Opera Software today released Opera Mini 5 Beta. Immediately, I checked the opera page and saw some cool features written and was excited to use those in my mobile. So I downloaded the public beta of the browser. About my opera history, I have been using it since I started mobile browsing. From the default Opera in my N70 to stable Opera Mini 4 I had installed, Opera Mini was one and only mobile browser for me though it’s desktop release never impressed me.
Splash Screen of Opera Mini 5
After installing, the new Opera Mini 5, I started the application. The first thing I noticed was the splash text writing Opera Mini in bigger size than the previous release and a black theme rather than a bright white splash of the previous version. And as usual, after about downloading 100Kb of data for initializing the browser started and ready to use.
Start Page of Opera Mini 5
The first thing noticed on the startpage was the dark black theme which was simple yet elegant. And the search box was brought to the same row as that of address bar. And speed dial with preview of the website was shown as in it’s desktop version. And I selected the address bar and started typing the web URL.
Pop Displaying Letter Choices
As soon as I entered the first keystroke from my keypad, a small pop-up was displayed showing the letter choices as it in the keypad which was a great usability improvement. And as always the address completion feature was also useful.
Ujjwol.com.np in Opera Mini 5
Once, the first site was loaded on the new browser with pretty decent speed, the browser provided me a virtual mouse. The virtual mouse was not so different from the previous version. The RSS or Atom feed link of the website was just displayed below the title. After that I clicked the Menu and saw a bran new menu page being displayed.
Menu Page of the browser
The menu page consisted of icons of SpeedDial, Next/Previous Tab Arrows, Reload and Exit with a plus sign in above for adding new tab and a down arrow for dropdown menu.
The new tabbed browsing
The tabbed browsing on mobile with Opera Mini was a great experience. But the in tabbing browsing the pages were not loaded simultaneously on different tabs(or at least I did see that in my mobile). And the process of switching tab is confusing for the first timers.
Drop Down Menu
The dropdown menu on the menu page consisted of Bookmarks, Find on Page, Saved Pages and other available options. This dropdown menu was great for faster access to the functions available.
Using Find in Opera Mini 5
The find on the page was faster ,more easily accessible and better in results than in it’s previous versions. Saved pages features could have come hand but it did at least for me on my S60 v2 as J2ME program are unable or have difficulty to access the phone memory.
Settings in Vertical Mode
With a sleek and smoother look and feel altering many settings under Settings was easier. The change from landscape to vertical mode was also faster and better. Speed Dial was improved to easily add sites faster. The bookmarking system was also great and the nice history listing added to it’s improvements.
Drop-down Search Selection
The search bar was also improved with a drop-down menu on same page itself rather than another page as that of it’s older release.Clearing Privacy and other stuffs was also a addition to this gem including the brand new Password Manager. The inline editing making the mobile browsing much easier and less annoying. Even the pop-up menus for confirmation saw great improvement.
Though this version of world most used mobile browser brings improved user interface with more usability and tens of improvements, there has been a significant degradation in performance of this browser. Including the startup time, response time and making the use of functions and overall browsing experience is degraded in terms of speed and performance. As the product reviewed was a beta, we hope to see a performance improvement in the final release. And with great features this browser brings more web 2.0 to your mobile.
In its fifth-generation version Opera Mini is staying true to the promise of a superior Web experience on a mobile device.
Pros
- Smooth and great user interface
- Improved functions
- Faster and Easier Accessibility
Cons
- Slow startup and response time
Rating: 4 out of 5
Some Screenshots of the Opera Mini 5
Zooming In the page
Wikipedia with Feed Below Title
Showing History
Showing Bookmark
Options in the Drop Menu
Showing the speed dial selection
Failed to Access the disk
Confirming the exit
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Screenshot taken by Screenshot for Symbian OS (GNU GPL)
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2 Comments
Opera is the coolest product for s60 lovers.Would be cooler if it starts supporting flash.
Ya, Opera is a great product. I think supporting flash is of no use. At least for me, as I don’t do anything flash necessary in mobiles with the slow bandwidth of GPRS. Which I think applies to many. But adding a new feature is also cool.