Opera Mini 4 beta 2 released

Published August 30th, 2007 10:49 AM EDT By Daniel Goldman

The Opera Mini team just released a second beta version of Opera Mini 4, with many bug fixes and some newly added features.

In addition to the desktop-like browsing and the many other innovative browsing features that have already been released in the first beta, this new one adds the ability to create your own search (just like the Opera desktop browser) for the start page, keyboard shortcuts, security encryption, BlackBerry optimizations, and more. (For a look at beta 1’s features, read this)

Here’s an overview of some of the notable changes/additions with Opera Mini 4 beta 2 (since beta 1):

Now you can add the search engine of your choice to the start page, just like in the Opera desktop browser. Hey, now you could put Google Search on the start page.
Shortcut keys
Browse in landscape mode — view the Web on a wider screen (Shortcut key: ‘*’ and ‘#’)
Native menu for BlackBerry phones
Lots of optimizations for BlackBerry phones
Content folding – Collapses long menu lists (like those found on sidebars of webpages), so you don’t need to scroll through them to get to the page content. Note: This only works in “Fit to width” mode, not desktop.
Supports secure connections for banks, eBay, etc.
Small fonts have been enabled
Simplified setup process
Improved image quality
Improved cookie support
Ability to edit the current URL
Added ‘Full screen’ mode
Dialogs now use web 2.0-ish look and feel
Added support for more phones
Fixed a ton of bugs

Opera Mini 4 beta 2 installs beside your current Opera Mini version without overwriting any of your existing files or settings.

Head over to the Opera Mini beta page to download this new beta.

Enjoy the Web with Opera Mini!

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43 Comments

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1 opera11 Aug 30th, 2007 at 10:59 am
using Opera 9.22 on Windows XP

THX
2 Benjamin Aug 30th, 2007 at 11:00 am
using Opera 9.22 on Windows XP

This version rocks..
3 Eddie (W) Aug 30th, 2007 at 11:00 am
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.5 on Windows XP

wonderful.. Blackberry gets some love!
4 WildEnte Aug 30th, 2007 at 11:05 am
using Opera 9.23 on Windows XP

what’s up with RSS?
5 Andres Ruiz Aug 30th, 2007 at 11:07 am
using Opera 9.23 on Windows XP

Is there a way to download it from my PC? to transfer it to my phone?

Or the only way is downloading from the phone?

Opera Mini 3 is available in “PC Download”
6 opera11 Aug 30th, 2007 at 11:09 am
using Opera 9.22 on Windows XP

The lanndscape mode is very, very goog idea.
“edit the current URL” I think that it will good if /tools/page information can also edit the url.
7 Eddie (W) Aug 30th, 2007 at 11:21 am
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.5 on Windows XP

Is there still a separate download/zip for blackberry as indicated here: http://www.operamini.com/beta/ ?
8 theoddbod Aug 30th, 2007 at 11:22 am
using Opera Mini 9.50

Looks much more friendly now, especially the improved text field menus and the customizable search engine facility. Still no changes to Bookmark management though.
9 Lars Aug 30th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
using Opera 9.23 on Windows XP

Nice update

I’ve wanted search creation in Mini for awhile, nice to see it added.

Landscape mode is nice, but having to reload the page after switching to/from it is very annoying.
10 YtseJam Aug 30th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
using Opera 9.50 on Windows XP

Lars,
Agreed about the last point.

Daniel,
As suspected, no BiDi love in this beta.
11 tamster Aug 30th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
using Opera 9.23 on Windows XP

Opera Mini 3 has a nice feature to take a shot with camera on file upload fields.. Looks like Mini 4 beta 2 still doesn’t have that.. which means I have to use both, cause browsing with Mini 4 kicks ***
12 Taylor Aug 30th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
using Opera 9.23 on Linux

Yeah I love the landscape being added, just wish it worked on my blackberry. Aside from the landscape not working, I love it.
13 Daniel Goldman Aug 30th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
using Opera 9.50 on Windows XP

YtseJam, I’ll check back with the Opera Mini developers. Hopefully full BiDi support will come with the next beta.
14 Simon Aug 30th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
using Flock 0.9.0.2 on Windows XP

Can you elaborate on “lots of optimizations for BlackBerry phones”?
15 Eddie (W) Aug 30th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.5 on Windows XP

Simon,

I too would like more details on BB changes.

