Not happy with your phone’s Web browser? I can’t blame you; most of them are pretty horrendous. Opera Mini 4 (currently in beta) offers a much better browsing experience than you get from, say, the mobile version of Internet Explorer. For starters, it renders pages so they appear like they would in your desktop browser, then lets you use mouse-style scrolling to zoom in on a particular area (sounds a little iPhone-like, no?). There’s also the more common fit-to-width option, which optimizes Web pages for your phone’s small screen.
By pointing my Samsung BlackJack’s existing browser to mini.opera.com/beta, I was able to download and install the Java-based Opera Mini in about 60 seconds. Once you master the controls (Opera employs both the navigation pad and keypad), it tends to be a lot quicker and more usable than other phone-based browsers. I did encounter a few beta-related wrinkles, but overall it’s a huge improvement over IE. Not sure if you want to install Opera Mini on your phone? Try the desktop browser-based Opera simulator for a full-featured preview. Then report back here and let us know how you like it. [via Google Operating System]
