No Java needed; Opera Mini goes native on Windows Mobile

In a bit of a counter to the news we recently heard about regarding Skype dropping Windows Mobile today Opera announced that Opera Mini has gone native on Windows Mobile so no Java client is required to run this alternative browser. I used Opera Mini from time to time on Windows Mobile devices, but having to run it through a Java client (if you phone even happened to have one loaded) was not a very good experience and never made Opera Mini a browser I recommended to people on WM. You can download Opera Mini for your WM 5 or 6 device now for free.

Dag Olav Norem, VP of Products, Opera Software stated:

Windows Mobile deserves a mobile browser that looks better, handles better and delivers better than the default browser. Even though Opera has 50 million satisfied Opera Mini users, we always seek ways to improve our browser for each and every mobile phone user out there. Now, we are pleased to offer the world's most popular mobile Web browser as a native Windows Mobile application.

Opera Mini is an extremely popular mobile phone web browser, especially for those that are on metered data plans or do not have good 3G connectivity since it is proxy-based and all the heavy lifting is done on Opera's servers. Just because it is proxy-based does not mean it is really limited either and Opera Mini has come a LONG ways since it was released a few years ago. With Opera Mini today you get tabbed browsing, speed dial your favorite sites, Opera Link (my personal favorite that syncs bookmarks and Speed Dial across all mobile phones and a desktop), password manager, adaptive zoom, power scrolling and more. It really is an excellent browser and compresses data traffic by up to 90%.