Opera Mini 4
Opera just released a new version of it’s mobile phone browser, Opera Mini 4. While Google itself does a pretty nice job of automatically adapting webpages to a mobile view, a couple of the features and user-friendly interface kept me returning to Opera Mini for certain webpages. The new features in Opera Mini 4 have already convinced me to use it for my full-time browsing, save for Twitter and Facebook, which already have great standalone mobile versions of their sites. So I thought I would go over some of the new version’s features, as well as old features that are still great.
New Stuff
Opera Link:
Opera Mini now supports Opera Link, which lets you sync your bookmarks between your desktop and phone. A great feature if you use Opera on your standard computer, but since I use Flock (a story for another time) this doesn’t affect me. Still a nice feature though, for those who can use it.
Full View Support and Landscape View:
Opera Mini 3 previously would just compress normal websites into a single column, cutting down on load time, scrolling, and the like. Version 4 still has the option for this, but it will also scrunch an entire website on your screen, and let you move a magnifying lens around the page to select areas to zoom in on. This is an awesome feature for sites that do not compress well, like MetaCritic and Amazon, both of which also have subpar mobile versions of their page. Now you don’t have to put up with limited browsing or scrolling through five screens of horizontal links lined up in a column. Opera Mini 4 also has a Landscape option, which lets you turn your phone on its side for a widescreen view- it also automatically adapts softkeys and your numberpad to coincide, keeping the simple browsing abilities of normal Mobile Mode. Very nice.
Virtual Mouse:
Scrolling on basic WAP browsers and Opera Mini 3 was constricted to either half-page scrolls or moving between links. Mini 4 now has a virtual on-screen mouse, allowing you to move right to a specific link or text box. If a link or box is only half-showing, it also snaps the screen to focus on the newly highlighted item.
Define Search Patterns:
This feature was available in limited ability on previous versions of Opera Mini. Now, however, you can snatch any search field from a website and add it to the list of searches on the browser’s Start Page.
Faster Scrolling:
Along with the virtual mouse, Opera Mini 4 also lets you use the keypad for faster scrolling. The 2, 4, 6, and 8 buttons on your phone now let you jump around a full website with ease. The 5 button zooms in and out for moving around a page even faster.
Quick Browsing Options:
Pressing the 1 key on your phone brings up a small menu that lets you switch between Full and Mobile views, choose to Load Images (if you have option initially turned off), Reload the page, access Page Information (including security info for sites like Amazon), even Download Images (if your phone allows it). It also gives you Link Options, so you can choose to open a link without loading Images, or get information on the link (like see where it’s going to).
New Standards Support:
Opera Mini 4 now has HTML tables, CSS handheld stylesheets, and more advanced support for CSS, allowing webpage developers the ability to make pages look real purty even in mobile mode. It also make regular pages look their best on the tiny screen, as well.
Other Improvements:
-Added support for small anti-aliased bitmap fonts
-Simplified setup process
-Improved image quality
-Improved fit to width mode rendering
-Simplified settings page
-Added native blackberry menu
-Dialogs are now displayed with round corners and alpha channel overlay windows
-New and improved server side cookie handling
Old Stuff That Still Rocks
Super-Fast Loading:
Opera Mini compresses a website’s data before it starts to load it. If you don’t have unlimited web access and pay by the kilobyte, this reduces costs by a lot, as well as loading time. For example, the New York Times website, normally 600kb, is compressed to about 80kb. This also reduces load time from around 63 seconds to 21.
My Opera Start Page:
Whenever you start Opera Mini, it takes you to a slick start page that lets you enter a web URL, do a search, and access your bookmarks and history.
Fullscreen View and Clock:
Opera Mini has two bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The top shows the title of the webpage and its icon, while the bottom shows the softkey options and the time. Hitting the * button twice removes these bars for a fullscreen view.
Speed Dial:
If you have a lot of bookmarks, you can set common ones to Speed Dial keys. So you can just hit *2 to go right to a frequently-used site. If you can’t recall your Speed Dial settings, hitting * and waiting a moment brings up a popup that shows your Speed Dial bookmarks.
RSS Feeds:
Opera Mini has a built-in RSS feed reader, and *0 will take you to a list of subscribed feeds, giving you quick access to your favorite news. As a non-Opera user on my regular computer, I’m not sure if the Opera Link feature also syncs your RSS feeds, but I’m assuming it’s the case.
Downsides
Security:
Also Opera Mini does support many security protocols, it doesn’t support all of them. Sites like Wells Fargo will not work, although it is very likely that Wells Fargo’s own mobile version will work in your regular WAP browser.
No Automatic Reload:
If you are viewing a full page in portrait view and switch to landscape, the formatting will still be in portrait. You have to reload the page to have it formatted in landscape. Not a big deal, but a little frustrating.
No Carryover:
If you used Opera Mini 3 a lot and have a ton of bookmarks and feeds saved, they do not carry over into Opera Mini 4. You will have to go to all your bookmarked pages and feeds and re-save them. Luckily, now that Opera Link is supported, this won’t be a problem for future updates.
(edit: Apparently, if your phone allows you to install over Mini 3, which mine doesn’t, it will carry over cookies and bookmarks. Again, now that Opera Link is supported, this issue is fixed)
No Verizon Support:
Sorry, suckers. You reap what you sow. If you are using a Blackberry on Verizon, however, you can use Opera Mini 4.
Overall, if you use your phone to access the web a lot, Opera Mini 4 is a great tool and far better than any basic WAP browser that comes on your phone normally. The only thing it isn’t great for is online banking and Google tools like Gmail, Docs, and Maps. However, Gmail and Google Maps have standalone applications that work beautifully, so this isn’t the biggest deal in the world. In my case, with no home internet but a dataplan on my phone, Opera Mini 4 is a lifesaver, allowing me to read news, check forums, blogs, etc anywhere I am. I highly recommend it if you think you’ll benefit, because it really is a great, useful, and attractive application.
You can check out an online demo on Opera Mini 4 here, and access the different methods of getting it on your phone here.
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Actually, the bookmarks should carry over from Mini 3. They didn’t in the beta because it was installed separately, but if you install Mini 4 final over Mini 3 it will try to keep the cookies from the old installation. If it works is phone dependant.
Ah, okay- thanks for the info, Peter. My phone doesn’t let me overwrite applications, so I had Mini 4 installed separately. Good to know, I’ll edit the article.