Opera Mini 5 -Â Best Mobile Web Browser
We have been waiting for an upgraded version of ever popular Opera Mini and finally we get our hands on the newly launched Beta version of Opera Mini 5. As we take a close look at the browser, it completely mesmerizes one with its rich mobile browsing experience and speed. It comes with an outstanding new user interface that is a significant improvement over its previous versions. It even outshines the most recent builds of Opera Mobile. It is a powerful MIDP browser for J2ME-enabled devices. Opera Mini’s back-end infrastructure uses the same HTML rendering engine that reproduces complex web pages with high accuracy and consuming very little bandwidth. With top-notch usability and its light weight, it’s guaranteed to turn heads.
Opera Mini 5’s User Interface
Huge changes in user interface has made Opera Mini 5 significantly more functional and aesthetically appealing. With its subtle animations and elegant visual styling that make it feel very natural to use, it is a treat to one’s eyes. Depending on the kind of device it adjusts itself and optimizes its looks to suit your device. The interface is stylish and responds immediately to your commands. The URL field and the search box are in the same line instead of being atop each other as in the previous version. Entering URLs is a lot easier now and clicking a text entry field doesn’t lead you to a page where you enter your text and hit OK to come back to the page. Navigation has been the key to Opera Mini’s success and we see it getting a boost in Opera Mini 5 that supports touch actions. It offers a good kinetic scrolling and iPhone-like on-screen keyboard.
Opera Mini 5 supports Tabbed Browsing
The highlight of the upgrade lies in its support for tabbed browsing. A button in the toolbar toggles the visibility of the tab switcher. The user can easily switch to another open page by clicking one of the thumbnails in the display pane of open browser tabs. It provides a superior tab handling model compared to Opera Mobile, which comes as a surprise. Unlike Opera Mobile which allows only 3 tabs to be open, Opera Mini 5 allows the user to open as many tabs as they want.Â
Opera Mini 5’s New Features
The browser also introduces a quick-dial page to which users can assign URLs to the individual slots, that is displayed as partial page thumbnails. By default, the quick-dial view is displayed in a new blank tabs, which makes it very convenient to use.
Another addition is the copy paste feature which might be quite useful for those who have been longing to copy and paste stuff from a web page to other “areas” of their phone. It can copy any matter from a web page (a non editable entity) to other areas of the phone.
                
Opera Mini 5 brings with it a new Password Manager for the browser. The earlier versions were able to “store” your passwords but weren’t having a actual password manager. With the Opera Mini 5 you get a powerful command center from where you can delete or switch the password manager on. Just like on a desktop browser, the password manager pops up as soon as you login to any website to ask you if you wish to save the login for that website.
Opera Mini 5 delivers a great combination of good performance and absolutely lovely user interface, delivering a great user experience in a small package. It’s a big leap forward for mobile browsing.
You can now download the beta version from Opera‘s official website.