Posted on September 16, 2009, at 2:00 am .
Opera Software have just announced the release of Opera Mini 5 beta, the latest release to the popular third party BlackBerry browser.
The fifth generation of Opera Mini introduces a new look and feel as well as Speed Dial bookmarks and tabs. The tabbed browsing feature is by far one of the best additions to this product. This has been a sought after feature by the BlackBerry community for some time now, and it’s great to be able to finally get it.
To download the latest version of Opera Mini, visit m.opera.com/next from your BlackBerry browser.
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Posted on August 25, 2009, at 10:42 am .
Recently, RIM acquired Torch Mobile in a move that made their plans to update the native BlackBerry Browser public. This is leaving BlackBerry users wondering how third party browsers such as Opera, will compete.
Dennis Bournique of WAPReview has some great insight into this acquisition and what it means for Opera. While it is great that BlackBerry will be updating their browser, there is always room for improvement and this is where third party browsers such as Opera Mini will always be complementary to the BlackBerry platform.
First of all, Opera has consistently built what I consider to be better mobile browsers than any of the Webkit implementations. For example, I have never seen a Webkit based mobile browser where the cache worked properly, pressing the “Back” button always seems to reload the page, wasting time and network resources. The Webkit based browsers I have used also generally did not have a fit to width option and dedicated page up and page down keys, features that are standard on Opera browsers and are critical to browsing effectively on mobile. Opera mobile browsers also tend to be faster than Webkit based ones. Opera Turbo, which combines the speed of server assisted browsing with the security of the end to end encryption provided by direct browsing, will raise the bar even higher. I expect that Opera will continue to offer better alternative browsers on all platforms and by doing so will be able to monetize the various Opera products effectively with sales and search engine deals.
I highly recommend reading WAPReview’s take on the Torch Mobile acquisition.
Posted on August 5, 2009, at 2:49 pm .
Table of Contents
Internet data consumption through mobile devices is growing at an incredible rate globally. BlackBerry devices and smartphones in general are at the forefront of this growth, and consumers are constantly on the hunt for the perfect browser. Opera Mini is a leading 3rd party mobile browser and I’ve taken the time to put together a review of the browser, as well as include a tip on how to use Opera Mini to get Internet access, without purchasing an Internet data plan.
Continue reading the full Opera Mini Review
Posted on July 27, 2009, at 5:44 pm .
Grand Prize: The winner of the Grand Prize goes to Alex Lombardi. Alex’s review of Opera Mini will be tomorrow morning for everyone to read. The winning review was a close call between Alex, @coffeedaze and a review submitted by Dennis from WAPreview.com.
The Grand Prize is a 7-day all-inclusive trip to Scandinavia this summer. Congratulations Alex!
Dennis is in a tough situation for prizes because he’s using an iDen 7100, and therefore none of our cases and accessories really apply. If anyone wants to trade a CDMA Curve for an 8350i, we can make this happen. We’re giving him:
$100 for the BlackBerry Cool Store
Duracell PowerSource Mini
Freedom Keyboard
We’re giving @coffeedaze
$100 for the BlackBerry Cool Store
A Mobile Portable Power solution
X-Mini Speaker system
We’re also giving away:
BodyGuardz scratch protectors for the Curve 900 and Bold.
Otterbox cases for the Bold and 8900.
So if you entered and have a Bold or Curve 900, leave a comment with the same username/email.
Posted on June 29, 2009, at 7:06 am .
Win a 7-day all-inclusive trip to Scandinavia this summer!
We’re still running our Opera Mini contest so be sure to enter to win. All you have to do is download Opera Mini 4.2 on your BlackBerry (if you haven’t done it already). We’re giving away a ton of prizes including:
- BodyGuardz scratch protectors for the Curve 900 and Bold.
- A wide variety of chargers.
- Otterbox cases for the Bold and 8900.
- Software gift cards of up to $50.
Download Opera Mini by visiting mini.opera.com using your BlackBerry browser.
To win one of our Tier 1 prizes, just leave a comment on this post or the contest page. Tell us what you like and dislike about Opera Mini.
