Opera Mini web browser 6.0 for Apple iPhone available

Opera Mini 6 browser for the Apple iPhone has just been released so I decided to give it a whirl. I've kept Opera installed on the iPhone, but to be frank, it really didn't offer much and had some issues. For example the layout off pages was not as good as the Safari browser. Being dependent on Opera's servers I also found it could get quite sluggish. Really there was little reason to use it so it languished.

I updated to Opera Mini 6 and my first impression was WOW. Scrolling around the screen now makes Safari look downright sluggish. I didn't expect that. Opera has changed their zoom feature to now be consistent with Safari, which is much better than the previous approach.

I decided to check my favourite site http://www.justlocal.com.au/. I found the previous version of Opera Mini did not display this site correctly. Neither did the Windows Phone 7 and the earlier versions of Android weren't good either. They'd wrap text as thought they were formatingg the text for the narrower screen, but kept the graphics in the right location. Safari was really the only browser that provided the same experience as the desktop browsers. Now Opera has fixed this issue as you can see in the about screen capture. JustLocal now displays correctly. Yahoo!

Another feature I did like with Opera was I use some of Google's services. Safari won't remember the log on information but Opera does. This saves a lot of typing and this feature has continued to work on the new version of Opera.

My biggest grief with Opera and Safari is I use Google Blogger. Neither allows the uploading of an image as I would using a regular browser. That's a real limitation for me. If Windows Phone 7 Mango upgrade provides this ability it will really sway me away from Apple. Both the Safari browser and the Opera browser are not recognised by Google Blogger so both do not work well.

Now I'll have to reserve judgement on speed, but when Opera loaded the JustLocal page it took around 5 seconds, whereas Safari took a very sluggish 15 seconds. The way Opera first loads blocks of colour and then fills in the actual images is pretty impressive to watch.

A feature that Opera is missing is spellchecking even on basic forms and I was hoping it might include spellchecing. Safari doesn't provide spellchecking either.

One of the problems I have with sites on the iPhone is quite a few mobile sites have been developed with the font being too small. That's not the iPhone's problem but really is the fault of the designer, but that doesn't help the user. When you try to zoom some sites designed for a  mobile device you often can't. The text stays annoyingly small. Opera on the other hand is great. It allows you to zoom in on the text even with a site designed for a mobile phone. The CNET mobile site is OK to read, but with the ability to zoom in Opera, it is now even better. When viewing CNET with Safari if you turn to landscape mode the text doesn't enlarge which is often the case and makes a site easier to read. With Opera the page zooms in, enlarging the text and you still have the option to zoom further if you want.

These are my first impressions with Opera. I really didn't expect much because I was pretty disappointed with Opera's first attempt. This version is significantly better. Whilst I may find things I don't like and may still revert to Safari, Opera for me is now worth a second look.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/