Opera revamps Opera Mini for Android, brings new features

In a bid to address issues of low connectivity and sluggish online experience, Opera has revamped its Opera Mini browser for Android users. Already available for download from Google Play Store, the revamped app brings several new features on board.

Opera believes that Indians prefer to download music and videos as they enjoy the content. Now there will be a new download icon, which will enable users to download video and music faster. Plus there will be an auto scan feature that will enable users to download files without accidentally clicking unwanted pop-up ads.

When a user visits a site, Opera Mini will automatically scan it for the direct download links under the Extreme Mode. The downloadable content will appear in a drop-down menu on the top of the screen, providing a seamless downloading experience without the hassles of scrolling or getting lost. This auto scan feature is now available on Facebook, Pagalworld, Tubidy, DJPunjab and a few other sites.

Opera has also integrated AI-powered newsfeed. This personal newsreader works by learning an individual's reading habit and then showing more relevant content. It will also extend its unique compression technology to saved pages so that the size of a saved page becomes small-about 10 per cent of its original size. It also offers support for video boost when using Extreme mode. Video boost is a compression technology that reduces up to 50 per cent of data consumption when one is watching a video.

Opera Mini also provides Facebook users with superfast access to notifications. When the Facebook notification bar is activated, a full menu with Facebook notifications is accessible from the top of the screen.

"Mobile browsers are becoming the gateway to Internet users in India, and most of the users consume content on the small screen these days while on the move. But there are challenges regarding limited bandwidth availability, content distribution and accessibility," says Nuno Sitima, Executive Vice President of the mobile business unit at Opera Software.