Opera Mini 5 beta Video

Opera Mini 5 beta Video Transcript

[ music ] ^M00:00:03

>> I'm Jessica Dolcourt with CNET. Taking a first look at Opera Mini 5 beta. This is Opera's latest browser for Java phones and it updates Opera Mini 4.2. We've gotta say it's a dear. Of course it doesn't hurt that we tested it on this high end Sony Erickson phone either. There are some major changes to this browser. For example, there is Opera speed dial, which is also used on the desktop browser as a way to quickly launch a website. Assigning an entry is really intuitive. You can add it one by pressing and holding down on it. Opera Mobile 5 beta also has tabs like Opera Mobile and Opera for the desktop. It's the first time we're seeing tab place for feature phones though, which is very cool. To open a new tab press menu and navigate up to the plus sign. Opera has also been lavishing attention on its smoothness, which you can get a quick glimpse of when switching among the tabs. So far we haven't run into a limit of the tabs we can have open at once, but it should be as many as your phones memory can handle. You can see that Opera has also spruced up the Opera Mini interface. The menu bar navigation move to the top and features these drop down lists of more options. One of our favorites is the Find In Page option, which has been around in Opera mobile, but it's brand new to Opera Mini. We also like big spanning Google search bar up top. All in all it looks very slick. In addition, Opera finally lets you add text directly into a text field. In previous versions Opera Mini moves you to a separate screen where you had to do your typing, now it's seamless. The password manager is another major addition, and one that you'll now see for all major desktop browsers. Opera stores the passwords on the phone. Most of the shortcuts are still here, like pressing 2, 4, 6, and 8 to scroll around, and there's landscape mode. And there are also the other navigational shortcuts. However, creating a custom search engine is missing. So is Opera link, the feature that lets you sync bookmarks and speed dial with your Opera desktop browser. Opera says it will add both back in before the final version of Mini 5 is ready to go. As for video, Opera Mini 5 beta will not transcode it, but video will play from the mobile version of YouTube.com, for example. Opera Mini should also be able to open some videos in the phones built in media player if it has one. We likely won't be seeing transcoding support in the final version either, so if you love video find another way. Overall we like what we see here. The browser seemed to run fast and smooth for us on WiFi and on 3G. But of course your data connection or WiFi signal strength will also affect performance. Opera Mini 5 beta works on both standard and touch screen Java phones. Download it by pointing the mobile browser to M.Opera.com/next. There is also a separate version for Blackberry phones, which supports copy and paste and mail to links on those phones. I'm Jessica Dolcourt, and you've been looking at Opera Mini 5 beta. ^E00:02:53