Updated: Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 Final Released

Opera Mini 5 Final Opera Mobile 10 Final

Opera today released “Final” (non-Beta) versions of Opera Mini 5 (image above, left) and Opera Mobile 10 (image above, right) for most platforms. Only the just released Opera Mini 5 for Android and the native Windows Mobile version of Opera Mini  remain in Beta.

Download the new releases from m.opera.com with your phone browser or opera.com/mobile/ with your PC.  Opera Mini 5 Final will replace Opera Mini 4.2 and Opera Mobile 10 Final will replace any Opera Mobile 10 Beta that you have installed.

Shortly after Opera Mini 4 was released, Opera made a special version of Opera Mini 3.1 available that could be installed alongside Opera Mini 4.  I’m hoping that they do the same with Opera Mini 4.2. If you don’t want to wait it’s possible with a little hackery to make version of Opera Mini 4.2 that can coexist with 5.

Opera Mini 5 Final is available in a generic Java ME version and a separate build for BlackBerrys (OS 4.2 and later only). Opera Mobile 10 supports Symbian (S60) 3rd and 5th edition and Windows Mobile 5.0 and later touchscreen and non-touchscreen phones. Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 are both free to end users, ending Opera’s practice of charging for final versions of Opera Mobile.

There’s an Opera Mini 5 changelog posted on the Opera Mini Forum at My.Opera.com, which I’ve copied below.  I’ve been unable to find a similar changelog for Opera Mobile 10.

Key new features:

  • Tabbed browsing
  • A visual Speed Dial
  • Opera Mini now remembers your passwords
  • A new, easy to use interface, optimized for both touch and keypad phones
  • A download manager
  • Opera Link, to keep you synchronized

Key changes from beta 2:

  • Even more languages!
  • A Russian virtual keyboard for touch phones
  • Improved performance on low memory devices
  • Lots of little bug fixes

Known issues:

  • Opera Mini 5 is recommended for devices with a QVGA or higher display resolution (320 x 240).
  • Devices with low memory will struggle with tabbed browsing.
  • No compatibility between saved pages in Opera Mini 4 and 5.

I installed Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 on my Nokia N95-3 with somewhat mixed results.  The Opera Mini install worked well, as expected it replaced Opera Mini 4.2.  My bookmarks from 4.2 were retained by the upgrade but my Speed Dials were replaced by default ones.  I’m not sure if this is a bug or as designed, but I enabled Opera Link and less than a minute latter I had my Speed Dials back.

As expected from the changelog, I didn’t see many differences between Opera Mini 5 final and the last Beta. The biggest change is that the Password Manager is back! I also discovered a mysterious new “Start page links” on/off toggle option in the advanced settings.  That sounds like it should keep the Speed  Dial screen from appearing when Opera Mini launches, hopefully restoring whatever pages were open when the browser was  last closed. But when I turned “Start page links” off and restarted Opera Mini  I still got the  Speed Dials. Actually (thanks ya0tzin for the explanation) all it does is toggle a new “Recommend to a friend”  link at the top of the Speed Dial page on and off.

At least one user on the Opera Mini My Opera Forums has reported that the new release runs much better than the Betas on Nokia s40 phones, supporting the “Improved performance on low memory devices” claim.

Unlike Opera Mini, the Opera Mobile 10 install had a couple of problems on my Nokia N95-3 . When tired to install Opera Mobile 10 Final from m.opera.com the download succeeded but the Nokia Installer reported an “Upgrade Error“.  I retried with the same results.  I was surprised that it was trying to do an upgrade as Opera final versions, both mobile and desktops, have always installed along side Betas rather than overwriting them. But when  I uninstalled Opera Mobile Beta 3 the install succeeded so the final apparently is an upgrade that replaces any installed Opera Mobile 10 Beta .

After installing Opera Mobile 10 final, I logged into Opera Link to get my bookmarks back. The login succeeded and Link began “Synchronizing my bookmarks” but after a minute or two, the screen went black for about 30 seconds and then the Nokia Applications menu reappeared with Opera no longer running. I restarted Opera Mobile and discovered that my bookmarks and speed dials had not been synced. I disabled and re-enabled Opera Link and logged in again and got another crash.  Even worse when restarted the browser and tried to load any page, the Opera Link icon appeared and the browser crashed yet again.  I had to disable Opera Link to be able use the Opera mobile at all. I’m disappointed and surprised by these problems as Opera Mobile Beta 3, Opera Link included, worked flawlessly on my phone. No one else seems to be reporting Opera Link problems on the Opera Mobile Symbian Forum so I suspect that it’s related to the hundreds of bookmarks I have in Opera on my desktop.

Update.  The Opera Link problem seems to have gone away. After it crashed three times in a row on Tuesday I left Opera link off for a couple of days. Last night I tried again.  I enabled Opera Link and after a bit got a “Link Parsing Failed” error.  That actually gave me hope as I’ve seen that error before in the Betas and it usually goes away if you retry.  So I opened a couple of pages to force Opera Link to synchronize and lo and behold it worked.

