Opera Mini 4, Released and Free

[Jaime Rivera]

If you're craving for a close to desktop web browsing experience many iPhone users enjoy with Safari, welcome Opera Mini 4 (http://www.operamini.com/).

Being a Java based application, Opera Mini was designed for almost any Java MIDlet enabled mobile phone which includes many Windows Mobile devices, simple Motorola phones and even Blackberry devices to just name a few in the full list (http://www.operamini.com/download/wap/). It offers users the ability to view a web page in full desktop format and zoom in and out of the areas you wish to see.

After testing it since Beta 1 (3 released in total), one of my favorite features is the fact that in touch screen devices, scrolling can be done with your fingers, much like TouchFLO would allow. Other key features (http://www.operamini.com/features/) would be an option for RSS Feeds, simple one column web browsing and bookmark mapping to your keypad. Opera also claims this mini version allows cheaper browsing by downloading less content than what other mobile browsers would.

If your phone is not in the full list of supported devices, which was my case, head on to the Opera Mini mobile web site (http://mini.opera.com/?rel=4) using your mobile device's current browser for your free copy today.

[Brandon Miniman]

Finally! Give me an idea on how good this is... if PIE is a 2 on a 0-10 in terms of richness of internet browsing experience, where would this fit?

[Jaime Rivera]

Finally! Give me an idea on how good this is... if PIE is a 2 on a 0-10 in terms of richness of internet browsing experience, where would this fit?

Honestly, I wouldn't even compare it to PIE. The user experience is just a whole new ball game. I would love to compare it to Safari, which I've never used. It'd be great if somebody could compare them.

Overall, my first day gives it a 7. The bookmark button mapping and the zooming are what I would consider all mobile browsers should have.

There are a couple of things though, I'm not liking as of now. One thing would be the memory foot print of it running. It could eat up as much as 8mb of RAM at once:eek:. Another would be the fact that if you choose to get maximum quality images, browsing could be slow. My final for today would be the fact that there are still things to be improved. For example, if I want to quote your reply on the forum, I can't select the text area for typing in most cases. Viewing my hotmail doesn't give me full fidelity in how my email is displayed. I'll keep you posted.

[JwY]

Here are some Opera Mini tips and tricks such as directly making a shortcut instead of having to go through the Java Manager:

http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/ppc-6800-xv6800/91837-opera-mini-4-beta-2-released-includes-info-new-java-midlet-manager.html

[Jaime Rivera]

Here are some Opera Mini tips and tricks such as directly making a shortcut instead of having to go through the Java Manager: http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/ppc-6800-xv6800/91837-opera-mini-4-beta-2-released-includes-info-new-java-midlet-manager.html

Now there is something I was looking for! Thanks for the post!

[Jaime Rivera]

Day 2 Gives it an 8.

Opera, though slower than PIE in full image resolution actually downloads half as much data to load pocketnow.com in full version than what PIE would consume in the mobile version. These are great news for users on a tight data budget.

Another thing I enjoy is that scrolling is what I would call "smart". The page is loaded in order for the blocks of text to fit your screen and once you zoom in and scroll, if one of the paragraphs is not aligned with the other, the browser auto aligns with it.

The only thing I probably don't like about day 2 is tha fact that even though version 4 supports landscape rotation, if you rotate your screen without doing it on the browser, it actually will rotate Opera, but it won't align with the new screen resolution until you comand Opera to do so. Using a slide out keyboard can become annoying. The other would be the lack of tabs we do see on Opera Mobile, though Opera Mini's cache is so good, yo probably don't need it. You'll notice that if you move back and forth through pages, they won't load again. They keep their previous load aspect until you close Opera Mini.

For all the rest, I don't even remember where PIE's shortcut is any more. Opera Mini has definetly become part of my day.