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What's new in Opera Mini 5?

March 11, 2009 · by Haavard

Even though I'm not on the Opera Mini team, I have seen quite a bit of feedback for Opera Mini. It seems that people have previous had high expectations for what Opera Mini can deliver.

When Opera Mini 4 was released in late 2007, it was a rather huge release when compared to version 3. Who would have thought that you would be able view normal sites in the same layout as on your computer on even low-end phones? I know I was impressed (and surprised!) when I saw it for the first time.

Borrowing the panning and zooming techniques from the likes of the Wii Internet Channel and Nintendo DS Browser (which were also picked up by other mobile browsers later), Opera Mini went from a single-column layout to allowing you to pan arund a desktop-like view, and zoom in to areas of interest.

With the release of Opera Mini 4 having set the standard for the growing number of Opera Mini competitors, what do people expect from Opera Mini 5? Keeping in mind the constraints here (at one point, Opera Mini was kept below 100K, but it is now around 125K, and one tries to get it working on as many phones as possible), what could Opera Mini 5 be like? What are the expectations?

Is the Opera Mini team expected to redefine the "proxy browser" scene again, or will it be an incremental upgrade?

Readers' comments 34

Left under the original article, as archived.

Joonas LehtolahtiWednesday, March 11, 2009 4:15:49 PM
I hope it will be made use less memory than Opera Mini 4. I get java.lang.OutOfMemoryException quite often with Opera Mini 4 versions on Nokia 6070. I got out of memory errors rarely with older versions of Opera Mini, but I like the new features in 4 so I hope that memory usage is taken in account with Opera Mini 5 and it is made to use less runtime memory on the phone than Opera Mini 4.
Jorge MarínWednesday, March 11, 2009 4:16:40 PM
It is difficult to think on a better browser for any phone than Opera Mini 4. I would let the browser as it is but with more signed versions. Keep on improving Opera!!!
tomassplatchWednesday, March 11, 2009 5:00:54 PM
I have Nokia E51 so I never had any out-of-memory problems. Having a powerful phone, I would prefer an advanced version of Opera Mini for smartphones with support for tabbed browsing, AJAX and perhaps Flash (optionally). Opera already can do server sided rendering of these technologies in Turbo, so I'd expect this to come to Opera Mini. However, this would possibly mean having another branch of Opera Mini, as I don't expect lower-end phones to manage this.
It is going to be something quite bit I suppose, as we were already told to look forward to big things in one of the posts here!
Pretty curious!
Jorge MarínWednesday, March 11, 2009 5:33:17 PM
You do not need another branch of Opera Mini there is already Opera Mobile (the best browser for smartphones) for many platforms (yes, also symbian). If you want more information the link is:

http://www.opera.com/mobile/

Surf the full Web on your smartphone or PDA with the award-winning Opera Mobile browser.
tomassplatchWednesday, March 11, 2009 5:41:36 PM
well, good point, in a sense that Opera Mini with the features I described would be nothing less but Opera Mobile powered by the Turbo technology.
anyway, for the moment there's no Opera Mobile version for s60 available.
HaavardWednesday, March 11, 2009 6:00:26 PM
Opera Mini actually supports Ajax to a certain extent:

http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/javascript-support-in-opera-mini-4/
CharlieWednesday, March 11, 2009 6:01:32 PM
I expect Opera Mini 5 to make me a sandwich when I get home from work.
InvestorWednesday, March 11, 2009 6:37:30 PM
hmm expectations (or wishes)... in opera mini version 5 ?

well vital for success is speed of download and speed of navigation. thus hoping to see :

1) merging of opera mini desktop view and mobile view. there is a unnecessary duplication here. it should be possible to zoom in from desktop view and then vertically scroll down and through whole page just like on mobile view. but using desktop view layout (wrapping). so needed is a sort of tracker which automatically does what user now do manually ie. go to top of page when at bottom of column to continue browsing next column with content. etc. if opera mini internal stats show high % mobile view then thats because user want a speedy way of scrolling through all content of eg. news sites. a switch to mobile view in settings or by menu which reloads page is not a good solution.

2) grid navigation in zoomed out desktop view. direct navigation is not a problem on touch screens. thus these phones are very good for browsing. non touch phones however have a navigation disadvantage. a grid navigation would significantly reduce number of steps to get to content of interest. imagine page is divided in 9 grids. hit key 7 and bottom left part of page will be zoomed in. hit key 3 and top right page gets zoomed in. etc.

opera mini 4 already got download speed and cost advantage due to server compression. add to that above 2 navigation improvements and opera mini 5 got the potential to knock out the nokia s60 browser from more and more nokia phones. thats a big chunk of the market
Idan AdarWednesday, March 11, 2009 8:32:23 PM
Investor's ideas are actually quite brilliant.
I do hope haavard that you have forwarded these.
Yeni SetiawanWednesday, March 11, 2009 8:39:28 PM
2) grid navigation in zoomed out desktop view. direct navigation is not a problem on touch screens. thus these phones are very good for browsing. non touch phones however have a navigation disadvantage. a grid navigation would significantly reduce number of steps to get to content of interest. imagine page is divided in 9 grids. hit key 7 and bottom left part of page will be zoomed in. hit key 3 and top right page gets zoomed in. etc.

