More than one hundred million people are upgrading to the new version of the popular mobile browser.
Opera, one of the world’s major browser developers, launched Opera Mini 50 today. In a major upgrade, the popular browser has fully revamped its user interface to allow for more personal and intuitive interactions with the most loved features.
Opera Mini 50 is a small, fast and powerful browser. It comes with unique features such as data compression, a download manager with offline file sharing capabilities, and a built-in ad-blocker.
“Since the very first launch almost fifteen years ago, Opera Mini has provided people with a better browsing experience than what they get with the default browsers on their smartphones. Now, with version 50, it is time for a major upgrade to Opera Mini, with a completely redesigned user experience, where we make the most popular features easier to use.” said Andrzej Czarnecki, Product Manager for Opera Mini.
Completely redesigned
In the biggest upgrade in five years, Opera Mini 50 is integrating a new and versatile status bar at the top of the browser screen. The new status bar adds a touch of personalization – users are able to receive welcome messages while browsing, with greetings and hints throughout the day. The status bar also keeps users updated on what’s going on around them. It shows notifications with the latest news, coming updates in the browser, or events from partners.
“With Opera Mini 50, we are reinforcing the connection between users and the features that they love in multiple ways.” said Czarnecki. “We’ve introduced new styles, themes, and user interactions to improve access to the features users need within superior aesthetics.”
Data savings have always been important for Opera Mini users. In Opera Mini 50, the new status bar displays a data savings widget which comes in pretty handy for viewing your data consumption at a glance.
“We know that data compression in Opera Mini is widely used. Our designers have added the new data savings widget on the status bar to give users detailed information about their data consumption. It tells them what they need to know about how much data they are saving without navigating through the settings of the browser.” said Czarnecki.
More browsing, less data
Today, Opera Mini is by far the fastest and best data-saving browser available in digital app stores. This makes the browser particularly popular among users who want to save data or gain speed for a better browsing experience on limited or congested mobile networks.
Opera Mini allows its users to activate high or extreme data-saving modes. The extreme mode in Opera Mini is capable of saving an impressive 81% of mobile data on average versus other browsers like Google Chrome, which are only capable of saving an average of 9% of mobile data. This allows Opera Mini users to browse nine times longer versus using mobile browsers without data compression capabilities. (source: Data savings test, Q3-19)
Easier access to offline file sharing
Opera Mini is the only major browser that allows its users to also share files without using mobile data. With its offline file sharing, users can transfer images, videos, and audio files to nearby devices at super high speeds using a safe and direct Wi-Fi connection.
The freshly added offline file sharing feature works with the popular download manager in Opera Mini. By combining these features, Opera Mini makes it easier for users to share files they have already downloaded from the web on their phones, as they don’t need to navigate through their phone’s drive to share files.
In Opera Mini 50, offline file sharing is easily accessed through a shortcut on the new navigation bar at the bottom of the browser screen.
Reducing the connectivity gap across Africa in 2020
Opera Mini has always been an innovative mobile browser. The fast and small browser is extremely popular across the African continent where it has challenged the status quo of expensive mobile data with its unique data compression capabilities.
Since the beginning of 2020, Opera has partnered with major internet service providers across Africa such as MTN, Airtel and AirtelTigo in Nigeria, Ghana and Zambia. Through these partnerships, Opera has given free browsing every day, capped at 50 MB, to millions of Opera Mini and Opera News users on those networks.
“We chose to work with MTN, Airtel, Airtel Tigo and Safaricom in Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda because they are the major internet service providers locally.” said Jørgen Arnesen, EVP of Mobile Browsers at Opera. “The goal is to make mobile data more accessible for everyone and reduce the digital divide, especially now when online information is vital.”
About Opera Mini
The new Opera Mini is available for download in the Google Play Store.
Launched in 2006, Opera Mini is used by more than 100 million monthly active users who have chosen it over pre-installed browsers on Android mobile devices. Opera Mini has a 4.4 star rating on Google Play and has been reviewed by more than six million people.
About Opera
Opera is a global web innovator. Opera’s browsers, news products and fintech solutions are the trusted choice of more than 350 million people worldwide. Opera is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (OPRA).