The app which is also compatible with the iPad as well as the iPhone is available as a free download at iTunes now. It adds new features to the browsing experience including its own My Opera service, Twitter, Facebook and a direct share function which allows webpages to be shared with the programs mentioned easily.

First released back in March for Android based tablets; the Opera Mobile browser has a smaller data usage due to the company’s compressed servers. Some users will be pleased to see an alternative to Safari offered up as the default browser has its issues.

Issues such as sluggish operations due to its lacking UI and a patchy user experience. Thanks to Opera Mini 6’s improved UI it may find it is preferred to Safari. Check out the Opera website for more details or download it for yourself by clicking the iTunes link above.

Will you be replacing Safari with Opera Mini 6?

Now that I have had roughly 20 mins of hands on time with the browser I have noticed that web pages load far quicker than before, also when you zoom in and pan around websites images and other content seems to render with less of a delay.

The browser’s start page is still simple and effective, when you press the BlackBerry button you see a redesigned drop-down menu, here you can find a neat new feature which allows you to quickly and easily share websites with social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Opera Mini 6′s tab browsing functionality is better than the last version, simply click and hold on a link to open a link in the background, this allows the tab to load whilst you check out the page you are on, switching between tabs could be easier as on my BlackBerry it requires me to press my BlackBerry button and then use the optical trackpad to select the tab I want, shortcut keys would be much nicer.

We are reliably informed that YouTube video support is improved compared to previous Opera Mini versions, I tested out its functionality it seemed fine, however I never had a problem with this feature in Opera Mini 5 so I didn’t really notice any major improvements.

According to the official Opera blog there are lot of less noticeable changes as well, these include bug fixes, improved pinch-to-zoom and tap-to-zoom support (obviously unavailable on my Bold 9700), an improved UI for tablets and better font support.

You can download Opera for your mobile (Android, BlackBerry, Java or Symbian) here, if you have never used Opera Mini before you should definitely check it out, equally if you are happily using Opera Mini 5 it is well-worth updating to this new version of the software.

Have you installed Opera Mini 6 on your mobile device? If so, will you continue to use it?

You can download the Opera 11 beta for Windows here, once installed you can check out 137 (at the time of this post) different extensions, the most popular extensions at the time of this post were NoAds, FastestTube and Opera Configurator.

You can see all of the extensions currently available here, as you would expect there aren’t too many yet, however over the next few weeks I am sure developers will release more and more.

I recently installed the Opera 11 beta and tried out a few extensions, they installed extremely easily and didn’t require a restart of the browser, this positive experience suggests that the proper release of Opera 11 isn’t too far away.

If you would like to find out more about the Opera 11 beta, its new extension support and new tab stacking feature check out PCMag.

Have you installed Opera 11 and tested out some extensions? If so, which are your favorites?

Most smartphones are compatible with Opera Mini, however Android will be getting Opera Mobile, Opera Mobile is considered better than Mini and offers a richer web experience, this requires more CPU power, however most Android smartphones have plenty of that.

When it arrives we are assured that Opera Mobile for Android will be extremely fast and offer pinch-to-zoom functionality, I for one will definately be isntalling this on my partner’s HTC Desire as Opera Mini has been great on my BlackBerry.

At the moment no solid launch date has been given, therefore we will have to keep you posted, all we can say is that it should be available within a month.

Will you install Opera Mobile on your Android device?

Source: Engadget

Opera Mini 5 Beta has recently put to test by one of IntoMobile’s writers, although the writer is a fan of Opera’s previous browsers he is not a fan of Opera Mini 5 Beta for Android.

He was running the software on his Google Nexus One, apparently compared to the smartphone’s default browser the page rendering was awful and nowhere near as impressive as Opera Mini on the iPhone, that said it is still in it’s beta stages, perhaps the proper release will be more impressive.

Have your tried Opera Mini 5 beta on your Android handset? If so, tell us what you think so far in the comments section below.

Source: IntoMobile

Jon von Tetzchner co-founded Opera in 1995 and ever since has been the companies CEO, it is thought that Lars Boilesen will be Opera’s new boss.

Boilesen has had quite a long career with Opera, previously he has worked as the company’s sales boss (from 2000 and 2005) and more recently has worked as “a veep on the company’s board of directors”.

Von Tetzchner will still be working for Opera, however he will now just be a strategic consultant, for more information check out TheRegister.

According to an article posted on IntoMobile, during November 2009 Opera Mini had 41.7 million users, in total these users viewed over 18.8 billion web pages.

This high amount of usage is said to have spanned across many countries, however the top 10 countries using the browser were Russia, Indonesia, India, China, Ukraine, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Vietnam and Poland.

In total all of these users managed to have a combined data consumption of 271.8 terabytes, which averages out at about 15 page views per day, per user.

It is thought that the majority of handsets using this browser are RIM devices, mostly the BlackBerry 8330, for more details check out IntoMobile.