Opera Mini 5 Beta, one of my favorite mobile applications of all time, has come out for Google’s Android operating system. Usually I’d be thrilled about this, but after installing it this morning and having a go with it, I’m really disappointed. The font rendering is terrible compared to the default browser on my Nexus One, and I can’t really feel the speed difference since I have a multimegabit connection here in Finland over HSPA. That and the 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon inside my smartphone makes rendering web pages with the native browser an extremely snappy experience.
I still understand that this application will probably prove useful once I’m roaming, or in some forest that doesn’t have 3G, but whereas Opera Mini was my default browser on my Nokia E71, I’m going to have to say no thank you to Opera Mini 5 Beta on my Android device. I don’t understand why the Android version is so inferior to what I saw at Mobile World Congress on the iPhone. When the Opera folks were demoing Mini on the iPhone, and they loaded up The New York Times, their signature Times New Roman font rendered properly and looked crisp and beautiful. I can’t say the same thing for this application.
Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?
Update: Oh and in case you can’t figure out how to grab this app, just search for Opera in the App Market.