It’s been about two months since Opera introduced the non-beta version of its Opera 10 desktop browser, and today the Norwegian software developer is following up on that release with that of the latest beta build of Opera Mobile, a custom browser specifically built to give Symbian and Windows Mobile equipped handset users a (much) more pleasant Web browsing experience.
The company’s latest ‘State of the Mobile Web’ report, which was based on usage data from their other mobile browser product, the popular Opera Mini, suggests that mobile web usage is still increasing at a rapid pace. With that in mind, Opera has given its free Opera Mobile browser a decent makeover and added several new features that many a Nokia owner – and despite popular belief, there are still a heck of a lot of phones from the beleaguered Finnish handset manufacturer out there – will definitely enjoy.
The new Opera Mobile 10 beta features a fresh look that was first introduced with the recent release of Opera Mini 5 beta. The new design also comes with a set of new features like the Speed Dial, bookmarking and tabbed browsing elements Opera desktop browser users have long grown accustomed to as well as a handy password manager. Opera Mobile 10 beta can be downloaded here and is optimized for both touchscreen and keypad-style navigation on Nokia devices and select Sony Ericsson and Samsung smartphones running Symbian/S60.
Opera Software claims the latest build of the smartphone browser product is notably faster than the previous beta release (9.7) and is even twice as speedy when downloading or zooming in on pages. Apart from the performance upgrade, Opera Mobile 10 also sports full integration of Opera Turbo, the company’s server-side compression technology that makes loading Web pages from mobile devices faster and cheaper.
Since I do not have any Nokia devices lying around anymore, I haven’t been able to actually test the performance of Opera Mobile 10 hands-on, but if my experience with the company’s desktop browser and Opera Mini are anything to go by, the company doesn’t ever appear to compromise on speed. As for the design, you can judge for yourself based on the screenshots below – or your own experience of course.
opera is a great browser i have seen its all version on blackberry and on Symbian its rocks
I agree!! Rocks on Nokia S60v5 and v3 phones.
I’ve been using “Opera Mini 5″ recently and it is great. Though I didnt really got what is the difference of Opera Mobile and Opera Mini? The Opera Mini 5 I got for the N97 was pretty similar to the one presented in the post.
Ill give a try
Opera Mobile is a complete web browser installed on your mobile phone—all the code rendering and JavaScript interaction happens on your mobile.
This is in contrast to Opera Mini, where the rendering happens on the server and a compressed version is then sent to the handset.
And yes, the new betas of Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 look very similar and are operated in much the same way.
iirc, recent opera mobile releases have gotten a “turbo” mode, that works much the same as opera mini.
Opera Mobile 10 is really awesome! In South Africa – I used Opera Mini on some of the pre-iPhone smart phones to browse the mobile web and it worked like a charm!
Yip, I only use Opera Mini, the UI is a massive improvement on previous versions of their mobile browser.
I strongly recommend that anyone, who does not have an iPhone, download this version.
It’s definitely better than the std Nokia browser
Keduax!!
Its a great browser for my blackberry .. Have been using it for last 6 months … the surfing is easy on this browser…..
Best,
Daina
Opera Mobile 10 Beta looks exactly like the latest Beta of Opera Mini.
But it opens and works much faster than any other browser on my Nokia, also the rendered images and the letters look much better.
Unfortunately it’s unusable for me because my old Eseries screams for more memory in every second. Nevertheless Opera Mobile goes on loading pages in the background behind the error popup window.
Opera Mobile 10 Beta looks nice, but I have to stick with the slower Opera Mini or the Bolt browser.
it shows by default the full site – if i am on the mobile shouldn’t it default to the mobile site for the particular url..
Opera Mobile 10 really moves much faster than Opera Mini and it’s a real improvement on mobile browsers – superior to alternative SkyFire, for example or the default S60 browser.
* Tested on a Nokia E71
It is a nice browser, tested with my Nokia 5800. Excellent. As they said it is faster than it’s previous versions.
I dont know whats wrong i cant seem to install it on my n73 music edition. It keeps saying “not compatible with your phone continue anyway”. what should i do?
When ll it be available for Sony Ericsson P1i… rply..
Main difference between the Mobile 10 and the Mini 5 IMO is that tle latter seem to be stuck in Turbo mode, making sites like 4chan (cannot use the onsite file upload) and arstechnica unusable.