One lucky reader from the BlackBerry Cool community will win the Grand Prize and get to visit Oslo, Norway and visit the Opera headquarters. He or she will be accompanied by a correspondent from BlackBerry Cool, who will be writing about the experience. You’ll even get to visit Linkoping, Sweden where Opera Mini is made.
Contest ends Friday, July 10 at noon PDT.
Please send your entries to kyle at blackberrycool dot com with the subject “Opera Mini Review”
Only North American residents are eligible.
Posted on June 15, 2009, at 7:11 am .
Win a 7-day all-inclusive trip to Scandinavia this summer!
A common criticism of BlackBerry devices is that the web browsing experience needs to be closer to that of the desktop browser. Opera Mini has been filling that need with a truer desktop experience.
From the beginning, Opera have been helped by communities such as BlackBerry Cool spreading the word about the browser and sending in valuable feedback. Because of their involvement, Opera Mini has become one of the most downloaded applications for BlackBerry.
Now, the company wants to give back to the community. This summer, one lucky reader from the BlackBerry Cool community will get to visit Oslo, Norway and visit the Opera headquarters. He or she will be accompanied by a correspondent from BlackBerry Cool, who will be writing about the experience. You’ll even get to visit Linkoping, Sweden where Opera Mini is made.
Click through to read how to enter and win from a long list of prizes including this amazing trip
Posted on May 27, 2009, at 8:57 am .
Opera has a regular research paper called State of the Mobile Web, and today they’ve published the most recent update. In addition to the top global trends and country snapshots, the report highlights trends in Africa and aggregate operator data for the top 10 countries.
The two biggest findings in this report show that Americans consume the most data intensive web pages, with BlackBerry devices being the choice platform for power users.
Global trends for Opera found in the report include:
- In April 2009, Opera Mini had over 23.4 million users, up more than 140% compared to April 2008.
- Opera Mini users viewed nearly 8.7 billion pages in April 2009. Since April 2008, page views have increased 249%.
- Last month, Opera Mini users generated more than 151 million MB of data for operators worldwide. Data in Opera Mini is compressed up to 90%. If this data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed up to 1.4 PB of data in April. Over the previous year, data traffic is up 295%.
- Opera Mini usage in Nigeria continues to surge, pushing past Poland and taking the #9 spot.
Click through to see an interesting breakdown of mobile web research from Opera
Posted on November 12, 2008, at 9:13 am .
Opera has released a new version of their popular (read: free!) web browser for BlackBerry. Opera Mini 4.2 features new skins, performance tweaks, increased video capability and notes syncing. Here’s what the folks at Opera had to say about the increase in performance:
Opera Mini 4.2 can use our newly established server park in the US. This means significantly faster page downloads for our users in the Americas and Asia-Pacific region. Users in the rest of the world will also experience faster page downloads since we’ve reduced the load on our other servers.
Head to mini.opera.com/beta with your BlackBerry browser for an OTA install of Opera Mini 4.2 or Opera’s website for a desktop download.
|via BBNews|
Posted on July 24, 2008, at 8:03 am .
Opera’s monthly report for June has taken a look at the popular handsets that folks are using with their mobile browser, and what sites they’re going to. After running down country-by-country top 10 lists, it was pretty interesting to see the stark differences between the Chinese (dominated by Nokia) and the American (which was almost all BlackBerry). The UK also has almost half of their list occupied by BlackBerry, with the 8310 nabbing top spot. Speaking of which, the BlackBerry 8310 holds 5th. place worldwide in the popularity contest among Opera users. This State of the Mobile Web report is a pretty cool idea on Opera’s part, especially if you’ve developed a taste for this kind of thing with Google Trends. If you’re sick of the BlackBerry’s browser, you can get Opera Mini by visiting http://mini.opera.com/ on your mobile.
(Opera via Pinstack)
Posted on May 13, 2008, at 6:44 pm .
Opera Mini is now available in version 4.1. The new version comes complete with Facebook and Twitter functionality so you can stay connected to those you love, or hate. The new version also allows for online banking and email because the new browser is much more secure.
If you would like to download a copy of the new browser, go to operamini.com on your BlackBerry browser, or go to the download page here.
Don’t forget to sync your bookmarks by downloading a copy of Opera 9.5 beta! Thanks CrackBerry.