So if you are having problems with Opera Link crashing or throwing an error, keep trying.  It seems to be an intermittent error.

I wonder if the problems I had with Opera Link are related to the number of bookmarks (over 3000) that  I have in Opera on my PC.   I like having all my bookmarks backed up and available accross multiple PCs but don’t really need or want all 3000 on mobile.  In fact I have the 60 or so bookmarks that I really use in my Opera Mini folder. I be happy if  Opera Mobile had an option to sync only the Opera Mini folder (which is all that ever gets synced in Opera Mini).

Congratulations to Opera on the new releases.  At this point I recommend that Opera Mini 5 Beta users users upgrade.  The Password Manager alone makes it worthwhile. If you are running Opera Mobile 4.2, check the Download Wizard at opera.com/mobile/ to see in Opera Mini 5 is recommended before downloading as 5 will replace 4.2.  If you’re using Opera Mobile 10 Beta 3, at least on Symbian, you might want to wait a few days to see if the issues I had with the upgrade process and Opera Link were flukes or if they affect other users and a patch is released.

22 thoughts on “Updated: Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 Final Released

  1. I installed opera mini in my mobile nokia 7210 but i didnt get operamini browser in the list iam not able to findout how to open it. can u please help me. thank u.

  2. don’t know if someone has already mentioned this or if it is actually a bug or not, but bbc mobile web pages do not render so that text is formatted to fit to the screen. this is not the case with opra mobile 10. it is only a minor issue, but have tried different text size settings and turning mobile view off.

  3. I use samsung b7320 omnia pro with opera mobile 10 but i dont know how to downoad or save images to my phone

  4. hi i m using opera 10 on my satio but it doesnt open site as it comes on computer.some links do not appear on d cellphone but they appear on d computer.

    • Go to the URL config: set “Fold linklists” to “No” and tap “Save”
      If that doesn’t work tell me the URL of the site you are having trouble with and I’ll look at it.

  5. Well I have a Nokia N82 and I’m using Opera Mobile and on some sites it keeps crashing and closing itself.. might have to check out Opera Mini instead.

  6. @ Dennis Bournique …this option is not available in opera 10 for wm or opera 5 for wm ….it is only in java version
    :(
    plz tell us something for it.to fix low reso. to hight reso. images …the way you told above does not exist for opera 10 for wm

    • Rushikesh, you are correct that the image quality option is only available in Opera Mini for Java. I don’t have a Windows Mobile device so I can’t comment on image quality in the native version of Opera Mini but if it’s bad I suggest you file a bug report at http://mini.bugs.opera.com/ for Opera Mini only

      In Opera Mobile 10 on my Symbian phone images look fine as long as Opera Turbo is off. If you have Turbo on, try turning it off. If you still aren’t satisfied with the image quality, please file a bug report at https://bugs.opera.com/wizard/ for Opera Mobile

  7. Hi.
    I have a Sony Ericsson K610i and Opera mini 5 works good. You only need fullscreen. Resultion: 220×176

  8. how come images from the websites in using opera 10 are in low res? how do i set it to become a high resolution images? Thanks.

  9. Speed dial is the same on Nokia when in landscape mode. Doesn’t matter too much, but I like how it maps to the dialing keys to make it easier to remember which speed dial is mapped to what.

  10. Pingback: Opera Mini 5 or Opera Mobile 10? | Open attitude.

  11. There are a few more changes that I’ve noticed on the blackberry version. The loading screen (on start up) no longer has a black background, now its white with a smaller “Opera Mini” logo.
    I had a whole minute of panic when copy/paste seemed to be no longer available. But that option has been moved under the menu button(liken to native bb apps) instead of the long-press-iPhone-esque popup menu
    Feed lists are finally accessible via a link in “Bookmarks”
    Speed dials are arranged in 2 rows instead of 3X3 like Beta2 was.

  12. The size of the speed dials on the front page of the opera mini changes with the phone resolution . For low resolution , the speed dials are small rectangles. That is what is called the “increased support for low end phones”. Nevertheless , devices with resolution less than 320×240 cannot run the new 5 . Too many low end devices are abandoned .

  13. I’m waiting for a version of OM4.2 that I can install without removing OM5.
    So far both mini and mobile are working fine for me.

  14. Strange. I have not seen those problems with Opera Mobile 10 on my E75, N82, or E63.

    I love Opera Link, it’s the main reason to use the product, especially since I use multiple phones.

    • Yeah, it doesn’t seem like anyone else is getting the Upgrade error or the crash with link. Like I said I think it’s related to the huge number of bookmarks (close to a thousand, I think) in link. I’ll probably go through them and remove the that are broken or mo longer interesting.

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