Nokia fans with phones on the Symbian Series 60 platform can now download and install the first beta version of Opera Mobile 10.1.
The new release comes just a day after Opera Mini, the alternative browser for Android phones, received an update as well. Opera Mini 5.1 includes a new option to set the application as the default web browser, as well as tweaks to improve page layout rendering on larger screen Android devices like Droid X or the Sprint Evo 4G.
Opera Mobile 10.1 for Nokia S60 phones, on the other hand, brings back much-touted features from the previous generation (visual tabbed browsing, an attractive home screen with webpage thumbnails) and beefs up the application with a few new tricks.
Here's a run-down of those new features.
Faster page download speeds - Thanks to the Presto rendering and Carakan JavaScript engines, Opera Mobile 10.1 now brings "the same engine power to mobile as on a desktop."
Geo-location support - Opera Mobile 10.1 can leverage a smart phone's GPS when location-aware websites like Google or Bing Maps are visited
Virtual touchscreen keyboard - This software keyboard can be used for punching in website URLs without resorting to hardware input options.
Accelerometer support - Users with accelerometer-equipped phones can rotate the web browser to landscape mode and back again.
Kinetic Scrolling - Just like the inertial scrolling you can perform on other platforms, you can scroll with some oomph to speed to the bottom of longer pages in Opera Mobile 10.1.
Turbo mode - In Opera Mini, web pages aren't downloaded directly to the device you use. They're routed to Opera's servers, compressed, and then sent to the device for speedier overall download times. Now you can enable this tool as an option in Opera Mobile.
Nokia users will be happy to note that Opera Mobile's smart and snappy U.I. is still intact. Fans won't lose visual tabs, the Speed Dial home page with thumbnails for frequented webpages, or the ability to sync those pages with the desktop Opera browser via Opera Link.
Ready to hit the web in Opera Mobile 10.1.? Download it at www.opera.com/mobile/, then give us a holler to let us know what you think!
