Opera unleashes Opera Mobile 9.5

by Playfuls Staff | 5th February 2008

Opera Software recently announced the introduction of Opera Mobile 9.5, the commercial version of the company's mobile browser destined to phones, PDAs and other portable devices with Internet [more] access.

The new, enhanced browser will be previewed at this year's Mobile World Congress (formerly known as 3GSM), which will take place in Barcelona between February 11 and February 13. It boasts with a lot of highly-attractive features, among which a new user interface and faster loading speeds are at top. Opera Mobile 9.5 allows users to zoom-in and pane Web-pages, bringing the desktop Web-experience to the mobiles.

The browser's Presto engine has been optimized to render pages at speeds closer to the ones registered on desktops and is also capable of dealing with languages like JavaScript and even AJAX.

Productivity tools like like the ability to save pages for offline browsing, Web address auto complete and password manager have been added, but the major advancement in Opera 9.5 is the Flash support. By integrating Adobe's Flash Lite 3 technology in the browser, Opera has opened new doors for a richer mobile experience of the Web, giving users for example the chance to effortelessly watch YouTube videos on their handhelds or even allowing for widgets to be operated inside the small screen.

"Opera Mobile is the result of Opera's unwavering commitment to a vision that puts a true Web experience in the hands of mobile users," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "The improved functionality of Opera Mobile 9.5 and easy access to information has raised the bar on a more compelling mobile Web browsing experience and will further stimulate mobile Internet adoption."

Here's a list of innovations included in the latest build:

1. Intuitive user interface
2. Tabbed browsing
3. Improved text wrap
4. Page overview, zooming and panning
5. Landscape mode
6. Save Web page for future offline access
7. Call phone number from Web page
8. Send link as SMS/MMS
9. Send image as SMS/MMS
10. Small Screen Rendering™
11. Password manager
12. Web address input auto-completion
13. History and bookmarks
14. Copy text
15. Opera Widgets

Opera Mobile is currently shipped on more than 100 million phones with many of the world's top mobile OEMs and operators such as HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, and others.