Opera Mini 5.1 – Better Performance on Low End Devices And A Hint Of Future Location Support!

Opera Mini 5.0 Strat Page Opera Mini 5.1 Start Page

Today,  Opera Software released a new 5.1 version of Opera Mini.  The main feature of  this release is that it’s been optimized to work well on low end phones with screens less than 200 px wide or under 4 MB of Java Heap memory.

The optimization was accomplished mainly with a new lighter weight user interface that uses text rather than icons for the “Speed Dial” start page and dispenses with some of the icons in menus.  The light UI is used only on low resource handsets.

Users of Smartphones, BlackBerrys and high end feature phones will still see the same graphically rich  user interface in 5.1 as they did with Opera Mini 5.0.   The images above and below demonstrate the main UI differences on a 176 x 200 px screen.  The first image of each pair is Opera Mini 5.0, the second is Opera Mini 5.1

Opera says the update is not critical for users of phones that ran Opera Mini 5.0 well, however there are reports on the Opera Mini User Forum that 5.1 fixes some bugs with QWERY devices and improves scrolling speed and smoothness on Symbian 5th edition phones.

Opera Mini 5.0 Main Menu Opera Mini 5.1 Main Menu

If you managed to download  Opera Mini 5.1 during the first hour after it was released last night you might have noticed a mysterious  “Clear Shared Locations” option in the Privacy Menu. After users started asking about it on the forums, an Opera employee posted “Clear shared locations should not have appeared there (it does nothing in this case), and has been removed in a subsequent silent update.”  Which makes me suspect that Opera is working to add HTML5 Location Provider support to a future Opera Mini release!

Opera Mini is most popular in the developing world where bandwidth is slow and expensive and phones tend to be basic or older models.  Opera Mini 5.0 did not run well or at all on basic phones like most of the popular Nokia S40 models.  With 5.1, Opera is bringing 5.0’s features including tabbed browsing, copy/paste and a password manager to a large group of it’s loyalest  supporters.

Related: Opera Mini 5 Tips and Tricks

15 thoughts on “Opera Mini 5.1 – Better Performance on Low End Devices And A Hint Of Future Location Support!

  1. whats wrong with my opera mini 5.0..i already downloaded it but evrytime im opening it it says check ur network sttings

  2. i am new to mobile internet…can you explain the difference between signed and un-signed?
    thank you for previus answers…

    • A signed app has an encrypted signature key in the Jad file. Signing certifies that the app came from a specific vendor and has not been tampered with.

      Most phones allow the user to set a signed app’s permissions for network file system access to “Always allowed”. With unsigned apps you generally either get nag screens when uploading, downloading or saving pages or these functions are disallowed altogether.

  3. i tried to replace 5.0 with 5.1 on nokia e61…it downloads but then says not authorized…any ideas?

    • You can’t replace a signed version with an unsigned one. Try the various signed versions. If none work try the unsigned. If all fail delete 5.0 and then install 5.1.

  4. You said it right Dennis, Mini 5.1 is really a welcome update. I was frustrated by the slowness of 5.0 on Nokia N70 and even wrote a post on my blog DiGi-PASSION about it. I am still running Mini 4.2 on my N70….
    Any way thanks for update.

  5. ihave nokia 6680 with om4.2 .it works exellent. If i download 5.1 will i lose it…? Or can they work together,?

    • If you have the original 4.2 that’s labeled “Opera Mini” in the phone menu, Opera mini 5.0 will replace it. You can then download the current 4.2 which will install as “Opera Mini 4” alongside 5.0.

  6. You can’t. There is only one version of Opera mini 5.1. It decides whether to use the high or low UI based on the handset. I don’t know of anyway to force it to display the low end format.

    • On Android I believe it will replace 4.2. I haven’t tested that scenario but 5.0 replaced 4.2 and 5.1 replaced 5.0 on my HTC Magic. If you like 4.2 on Android (I don’t and think 5.0 and 5.1 are vastly superior) be sure to back up the .apk so you can go back to it if you want.

  7. Yes. QWERY phones that didn’t have enough room to fit a T on the keyboard certainly qualify as low end.

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