What's New

The biggest news coming out of this latest release is Opera Mini's huge speed increase. A server side upgrade allowed for this and based on the initial responses on the Opera Mini forum, users are noticing a difference. This feature alone could make Opera the must-have browser for mobile web surfers, especially since Firefox Mobile has yet to materialize.

Another useful, time-saving feature in 4.1 is its ability to autocomplete your URLs. The new browser will suggest URL completions based on your bookmarking and browsing history, simplifying the process of inputting text.

Like big brother Opera Mobile, Opera Mini will now also offer offline access to the web. If you think you're about to lose your signal, you can save your web page to your phone so you can browse it anytime, no matter your connection strength.

On small screens, it can be hard to find the content you want on a web site, so Opera Mini has introduced a search feature that lets you search for text within a web page.

Opera Mini will also now let you download and upload files if your phone supports JSR-75, a a specification for Java applications that allow them to access the device's internal storage. For supported phones, this means that you'll be able to use Opera instead of the phone's native browser to download images, ringtones, and more as well as add attachments to email messages.

A definitive list of phones supporting JSR-75 was not available, but sites like this or this thread on the Sun Java forum might help you determine if your phone will work. However, the best way to find out if the feature works on your phone may be to just try it out.

In addition to the download/upload ability, be aware that JSR-75 support can also affect your phone's ability to save web pages for offline viewing.

Try It Out

To get started with the beta, you can download Opera Mini from http://www.operamini.com/beta. After trying out the beta, issues, bugs, and suggestions can be reported in the Opera Mini 4.1 section of the Opera forums: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/forum.dml?id=111.

What's New and Improved?

Several innovations make the new version of Opera Mobile an exciting mobile upgrade, and one that brings us closer to a desktop experience on our mobile devices. Here are the highlights:

• Speed Increase: The speed increase comes from an improvement to Opera's Presto rendering engine, which has been tweaked to be improve performance by accelerating the way it handles web pages. The new engine is more responsive, even if the web page uses a lot JavaScript and AJAX. This means that sites like Facebook and MySpace are entirely functional. Opera claims Presto can achieve page load speeds comparable to those on a desktop PC.
• Flash-Ready: The new Opera Mobile is Flash-ready so it can be used for viewing sites such as YouTube (mobile). However, equipment makers and wireless carriers will be the ones with the option to include Flash Lite 3 with Opera Mobile, if desired, so it will be up to them to give their customers this functionality.
• ZoomT: The addition of Opera's ZoomT technology lets you quickly take a closer look at what you want to see and then choose between viewing the entire page or zooming in to focus on the details.
• Offline Browsing: Web pages can be saved for offline browsing when you travel into a dead spot and the internet/data connection is weak or not available at all.
• Productivity Tools: New built-in tools make Opera Mobile even easier to use. These include things like a Password Manager, Address Auto Complete, Copy Text, and a Pop-Up Handler.
• Tabbed Browsing: Just like on your desktop browser, you can have multiple tabs in your Opera Mobile browser.
• Opera Widgets: (Yes, widgets!) Widgets are mini applications that sit on the mobile device's home screen and allow you to access web content with just a few clicks. Opera Mobile allows for the rapid development of web apps for mobile phones and other handheld devices so handset providers can create widgets that are preinstalled, like widgets fro weather, traffic, news, and email. Widgets can also be downloaded over the air by the user or delivered via push.
• And More: Opera Mobile 9.5 will also include features like improved text wrap, landscape mode, the ability to call a number from a web page, the ability to send a link or image via SMS/MMS, web history, and bookmarking. 

Where and When?

Opera Mobile is currently shipped on more than 100 million phones including devices by HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, and others. Now, a leading software platform provider, UIQ, will be working with handset manufacturers and carriers to get Opera's new mobile browser on future devices. The public beta release of Opera Mobile 9.5 will be announced separately.

For more information, check out this video demonstrating some of the new features: