Opera Mini 4.1 Beta

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There’s a new Opera Mini release, version 4.1, now available as public beta. Anyone can download it by pointing their phone browser at mini.opera.com/beta. BlackBerry and Palm versions and generic .jad and .jar files for side loading can be downloaded to your PC at www.operamini.com/beta

This release is pretty exciting as it adds a number of new features that users have been requesting on the Opera Mini Forum. The changes include:

  • Search for text in the current page. Press #,* or go to Menu > Tools > Options > Find in Page
  • URL auto-completion, When typing web address, Opera Mini will suggest completions based on your bookmarks and browser history.
  • File download and upload. On supported phones. Opera Mini can browse the phone’s file system and do uploads and downloads. For this to work the phone must support the File connection API in JSR 75. Many recent phones support JSR 75.
  • Save pages and off-line browsing: On phones with JSR 75, Opera Mini can save web pages locally and browse saved pages without using the network, great for reading on the subway!
  • Signed versions: Opera Mini is now available in several different signed versions. Signing is needed on most phones in order to access the file system with JSR 75. There are three signed versions of the beta; Opera is asking beta testers to try the “Double signed” (it has both Thawte and VeriSign certificates) one first and if that doesn’t work to try the other two signed versions with an unsigned one as a last resort. On some phones and carriers, signing will also enable the “Always Allow” option for network access, eliminating the nagging prompts to allow access every time you start Opera Mini. It probably won’t help much with US carriers though: ATT, T-Mobile and Sprint have all crippled their branded phones to block blanket access to network and/or file system even for applications signed with industry standard VeriSign and Thawte certificates. The only certificates these phones recognize are manufacturer or carrier certificates which are almost impossible for 3rd party developers to obtain.

I’ve loaded the beta on all four of my phones. Installation went smoothly and so far the beta seems stable.

Find in Page works great, You hit #, * and enter your search string, press OK and the first match is highlighted with the soft keys mapped to Next and Stop. Searches wrap around which I like. It’s fast too.

The URL auto completion works a little differently than I expected. When you choose “Enter Address” from the menu or hit #,1 an inline edit box appears containing the current page’s URL. That’s nice if you want to edit that URL. If you want to enter a completely different URL you need to press the right soft key (labeled “Delete”) once to clear the field before moving the cursor. Otherwise you will have to delete the existing address one character at a time.

I had only moderate success with the functions requiring JSR 75. Of my four phones the only one where everything worked was an unbranded Nokia N95-3 which I only tried with the double signed version. Besides enabling the JSR 75 related functions signing also eliminates the prompt asking me to allow Opera Mini to use the network that I used to get every time I launched it.

File upload/download and saving pages did not work on a Sprint Samsung A920 with any of the signed and unsigned versions of the beta. The phone supports JSR 75 plus it’s has been hacked to allow even unsigned applications access to privileged API’s. I really expected it to work. At least the error I got, “String index out of range -6”, isn’t not a security exception. I suspect a bug or incompatibility in the Qualcom JVM is causing the error. Maybe Opera can devise a workaround. Incidentally, Sprint and Openwave have white listed mini.opera.com so it’s not transcoded anymore and the Samsung A920 is recognized properly.

On a unlocked unbranded Motorola Z8 all the signed versions gave the error “Component failed security check. Cannot install. Certificate information could not be understood.” The error message then proceeded to describe in great detail what it could not “understand”, details like “Issued to Opera Software ASA … VeriSign Class 3 Code … effective from 4/2/08 to 4/2/08 …Fingerprint: F1:37:F5…” Why is mobile security so screwed up? Opera is trying to play by the rules and still the phone barfs on the expensive VeriSign and Thawte certificates! The good news is that with the unsigned version everything works although you get nagged multiple times to grant permission every time you save a page or download a file.

A Boost Mobile branded Motorola i855 refused to install any of the signed editions. The unsigned version installed but saving pages and upload/download are not even available in the menus.

