Our Norwegian friends at Opera Software [Disclosure: Photo above from an event last month that they invited me to and paid for both my flight and hotel] have just released a new version of Opera Mini for devices that run Symbian, Java applications, the Apple iPhone, and RIM’s BlackBerry lineup. With version 6.5 the most notable feature is the introduction a data meter. It shows you not only how much data you’ve consumed while using Opera Mini, but how much data you saved because of Opera’s compression technology. Here’s how Opera Mini works: You take out your phone, launch Opera Mini, type in a URL, hit GO, and then the website you requested gets rendered on a server in who the hell knows, after that it’s compressed by up to 90%, and then it’s finally sent back to your phone from Opera’s datacenter. For people who don’t have the latest high powered smartphone or are stuck on an either extremely slow or extremely expensive data connection, Opera Mini is an essential to have installed. This author keeps Opera Mini installed for those much needed weekend retreats to the countryside.
For those of you who want a more detailed changelog, check out the details below. Oh and as for Android users, you guys have had version 6.5 for about a month now. This announcement is merely saying that every other platform has been updated.
Opera Mini 6.5 for iOS
- Added Data Usage view
- Added support for auto-correct and spell-check
- Added support for Google AutoComplete
- Added star in the URL field to add bookmark
- Added search directly from the address bar
- Added intelligent domain suggest which suggests your most used domain endings
- Added support for country domain auto-complete such as .ru or .id
- Added share by email
- Improved text selection
- Improved compression with WebP instead of JPEG images
- Fixed various stability and performance issues
Opera Mini 6.5 for J2ME
- Added Data Usage view
- Added star bookmark in URL (Touchscreen devices only)
- Added protocol setting in advanced options
- Improved handling of Saved Pages when upgrading client
- Fixed various stability and performance issues
Opera Mini 6.5 for BlackBerry
- Added Data Usage view
- Added multitouch support on BB OS 6.0 and newer
- Added star bookmark in URL (Touchscreen devices only)
- Added protocol setting in advanced options
- Improved handling of Saved Pages when upgrading client
- Fixed text input issues with RTL text (arabic & hebrew)
- Fixed various stability and performance issues
Opera Mini 6.5 for Symbian
- Added Data Usage view
- Added star bookmark in URL
- Added crash logger *
- Added support for system bookmarks
- Added support for Symbian Status Bar, Notification Bar *
- Added protocol setting in advanced options
- Added share pages through email
- Improved compression with WebP instead of JPEG images *
- Improved localization for more languages
- Fixed various stability and performance issues
* Not Supported on Symbian S60 2nd Edition