Posts Tagged ‘LG Rumor’

Opera Mini: A Better Browser for your Cell Phone

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Opera touts their Opera Mini mobile browser as the world’s most popular mobile web browsers with over 20 million users around the world.  It’s free to anyone who wants to use it and getting it is as easy as pointing your clunky default mobile web browser to mini.opera.com and clicking on the download button.  Not all cell phone models are supported but the few models I tried – LG 160, LG Rumor, Moto W385 – worked.

I took it out for a spin on on my CREDO Mobile LG Rumor.   Opera Mini gets downloaded to the “Applications” menu in the My Content folder – not the easiest place to find it but it makes sense given that it is an application that I downloaded myself.  I haven’t found a way to make Opera Mini start whenever I click on the web icon on my Rumor so I have to go into My Content -> Applications -> Opera Mini every time I want to browser the internet using Opera Mini.

Immediately, I noticed that the browser is quick.  It loads web pages in the fraction of time it takes my default web browser to load the same page.  The extra bonus is that I can use it to catch up on the day’s progressive commentary from Slate Magazine’s mobile site while underground on my BART commute with very little signal strength.  Other applications and web browsers require too much communication to work underground.

Unlike many mobile browsers, the Opera Mini can read full websites.  Clicking on the preset New York Times link on the front page of Opera Mini takes me to the internet version of the New York Times www.nytimes.com complete with pictures instead of the very plain mobile site mobile.nytimes.com.

Opera has some built in features to make navigating easier.

  • Use the number keys: 2, 4, 6 and 8 to navigate top/left/right/down within the web page.
  • Press 5  to zoom out and see which part of the page you are reading
  • #* or “Menu-> Tools-> Find in Page” allows you to search within the page you’re browsing.  Searching “Iran” on the front page of the NYTimes brings up coverage of the election fraud and protests in Iran
  • #5 to see your browsing history
  • #9 to get information quickly with the search box at the top of the page.  Opera gives you 4 search choices:  You can Google search, Wiki search, price shop on Amazon, or bid on eBay.
  • Speed Dial your favorite websites.  Pressing * and a number will retrieve the home page that is set at that number on your start page.  For example *5 loads the AccuWeather page as that is the default page set at #5 on the start page.  You can customize the 0-9 preset home pages to your own tastes.

To do so simply:

  1. Press #2 to go into bookmarks
  2. Select “Speed Dial” -> “Manage” by clicking on the left button right below your LCD screen (left soft key) -> “Edit”
  3. Type in the web address in the second box. (“http://www.credoaction.com”) and select “Fetch Title and Icon…” to automatically populate the Title box and  retrieve our signature CREDO tree logo.
  4. Use the *+# shortcut to instantly get access to the credo action page to sign the petition to support public health care.

You can see the complete list of shortcuts by going to “Menu-> Help->Shortcuts”

I don’t think I’ll ever go back to browsing on the default browser again – especially after I master the shortcuts.

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