There’s an article here that seems like it would answer your questions, but doesn’t really say anything other than the menu integration/UI changes already listed here.

http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2007/08/30_2/
16 Philippe Dubost Aug 30th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP

This new version absolutely rocks!
You gave a new life to my SE S700!
Thanks, really.
17 Eric Aug 30th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP

Thanks guys, this is awesome!
18 Cyro Aug 30th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
using Opera 9.23 on Windows Vista

PC Download here:
http://www.download.com/Opera-Mini-BlackBerry-/3000-7242_4-10703236.html?tag=dl-blog
19 Pathetic Aug 30th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
using Opera 9.23 on Windows XP

Link posted by Cyro are .alx & .cod files.

These are the .jar & .jad ones:

Opera Mini 4 Beta 1
http://mini.opera.com/global/opera-mini-4.0.8462-advanced-int.jar
http://mini.opera.com/global/opera-mini-4.0.8462-advanced-int.jad

Opera Mini 4 Beta 2
http://mini.opera.com/global/opera-mini-4.0.8993-advanced-int.jar
http://mini.opera.com/global/opera-mini-4.0.8993-advanced-int.jad
20 luca Aug 30th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP

Hi guys, I loved the previous Mini, but I cannot install this version on my Blackberry Pearl. The last step requires me to press accept at the end of the user agreement, but I cannot see anything at the bottom when I scroll down. Anyone else is having the same problem? I downloaded the browser using the blackberry browser and uninstall the previous version of MINi. Thanks for your help.
21 Meeo Aug 30th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP

What stabilization fixes have been included for the many crashes with the previous Palm version?
22 Eddie (W) Aug 30th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.5 on Windows XP

Luca-

You need to use the blackberry menu button… press that and you’ll see “accept” there.

I paused a bit there too. This version uses the blackberry menu button in place of the shortcut keys.
23 opera11 Aug 30th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
using Opera 9.22 on Windows XP

I can not try the beta 2, but with simulator i found a bug:
In the simulator a hungarian specify character: “ő”, can not see:
Here is a screenshot: http://opera.extra.hu/e107_plugins/autogallery/Gallery/Kepek/opera_mini_4_beta/indexsimulator.jpg
Or see the http://www.fn.hu, with mini 4 beta 2
24 tcolberg Aug 30th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP

I love Opera Mini for the Palm OS. Keep up the exemplary work guys!
25 Investor Aug 30th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
using Opera 9.23 on Windows XP

WOW… brilliant… simply the best, better than all the rest :hat:

A bug ?…
Load page in landscape, then switch to portrait. Now one got real “desktop view”, with abit horizontal scrolling. However, it doesn’t stay that way. When key 5 is pressed to zoom in and out again, page view changes back to portrait…When clicking NO to “refit” page, OM4 should respect the user wish…

(also posted in Opera Mini forum)
26 Yehudah Goldstein Aug 30th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
using Opera 9.23 on Mac OS X

The full page preview is useless, even the biggest headlines are just rows of pixels. On the iPhone browser or the Nokia Web browser the bigger texts are readable in preview mode.
27 Knut Aug 31st, 2007 at 2:23 am
using Opera 9.23 on Windows XP

Thanks, lots of improvements. I like landscape mode

Yehudah, I agree in part, but if you are familiar with the layout of the page already it’s quite useful.
28 Arve Aug 31st, 2007 at 3:21 am
using Opera 9.50 on Linux

A tiny goodie for web developers, not immediatly visible is that the beta also supports the CSS text-shadow property (minus blur, as far as I can tell)
29 mrd Aug 31st, 2007 at 3:54 am
using Opera 9.23 on Windows Vista

Absolutely love this.