Opera Mini just keeps getting better and better. It amazes me that it can work so well on so many different phones. The new features are great. Being able to save pages and off-line browsing are things I’ve wanted for a long time. Find in page will save lots of time I used to spend scrolling back through 200KB of text to find a link or quote. The utility of auto-completion is obvious. Well done, Opera.

Of course it’s a beta, there will be bugs. Do your part as a beta tester and report any you find using the forum, the online bug reporting page or in Opera Mini under Menu > Help > Bug Report.

37 thoughts on “Opera Mini 4.1 Beta”

  2. Opera Mini doesn’t have any ability to play videos itself. It just passes the video’s link to the phone’s built in browser which on most phones then passes it to the built in media player.

    Do videos play when invoked from the phone browser? If not you operator may be blocking streaming content or something may be misconfigured in the settings for the phone’s media player. I’m not familiar with Sony Ericsson’s so I can’t really help you with that.

  3. Hi dennis, i have a sonyericsson k800i, im using OM 4.2, i’d try to play a video from m.youtube.com, but my phone is searching for a MEDIA server? How can i find or how can i have a Media server? Please help me. . Thanks. .

  4. I have a Samsung T929 memoir. I am currently using it on an AT&T network and the Preloaded web browser, NetFront 3.5 does not work with AT&T. Can I download Opera Mini 4.1 on this phone and will it work with AT&T? Please Help, Thanks.

  6. Hello. I can access the youtube site with my opera mini 4.1 versi0n but when i try to watch the video, it closes the program and wants me to go to a particular link which in the end it says link not available.. Im using 7390 of nokia. Shud i have some programs installed 4 it to play?

  8. Can You Please Tell Me What Is The Web Address To Download The VeriSign Trusted Root Certificate. Many Thanks.

  10. i have a sonyericsson k750i with operamini 2.0, but cant watch videos from youtube. the response is (Error
    javax.microedition.io.ConnectionNotFoundException)

  11. hi! im using v3x and im using opera mobile red. please! oh pls let me know if u guys alreads found a solution on how to play youtube videos! thank u in advance!

  12. I own an lg kf600, i have downloded opera mini n installed it on my phone, but couldnt seem to get thru the connection, when i check the permissions option on local connection, it says no connection allow, is it because the opera i downloaded is not compatible with my lg? Someone help me plz. Coz i love opera mini so much. Tx in advance

  13. @Cindy d,

    There are no Flash players for feature phones like the LG KF600 that can show the Flash videos found on Facebook. You would need a Symbian or Windows Mobile phone to do that.

  14. Hi i have a lg kf600 and wanna my videos on facebook and my gmail account bt when i download a flashplayer it keeps on saying unable to dwnld what can i use to view my video clips

  16. i have sony ericsson W550i , i downloaded opera mini and it worked but i cant see videos from youtube on my phone , i need to download flash player , but how??

  18. almoggg,

    I don’t have a Palm anymore so I can’t be much help here, but:

    Opera Mini is not a Flash player. If you can find and install a Flash player for Palm OS that supports .flv files (I don’t think there are any) you could use Opera Mini to “Open” the Flash content in the player.

    The only Palm OS Flash player I could find is on this page: http://palmpowerups.com/downloads.php?cat_id=2 It only supports Flash 5 .swf files which is pretty old.

  19. hello dear freinds,
    im using opera mini 4.1 on my palm treo 755p.
    i need help with watching videos while surfing mini 4.1.
    some videos requiers me to install adobe flash player.
    ive installed that, but it still doesnt work.
    ive installed also the java ibm but still cant watch clips.
    pls help
    thanx.

  21. does anyone knows how to turn on java scripts to watch videos in youtube i have opera 4.1 the latest version plzzzzzzzz i have nokia 6233

  22. Hi. Cud any1 help me 2 find a free download 4 opera mini 4 my phone. Im using a N6630 unit hope some1 cud help me. I realy want 2 try using opera mini. Tnx

  23. NC,

    Landscape works on my A920 too as I reported in a post on May 13th. I PM’ed Lunkwill and thanked him about the same time. I LOVE the way Opera engages it’s users and does things like this. I mean, the A920 is an old phone and its market share on a global basis is less than nothing, yet the Opera dev team went the extra mile to make this non-essential feature work on the A920 and A900.

