After one of the longest beta test programmes I can remember, Opera Mini 4 finally got finished. Head for mini.opera.com on your phone or www.operamini.com on your PC. Highly recommended. Some more details below, but essentially it's a proxy-based web browser that runs under Java but compresses content hugely and thus saves time and money.
Read on in the full article.
What's different from beta 3?
Any idea if they are planning to release a native version? Not too fond of anything in java, even if its anything as good as opera mini.
This new version is pretty bad. I can't use it with wlan. Mobile sites looks weird. I wish that never "upgraded".
What's different from beta 3?
There are a lot of new stuff. Check out the operamini page for a list of the new features.
This new version is pretty bad. I can't use it with wlan. Mobile sites looks weird. I wish that never "upgraded".
Can't really see why Opera Mini shoud interfere with your WLan. This would be something to do with the connection setting in Java or somewhere on your phone...
The problem with some sites looking weird is a result of the reporcessing that is done in order to make the text easier to read on your phone. All text columns are reflowed to fit exactly on the screen when zoomed in. If the text would be presented as on the standard page, they would not fit the width of your mobile screen, thus making it necessary to scroll sideways. It is the same technique that is used on the Opera browser on the Nintendo Wii.
You can still use the previous "version 3" one column view by selecting "tools" -> "Settings" -> "Mobile view".
On Opera mini 3 I don't have any problem using wlan or 3g but on 4 I get an error message when trying to use wlan.
In mobile view I can still scroll left and right, not just up and down as 3 worked.
On mobile versions of websites, the site dosen't fill the screen. It shows the site on the left and leave an empty space on the right. I should mention that i have a E61.
Jonek wrote:On Opera mini 3 I don't have any problem using wlan or 3g but on 4 I get an error message when trying to use wlan.
In mobile view I can still scroll left and right, not just up and down as 3 worked.
On mobile versions of websites, the site dosen't fill the screen. It shows the site on the left and leave an empty space on the right. I should mention that i have a E61.
I've no idea about the WLan problems (my phone doesn't do wifi), but a couple of ideas regarding the mobile view:
1) did you reload the page after choosing the mobile view? The processing of the page is done on the Opera server which acts as a proxy, so you have to reload to see the change.
2) are you looking at a page on the Opera web site? I think I've noticed in the past that not all the Opera web sites get resized, presumably because you are not going through their proxy server.
ETA: I take it back, on some sites, such as the AAS main page, I'm seeing the same as you. All the text down the left of the screen, and a lot of white space off to the right, and the left and right buttons don't take you up and down the page. Looks like a bug, to me.
Visit "timesmobile dot mobi" on your native Nokia browser...now visit it using Operamini...in both full and mobile view the site does not format correctly...up until recently, despite having a fixed link on the start page Yahoo mobile did not render properly in exactly the same way.
Basically on s60 phones opera mini (especially for those on unlimited data plans) is not really any good and not better than the built in browser.
i use wlan with opera mini 4 on my P1, just fine....
I have been using Opera Mini 4 in all its beta versions on my N95 for the last 6 months or so.
If you browse the web on your phone a lot (I have got into the habit of using it on the train every day instead or buying a paper) you will find that it IS superior to the built in S60 browser.
1. Pages load significantly faster. This is even the case over HSDPA or WIFI but is even more noticeable for those of us who have to disable 3G to save battery.
2. All the images display no matter how big the page is. I don't have to deal with lots of big grey rectangles because the N95 has run out of memory.
3. You NEVER get a "memory low" error, even after browsing for 2 or 3 hours straight.
4. You can synchronise your bookmarks between all PCs and mobile devices which means almost never having to type a URL on the N95 in ABC mode.
The only downsides I have found are
1. The memory overhead of the Java runtime means you can not run much else in parallel (although to be fair S60 Web has the same issue, particularly as time passes and more memory is leaked by Web)
2. You do not get access to active elements such as javascript. Given how little use they are on Web I don't have a problem with this.