Very brilliant!

Hey, close this blog now. Don't let other competitor read this idea
AuxWednesday, March 11, 2009 11:07:20 PM
Hey, looks like feature request thread to me! So let's get the party started!

One of the most awaited features in latest Minis is ability to work with phone's file system. Now it's time to take full advantage of that feature!

1. Add one more option - select cache folder and its size (I would dedicate 1GB on my Memory Stick!), then place every page in file system, not in RAM. That will help to save some RAM and improve navigation through history.
2. Add tabs! Using file system for caching will make it possible, fast, etc.
3. Add feature to redownload current page or download content from link as a plain text file into file system. It should have encoding selection (win-1251, utf-8, etc). This will make Opera Mini very useful for downloading pages for reading inside book readers.
4. Add ability to make a bookmark inside saved pages, that will make reading long Wikipedia articles much easier.
5. Opera Widgets? Heh, I don't know a way to make them run perfectly on J2ME phones...
6. Add PDF converter - some websites offer useful info only in PDF format...
7. Widgets are kind a hard to implement currently, but Opera Mini may be a host for a simplier web/html applications. A subset of HTML, CSS and JS maybe created and a compiler given to developers, so they could make small application using their web development experience.

That's all for now, but I may add something later. Hope to see some of those CRs implemented in Opera Mini 5 (:
MisterNobodyThursday, March 12, 2009 4:28:45 AM
Provocative title...
I hope Opera mini team give us new opportunities:
1. copy selected page's content
2. create 2-3 tabs
3. linkify text links
4. edit form's input fields like inputing address
5. show cached images/load only selected image
6. delete selected addresses in previous entered list
7. show Flash as picture if OM can't processing Flash
8. more client-side JS events
MisterNobodyThursday, March 12, 2009 4:31:48 AM
>6. Add PDF converter - some websites offer useful info only in PDF format...

Adding related link to online pdf-converter in download window.
MisterNobodyThursday, March 12, 2009 4:34:19 AM
9. localize oopera:config, Opera Link page
HaavardThursday, March 12, 2009 7:31:41 AM
Originally posted by Investor:

grid navigation in zoomed out desktop view. direct navigation is not a problem on touch screens. thus these phones are very good for browsing. non touch phones however have a navigation disadvantage. a grid navigation would significantly reduce number of steps to get to content of interest. imagine page is divided in 9 grids. hit key 7 and bottom left part of page will be zoomed in. hit key 3 and top right page gets zoomed in. etc.

That's an interesting concept, but do you think that would work on my phone's tiny screen? The "zoom box" is much smaller than a 3x3 grid covering the current part of the page would be. On my phone, it would have to be a 5x5 grid.
CqoicebordelThursday, March 12, 2009 10:19:59 AM
@haavard
The grid navigation system could be in two step, with two levels of zoom :
First you have a 3x3 grid and zoom by pushing any number, and then an other 3x3 grid to zoom even more.
That way, you can access a precise spot in no time, with a total grid of 9x9.
Ben TudballThursday, March 12, 2009 12:03:22 PM
Haavard, you tease. Leak something for us. C'mon!
Is that what "redefining the proxy browser again" suggests?

If you shake your mobile phone fast enough, Opera Mini 5 could burst the level bubble.

Opera Mini 5 could be intelligent enough to create itself.

Opera Mini 5 could provide a setting to allow browsing https Webpages directly, without going through the Opera servers.

Opera Mini 5 could provide a podcast feature, just to piss off Apple.

Opera Mini 5 could support rendering blink tags, and call the mode Opera Blink.

Opera Mini 5 could Transformers itself into an actual Mini.
JoeThursday, March 12, 2009 1:26:58 PM
Opera Mini 5 could provide a setting to allow browsing https Webpages directly, without going through the Opera servers.

That's Opera Mobile. Opera Mini is too limited to use a full browser engine.
InvestorThursday, March 12, 2009 6:34:06 PM
for the records. my expectation or hope was not out of the blue. as grid navigation was requested on opera mini wish-list forum in my post dated 23. august 2008 http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=193819&t=1236881344&page=26#comment2709603

well grid navigation (1- 9) puts you in the ballpark (zoomed in) in 1 shot. and spot on in max 2 shots using (current) keys 2 4 6 8 (once in the ballpark). from ballpark key 5 brings you back to grid navigation.

in comparison current key navigation uses in average 5 shots assuming a 5 x 5 zoom environment :

* 2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5 6
3 4 5 6 7
4 5 6 7 8
5 6 7 8 9

only change compared to current key navigation is the grid option. which when enabled gives keys 1-9 a different task. to work more efficiently a page up/down key should be defined as well.