I’ve got it in my w880 and honestly it poops over any other browser I’ve used on handheld devices.

I cringe thinking back to how painful the browsing experience was on my iMate Jam in retrospect compared to this.
30 mrd Aug 31st, 2007 at 3:57 am
using Opera 9.23 on Windows Vista

Oh, one comment is I landscape mode is good too, but it would be the business if it could be set to have:

Landscape (Left Handed)
Landscape (Whatever ;))

settings because it’s a bit cumbersome as a left hander using the right for the movement.

But really it’s just a superb bit of software.
31 luca Aug 31st, 2007 at 10:05 am
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP

@ Eddie

Thank you, Eddie. Not very intuitive.

Luca
32 Ricardo Aug 31st, 2007 at 12:22 pm
using Opera 9.21 on Windows XP

Opera Mini is very good indeed, the only problem I see is with data input.

My phone doesn’t have a keyboard, instead it shows a virtual QWERTY keyboard when needed.

On the default Opera (for Motorola EZX, which comes with the phone) when you click a field to type something, the virtual keyboard pops up on the bottom of the screen.

Opera Mini, however, behaves in a different way. When you click a field, it goes to a kind of input form, then when you click it the keyboard appears.

First I thought this was a limitation of the platform (J2ME) on my phone, but it is not, since there are software which use the direct pop up keyboard.

This is really the only thing that bothers me.
33 Chris Sep 1st, 2007 at 1:40 am
using Opera 9.22 on Windows XP

Great update! I really hope this version solves the random freezes I got on my Treo.
By the way, where are our small fonts on Palm OS !?
34 rowanrook Sep 1st, 2007 at 3:27 pm
using Opera Mini 9.50

I agree that the preview mode is useless. I quickly disabled it. I had not been wishing for a cursor on Opera Mini and now I know why: it’s an annoyance. However, the search engine add feature is excellent. Unfortunately, stability on the Palm platform continues to worsen: Opera Mini continues to lock up my Palm 700p requiring reset almost every browsing session. Even after adjusting thread stack to highest setting, enabling double-buffering, and setting memory usage to 4 mb. Sorry but I am losing interest in what used to be a topnotch browser.
35 Sam Sep 1st, 2007 at 10:03 pm
using Opera Mini 9.50

Does the land scape mode not work with the blackberry pearl?! If so how?
36 Daniel Goldman Sep 2nd, 2007 at 9:59 am
using Opera 9.50 on Windows XP

Sam, unfortunately the landscape mode doesn’t yet work with BlackBerries — we’re working on it.
37 Kurt Sep 2nd, 2007 at 2:51 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.9 on Windows XP

Well Nice update.. I Hope , it dont have any more problem with sites like orkut..
38 Argon Sep 4th, 2007 at 10:45 am
using Opera 9.22 on Windows 2000

Opera Mini 4 Beta 2 don’t support russian character set
39 James Sep 4th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
using Opera Mini 9.50

Very nice update!
But I hope there will be an option to change the landscape rotation… So we can adjust to the handset’s design…
40 spidern70 Sep 4th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
using Opera 9.23 on Windows XP

russian chars work normally, what are u talking about?!
41 Le Ferret (in fur) Sep 4th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP

This so rocks… My BB Pearl came alive!
I can’t believe how good it is.
-bf

Note: Blackberry Pearl (T-Mobile)
42 Le Ferret (in fur) Sep 5th, 2007 at 9:39 am
using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.6 on Windows XP

Blackberry Pearl (T-Mobile USA) users,
No joy, couldn’t get it to work,
went to opera mini web site, check on FAQs,
simple mod for US users,
very happy ferret.
-bf
43 Evren esat ozkan Sep 6th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
using Opera Mini 9.50

I’ve only one big problem with my e61. I can’t use Opera Mini with one hand. Shortcuts needs to be pressed with function key. I have tons of useless keys

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