Main features according to the manufacture:
Speed - browse up to 6 times faster, especially on slower or crowded networks
Data savings - compress up to 90% of data traffic
Speed Dial - get to your favorite websites with a single tap
Visual tabs - see all your open web pages and quickly switch between them
Opera Link - sync your bookmarks and Speed Dial with other devices
When first started, Opera’s welcome screen shows the main features the browser has to offer. But it doesn’t actually say how to use these features, nor does it provide links to any form of instructions. But anyone who has used a mobile browser shouldn’t have a problem and there is a decent help option in settings if needed.
Opera web browser manages to load and render websites very quickly, probably the fastest out of all the mobile browsers I have reviewed. It also is the fastest browser I have tested when using a slow Internet connection. For speed alone, Opera Mini gets full marks.
I found Opera Mini to be very stable and it didn’t crash in the entire time it was tested. I found the browser displayed and renders all websites very well. The browser’s appearance is very simple, with no extra bars of buttons eating into the screen space on the iPad version. However, on the iPhone/iPod version, there are bars at the top and bottom of the screen that makes viewing websites a bit difficult. But the top address bar does disappear when you scroll down a page making it a little easier.
The homepage and new tab page shows a page called Speed Dial which I found very useful. Speed Dial displays your favorite websites using big icons, allowing you to easily select a website with one tap. It is very easy to add any web pages to Speed Dial by tapping the plus sign.
Favorites are easily added by tapping the Star icon next to the web address. This gives you the option of adding the website to favorites or adding it to Speed Dial.
Opera has the good feature of being able to press and hold onto an image, text, website link etc and results in an option menu popping up, allowing you to: save images; select text; open images; and so on. Although most browsers have a similar feature, Opera’s version is very simple to use and works very well.
Another good feature is the new tab button. When pressed this shows very clearly what tabs are open through preview screens and makes it simple to open new tabs or close them.
Opera web browser settings are easily selected by tapping the big O on the top-left of the screen. It certainly doesn’t have as many settings as some browsers, but it has all the settings you would expect and some unique ones such as Data Usage. Data Usage clearly shows you how much data you have used in your current session and how much data has been used overall. I also like the help button, which should come in useful for any newcomers to Opera Mini.
Sadly though, there isn’t an option for importing your favorites’ from another browser. There is also no setting for changing the homepage, which is disappointing.
Having said that, there is not much to dislike about Opera Mini. There are only a couple of things that let the browser down from being highly recommended. It does everything Opera claims and has some good unique features.