(opera mobile symbian team has the same navigation challenge. both teams could work together to make a solution which is competitive to touch screens. thus attacking a large market segment with good chances of winning)

as for double grid suggested by @ Cqoicebordel :

it only speeds up navigation if combined with a second zoom level. however second zoom level only makes sense if content (text headlines) then become readable. not sure that will be the case (on standard screens). new zoom level is a more comprehensive change. thus must have a very clear benefit.

to judge benefit opera mini 5 should use a standard 2.2 inch screen 240 x 320 resolution as basis. thats the minimum type of phone people will use to browse going forward.
HaavardThursday, March 12, 2009 9:01:39 PM
I'm not sure if the fonts would be readable on my phone with a grid layout like that. It would probably need further zooming.
TemmySunday, March 29, 2009 12:27:27 PM
I think opera should upgrade their upcoming opera mini 5 with features like uploading/downloadin a java (.Jar) files. Better and newer flash player. And also provide the process of editing server just like opera 2.06.
Unregistered userTuesday, May 5, 2009 3:52:38 PM
Anonymous writes: add flash videos like skyfire
Unregistered userThursday, May 7, 2009 4:32:25 PM
Anonymous writes: I Love Opera mini 4.2 and I think it's the best browser ever on mobile phones...I hope that in Opera Mini 5 : 1-We will be able to use javascripts and flash applications. 2-Less kilobites needed to browse pages (more compressing) for pages. 3-History pages automatically downloaded to memory stick (optional) so that we don't have to save every page manually. And thanks to Opera developers for their amazing work.
HaavardThursday, May 7, 2009 7:30:51 PM
Opera Mini already supports JavaScript:

http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/javascript-support-in-opera-mini-4/
QasimSaturday, May 30, 2009 10:59:16 AM
Is there a changelog available for Opera Mini anywhere? It would be interesting to see what changes were introduced in older versions.. like say, what neat stuff Opera Mini 2.0 offered, over and above 1.0.
HaavardSaturday, May 30, 2009 5:36:50 PM
Versions 1 and 2 are archived here:

http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/mobile/mini/

For version after 3.0, look here:

http://my.opera.com/operamini/blog/
Unregistered userTuesday, June 2, 2009 12:08:55 PM
Jok writes: 1. Sessions. 2. Tabs. 3. Turn om into a basic book reader i.e ability to view pics and plain text files from file system (implement file: protocol). Can sort of do this by hacking an existing saved obml.
QasimMonday, June 8, 2009 3:28:22 PM
Looks like this debate got settled at Opera. We'd get a bigger feature set, but it'd take longer, right? But then what about Opera Mini 6 or 7... it's an awfully big responsibility trying to deliver really big changes every time.

In software, often most products have some version changes where you get big stuff.. like Microsoft Office getting a complete GUI revamp, and in other versions you get relatively minor stuff.
Unregistered userFriday, June 12, 2009 12:03:53 AM
Anonymous writes: What I would like to see in Opera Mini is Ajax support and support for technologies like Google Gears. Ajax though, would be a great addition.
Unregistered userFriday, June 12, 2009 6:08:05 PM
wii writes: Opera Mini already supports Ajax. The parts it doesn't support is because the page is handled by the serer, not on the phone.
LucienMonday, June 29, 2009 12:44:33 AM
Hmm @some users rtfm
@haavard
Adonis @ my.opera /friendspartyworldMonday, June 29, 2009 10:42:02 AM
Opera Mini 5 can reinvent the interNET like Unite REinvented the Web.
As one said, to surf internet there is Opera mobile, working with smart phones. To make Opera Mini just to make more like an Opera mobile emulator will be irritating because ... It is like trying to make a bike into a car. No matter how much you change it , it can only become a car with a motor and three or four wheels, and so on. Problably you will need a licence and a parking it really is NOT a bike any more the way it was why you wanted it. :witch:
but you can also use another allegory
Adonis @ my.opera /friendspartyworldMonday, June 29, 2009 1:37:31 PM
:yes
anyone with a professional kitchen overthere ? Really ? With or without professional cook ( )? Just kidding
most people do not have one. Because ... 1. They do not have the equipment. If they would, they ld rarely use it.
2. They have a to smal space for it. ()
Heffer WolfeWednesday, March 17, 2010 9:21:36 PM
Hi.

My phone is Siemens s75 and last version of opera mini for my phone is 4. What is wrong with my phone (except oldness). Are some new features in JavaME needed by Opera mini 5, or my phone only not tested with new opera version, and i can try to install Opera mini 5 for all phones not present in opera mini 5 download list.

Thank you for answers.