page up / down. Opera Mini is best used with a dpad but the trackball is okay. Definitely not really fat finger friendly and wasn't designed for it.
Lots of bad-mouthing going on about this app at the moment but i think it is superb. I agree it takes a little getting used to, and the very best apps are intuitive from the start, but once you get the hang of it (or if you come from a series 60 world where you used opera mini for ages) it is an incredible browsing experience as it is so fast to load, and using the trackball scrolling mentioned above makes navigating around a page so quick too. (works best with mobile-formatted websites - m.google.com m.ft.com mobile.live.com bbc.co.uk/mobile kizoom.mobi m.facebook.com are my favs )...
On the downside, using "mobile view" on non-mobile websites can be a confusing experience due to the rearranged layout, so i can see this is a barrier for new users. by wilbur