Opera Software unveiled a new version of its popular Opera Mini web browser, which is now better than ever. The main new feature is called Video Boost that will compress and optimize videos to make sure you don’t overspend your megabytes on a data plan.
“This is the first time video optimization has been integrated into a web browser, so your browser can now take pride of place as your favorite video app,” says Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software. “Video snags are a small problem, but an annoying one – a pothole on the internet highway. And Opera fixed it.”
Video boost reduces the size of video data relying on the Rocket Video Optimizer engine from Opera’s Skyfire division. This feature, according to Opera, is becoming increasingly important, as video viewing explodes on mobile phones. At the end of last year, mobile video represented 53% of the world’s mobile-data traffic and is forecast to reach 69% of mobile-data traffic by 2018.
Beyond video crunching capabilities, the new Opera Mini 9 also sports extra options for editing Speed Dial website shortcuts, a revamped data-savings gauge and support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. It is available as a free download.
Opera Mini (FREE) [iTunes link]