  24. Hey, Dennis — GOOD NEWS! I *just* downloaded the Opera Mini 4.1 Final version (hehe — better late than never), i.e. OM hifi lemontopic us v. 4.1.11355, 20080522 to my Sprint A920 phone. This is the (U.S. English, Verisign certificate) signed version downloaded via my phone’s built-in browser pointed to mini.opera.com and ultimately found under the default page’s “If this version fails to install…” link. I threw caution to the wind and told it to overwrite my older OM version (which was OM3) and it 1) not only kept all my OM3 bookmarks but 2) NOW LETS ME USE LANDSCAPE MODE — woohoo! Could you please verify for me that landscape mode works now on YOUR A920 as well? I think my earlier (mentioned above) note to Lunkwell and follow-ups paid off! Thank him too for me (and all us A920 users) if you happen to correspond with him or otherwise post in an area he might see.) :-)

  25. Hi frnds, I am able to open youtube in my opera 4.1 but when try to play the video.. Realplayer comes in with the message ” connection to the server needed. connect ?” I click on yes and it shows connecting and goes off… Please help if I need setting… what is that..??

  26. I can’t install on my siemens C72 certificated OM4.1 beta and i must satisfy only find function. In russian modification of Opera Mini i don’t have any problem with downloading file usunig Opera’s download manger i don’t know why they can’t use the same certificate that russian. Opera Mini more and more become software for the newest and the more expensive mobile not for all people.

  27. dennis,
    i am using motorola V3x.. and my network is smart.. i can play youtube withe version 3. why not with version 4.1 … thus there program raised there requirements with video streaming.. ?>

  29. thus it mean that opera version 3 is better to use for my phone than using opera version 4.1? im able to play youtube video with version 3, but with version for it doesnt recognized the file…

  30. DENNIS, yes, i tried the mobile version of youtube,, but its says file not recognized,,, why? but when i use opera version 3.. i am able to play the video.. why if i use the version 4.1 it fails?

  31. ian,

    Try going to m.youtube.com instead of youtube.com, to insure that you get the mobile version of YouTube which has videos in a format (h263) that most mobiles can play.

    If YouTube doesn’t recognize Opera 4.1 as a mobile browser it will send Flash videos which no mobile can play

  32. um.. just want to ask …why is it that when i try to play youtube videos using opera mini 3. im able toplay it,, it launches my built in browser to download and play the video… but when i try the version 4.1 .. it says that my java script is turned off, and that im using older version of flash player? it seems that the browser opera takes it as i am using a computer? weird..

  33. Dennis,
    I have posted (http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=228140&page=6) to OM developers what I hope is both a cogent appeal (and a pseudocode means to its implementation) for the reinstatement of landscape mode functionality on our A920 (and similar) devices. (I’m known as NConOM there.)

    P.S.: I want to personally thank you for sharing (http://wapreview.com?p=255) your knowledge on the use of bookmarklets in Opera Mini. I have been able to enjoy copious posts to del.icio.us as a result of that information. Thank you so much! (I finally put two and two together and determined that YOU are the person from whom I originally learned how to do this!)

  34. NC,

    Landscape doesn’t work on any Samsungs anymore. Accoring to posts by Opera Development team members on the Opera Mini Forum, landscape causes many Samsings to crash. They claim that they can’t reliably detect the ones that don’t crash from the ones that do so they removed it from all.

    Lot’s of people have posted asking for a version for Samsungs with landscape support but so far it hasn’t happened. You can add your plea. Here’s one of the threads on this topic:

    http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=210357

  35. Dennis —

    The landscape mode in the OM4.1 beta does not work on my A920, but the one in OM4 beta 2 does. Do you know of any way that this could be fixed? (I think if the later OM software isn’t completely sure of a device’s ability to display landscape mode, it just outright disables that feature when OM first starts.) I really miss this cool feature that obviously works in OM4 beta 2.

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