Opera Mini

23 February 2006   6:40 PM

What a day for tools and gadgets!

Another.. ahem ... little thing I've come across today is Opera Mini. This is a browser that's designed, as you might expect, for smaller screens. Like mobile phones, for example.

I have been able to connect to the internet on my mobile phone for some time using GPRS (or General Packet Radio Service if you really want to know), and I'm fully aware there's fancier ways of doing it than this. However, I use my mobile phone mostly to make phone calls; I use my digital camera for photography, and ne'er the twain shall meet as far as I'm concerned. At least until I need to buy a new phone, by which time it'll no doubt be a legal requirement for it to have a camera in it.

Where was I?

Oh yes, connecting to the internet with my mobile. Well, the thing that bugged me was that the phone's browser was frankly crap. I was restricted very much to sites that were specifically targetted at mobile phones... such as the network's own portal site, or http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile. Which is all very well, but what if I want to look at the latest Newcastle United gossip? Well, in the past, the answer was simple. Wait until you get home and look on the computer then.

Now, however, thanks to installing Opera Mini I can browse whatever I like, wherever I like, using my mobile phone. Thanks very much Opera. 'Tis much appreciated.

So how do you install this? Simple. Log onto the internet using your standard mobile connection, and get yourself across to http://mini.opera.com and follow the instructions. And then the world (wide web)'s your oyster. Go on, what are you waiting for?